Alexi LubomirskiWhile it may seem like she’s written songs about everyone in her life by this point, Taylor Swift says it actually takes a special kind of someone to inspire her songwriting.
In a conversation with model Pattie Boyd — who served as muse to Eric Clapton and George Harrison — for the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar, Taylor discusses the “mystical, magical moments” in songwriting and why not everyone she dates is going to end up in a song.
“I don’t know what it is that makes some people really creatively inspiring,” she says. “There have been people I’ve spent a lot of time with who I just couldn’t write about…It’s just that some people come into your life and they have this effect on you.”
Throughout six albums, Taylor says songwriting remains “the purest part of my job” – especially when she’s able to write something the moment inspiration hits.
“There are definitely moments when it’s like this cloud of an idea comes and just lands in front of your face, and you reach up and grab it,” she says. “A lot of songwriting is things you learn, structure, and cultivating that skill, and knowing how to craft a song. But there are mystical, magical moments, inexplicable moments when an idea that is fully formed just pops into your head.”
She adds, “It can get complicated on every other level, but the songwriting is still the same uncomplicated process it was when I was 12 years old writing songs in my room.”
The August issue of Harper’s Bazaar hits stands July 24.
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