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Taylor Swift in "cardigan"

Taylor Swift in "cardigan"

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What's Your Favorite Song of Swift's 'Folklore'? poll-whats-your-favorite-song-taylor-swifts-folklore

Poll: What's Your Favorite Song On Taylor Swift's 'Folklore'?

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For the latest GRAMMY.com poll, we want to know which track off of Swift's new album you love the most
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jul 30, 2020 - 8:28 am

Last week, 10-time GRAMMY winner Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, folklore, with less than 24 hours of advance notice ahead of its July 24 drop. Needless to say, Swifties and media outlets have having a field day analyzing the album's fictional and non-fictional characters and digging for Easter eggs.

For the latest GRAMMY.com poll, we want to know: which of folklore's 16 tracks is your favorite?

Polls

What's Your Favorite Song On Taylor Swift's 'Folklore'?

Read: How Girls Make Beats Is Making The Music Industry A More Welcoming Place For Girls Of All Backgrounds

Swift's folklore is a tip-toeing journey through the tree-filled forest of the cover art, with whispering sepia-toned tales of long-ago love. It has help from "some [of her] musical heroes." She created the masterpiece during quarantine with virtual collaboration from GRAMMY-winning alt-rock heavyweights: Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who co-wrote and duets on "exile," The National's Aaron Dessner, who co-wrote or produced 11 of the tracks, and long-time collaborator/super-producer Jack Antonoff.

Listen to folklore in full below, and watch the Swift-directed, socially distanced music video for "cardigan" below, if you need a refresher before you vote in our poll above.

 

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The Naked And Famous Talk New Album 'Recover,' Covering The Weeknd & Allyship With The Black Community

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Photo: George Pimentel/Getty Images

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Taylor Swift Announces New Album 'Folklore' taylor-swift-announces-new-surprise-album-folklore-featuring-bon-iver-nationals-aaron

Taylor Swift Announces New Surprise Album 'Folklore,' Featuring Bon Iver & The National's Aaron Dessner

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"Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I hadn't planned on that DID happen," the GRAMMY winner wrote on social media today. "And that thing is my 8th studio album, 'folklore.' Surprise!"
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jul 23, 2020 - 2:09 pm

Today, July 23, pop queen Taylor Swift took the internet by storm by revealing her eighth studio album, folklore, will be released at midnight (eastern time zone) tonight. The surprise announcement comes with no advance singles or prior news around a 2020 album, in contrast to the four-month teasers and single parade in the lead up to August 2019's GRAMMY-nominated Lover.

Related: Taylor Swift And Ariana Grande Donate to Fans Financially Impacted by COVID-19

The July 24 release of folklore comes with the drop of its first music video and single, "cardigan," the second song on the 16-track album. The "Cruel Summer" singer wrote and directed the video, supported by a socially distanced video crew, including cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (The Irishman, The Wolf of Wallstreet) and producer Jil Hardin. Swift even did her own styling and hair and makeup to ensure everyone stayed safe.

The fourth track, "exile," features GRAMMY-winning alt-rock stalwart Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who also co-wrote the song. Other collaborators, all of whom Swift worked with remotely, includes two more GRAMMY-winning alt powerhouses, The National's Aaron Dessner, who co-wrote or produced on 11 of the tracks and long-time collaborator/super-producer Jack Antonoff, along with the mysterious William Bowery, credited with co-writing.

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1286270136006184960

Surprise 🤗 Tonight at midnight I’ll be releasing my 8th studio album, folklore; an entire brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into. Pre-order at https://t.co/zSHpnhUlLb pic.twitter.com/4ZVGy4l23b

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2020

"Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I hadn't planned on that DID happen," she wrote on social media. "And that thing is my 8th studio album, folklore. Surprise! Tonight at midnight I'll be releasing my entire brand new album of songs I've poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into. I wrote and recorded this music in isolation but got to collaborate with some musical heroes of mine."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC--mL3jpx3

GRAMMYs

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Lover Fest West, part of Swift's since-canceled 2020 Lover World Tour, was originally slated to take place this weekend, July 25 and 26, in Los Angeles. Like countless other artists, her live music plans were put on hold due to the global coronavirus crisis, and apparently she's had a very productive quarantine in the studio.

Read: Cyrus, Usher, Migos, Coldplay & More To Play COVID-19 Adherent Concert

"Before this year I probably would've overthought when to release this music at the 'perfect' time, but the times we're living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed," Swift continued in her social media post. "My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world. That's the side of uncertainty I can get on board with. Love you guys so much."

To celebrate the release of her eighth studio album, she is releasing eight limited-run deluxe edition CD and vinyl albums, each of which includes bonus track "the lakes" and features unique artwork. More info and pre-orders can be found on taylorswift.com.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC--BUtDjav

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TRANScendent Sounds Fest To Feature MJ Rodriguez, Abigail Pereira, Ryan Cassata & More

Taylor Swift | Folklore

Taylor Swift

 

Photo Courtesy Of Taylor Swift

 
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Taylor Swift's Road To 'Folklore' taylor-swift-folklore-2021-grammys

Taylor Swift's Road To 'Folklore': How The Superstar Evolved From 'Diaristic' Country Tunes To Her Most Progressive Music Yet

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With her enchanting eighth album, 'folklore,' Taylor Swift celebrates five GRAMMY nominations and a praiseworthy return to what she does best: storytelling
Taylor Weatherby
GRAMMYs
Mar 10, 2021 - 9:56 am

For Women's History Month 2021, GRAMMY.com is celebrating some of the women artists nominated at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show. Today, we honor Taylor Swift, who's currently nominated for six GRAMMYs.

When we met Taylor Swift in 2006, it was immediately apparent that her songwriting approach was like ripping a page out of her diary.

"Just a boy in a Chevy truck/ That had a tendency of gettin' stuck/ On backroads at night/ And I was right there beside him all summer long/ And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone," she lamented in the first verse of her debut single, "Tim McGraw." The way the then-16-year-old Swift could turn personal anecdotes into instantly memorable hooks mirrored the prowess of an industry veteran, appealing to more than just the teenage girls that could relate to a short-lived high school romance.

Now, nearly 15 years later, Swift has introduced another layer of intrigue with a foray into indie folk, unveiling a pair of albums, folklore and evermore, last year. Recorded entirely in isolation after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, folklore has been widely acclaimed as Swift's best album, touted for its intimate songwriting and cinematic dynamics; evermore has received similarly glowing reviews.

Watch: Taylor Swift Reveals Live Guests At GRAMMYs

folklore was 2020's best-selling album and earned Swift five GRAMMY nominations at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, including her fourth Album Of The Year nod. (evermore will be eligible for the 64th GRAMMY Awards in 2022.) As her 10 previous GRAMMY wins suggest, though, this new chapter isn't an abrupt departure for the star—it's a masterful continuation of her evolution as a singer/songwriter.

If there's one thing that Swift has proven throughout her career, it's that she refuses to be put in a box. Her ever-evolving sound took her from country darling to pop phenom to folk's newest raconteur—a transition that, on paper, seems arduous. But for Swift, it was seamless and resulted in perhaps her most defining work yet. And folklore’s radiance relies on three of Swift’s songwriting tools: heartfelt balladeering, autobiographical writing, and character-driven storytelling.

While there was always a crossover element to Swift's pop-leaning country tunes, her transition from country starlet to pop queen began with Red. The album’s lead single, the feisty breakup anthem "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," was Swift's first release to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and, ironically, scoffed "indie records much cooler than mine"). She declared a full pop makeover with 2014's 1989, but the response proved that her bold move was the right one: Along with spawning three more No. 1 hits, the project won Swift her second GRAMMY for Album of the Year.

From there, 2017’s Reputation, a response to media scrutiny, and 2019’s Lover, an often bubbly exploration of all facets of affection, followed. Although they shared similarly grandiose production, Lover featured a handful of poetic ballads, including "The Archer," a self-reflective love song that teased Swift's folk sensibilities through storybook lyrics and ambient textures. 

Swift’s ballads are key in understanding the full essence of folklore. They’ve regularly marked standout moments on each of her albums, both thanks to her poignant vulnerability and rich tone. Fearless standout "White Horse" earned Swift two GRAMMYs in 2009; Red's painstaking "All Too Well" was an instant fan favorite; 1989's "This Love" and Reputation's "New Years Day" provided tenderness amid otherwise synth-heavy sounds.

The raw emotion she puts into her downtempo songs comes alive on folklore, introducing a new wave of neo-classical sonics that elevate her fanciful penmanship to an ethereal level. Whether or not Swifties saw a full indie-pop record coming—at least not yet—the shift isn't all that surprising. Folklore’s romanticized lyrics and relatively lo-fi production are arguably what many fans have been patiently waiting on.

Lyrically, the super-personal nature of Swift’s music has always captivated fans and naysayers alike; diehards and critics dissected each of her albums for its real-life subjects and hidden meanings. While she played into those conspiracies at the time—whether she was revealing names in titles like "Hey Stephen" and "Dear John" or scathing the other girl on "Better Than Revenge"—even Swift herself admits that her teenage method had an expiration date. 

"There was a point that I got to as a writer who only wrote very diaristic songs that [it] felt unsustainable for my future moving forward," she told Apple Music's Zane Lowe in December of 2020. "It felt like too hot of a microscope ... On my bad days, I would feel like I was loading a cannon of clickbait when that's not what I want for my life."

That realization is what helped make folklore so memorable: Swift stripped away the drama to let her artful storytelling shine. Sure, there are occasional callbacks to personal happenings ("invisible string" references sending her exes baby gifts and "mad woman" alludes to her legal battle with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun). Still, she largely shies away from her autobiographical narratives to make way for her imagination.

"I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I've never met, people I've known, or those I wish I hadn't," Swift wrote in a letter to fans on social media the day folklore arrived. "The lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscernible."

folklore might be her first full project dedicated to creating characters and projecting storylines, but Swift has shown a knack for fantasy from the start. Tracks like "Mary's Song (Oh My My)" on her self-titled debut and "Starlight" on Red saw Swift craft stories for real-life muses ("Mary's Song" was inspired by an old couple who lived next door to Swift in her childhood; "Starlight" was sparked from seeing a picture of Ethel and Bobby Kennedy as teens). Even when songs did pertain to her real life, Swift often had a way of flipping memories into whimsical metaphors, like the clever clap-back to a critic on Speak Now's "Mean" or the rebound relationship in Reputation's "Getaway Car."

To think that we wouldn't have folklore without a pandemic is almost surreal; it's already become such a fundamental piece of Swift’s artistic puzzle. There was no telling what may have come after the glittering "love letter to love itself” that was Lover, but it seems isolation made the singer rethink any plans she may have had. 

"I just thought there are no rules anymore because I used to put all these parameters on myself, like, 'How will this song sound in a stadium? How will this song sound on radio?' If you take away all the parameters, what do you make?" she told Paul McCartney in a November Rolling Stone interview. "And I guess the answer is folklore."

Even if she hasn’t been making indie music herself, Swift has shown an affinity for the genre over the years through curated digital playlists. Those included four songs by The National including "Dark Side of the Gym," which she references on folklore single "betty," and "8 (Circle)" by Bon Iver, Swift's collaborator on folklore's gut-wrenching "exile" as well as evermore’s title track. (“Exile” is one of folklore’s GRAMMY-nominated cuts, up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.)

The National’s guitarist Aaron Dessner co-wrote nine and produced 11 of folklore's 16 tracks, soundtracking Swift's imaginative tales with sweeping orchestration and delicate piano. Their partnership started with "cardigan," a melancholy take on teenage love that's up for Best Pop Solo Performance and the coveted Song of the Year. The team-up was a dream come true for Swift, a self-proclaimed National superfan and a career highlight for Dessner, who shared in an Instagram post about folklore that he's "rarely been so inspired by someone." He sees the album as a pivotal moment for both Swift's career and pop music.

"Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have 'the bop,'" Dessner shared with Billboard in September. "To make the record that she made, while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music—she has kind of made an anti-pop record. And to have it be one of the most, if not the most, successful commercial releases of the year that throws the playbook out.

"I hope it gives other artists, especially lesser-known or more independent artists, a chance at the mainstream," he continued. "Maybe radio will realize that music doesn't have to sound as pushed as it has. Nobody was trying to design anything to be a hit. Obviously, Taylor has the privilege of already having a very large and dedicated audience, but I do feel like it's having a resonance beyond that."

Swift's other primary folklore collaborator was Jack Antonoff. He has been her right-hand man since they first paired up on 2013's promotional single "Sweeter Than Fiction" (Swift referred to him as "musical family" in her folklore announcement). Even after years of creating stadium-ready pop smashes, Antonoff said in his own folklore Instagram post, "I've never heard Taylor sing better in my life / write better."

As Swift recognizes herself, folklore ushered in a new way of thinking for the superstar that not only brings out her best, but sets a promising precedent for what's to come. "What I felt after we put out folklore was, 'Oh wow, people are into this too, this thing that feels really good for my life and my creativity,'" Swift added in her interview with Lowe. "I saw a lane for my future that was a real breakthrough moment of excitement and happiness."

Her enthusiasm is tangible on both folklore and evermore. Dubbed folklore’s sister record, evermore further expands Swift’s newfound mystical atmosphere. Much to the delight of many Swifties, the follow-up also calls back to her country beginnings on tracks like the HAIM-assisted “no body, no crime,” as well as her pop expertise on more uptempo cuts like “long story short.”

Together, the albums are a momentous reminder that Swift is a singer/songwriter first. Her wordcraft is some of the most alluring of her generation, and that’s never been lost on her music, regardless of the genre she’s exploring. But now that Swift also feels she's at her best, it’s evident folklore was just the beginning of Taylor Swift in her finest form.

Explore This Year's Album Of The Year Nominees | 2021 GRAMMYs

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Fleetwood Mac in 1975

Fleetwood Mac in 1975

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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Which Fleetwood Mac Song Is Your Favorite? poll-dreams-chain-which-fleetwood-mac-song-your-favorite

Poll: From "Dreams" To "The Chain," Which Fleetwood Mac Song Is Your Favorite?

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"Dreams" experienced a charming viral moment on TikTok after a man posted a video skateboarding to the classic track, and now it's back on the charts, 43 years later
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 15, 2020 - 5:00 pm

In honor of Fleetwood Mac's ethereal '70s rock classic "Dreams," which recently returned to the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to a viral TikTok skateboard video from Nathan Apodaca, we want to know which of the legendary group's songs is your favorite!

Beyond their ubiquitous 1977 No. 1 hit "Dreams," there are so many other gems from the iconic GRAMMY-winning album Rumours, as well as across their entire catalog. There's the oft-covered sentimental ballad "Landslide" from their 1975 self-titled album, the jubilant, sparkling Tango in the Night cut "Everywhere" and Stevie Nicks' triumphant anthem for the people "Gypsy," from 1982's Mirage, among many others.

Vote below in our latest GRAMMY.com poll to let us know which you love most.

Polls

Which Fleetwood Mac Song Is Your Favorite?

Related: Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" Back On Charts Thanks To Viral Skateboard Video On TikTok

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Poll: What's Your Favorite Van Halen Song?

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SHAED

 SHAED

Photo: Andrew Lee

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SHAED On New Music, Allyship & Sting close-personal-shaed-talk-new-music-allyship-collabs-zayn-sting-steve-aoki

Up Close & Personal: SHAED Talk New Music, Allyship & Collabs With ZAYN, Sting & Steve Aoki

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The "Melt" band reveal how fun it was working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million"
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 22, 2020 - 12:27 pm

Alt-pop trio SHAED consisting of twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst and Chelsea Lee (who is married to Spencer), had their big break in summer 2018 with their infectious hit "Trampoline." It was followed by a whirlwind 2019, where they played major festivals and shows around the world and dropped some big collabs, including a ZAYN remix of "Trampoline," whose vocals brought new life—and his massive fan base—to it.

Like so many other artists, COVID-19 put a sudden halt on their packed, globe-trotting schedule. The pause and new perspective have proven productive for them, and resulted in a lot of new, yet-to-be-released music.

"We had a group of songs before this whole quarantine situation and we kind of took a deep listen and realized that we wanted to change it up a bit," Chelsea told us. "Most of the songs we've written for this album, we wrote during these crazy months, so it definitely reflects, emotionally and mentally, what we were feeling. These songs really hit home for us and we're super excited to release them."

SHAED On New Music, Allyship & Collabs

Read: Aminé Talks New Album 'Limbo,' Portland Protests And Black Lives Matter

We catch up with the Washington D.C.-based group for the latest episode of GRAMMY.com Up Close & Personal interview video series to learn what they've been up to during quarantine—in addition to creating a new album, they've also protesting with local Black Lives Matter marches and been relaxing in their backyard.

Sharing what he learned about being an ally to the Black community, Max said, "I think it's important to listen. There's all these kind of sub-movements within the Black Lives Matter movement that are really important. Black Trans lives Matter, is super important… I think it's important that all these communities within Black Lives Matter, their voices are being elevated."

The "Melt" band also reveal how fun it was like working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million." Watch the full conversation above!

"Chelsea loves Sting," Spencer said, smiling. "Steve Aoki is a fan of ours, and he reached out and said he'd love for us to feature on a song. So we were listening to some demos and trying to figure out which one made sense. And then he said, 'Hey, actually hold on, I got a song with Sting.' And that's when Chelsea was like 'We're doing this right away!'"

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Remembered By Barack Obama, Janet Mock, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John & More

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates.