Taylor Swift’s Album ‘Folklore’ Was Even a Secret to Her Record Label

Taylor Swift surprised the world with the release of her album, ‘Folklore’. And when we say ‘the world’, we mean ‘the world’.

Recently, it is revealed that Taylor’s record label, Republic Records, also did not know about it until after it was actually released Friday. The album was written and recorded while self-isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Taylor collaborated on 11 of the 16 new songs on the already hit album. It included multi-instrumentalist, Aaron Dessner of the indie rock band The National. The instrumentalist revealed little behind-the-scenes details in an interview with Pitchfork.

Dessner explains how he and Taylor kept their project a secret. He said there was no outside influence and nobody knew including Taylor’s record label. Dessner says they only knew hours before it was released. He further said, ‘For someone who’s been in this glaring spotlight for 15 years, it’s really liberating to have some privacy and work on her own terms. She deserves that.’

The instrumentalist also revealed how he wanted his friends to play on the record but he could not have Taylor’s vocals on them. Because then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore. He said, ‘In the end, I reached out to some wizards just to add bits, and that was nice. It was kind of fun’.

Dessner described how they kept asking him why he can’t tell them and kept making up their theories about it. He also reveals that he had to keep it a secret from his eight-year-old daughter, who is a big Swiftie. We mean, who isn’t right?

‘I honored my confidentiality’- Dessner

Dessner added that his daughter asked him one day if he knows Taylor Swift and it was the day he finished writing the song with Taylor. But he had to avoid the questions and say that he did not know Taylor. ‘I was so glad that we kept it [a secret] because I didn’t want to be the one that spilled the beans,’ Dessner said before adding, ‘I honored my confidentiality.’ 

Folklore has already become a major hit by selling 1.3 million copies after being out for only 24 hours. It also broke the global streaming record on Spotify and Apple Music.

Before Taylor Swift released the album, fans took to social media to speculate a lot of different theories about her upcoming album. Taylor’s fans think that Joe Alwyn has co-written the songs of the album with the singer. The singer surprised her fans on Thursday morning claiming she will be releasing her album at midnight.

She took to Instagram and said a lot of things that she did plan did not happen and things she did not plan did happen. Taylor explained that the thing that did happen is her eighth studio album, Folklore. She wrote “Surprise!” and announced she will be releasing the album at midnight. The singer explained that she has put all her whims, dreams, fears, and musings into the album.

We can count on Swifties when we need information about Taylor or her albums. With a little bit of research, some fans claimed that Joe will be a part of this album in a unique way.

William Bowery is Code For Joe Alwyn?

The claims started from Taylor talking about the team who helped her make the music. “I wrote and recorded this music in isolation but got to collaborate with some musical heroes of mine; @aarondessner (who has co-written or produced 11 of the 16 songs), @boniver (who co-wrote and was kind enough to sing on one with me), William Bowery (who co-wrote two with me) and @jackantonoff (who is basically musical family at this point),” she shared online.

Fans immediately started to speculate that William Bowery is actually Joe Alwyn. He did not have an Instagram account which sort of convinced fans. A fan site was quick to notice that Taylor and Joe had their first met in Hotel Bowery in New York.

Another fan gave us the information from Joe’s Wikipedia page that the actor is the great-grandson of William Alwyn. And again there was another clue which said that William spent much of his life as a composer, conductor, and music teacher. 

This can be true since it will not be the first time Taylor has faked a songwriter’s name. She faked the name of her previous boyfriend, Calvin Harris while writing the song ‘This is What You Came For’. The singer used the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg to credit herself. Her then-boyfriend, Calvin confirmed in a tweet saying, “Amazing lyric writer and she smashed it as usual.”

Taylor has already dropped her album Folklore. However, she has also released the music video of one of the songs in the album called, ‘Cardigan’. The singer assured fans that a medical inspector was present while shooting the video and everybody took the necessary precautions. She wrote, “The entire shoot was overseen by a medical inspector, everyone wore masks, stayed away from each other, and I even did my own hair, makeup, and styling.”

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