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Ryan Adams released his eagerly anticipated full-album coverof Taylor Swift's 1989 on Sunday night,and the Internet promptly melted down. It wasn't just fans who werefreaking out – Taylor herself is fangirling over what she calls the "reimagining"of her hit album.
The Grammy-winning singer called into Beats 1 on Monday, surprisingRyan during his interview with Zane Lowe and talked about her excitement over his album.
Taylor Swift found it hard to pick a favorite song Photo: Getty Images
"I think that the album is absolutely gorgeous,"Taylor, 25, said. "My favorite thing about it is … that they’re not coversongs. They’re reimaginings of my songs, and you can tell that he was in adifferent place emotionally than I was. There’s this beautiful aching sadnessand longing in this album that doesn’t exist in the original."
Ryan explained that the idea for thecover album dated back to last November. "I was going through a difficulttime in my life," he said, "and by the time Christmas rolled around,it was the first time I was back in Los Angeles during the holidays, basicallyalone, on my own. I was totally bummed out." (The singer and wife Mandy Moore announced their divorce in January after almost six years of marriage.)
Ryan Adams recorded Taylor's album when he was going through a 'difficult time' Photo: Getty Images
Ryan, 40, bought a four-track cassetterecorder, with plans to make a back-to-basics acoustic album like BruceSpringsteen's Nebraska so he spent a week and a half learning the songs andrecorded four of them before the machine chewed up the tapes. He then re-recordedthe whole album with a full band.
"That record and what shewas saying, I knew at that moment, 'This is actually how I'mgoing to be able to say what I needed to say,' maybe as much or more than whatI had to say on my own record," Ryan explained, who has already completed hisnext record, a double album, which he described as "the darkest deepestmost romantic or loss of stuff I have ever done."
Ryan added that without Taylor's songs, "I don't thinkI could have got those feelings out."
Taylor, who is on tour, said that Ryan's rearrangements ofher melodies "got in my head." She continued: "I would start singing his new melodies on tour, and Iwould have to stop myself because the crowd would be so confused [as] they haven'theard this record. Upon the first listen I knew itwas a great album but those melodies reinstating themselves in my brain asreplacing the originals? All right, this is a really great album."
Taylor said she couldn't pick afavorite song off Ryan's album, saying it was a tie between "Blank Space" and "How You Get the Girl."
The pair, who revealed they've written together in the past,haven't announced any future plans to work together, but Taylor said she's "open toanything collaborative." Based on the fact that she's had special gueststars join her onstage throughout her tour across the U.S. this summer, we have our fingers crossed for a live collaboration on stage very soon!