I am totally not in the clear yet because I am still freaking out over how much I am obsessed with Taylor Swift’s new song, “Out of the Woods.”
While I’ve spent most of Tuesday (October 14) trying to figure out whether or not it’s about One Direction’s Harry Styles, I have also completely fallen in love with this ’80s synth-pop vibe Taylor is going with, which was brought to life by the help of fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff, a.k.a. her musical soulmate.
But the pair didn’t just walk into the studio one day and start recording songs — they actually formed a friendship bonding over ’80s flicks.
“We were hanging out at her house in Rhode Island,” Jack recently told Billboard. “And we were talking about John Hughes movies, and a lot of the music that inspired [them], and just this general culture of sound in that time period that was really larger-than-life in an anthemic, positive way. These songs could be at the end of films that were really, really beautiful and said a lot.”
Jack, who said this experience meant “the world” to him, wanted to help bring Taylor’s emotions and feelings to life, to completely capture the “fragility” of the relationship she was singing about, and to get that he turned to My Morning Jacket for inspiration.
“When I was working on the track, I was thinking a lot about My Morning Jacket,” he revealed, “and how everything they do, every sound is louder than the last, and somehow it feels like everything is just f–king massive. And that’s the feeling that I went for. It started out big, and then I think the obvious move would have been to do a down chorus, but the idea was to keep pushing.”
And if you like what you hear, you’re in luck since Jack, who admitted he never stepped into the studio with Taylor to record “Out of The Woods,” co-wrote and co-produced several songs off her upcoming album, 1989, including the track “I Wish You Would.”
“We first worked on that song [‘I Wish You Would’] together and realized we kind of have a good thing, and the next thing we did was ‘Sweeter Than Fiction’ which was on the [‘One Chance’] soundtrack, and after that we did ‘Out Of The Woods’ and another song called ‘You Were In Love,’ he said. “So ‘Out Of the Woods’ was the third thing we worked on together, and probably the easiest. I sent her the track for it, and she sent back a voice note with the verse and chorus in what felt like five seconds. And it was just perfect. It’s [eerie] how similar it is to what the final product is.”
Christina Garibaldi
Christina Garibaldi has been an on-camera reporter for MTV News since 2011. When not interviewing or writing about her favorite stars, she keeps herself busy with baby animal videos and boy bands.
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