NEED TO KNOW
- Taylor Swift reunited with Max Martin and Shellback to make her new album, The Life of a Showgirl
- The trio previously worked together on her Red, 1989 and Reputation albums
- Swift spoke about working on the album in Europe on the New Heights podcast
The dream team of Taylor Swift, Max Martin and Shellback are back together for The Life of a Showgirl.
The pop superstar, 35, detailed her upcoming 12th original studio album in an appearance on the New Heights podcast with her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce. She opened up about utilizing off time in Europe on the Eras Tour to get back in the studio with writer/producers Martin and Shellback, whom she previously worked with on her Red, 1989 and Reputation albums.
Upon announcing the new album, Swift noted “something that I was working on while I was in Europe on the Eras Tour” and then detailed reuniting with Martin, 54, and Shellback, whose real name is Karl Johan Schuster.
“Working with them again was absolutely incredible,” said Swift. “And actually when I was on tour in Stockholm, I had Max Martin come out to the show, and I was talking to him, and I was like, ‘I just feel like we could just knock it out of the park if we went back in, and we did this all in Sweden, and it was just us three.’”
She added, “I essentially said to him, I want to be as proud of an album as I am of the Eras Tour and for the same reasons, you know? And he was like, ‘Do you understand what kind of pressure that is?’”
Swift reflected on taking time away from the big pop bangers she previously made with Martin and Shellback (including “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Ready for It” and more) to focus on the more “alt-folk” music and challenging lyricism of her Folklore and Evermore albums before working with the collaborators again.
“I feel like both Max and Shelback did that too in their own ways going out into the world. And when we by the time we came back together, I feel like we had so much more dexterity to what we do,” explained the Grammy winner.
She explained how they’ve all “grown up so much” in the interim between collaborations. “Shellback and I were both in our early 20s when we started working together, the three of us,” said the “Style” singer.
Swift continued, “And so it was very much like we were the ingenues, and Max was the mentor. And this was the time where it felt like all three of us in the room were carrying the same weight as creators. And it was really special. It meant the world to me to have this creative experience where like we knew that we had to bring the best ideas we’ve ever had.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Aware of “the pressure I’m putting on this record” by making such a claim, she exclaimed, “I don’t care ‘cause I love it that much. And I’m so proud of it.”
“It just comes from like the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life. And so that effervescence has come through on this record,” she said, teasing “bangers” on the project.
“This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time,” said Swift, who previously teased the reunion with Martin and Shellback with a Spotify playlist highlighting their past work together.
The Life of a Showgirl is set for an Oct. 3 release.
Read the full article here
