How Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff Keep Their Songwriting Fresh: ‘It’s Always an Off-the-Cuff Surprise’

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff have written more than a hundred songs together. So how do they keep things interesting?

Especially when Swift is releasing multiple albums every year — not only rerecorded versions of her past albums but all-new ones, including this year’s sprawling, 31- song “Tortured Poets Department.” “I never know what’s gonna happen next,” says Antonoff — Variety’s Hitmakers producer of the decade — who is not Swift’s only collaborator but has certainly been the one she’s worked with the most over the past 10 years. “It’s always an off-the-cuff surprise — dinner at the house that turns into messing around in my little studio that turns into a new idea.

It’s utterly organic, which is pretty much how I work with everyone — like two people flying a plane, you know? It feels like we’re going somewhere together.” In yet another year where Swift has been one of the most dominant cultural forces, even a relatively low-key album like “Tortured Poets” scored a hit single, “Fortnight.” She also had traction with a holdover from last year, the anthem “Cruel Summer,” which was originally released in 2019 but scored a second life last year thanks to Swift’s record-crushing “Eras Tour” (more on that in a moment).

Indeed, one way to keep things fresh is to bring in new collaborators like Post Malone, who is on a hot streak of his own this year, featured not just on this song but also Beyoncé’s “Levii’s Jeans” and with country superstarMorgan Wallen on his own “I Had Some Help” (this year’s No.