The National and Taylor Swift have a special chemistry when it comes to collaborating on music. The indie group played a crucial role in the making of her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and she’s featured on their forthcoming record First Two Pages Of Frankenstein.
In a new interview with The Telegraph, The National discussed working with the “Anti-Hero” singer. Aaron Dessner called her “an incredibly gifted writer,” comparing her to Joni Mitchell and Beyoncé. His bandmate Matt Berninger also divulged that “Cardigan” and “Willow,” the former a beloved cut from Folklore and the latter from Evermore, were originally intended to be songs for The National.
“I’d taken a swing at [‘Cardigan’] and ‘Willow’ and a couple of others, and I wasn’t having a lot of luck, so Aaron sent them to Taylor,” Berninger shared. “I always have a lot of music to work on, and I am looking for something to connect emotionally. The reverse has happened, too, where Aaron wrote something for Taylor, and I dove right in. It works both ways.”
In 2020, Berninger praised Swift after the release of Evermore. “Singing a song with Taylor Swift is like dancing with Gene Kelly,” he wrote on Twitter. “She made me look good and didn’t drop me once. ‘coney island’ is an incredibly beautiful song she and Aaron Dessner wrote together. It really made me miss Brooklyn. Such a blast being a part of evermore.”