A few days ago, Taylor Swift was named the 2023 Person of the Year by Time Magazine. Explaining her reasons for the award, the magazine's editor-in-chief said, "Taylor was able to give hope to people all over the world during very dark times. She finds a way to transcend boundaries and become a source of light. No one has touched so many people as much as she did. Let's take a look at her different understandings of her multiple identities as a director, singer, and songwriter.- i assume you want to make features.
I guess you'd like to make something more distinctive.
i do, i do now.
Yes, I do think that now.
and would the plan be to write a script or get a script from somewhere else?
Do you want to write the script yourself or let someone else take charge?
i would wanna write it.
I wanted to write the script myself.
it's so much easier for me to visualize how i would wanna shoot something and how i would wanna tell a story if i know exactly where it came from.
For me, once I know how the story happens, then I know how to shoot and how to express the story.
yeah.Good. and i know exactly why each line exists, and- -me too, actually.
I know what each storyline is about, and — yes, so do I.
yeah, i'm, yeah, i'm preaching to the converted.
Yes, I'm talking to people who think the same way as me.
that comes through in what you make, i think, it's just such a sincere reason for everything existing, the way it does, and i think there's a subtlety, also, i loved how "banshees" was shot.
It's going to be reflected in your work, and I think everything has a reason for it, there's a subtle feeling, and I love the way The Banshee was filmed.
i loved- -thank you.
I loved it - thank you.
it was gorgeous, it was expansive.
The scene is magnificent and gorgeous.
you feel like you're getting a cinematic escape.
It feels like you're in a movie and you're on a great escape.
it's really about the acting.
It's about the actor's acting skills.
it's really about the story.
It has to do with the storyline.
it's about the weight of it all.
It is inseparable from all aspects of the creative process.
has being an actress in movies changed how you direct?
Did your early experience playing some roles in movies affect the way you direct?
every aspect of my job as a singer, i've occasionally been in a film for very short periods of time has affected the way that i would, you know, that i am as a director.
As a singer, I do occasionally appear in films, but they are all short-lived, but that does affect the way I work as a director.
i think i really want someone to feel comfortable.
I really want everyone to have a comfortable working environment.
if they want to be able to look at the monitor or they want to be able to know how it's set up and how it looks, then they should be able to.
If they want to see the monitor, or want to know how the monitor is set up and how it looks, then they should be satisfied.
if they don't wanna see it, they shouldn't h**e to.
If they don't want to watch it, then don't look at it.
i think it's helpful when people know what story it is they're telling.
I think it's more helpful when people know what story they're shooting and what they're trying to say.
i've been a part of things where you didn't know the script and no one knew what the story was.
I've been involved in some shoots where you don't know what the script is and no one knows what it's about.
really?
Are you sure? and you just know your little part of it.
You only know that part of yourself.
that's crazy.
Unbelievable. yeah, so i think it's important to let someone in on, "this is why you are doing this and this is how it fits into a bigger story, and this is, yes, this is your puzzle piece, but this is what the puzzle looks like."
yes, so I think it's important to be able to get everybody involved, and that's why you're doing that, it's trying to find ways to fit it into a bigger storyline, and that's, yes, that's your part of the story, but that's what the whole film looks like"。
i imagine you're very honest and frank about that- -that's a given.
I think you're very honest and very candid about that – that's for sure.
but it's not always the case.
But this is not always the case.
i like to be secretive about projects i'm **whether it's a music video or the short, you know, we were so top secret about it.
I like to keep a project that I'm working on a secret, whether it's a videotape or a short film, we like to keep our creative work a secret.
but the people who, you h**e to trust the people that you're **something with, to let them know this is exactly why this matters.
But you have to trust the people you work with, and you have to let them know why it's important.
yeah, and they're part of the whole team.
Yes, they are also part of the whole job.
yeah, i don't think i would h**e that experience if i hadn't been on everything from, you know, you learn that from like commercial shoots or a film or a music video that i early on wasn't directing or hadn't written or whatever, so.
yes, if I hadn't been involved from start to finish, I don't think I would have had that experience, you know, you can learn that from shooting commercials, films, or ** videos, and I wasn't a director or a screenwriter in the early days, so.
i don't know, it's just, you h**e to cast people you trust and then trust them, i think.
I don't know, it's just that you have to choose people who can make you believe and then trust them, I guess that's the case.
exactly.
Indeed it is. i think it's really interesting the idea of channeling something very dark and sad and somber and about grief and all these difficult things, but h**ing like a lovely, great time doing it.
I think it's really interesting to think that you can express some really dark, sad, gloomy, and things about grief and all these difficult things, but at the same time have a good time in it.
it's really strange, because i don't think that anybody would imagine, you know, you guys telling this story or even on the short film, like me and dylan and sadie telling a story about just life altering heartbreak, but on set we're just like, "oh, this is so fun. that take was amazing!" - exactly, that's the funny thing about it.
It's really weird, because I don't think anybody would have thought that you would be telling this story, even in the form of a short film, like me, Dylan and Sadie when we were working on a fateful heartbreak story and we were on set and we said, "Oh, this is so funny." That shot is fantastic! - That's right, that's an interesting fact about shooting.
like colin and brendan had a chat at the start.
Colin and Brandon talked at the beginning.
do we need to keep space between each other? do we need to enact it in real life?" and they both were so happy that they both agreed, no, they're just gonna h**e fun (taylor laughs) and act it.
Do we have to keep our distance from each other? Do we also perform in real life? "They were both happy, they both agreed, no, they just wanted to play (Taylor laughs) and put it on the show.
it's just like, that part is a myth that you h**e to suffer to make good art about suffering or that you h**e to suffer in order to make art in general.
It's like, you have to go through suffering to make a great piece of art about suffering, or you have to suffer in order to create.
like,yes, it is a cathartic thing, but oftentimes, i think that writing about your pain or your suffering, it's sort of gets out the poison.
Yes, it's a catharsis, but a lot of times, I feel like documenting the pain or suffering is a way to get out of the painful memories.
it helps.
It does help.
it does.
Yes. yeah,'cause as i said, this script was written in a sort of place of sadness and heartbreak.
Yes, because as I said, the script was written in a mood of sadness and heartbreak.
but even the evening of,you know,h**ing finished those few pages, it's like, "that's pretty good stuff about my heartbreak and sad, suffering."
But even in the evening, you know, after reading those pages, I think,"It's a great script about my heartbreak, my grief, and my pain"。
you're like.
Yes. which is great to be able to h**e that, and i'm not sure if that's an age thing or what it is.
I don't know if it's age-related, or if it's something else.
do you feel like your songwriting is different, even if you're talking about a heartbreak song?
Do you feel like your songwriting is different, even a heartbreak song isn't the same as it used to be?
are you different in that writing now as opposed to how you were when you were 22?
Is there any difference in your writing now compared to when you were 22?
yes, i definitely feel more free to create now.
Yes, I feel more bold and free to create now.
and i'm **more albums at a more rapid pace than i ever did before because i think the more art you create, hopefully the less pressure you put on yourself.
I'm making more than I used to, because I think the more you create, the less pressure you're putting on yourself.
if you stay ready, you don't h**e to get ready.
If you're always prepared, you don't have to do it anymore.
if you keep **stuff, you just keep **stuff and hopefully you get better at it.
If you've been creating, you're going to keep creating, and you're going to get better and better.
yeah.Yes. it doesn't h**e to be so, you don't h**e to belabor it and polish the doorknob so long that you forget to open the door.
You don't have to be so painstakingly polishing the doorknob that you forget to open it.
because i'm not really, i h**en't really done that, but i like the idea.
I haven't really done that yet, but I agree with it.
i used to do that when i was writing plays.
I used to do the same when I was writing scripts.
bang out, bang out another one and another one, and there's less pressure that way, i guess.
Bang, bang, bang, I guess it's going to be a little less stressful.
yeah, i think it's just a phase i'm in right now.
yes, I feel like that's just a stage I'm at right now.
i might be in a different phase in two months.
In two months, I may move on to another phase.
i h**e no idea.
I don't know.
it's just, recently i've found that, the more things i make, the more things i make, and the happier i am.
It's just that lately I've found that the more stuff I make, the happier I become.
and everybody's different and there are people who put an album out every, you know, five years and it's brilliant and that's the way that they work.
Everybody is different, some people only come out with one every five years and it's excellent, that's how they work.
and i h**e full respect for that, but i am happier when i'm **things more often.
I have a lot of respect for that, but I'd rather create something more.
so do you carve out time every day to be productive in that way?
Do you make time every day to be more productive?
no, it kind of pushes through without asking permission.
No, it seems to be an act of forcing through without permission.
you know, these, we were talking about like involuntary ideas, like when you were saying, "oh and then it surprised me when he went into the pub and he didn't h**e a finger." i h**e songs come to me like that, i h**e,you know,ideas for a story i would wanna tell come through like that.
You know, we're talking about these thoughts that come out of nowhere, like you said"Oh, and when he walked into the tavern, I was surprised to find that he had no fingers. "Sometimes, I suddenly think about how to write the song, and I have some ideas about it, and then I have ideas about how I plan to record it.
do songs and do lyrics and tunes come at at the same time?
Do you think about how to write the lyrics and tunes at the same time?
yeah.Yes. do you h**e to be strumming, or?
So do you have to pop it up, or?
no.That's not.
sometimes it's a fragment of a melody that has a lyric on it already.
Sometimes, it's just a part of the overall melody but already contains the lyrics.
sometimes it's just a line and i'll write it down and i'll use it later.
Sometimes it's just a sentence, then I'll write it down and use it later.
sometimes it's a melody that i h**e to go to the piano and then record and remember it.
Sometimes a complete melody and I have to play the piano, record it and memorize it.
but it's, the more that i'm writing, the more those ideas come.
However, the more I write, the more ideas I have.
that's what i've found.
This is the pattern I found about how I create.
so even on a day like this, when you've got lots of stuff to do like this, in the afternoon, something could come.
So, even on a day when you have a lot to do, like an afternoon, you might write a song.
totally.
That's right. it's only been like that for me for the past six or seven years, so that's why i say i think it comes with age.
I've only felt this way in the last six or seven years, so I said I think it happens with age.
but i don't really know why i've been **more things recently, but i'm just trying not to question it, 'cause i kind of like it.
But I don't really know why I've been writing so much lately, but I try not to question why it's happening, because I like it.
i want it to keep going.
I want to keep it up too.
and there's a part of writing i think that we don't understand.
I think we still don't know what we know about writing.
yeah, completely.
Exactly. so i don't wanna jinx it by being like, "huh, this is all me. i'm just writing." like i don't know why.
So, I don't want to be because of"Hmph, that's what I did. I'm just writing. "This kind of thinking is frustrating. Like I don't know why that's the case.
yeah.Yes. i'm just going with it.
I just went with the flow.
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