Taylor Swift has secretly based the genres of her songs on what type of pen she is using to write.
The singer, 32, says she thinks it’s “dorky” she has three different types of tune that have been written using a quill, fountain or glitter gel pen.
She said in a long essay for The Times on Saturday (08.10.22) about her creative process: “I’ve never talked about this publicly before because, well, it’s dorky. But I have secretly established genre categories for the lyrics I write. “They are affectionately titled Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics.
“This sounds confusing but I came up with these categories based on what writing tool I imagined having in my hand when I scribbled it down. I don't have a quill. Anymore. I broke it when I was mad.”
She says words written in “the ‘Quill’ style” contain words and phrases that are “antiquated”, which she may have been inspired to write “after reading Charlotte Brontë or after watching a movie where everyone is wearing poet shirts and corsets”.
Taylor added: “If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson's greatgrandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre.
“Here’s one example: ‘How’s one to know?/ I’d meet you where the spirit meets the bones / In a faith forgotten land / In from the snow / Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow / Tarnished but so grand’.”
She went on: “Fountain pen style means a modern storyline or references with a poetic twist. Taking a common phrase and flipping its meaning. Trying to paint a vivid picture of a situation, down to the chipped paint on the door frame and the incense dust on the vinyl shelf. Placing yourself and whoever is listening in the room where it all happened.”
Taylor added the “Glitter Gel Pen” songs are “frivolous, carefree, bouncy, syncopated perfectly to the beat” to match her writing tool.
She said: “Glitter Gel Pen lyrics don’t care if you don't take them seriously because they don’t take themselves seriously.
“Glitter Gel Pen lyrics are the drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an angel in the bathroom.
“It's what we need once in a while in these fraught times.”
Taylor, who has been dating actor Joe Alwyn, 31, since 2006, concluded: “Why did I make these categories? Because I love doing this thing I am fortunate to call a job. Writing songs is my life's work and my hobby and my never-ending thrill.”
