Taylor Swift: The Songs That Impacted Fifteen Artists
Life is short. What is the point of running a music review website if you can’t be a bit indulgent occasionally? Similarly, what’s the point of being an artist if you can’t sometimes gush about the music you love? Featuring fifteen artists we’ve written about before, we ask them what their favourite Taylor Swift song is and why, and their answers blew us away!
‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ will be released on download, CD, vinyl and cassette on July 7th.
Taylor Swift fans rejoice! Taylor’s third album of re-recorded music is almost upon us. In a move to bring some ownership back to her first six albums, since 2021 Swift has been releasing new recordings of her music made during her time with Big Machine Records. These include her eponymous debut, ‘Fearless’, ‘Speak Now’, ‘Red’, ‘1989’ and ‘Reputation’ albums, released between 2006 and 2017.
Having already re-recorded ‘Fearless’ and ‘Red’ with extra never-before-heard vault tracks, Taylor’s third re-recording comes during her ‘Eras Tour’ of the United States, which celebrates every facet of her career so far. Further announcements have been made to extend The Eras Tour to South and Central America, Japan, Australia, the UK and Europe. Swift’s third re-recording journey into the past centres on ‘Speak Now’, originally released in 2010.
Swift’s influence spreads far and wide. To celebrate the release of ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ we’ve decided to go back to some of the artists we’ve written about over the years to ask them what their favourite Taylor Swift song is and why. What we’ve received back from these artists is a collection of personal stories, experiences and emotions relating to how this music has shaped them.
Taylor’s catalogue is a varied musical journey with dabblings in country, soft rock, synth pop, electropop, indie acoustic and micro experimentations of style in between. In this piece, our interviewees surprised us by giving a mixture of all that. One even began right at the beginning…
‘I'm going to go old-school & say Tim McGraw is my favorite Taylor Swift song because it was my first introduction to her. I was babysitting my neighbor’s kids one summer & they played me the music video. It was like a lightbulb went on for me. It was the first time I'd seen a young teenage girl writing & performing her own songs and unlike a lot of other country music at the time, I could relate to the lyrics. It felt like she was singing about my life as a teenager at the time. Her debut album became that summer's soundtrack. I'd drive around with my friends, singing it at the top of our lungs with the windows rolled down, wind in our hair.
I taught myself the guitar just so I could play her songs, spending hours practicing until my fingers were raw. I'd already been writing songs for years but learning Taylor Swift's songs helped me understand song structure, hooks, & how to paint a lyrical picture. Hearing Tim McGraw now just instantly transports me back to that momentous time in my life & a huge part of what initially inspired me to write & perform.’ - Astræa
It's March 2019, the birth of Moths and Giraffes is still many months away, and we’re offered a pair of tickets to see the enthralling Astræa in concert at St. James’s Church in Piccadilly (with grand piano and live strings!). That performance took our breath away, and formed the basis for our review of Astræa’s debut EP ‘Tonight I Run’ in September 2020, the title track of which recently hit a million streams on Spotify – her third to do so.
Astræa is the artistic name for songwriter and producer Jennifer Keller, who creates massive pop productions filled with stacks of backing vocals, huge drums and passionate lyricism. We later interviewed Astræa in person for her follow-up EP in 2021 entitled ‘Looking Up’. In both our interviews, we also discussed Keller’s writing and production work with Hannah Grace, Nina Nesbitt, Ward Thomas and Duran Duran guitarist Dom Brown. Since then, Astræa has been working on her debut album and we can’t wait to hear it!
Follow Astræa on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @astraeamusica.
“The best Taylor Swift album begins with the best Taylor Swift song which begins with the best snare hit of all time. This snare hit is like a great first kiss times 1000 cups of coffee. This snare hit is the moment. It smacks you across the face and says ‘listen up, bitch.’
Fearless is the perfect introduction to my personal favorite version of Taylor Swift. She's messy, she's pissed, she's dancing in the rain, she's crying a lot. It's always 2 am. She insists she is not a kid anymore. She's got some shit to say. And everything no longer needs to rhyme perfectly. (‘And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there // In the middle of the parking lot // ....Yeah’).
Debut Taylor could never. And actually, grownup folklovermore Taylor could never, either. She would add a bunch of big words and metaphors and a synth patch. Fearless feels uncalculated, chill. But also giddy and brimming with anticipation. Fearless Taylor is more self-aware than debut Taylor. We're ‘trying so hard not to get caught up now // but you're just so cool...’ The chorus pays off on all that anticipation and sexual frustration big time, with a simple, soaring hook ‘I don't know how it gets better than this’ and a classic little Swiftian rhyme move ‘head first, fearless.’
I've listened to this song about 400 million times so I'm heavily biased, but for me, this recording captures the magic of a moment that can be revisited but not reproduced. And by that I mean, the snare hit in the rerecording sucks.” – Pacing
It’s somewhat impossible to place the artistry of Pacing in a box, not that we’d ever want to. The output of songwriter, producer, poet, meme-maker and creative writer Katie McTigue came into our world earlier in 2023 with her single ‘Aliens’. Her subsequent appearance on the Charitindie 2023 livestream solidified our belief that this is an artist to watch. Since then, Pacing has been busy releasing her ‘Snake Facts’ EP on CD with Totally Real Records, and putting out ‘Bite Me’, the first single from her forthcoming second album, due for release in Autumn 2023. The album title deserves a paragraph of its own. It’s called:
‘Real poetry is always about plants and birds and trees and the animals and milk and honey breathing in the pink but real life is behind a screen.’
And we’re excited to exclusively announce that Pacing’s second single from the album is called ‘Live / Laugh / Love’, and will be released on July 19th!
Follow Pacing on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok @pacingmusic.
‘Taylor Swift has so many songs that I love but I think I have to pick cardigan as my favourite. folklore was my first time experiencing a new release cycle from Taylor since becoming a fan during the first COVID lockdown and it was so exciting waiting for the surprise release and not knowing how the album would sound.
I remember watching the music video for cardigan as it premiered at 5am that Friday and immersing myself in the world that she was building. It was a nice escape from what was a difficult time for me personally, and her album resonated with a lot of others at the time too, providing us all with a soundtrack for the rest of the summer.’ - Jeremy M
We had the pleasure of writing about Jeremy M’s involvement with Charitindie 2023, who recorded an acoustic set of original tracks from the comfort of his bedroom. On the livestream, he drew praise for his tender vocal delivery and moving songwriting. Some of the music featured will also be on his debut EP, entitled ‘is it too late?’, including the singles ‘boys don’t cry’ and ‘gone forever’. The EP is set to be released this summer.
Follow Jeremy M on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok @jeremymonline.
“Picking a favorite Taylor Swift song is a Herculean task. I loved Taylor when I was a little kid with glasses and bangs, and I love her now as a college student pursuing my own music career. There’s one in particular that I’ll choose for the purpose of waxing poetic about, though, and that’s ‘Holy Ground’. Red was the first CD I ever owned. I would always watch the music videos for ‘Love Story’, ‘You Belong With Me’, and ‘Mean’ whenever I stayed at my grandmother’s house. So, when Taylor released a new album in 2012, she decided it would be a perfect gift for me.
I listened to that CD more times than I can count, poring over the lyric booklet and imagining it as the soundtrack for the movies I wanted to make. When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I sang ‘Holy Ground’ for my school talent show (my grand plan was to make eye contact with a crush so they’d know I was directing it at them, but I was far too nervous for that). Like pretty much every Taylor song I loved as a child, it certainly holds up. The instrumentation is bouncy and fun, the wistfulness is palpable, and I still shout along with the repeated bridge.
Over the years, my appreciation for this track has only deepened. I share in Taylor’s nostalgia for lost love, and feel nostalgic for my own childhood. Love is such a beautiful thing, even if it ends. We hardly ever realize the meaning of a moment before it passes. When I think about my younger self, worrying about elementary crushes and dancing along to Taylor in my room, I truly do think that I was standing on holy ground.” – Uncle Emmington
It's clear to hear the influence Taylor Swift has had on Uncle Emmington’s music, with their acoustically and lyrically driven songs. We wrote about Everyone’s Favourite Uncle earlier in the year when they participated in Charitindie 2023. Their shorter and more direct songs led to Em playing the most packed setlist on the entire livestream, with tracks from their second album ‘Alphabet Soup’, plus some unreleased songs too! We later wrote about Em’s single ‘No Cowboys Are Coming’ back in May, in particular the self-made wild west music video.
Follow Uncle Emmington on Facebook @UncleEmmington, on Instagram and TikTok @uncle_emmington, and on Twitter @unc_emm.
“There seems to be a bit of a trend of people dismissing first singles from albums, but they’re usually chosen for a reason - I never see people naming LWYMMD as their favourite track from reputation, but to me it’s perfect.
I’ll never forget waking up to the lyric video being released at 5am in the UK and my jaw dropping to the floor! The snake imagery, the darker electronic pop sound, the iconic lyrics introducing us to the reputation narrative that had us all believe the album would be about revenge instead of love - to me it truly personifies the word ‘iconic’. It inspired me so much as a musician.
I was going through a lot of feelings of anger and resentment as I’d been feeling pretty jaded and vilified from various sources at the time. It's still one of my all-time favourite Taylor tracks purely because of the memories I have attached to it. It came along at the perfect time.” – Emma Blackery
Emma Blackery has enjoyed a dynamic career in the world of entertainment, always maintaining a creative outlet through her YouTube channel that has explored genres of comedy, gaming, beauty and general vlogs. But this is all secondary to her love and commitment towards her music.
For the past ten years, Emma has been releasing EPs and touring the UK with music that is all at once fun, vulnerable, passionate, and always representative of who she is in the moment. This culminated in the release of her debut album ‘Villains’ in 2018, and her follow-up ‘Girl In A Box’ in 2021.
We’ve written about Emma’s music more than any other artist on Moths and Giraffes. In 2020 alone, we interviewed her three times for her EP ‘My Arms Are Open’, her ‘Villains (Acoustic Anniversary Edition)’ album and her standalone single ‘Blossom’ at the end of the year. To celebrate Emma’s return to touring in 2022, we wrote about our Top-Ten Blackery tracks, with commentary from Emma on their creation. Rumour has it there’s more music to come from Emma Blackery soon…
Follow Emma Blackery on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook @emmablackery.
“My favourite Taylor song is ‘August’. The track sounds like nostalgia in music form to me. I remember when I first heard it I already felt like I knew it. She has such an amazing way of putting these feelings into her songs, through the melodies and lyrics - everything is always so effortless but still so intentional and refined. Every time I hear it I hear a lyric in a different way or see something from a new perspective. There’s an openness to it that’s warm, whilst also really getting an insight into her own experience. Taylor’s voice and the world of production around her really lends itself to the song too, it’s a perfect reflection to the songs feel, vibe and story. She’s a genius and her writing is so inspiring.” – Hannah Grace
We first heard the music of Hannah Grace in person when we saw her supporting Gabrielle Aplin in early 2016. We were taken by both her powerful and tender vocal quality and fell in love with her early EPs ‘Meant To Be Kind’ and ‘Mustang’. With her headline shows on the rise, by 2019 we were seeing her supporting Barbra Streisand at BST in Hyde Park.
In 2020, we finally got to interview Hannah Grace for the release of her debut album ‘Remedy’, featuring the singles ‘Blue’, ‘With You’ and ‘The Bed You Made’. Grace’s cover of ‘Praise You’ gained popularity when it was used for the Lloyd’s Bank advert ‘By Your Side’ in 2017, an arrangement of which is included on her album.
In late 2022, we returned to the music of Hannah Grace to interview her about her reminiscent Christmas single ‘Just ‘Cause It’s Christmas (Always Been A Dreamer)’. This year, Hannah has been busy releasing her new four-track EP ‘Love Takes A While To Grow’ and is set to headline Cardiff’s Acapela Studio on July 27th.
Hannah Grace will be on her ‘Devoted’ tour of the UK in November, with her date at Manchester’s Castle Hotel already sold-out. Tickets are available from her official website.
Follow Hannah Grace on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @hangracemusic.
“Love Story was the first Taylor Swift song I ever heard, and it’s still one of my favourites. I first heard it driving in the car somewhere with my Dad, a gruff northerner who rarely exhibits enthusiasm. It came on the radio and he cranked the volume up with a big smile – ‘it’s just such a good pop song’ he said, bopping along merrily as the lyrics about overwrought teen love filled the car.
And it really is. To this day, I can’t hear those first opening bars, the opening snare, the acoustic guitar strums, the musical sparkle, without Dad’s same big smile on my face. I love Taylor Swift’s newest albums, the more acoustic, thoughtful songs, the wistful melancholy of getting older that she’s exploring, but my favourite Taylor songs are the sugariest of pop.
Love Story is about the optimism of being a teenage girl falling in love for the first time, and seeing nothing but magic in the world even in the parts that seem unduly tough. I would not be a teenager again for any money in the world, but hearing that song even at the ripe old age of a woman in her thirties reminds me of how exciting those early years could be, and how unifying really great pop music is.” – Kirsty Merryn
Having released her debut album ‘She & I’ in 2017, we took a deep dive into Kirsty Merryn’s second record ‘Our Bright Night’ a year after its release in 2021. Kirsty’s musicianship is driven by a passion for folk music and the tales that define it. This is prevalent throughout her work and in the community she immerses herself in.
Later in 2021, she collaborated with Ben Walker to celebrate the traditional harvest in their EP ‘Life and the Land’, and are in the process of planning a follow-up. More recently, Kirsty Merryn has been on tour with Show Of Hands across the UK and has released an album with The Ciderhouse Rebellion. Recorded in just a week, the music of the eleven-track album called ‘The Devil’s On The Mast’ is largely improvised, with preconceived lyrics, and almost all first takes. The record celebrates the untold stories of the ordinary people who helped shape the history of the UK.
Follow Kirsty Merryn on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @kirstymerryn.
“I am such a big fan of both the National and Taylor Swift that when a collaboration between the two was announced, a part of me was convinced I had willed Folklore into existence. It did not disappoint and was everything I hoped and expected it to be: the perfect combination of Taylor's exquisite melodies and Aaron Dessner’s effortless cool production.
Released during the height of the pandemic, Folklore became my ultimate lockdown album, the sweet melancholy of it accompanied my daily, government mandated walks through North London. To this day, certain corners are irrevocably tied in my brain to particular verses of Folklore.
I could write about many songs off this record, but I have chosen Seven, because I identify with it deeply. Every now and then, an artist manages to capture a part of the human experience so well that listening to their piece of work is like looking into a profoundly clear and beautiful mirror. It makes us feel seen.
To me, Seven, is a love letter to a younger self and to little girls in general. It is a point of view we so seldom get to hear in our culture.
‘Please picture me in the weeds before I learnt civility, I used to scream ferociously anytime I wanted.’
This line had me in tears upon first (and countless subsequent) listens. All children inevitably lose their innocence, but girls in particular are taught by our society to be quiet, polite and to shrink, to take up as little space as possible.
I think on my prepubescent self often - she was able to sing at the top of her voice without embarrassment or shame. My grown up self is still working on regaining that confidence.
Seven is full of very specific, yet beautifully universal touch stones of being a girl child. The mysticism, the magic, the strengths and vulnerabilities are all expressed in wondrous imagery of being too afraid to jump off swings, playing with dolls and climbing trees.
This song does not have a big chorus - the lyrics and the understated melody are what makes it so special and that is actually quite rare for Taylor Swift, whose songs usually rely on big, skilfully crafted pop melodies with punchy hooks.
The question posed at the end of each verse: ‘Are there still beautiful things?’ is such an elegant expression of nostalgia and a longing to reconnect with more innocent times.” – Roxanne de Bastion
Connection with the past is a cornerstone of Roxanne de Bastion’s work as an artist. We covered much of her career including her album ‘Heirlooms & Hearsay’ at the beginning of 2021. Our piece also explored her first book ‘Tales From The Rails’, and her cover of The National’s ‘I Should Live In Salt’, finishing with her latest single at the time called ‘Heavy Lifting’.
This single was later included on her next album, the critically acclaimed ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’, produced by Bernard Butler and released in September 2021. In both albums, Roxanne explores her family history, with the latter focusing on her connection with her late father Richard de Bastion.
Music is intertwined with the de Bastion heritage. Roxanne is currently writing a book that delves deeper into the story of her grandfather Stephen, his baby-grand piano, and their escape from Hungary during World War II. The book is called ‘The Piano Player of Budapest’ and will be published by Little, Brown and Co. in June 2024.
Earlier this year we covered Roxanne’s new live album of her last show in 2022 called ‘Live At St. Pancras Old Church’. Having witnessed the concert in person, the stripped back arrangements showcase the timeless quality of Roxanne’s songwriting, with live strings and an intimate audience. Roxanne de Bastion is set to kick off a residency at Camden’s Green Note in July where she will debut new music with special guest performers.
Follow Roxanne de Bastion on Facebook @Roxannedebastion, and on Instagram and Twitter @roxannemusic.
‘I am looking forward to Taylor’s version of Speak Now more than any other re-release because it has my favorite song of hers on it: Never Grow Up. My current day job is as a nanny for children, mostly pre-verbal toddlers, and the first verse of the song has an incredible knack for making me cry every time. I am sure this will only intensify when I have my own kids in the future, but for now the idea of the babies I care for getting older and coming into their own as people is very moving. I am incredibly excited to hear the re-made version of this!’ – Delenn Jadzia
We wrote about Delenn’s single ‘Winter’ earlier this year and interviewed them about their many avenues of creativity. This includes the co-writing of their musical ‘Homebrewed: A Musical Quest’, works of fiction and their 2022 debut album ‘A Mad Experiment In Living’.
Jadzia’s music is characterised by poetic words and imagery over simple acoustic accompaniment. This can be heard in Delenn’s recently released singles ‘Icarus’ and ‘Finding God (with LSD)’. We had the pleasure of featuring Delenn Jadzia as part of the line-up for Charitindie 2023. Armed with their ukulele, they performed a solo rendition of ‘Bittersweet’, their single with Piper Wildwood, and their popular track ‘Isla Vista’ taken from ‘A Mad Experiment In Living’.
Delenn Jadzia is set to continue releasing new music in July and August, including their collaboration with Uncle Emmington called ‘Carbon Monoxide’.
Follow Delenn Jadzia on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok @delennjadzia.
“It’s hard to pick one, but I feel like this is a curveball because people have forgotten about it. But it is a queer anthem. It’s very easy to drum to, so I use it a lot when I’m teaching drums. I get students to play along to it and I’ve just seen so many students light up and realise for the first time, that they can play drums, when they play along with this song. So it’s got like a personal meaning.
But it also just slaps! And it’s so sassy! And I love all the ‘folklore’, deep, emotional stuff, right? But I also just love Taylor’s sass, and I wish we had more of that. I hope she writes more sassy shit in future. Yeah! I think this might be my favourite album. Or it’s in my Top 3, which I know is, it’s one of her very poppy ones.
But that resonates with me because I came at being a fan of hers through pop as opposed to her, more sort of country, early stuff, or even her later stuff that’s going in a more, I don’t know it’s still pop isn’t it? But like, it’s gone a bit more cool. Yeah, her production’s always gonna be such quality, that she’s always gonna be something/pop. Do you know what I mean? It’s like, even if she writes a metal album or something. It will be sort of metal/pop, because her tone, her vocal tone, like- It’s just so perfect. It has to be pop.” – Maxie Cheer
We’ve previously covered different aspects of Maxie Cheer’s career. A full-time session musician, live drummer, teacher and mentor, Maxie is also a member of creative duo Just Kids. Prior to their name change in 2022, Moths and Giraffes wrote about their previous work as Wahl from 2018 to 2020, and then again for their pandemic single ‘split’.
Since then, we interviewed Maxie about his wider career, their drumming origins and some of the artists they’ve had the pleasure of working with. Most recently, Maxie put out a new single with Just Kids called ‘california’, and has embarked on an experimental solo venture.
Using drums as an anchor, Maxie creates ambient soundscapes with vocal samples and music they love, on a journey of musical discovery. This began with their single ‘rick rubin’, released earlier in 2023. After touring with Bimini and Kate Nash, Maxie played his first solo gig at Stoke Newington’s Bar Doña, which we’re excited to tell you more about very soon…
Follow the adventures of Maxie Cheer on his Instagram page @maxieplaysdrums.
Follow Just Kids on Instagram and TikTok @wearejstkids, on Twitter @justkidsmusic and on Facebook @jstkids.
‘I mean, it's basically Taylor Swift singing on a shoegaze song - of course this would be my favourite.
The tight, dead drums; the panning, washed-out guitars; the warm, delicate, Dreampop production - it's the kind of instrumental that wouldn't be out of place on a Cigarettes After Sex or Japanese Breakfast album. Certainly not something I would've typically expected to hear on a Taylor Swift album.
But more than just sounding like other artists I like, what sets this song apart for me is, in Taylor’s songs, I often find that the imagery and stories live and die with her lyrics and vocal performances (as is often the case in genres like pop and country, I think), but this is an instance where the instrumental contributes just as much to the song's themes and aesthetic as her words and voice.
It would definitely have been played in The Roadhouse at the end of an episode of Twin Peaks had it been around when that was being made.’ – Michael Hamilton
This is one we would’ve picked too! Video game and film soundtrack composer Michael Hamilton was among the first artists we interviewed back in 2020. In that year we wrote about his music twice, for his album ‘Pale Shadows Of Forgotten Names’, and later again for the follow-up ‘Under A Proud and Merciless Sun’.
Michael is a keen explorer of music, designing vast landscapes and shapeshifting from heavy guitars, to techno, orchestral and jazz arrangements. In 2023 he released his latest album ‘A Language Forever’ and composed the soundtrack for the forthcoming film ‘The Labyrinth’, directed by Stephen Alexander. Just announced, this year Michael Hamilton collaborated with Ross Cairns on a five-track EP they describe as ‘hard techno tracks, too spicy for labels’. The result is ‘The Right Kind Of Different’, available to download and stream now.
Follow Michael Hamilton on Instagram @michaelhamiltonmusic, on Twitter @MichaelH_Music and on Facebook @MichaelHamiltonMusic1.
“Taylor Swift is a cultural phenomenon—even if you’re not a huge Swiftie, it’s likely that her music has affected you in some way. I love her music, but I’ve never been a super active or knowledgeable fan (or as my friends call it: ‘undergone Swiftification’). Even so, I have many fond memories throughout my life that her music played a role in. Whether it was meeting lifelong friends at a 5th grade birthday party singing Taylor Swift karaoke, making a duet cover of ‘Safe and Sound’ in 2012 grade with an overseas online friend, hearing a twelfth grade English teacher describe Taylor’s ‘parasocial relationship with herself’ in the ‘You Belong With Me’ music video (a real highlight of my academic career), or singing along to her CDs on road trips with my first girlfriend whenever we didn’t have enough cellular connection to use Spotify, Taylor Swift’s music has been a character in so many little pieces of my life.
Recently, I really connected with her song ‘Nothing New.’ I think 22 is a fraught age—you are still so young, young enough that you maybe haven’t fully settled into adulthood yet, but you are no longer seen as shiny and new by a society that treats youth as currency. It’s unlikely that anyone will find it impressive that you do xyz at ‘such a young age’ anymore.
‘Lord, what will become of me, once I've lost my novelty?’
It was so reassuring to me to realize that even Taylor Swift, someone who famously started her career at a very young age and whose success has only grown since, shared in this experience. Not only Taylor herself, but millions of fans. Knowing just how many people connected to lyrics like ‘How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?’ reminded me that my anxieties were not mine alone, and helped me feel like I was where I was supposed to be, even when it felt like I was falling behind.” – Copeland James
Bloomington, Indiana songwriter Copeland James has spent many years honing their craft, and now they’re finally seeing the fruits of their labour. We caught up with Copeland at the end of 2022 when we wrote about their debut single ‘Restless In Rome’. James’ music is a blend of intricate arrangements and vocal melodies that feature beautiful piano and strings from their classically trained hand.
In 2023, they’ve stepped up their activity, playing gigs with their trusty keytar and continuing releasing singles from their debut album ‘Small Talk’. These include ‘Best Friend’, and the adorable hand-knitted stop-motion video for ‘Darling We’ve Got Time’, with the full album having just been released in June on CD, download and streaming platforms.
Copeland James was the final performer on Charitindie 2023 and has just played their first headlining launch gig at the Blockhouse Bloomington. The gig was a celebration of ‘Small Talk’ that included new merch, a set design and a six-piece band with live strings. Working hard in the background, Copeland has just released their new music video for the album’s title track!
Follow Copeland James on Instagram and TikTok @copelandjamesmusic and on Twitter @copelandjmusic.
“For me this song does it all. On face value it’s beautifully crafted, with lyrics and a melody I’d kill to have written. But on a deeper level it also challenges a huge issue we have today with double standards, especially in the music industry towards women.
It sometimes seems as an artist that you’re expected to be both young and mature enough at the same time, which I think creates a huge paradox that in reality is nearly impossible to achieve. There’s a huge lack of positivity towards aging and a missing message that it’s totally okay to not have your shit together by the time you’re 23. The general attitude I’ve encountered as a woman along the lines of ‘aren’t you getting too old now?’ is so damaging. So aside from being such a beautiful song, what Taylor is doing here for me is so very important.
She’s setting an example to everyone, but especially younger girls, who I suspect won’t even realise the importance of the message she’s giving here for a good few years. There will be teenagers out there now who will listen back to this in 10 years and hear a whole new side to it. I cannot think of another pop song that calls out this attitude so directly and on such a huge platform, and for that I think Taylor is incredibly brave. She’s just a genius songwriter, to present a message like this that appeals to all ages on varying levels in a pop song is perfection to me.” – Rachel Still
We’ve already told you about Maxie Cheer’s work with duo Just Kids – Rachel Still is the other half of that duo. Still is the vocalist, guitarist, producer and creative engine for Just Kids. Having relaunched with their new name last summer, Just Kids put out their debut single in November called ‘hurt’. Their sound centres on gut-wrenching vocals and lyricism from Rachel, wall of sound electric guitars and technical and attentive drumming from Cheer.
More recently, Just Kids released their second single, ‘california’, centring on Rachel’s experiences and love for the American state with roots in her childhood. Not only does Still write and produce much of their work, she’s instrumental in the creation of their music videos. The visuals for ‘california’ continue to enthral us with its grainy monochrome reproduction, shot on location in that state’s Death Valley National Park. Accompanying this was a live video of the same song, stripped back and filmed on the dusty roadside while cars zoomed past.
Just Kids are set to continue releasing new music throughout 2023, including a new single this summer and their self-produced debut EP in Autumn.
Follow Just Kids on Instagram and TikTok @wearejstkids, on Twitter @justkidsmusic and on Facebook @jstkids.
Follow Rachel Still on Instagram @rachelemilystill.
“I’m not by any means a Swiftie. That whole thing of Taylor Swift’s emergence into young female consciousness passed me by, I was too busy binging skinny white lad guitar bands at the time. ‘Perhaps if I imbibed enough of that music then the skinny white lads in my musical circle wouldn’t treat me like trash?’ was my subconscious reasoning. Of course, I was tragically misled. Consequently, TS crept into awareness after my feminist awakening in 2012, but it was ‘Karma’ from 2022’s Midnights that tipped me over into enjoyment.
On the surface, ‘Karma’ is a mid-tempo slice of mid-intention pop. It’s not a title track and it’s not a single, but in my opinion, it slaps; and when something slaps my internal music snobbery can fall away long enough to pay attention. I had heard a lot about Midnights, and I had a shit-ton of cleaning to do in February of this year, so I stacked it up on a big playlist of neglected albums to listen to while I begrudgingly pushed a vacuum around.
I confess Karma made me stop and turn the vacuum off to listen because Taylor self-assuredly swears in the very first line, which was unexpected. The princess of pop has a potty mouth?? How shocking! I listened to the track a few times on loop. The sleek synths and the simplicity of the lyrics caught me, and they are yet to let me go. Even people who aren’t Buddhist are familiar with the concept of Karma, and Taylor squares it beautifully within the metaphorical reach of contemporary western feminine reach. Deep down, I’m pretty sure we all wish Karma was our boyfriend.” - Rookes
Rookes is an empowering figure in production. Not only did she use the pandemic to her advantage by honing her production skills and turning it into a full-time job, she helped bring together women and gender minorities in a growing Facebook group called 2% Rising. The group seeks to challenge the alarming percentage of these demographics in music production, functioning as a networking hub and safe space to share ideas and review mixes.
During this time, Rookes also recorded her debut album. We first reviewed the artistic work of Rookes back in September 2022 upon the release of the album’s lead single ‘Consent’. In May, we took a deep dive on the full album, titled ‘POPNOTPOP’, and found a melting pot of styles, dance bangers, glistening arrangements and personal lyrics. Rookes continues to enhance the work of her clients, we even bumped into her recently at Maxie Cheer’s debut solo gig as she mixed the sound!
Follow Rookes on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @iamrookes.
“My favourite Taylor Swift song, the one I keep returning to, is 'Enchanted'. Speak Now is a really fun and alive album for me, and this song in particular builds up to such a climax that leaves me belting with my arms wide open. It's the kind of song I belt out in my car to with the windows down. There's so much tension in the verses and I can't help but move to the rhythm when it builds and builds. It's so electric.
It's also had different sentiments for me throughout the years: at first I would listen on my own, then a few years ago I discovered it was also my brother's favourite Taylor song so we would belt it together, and now me and my partner love it so much he's going to reverse engineer the song and record me singing on it. I'm actually very excited to hear the track on her upcoming Speak Now, Taylor's Version to feel how it might be different. Hopefully it will renew my passion for the song and I'll enjoy the differences.” – Luce
So enthralled by the concept of songwriting, Luce studied the subject for her Masters. We first wrote about the music of Luce upon the release of her debut single ‘Shoulder’ back in early 2021. We followed this up a year later by covering everything she’d done during the interim, including her single ‘Lamplight’, which was to later feature on her debut EP ‘Observational Writing’.
In 2023, Luce began a residency at Camden’s Green Note called ‘Getting Loose: Stories In Song’, which we have enjoyed attending. The intimate evening is set in the cosy Green Note basement, where being able to hear a pin drop isn’t unusual. Usually centring on two songwriters, Luce interviews them about their music and their stories surrounding it, interspersed with performances of their work. The next one will be on Wednesday 19th of July and will feature SATCH as well as a chat with Luce’s co-writer EVA. Tickets are available now.
Follow Luce on Instagram and Twitter @musicby_luce and on Facebook @lucebarks.
For the Getting Loose events, follow @gettingloose_ on Instagram.
Also one of our favourite songs at Moths and Giraffes, we felt the message of ‘Enchanted’ was the perfect way to end our celebration of Taylor Swift’s music, and what’s to come with ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’.
We’d like to thank all the artists who contributed to this piece, for taking the time in their busy schedules to write us their thoughts with all their variation and personal stories. And with all the dates for The Eras Tour, wherever you are, we hope you can secure the tickets you want. Keep enjoying the music of Taylor Swift, and all music in general!
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We have a Spotify Playlist! Featuring almost every artist we've written about on Moths and Giraffes, find some new music here.
For submissions, or if you’d just like to send us your thoughts, don’t hesitate to contact us via our social media accounts, our contact page, or via email at mothsandgiraffes@outlook.com. We receive a lot of emails though, so please bear with us!
