Latest / Inside Country with Wayne D / Guys...it's Taylor Swift

Transcript

Guys...it's Taylor Swift · Inside Country with Wayne D

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, it's pretty exciting stuff
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  Speaker 1: when we can sit down and be dialed in with
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  Speaker 1: one of the biggest artists that music in general has
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  Speaker 1: ever seen, right? We're lucky to be hanging out with
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  Speaker 1: Taylor Swift. Congrats on Toy Story 5 being a part
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  Speaker 1: of that soundtrack. You have been such a great writer
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  Speaker 1: for so long and so many different songs and different
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  Speaker 1: approaches to the songs. Did writing for a movie franchise
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  Speaker 1: like Toy Story kind of change your approach to writing
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  Speaker 1: or storytelling?
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely knew going into making a song for Toy
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  Speaker 2: Story 5 that I was entering a real legacy, both cinematically,
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  Speaker 2: but also sonically.
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  Speaker 3: Like the world of Toy Story has a look.
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  Speaker 2: Pixar has just excellently crafted, but it also has a
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  Speaker 2: sonic world that Randy Newman has crafted so beautifully. So
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  Speaker 2: stepping into that, I wouldn't say that I felt pressure,
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  Speaker 2: but I definitely felt like the weight and depth of it.
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  Speaker 2: And I didn't go about it flippantly. I really wanted
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that what we were doing was very
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  Speaker 2: faithful to The music that fits along with these films
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  Speaker 2: and these amazing stories that have made us laugh, have
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  Speaker 2: made us cry, have made us cheer. I think the
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  Speaker 2: chord progressions we chose were different because Randy Newman tends
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  Speaker 2: to choose things differently musically because, I mean, the genius
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  Speaker 2: that he is, like he's got such a repertoire of.
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  Speaker 2: unbelievable choices he naturally goes to, musically speaking. And we
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  Speaker 2: just kind of tried to challenge ourselves to think about
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  Speaker 2: what might Randy do? So he told me he likes it,
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  Speaker 2: which is really all I need to know. And I'm
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  Speaker 2: very excited about that fact.
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  Speaker 1: And something else about how you create music, your fans
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  Speaker 1: pick apart your lyrics. Every word means so much to them.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of your fans have already picked out favorite
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  Speaker 1: lyrics from I Knew It, I Knew You. Is there
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  Speaker 1: a line you put in this song that means a
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  Speaker 1: lot to you that you were kind of hoping fans
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't miss or overlook?
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  Speaker 2: I love that the lyrics of this song are really
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  Speaker 2: being delved into by the fans because there are several
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  Speaker 2: lyrics that have like more than one meaning to them.
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  Speaker 2: When you're getting to write for a film that's this
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  Speaker 2: brilliant and has this many different themes running throughout it.
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  Speaker 2: you only have so long in a song to convey
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  Speaker 2: and surmise and sum up this entire film that people
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  Speaker 2: just watched. So sometimes you'll try to have like a
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  Speaker 2: double meaning in a line. The first line of the
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  Speaker 2: song is, I knew you through the days of the
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  Speaker 2: blades of the grass in summer. And the double meaning
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  Speaker 2: of that is, first of all, there's the word days,
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  Speaker 2: it's spelled D-A-Z-E in the lyrics, but you could also,
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  Speaker 2: if you wanted to think of it as days, D-A-Y-S,
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  Speaker 2: you could perceive it as that. But I thought of
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  Speaker 2: it as like a childhood daze of like you look
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  Speaker 2: back and you see this sort of like blurry, beautiful
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  Speaker 2: memory that's kind of blurry at the edges. And the
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  Speaker 2: blades of the grass in summer, that harkens back to
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  Speaker 2: childhood and playing and using your imagination.
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  Speaker 3: But also there's the added meaning of they're toys.
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  Speaker 2: They can only see up to the height of blades
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  Speaker 2: of grass. So that was kind of what I was
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  Speaker 2: trying to do with each line was making sure that like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, parachutes for the free fall of being younger.
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  Speaker 2: There's the actual parachute army toys in Toy Story, as
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  Speaker 2: well as symbolically somebody who helps you grow up and
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  Speaker 2: helps your landings be softer, just things like that. So
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  Speaker 2: Thanks to all the fans who have actually cared about
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  Speaker 2: the lyrics.
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  Speaker 3: You guys are the best.
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  Speaker 1: And back to the whole being a part of the
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  Speaker 1: Toy Story movie franchise. It's like unreal that you got
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  Speaker 1: to be a part of this because it's such an
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  Speaker 1: iconic five movies deep. The songs are iconic. They match
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  Speaker 1: the movie so well. So what was it like when
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  Speaker 1: you finally heard like, hey, Taylor Swift, we want you
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  Speaker 1: all in on this?
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  Speaker 2: When I realized that we were going to have the
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to write a song for Toy Story, it really
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  Speaker 2: hit me the weight of this. like how lucky we
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  Speaker 2: were to get to sort of take up what Randy
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  Speaker 2: Newman has created and continue that legacy.
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  Speaker 3: And so rather than thinking like, oh, you know what
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  Speaker 3: we're going to do? We're going to reinvent this.
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  Speaker 2: I just thought we're going to take these beautiful, you know,
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  Speaker 2: tapestries of musical art he's created brushstroke by brushstroke and
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  Speaker 2: we're going to try to create something that would go
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  Speaker 2: in that collection that you could hopefully hang next to
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  Speaker 2: those paintings on the wall if we were talking about paintings.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I go into metaphor a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm.
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  Speaker 3: A huge Randy Newman fan, so is Jack.
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  Speaker 2: So Randy tends to go to really different kind of
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  Speaker 2: chord progressions and has very different musical sensibilities than I do.
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  Speaker 2: And so we try to we try to channel what,
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  Speaker 2: you know, what would Randy do?
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  Speaker 3: That took us.
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  Speaker 2: To a very different place musically and from a chord
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  Speaker 2: structure perspective. The harmonica came in because I really thought
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  Speaker 2: that we needed to, in this ode to Jessie, kind of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, pay homage to where she comes from, which
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  Speaker 2: is she's this cowgirl doll and she comes from this
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  Speaker 2: Western landscape. And I thought that that would be really
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  Speaker 2: cool to kind of signify that this is actually Jessie's song.
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  Speaker 3: This is from her perspective. This is in honor of her.
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  Speaker 1: Well, what you've done is fantastic because it honestly has
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  Speaker 1: married the song to the movie so well. We're talking
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  Speaker 1: to Taylor Swift. Your songwriting has become iconic, right? You
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  Speaker 1: have such a special way that you approach things. What's
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  Speaker 1: something you've learned about your songwriting that maybe stands out
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  Speaker 1: from the way other people approach it?
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  Speaker 2: It's kind of been brought to my attention that I,
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  Speaker 2: and I agree with this, that I love to use
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  Speaker 2: detail in my lyricism.
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  Speaker 3: And that's true. I'm very proud of that.
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  Speaker 2: But I also think one thing I always make sure
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  Speaker 2: to check myself on is, does this detail signify something
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  Speaker 2: that informs the story? Or does it tell the listener
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  Speaker 2: the mindset that the narrator is in or what place
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  Speaker 2: they're in in their life? Does it describe the person
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  Speaker 2: that is influencing and inspiring the song?
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  Speaker 3: Does it help further the storyline?
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  Speaker 2: Does it tell you more about what makes this song important,
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  Speaker 2: which is the human emotion behind it? So detail, just
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  Speaker 2: for the sake of saying descriptive words, is not really
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  Speaker 2: my thing. It's like, I love detail if it informs
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  Speaker 2: the actual human emotion that we're singing about.
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  Speaker 3: So I think that might be a lesson, if somebody
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  Speaker 3: cared to take a lesson from what I'm doing.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of that, lessons. To be successful is one thing.
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  Speaker 1: Stay successful over time is a whole other story. You
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  Speaker 1: really got to be a student to your craft. Continue
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  Speaker 1: to learn. What are some things, even though you've been
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: at this a little while, that you continue to learn
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  Speaker 1: and kind of help you stay sharp?
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  Speaker 2: I think one thing I've learned over the many years
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  Speaker 2: of studio sessions and writing sessions and working with people
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  Speaker 2: collaboratively is that your energy and attitude that you bring
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  Speaker 2: into the room is can affect absolutely everything about the day.
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  Speaker 2: So really trying to be accountable to knowing that enthusiasm
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  Speaker 2: for the actual craft that you guys have all shown
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  Speaker 2: up to do, it can make or break the session.
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  Speaker 2: So like if you come in and you act like
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  Speaker 2: you don't want to be there, everyone else is going
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  Speaker 2: to pick up on that. It doesn't matter if you're
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  Speaker 2: the artist or you're a writer or you're a producer
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  Speaker 2: or you're an engineer, like everyone's going to pick up
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  Speaker 2: on you not wanting to be there and it could
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  Speaker 2: very well These are very intuitive people, people who, like,
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  Speaker 2: want to make art. It could kind of make sure
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  Speaker 2: that nobody makes anything that day if you're acting like
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  Speaker 2: you had to be dragged in there. So I'd say, like,
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  Speaker 2: be enthusiastic about being able to be making art every
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  Speaker 2: day that you get to make art.
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  Speaker 1: And you become dang good at making that art. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: Taylor Swift, such an honor. What an awesome privilege it's
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  Speaker 1: been to catch up. Hopefully you enjoyed our chat as well.
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  Speaker 1: More awesome interviews with some of your favorite artists. Just
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: check it out up on the podcast. Just search Wayne
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: D Show Podcast. Available on the free iHeartRadio app.