Taylor Swift's boyfriend Joe Alwyn is credited with co-writing and co-producing several songs on her acclaimed sister albums folklore and evermore, but the British actor says his input was purely accidental.
Speaking to GQ Hype, Joe explained, "It was really the most accidental thing to happen in lockdown. It wasn't like, 'It's three o'clock, it's time to write a song!' It was just messing around on a piano and singing badly and being overheard and then thinking, you know, 'What if we tried to get to the end of it together?'"
In addition to co-writing the folklore songs "Exile" and "Betty" under the pseudonym William Bowery, Joe also co-produced those two tracks, plus "My Tears Ricochet", "August", "This Is Me Trying" and "Illicit Affairs." On evermore, he co-wrote "Champagne Problems," "Coney Island" and the title track.
The Conversations with Friends star said he chose to be credited under a different name because he didn't want his take attention away from Taylor's work. "The idea was that people would just listen to the music rather than focus on the fact that we wrote it together," he explained.
While Joe doesn't plan on co-writing any more songs with his girlfriend of six years, he says he did enjoy the experience. "It was fun to do it together, and I was proud of it," he told GQ. "It was nice getting such a positive reception."
In addition to a positive reception, Joe also got a Grammy for his trouble: When folklore won Album of the Year, he received his own trophy, along with the other producers who contributed to the project.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
