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Taylor Swift brings more with “The Life of a Showgirl” “Glitzerstift” songs. The singer revealed that Max Martin and Shellback – together with her – are responsible for her 12th studio album as the sole producer.
A pure team of three in the studio
On Wednesday evening, Swift announced the news in the podcast episode “New Heights”. There she described Martin as her “mentor” and spoke about her collaboration: “We three did some of my favorite songs that I have ever released,” she said in allusion to hits like “22”, “Shake it off” and “Blank Space”. She said about the duo: “You are genius in different areas, in different ways.”
“We have never made an album with which it is only three,” continued Swift before she confirmed: “There are no other partners. It is just a focused album from us three.” In the last five albums she worked primarily with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who also contributed to her Taylor’s version project. Over the years in between, in which folklore and evermore emerged, she said: “I just experimented and tried to challenge myself as a songwriter.”
The break was worth it: “When we came back together, I felt that we had a lot more flexibility in what we were doing,” said Swift. “It felt like we all three in the room wear the same creative weight.” She described the result as “the best ideas we have ever had”.
Development during the Eras Tour
The Life of a Showgirl was produced during the Eras Tour when Swift was in Sweden. “When I was on tour in Stockholm, Max Martin came to a show and I said to him: ‘I have the feeling that we could really get it perfect when we go back to the studio.’
The focus of the album was the connection to the tour: “I told him: ‘I want to be as proud of the album as on the Eras Tour – and for the same reasons.'” Martin’s reaction: “Do you know what pressure that is?” Swift replied: “Yes, and I don’t care because I love it so much.” She described the energy of the album as “bubbling” – created from an “contagious, happy, wild and dramatic” phase of life.