Aaron Dessner surprised fans at two of Taylor Swift’s three The Eras Tour shows in Tampa, Florida last weekend.
On Friday, April 14, Swift brought Dessner out to perform “The Great War” with her, their Midnights (3am) track, as one of the night’s two mystery songs. The following night, Dessner featured again during the mystery song portion — this time, to debut “Mad Woman” from Swift’s Grammy-winning 2020 album, Folklore.
Afterward, Dessner called The Eras Tour “the greatest show I’ve ever seen!!!!!” His admiration for Swift spilled into The Telegraph‘s newly published profile of The National, his primary band for over two decades.
“She is an incredibly gifted writer, with the lyrical prowess of a Joni Mitchell but also an entertainer on this level of, like, Beyoncé, and I don’t think we’ve seen that before,” Dessner told the publication. “She made me so much better than I could have ever imagined on my own. It felt like a lightning bolt hit the house. Because I just do what I do. And then she would be like, ‘Here’s this elaborately written narrative to your sad piano that you played on ‘Cardigan.’”
Two paragraphs prior, Dessner also showered Ed Sheeran with praise.
“Taylor and Ed are so incredibly successful, but when we are working on something together, it couldn’t be more grounded,” he said. “We’re all trying to make something good, compelling and authentic. Maybe it’s the sound in this emotional current, where everything doesn’t have to be bright and shiny or plastic or perfect. It can be fragile, bold, rough, loud, quiet, but music should make you feel something. That is always what we are looking for in the National.”
Dessner prominently contributed to production and writing on Sheeran’s – (Subtract), his sixth studio album due out on May 5. The National’s next album, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, will come first on April 28.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.