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We definitely haven’t taken it seriously.  It’s been a blast.  We’ve had great fun. I think most nights we probably ended up in Hooters.  In fact, we bought a lot of the uniforms just for ourselves to wear at home.  I look really good in a Hooters outfit.

James Blunt on touring with Ed Sheeran via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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Not everyone, no.  Guns N Roses – you want them to stick to what they do best.  AC/DC – you want them to stick to what they do, but I think perhaps in the pop world, then sounds and sonics change, production methods change, audiences change and grow older, and I think then you have to shift and change with them.

James Blunt on challenges he’s faced as a songwriter via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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I’ve heard the first single, and it’s really exciting.  I think she’s a person who has reinvented herself over the years, and has always done so incredibly well and is always then opened up a bigger market to herself and a bigger audience to herself.

James Blunt on Reputation via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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It’s quite challenging with him, if I’m honest, because he’s a super fast writer and you have to try and keep up.  Sometimes I felt like I was his secretary, but what we did is we went away on a skiing holiday, which is a pretty cool thing to do as a writing session.  I taught him how to ski in the day, and at night we wrote songs.  And the one we wrote, ‘Make Me Better,’ is about my family.  He said, ‘Come on, let’s write about your family.’  I’m a really private person, and so I do write personal songs, but I don’t really point out who they’re about.  I kind of try to keep them more ambiguous.  And he’s got direct writer in his lyrics, so it’s a really direct song in that way.  And I suppose that was its challenge in many ways.  There was no hiding behind anything.

James Blunt on writing songs with Ed Sheeran via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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It’s weird because you’ll read newspapers, and you’ll think that all musicians are competing with each other because that’s the way record companies love it to be. But as a musician, actually, it’s not about competition at all.  It’s about collaboration.  And I’ve written with Ed Sheeran a bunch, and those songs are beautiful.  And without working with him or Ryan Tedder or the other many incredible musicians I’ve worked with along the way, I just probably would reproduce the same four chords.  And so it’s really nice to have an input and different ideas and it just twists and turns in different directions that it pushes you in.

James Blunt on collaborating with other artists via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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I wrote over one hundred songs for this album.  It’s called The Afterlove.  I really wanted to make something special for my fifth album, and I went away for two years to make it.  And I wrote over one hundred songs, and one of them was this song called OK,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, you know, it’s kind of okay.  It’s not that much.’ And then I bumped into a friend of mine, a German DJ called Robin Schulz, and he said, ‘Oh I’ve heard your song.  The record label played it to me.  And I’ve remixed it and am releasing it as a single.’  I then went back and revisited the song and found the heart in what I wrote in the first place.

James Blunt on his new song, “OKAY” via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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I would say he is manic, and he’s a maniac in many ways because he has so many ideas.  It is such a pleasure and a joy to work with someone so enthused by what he does, so enthused by music, and so enthralled to work with someone like me and really chase the directions that I’m excited to go in. So when I would send two ideas to the record company, and they’d say, ‘Please do the safe one.  It sounds like David Gray or Damien Rice or whatever you’ve done before, James.  And the other one is just too left of field.’  I’d play it to Ryan, and he’d say, ‘Come on.  Get on a plane.  Come and meet me.  I know which one you want to do, and I want to do it, too.’  You would expect me to write these weepy songs on a guitar about oh poor old me.  And, instead, these songs are full of excitement, full of life, and that’s what Ryan allows me to do.

James Blunt on writing songs with Ryan Tedder via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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It was only a few days ago really, so it was on this tour.  I think it probably just came up on a Google alert, but I definitely saw it on Twitter.  I think I looked down the list initially and couldn’t see it on there, so I thought it was a mistake.

James Blunt on being featured on Taylor’s Spotify playlist via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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For me, these are the most amazing opportunities because I’m known in the States for one song, which came out a long time ago called You’re Beautiful.  And the people in Ed’s audience might know that song.  They might have been told by their dad not to like that song because it was played a lot on the radio, and so that’s pretty much all they know.  And so I’m getting up and I’m just playing new stuff,  and my job is just to win them over if I can.

James Blunt on opening for Ed Sheeran via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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I wrote it in a hotel room in London, and actually someone came and banged on the door halfway through and asked me to shut up. I wanted to make a statement.  How do you start off a fifth album and say the things you need to say, or at least what I need to say, and so it starts off by saying, ‘People say the meanest things.  I’ve been called a dick.  I’ve been called so many things.’  It’s not the prettiest line to start an album with, but I think it’s something that Taylor would totally understand. It’s a strange place of the aggressive criticism that some people in the public eye can get.  Just because you don’t like their music you don’t have to bang on about it so much.  And so the song really is about laughing at that. It’s something I discuss with Ed a lot. To compare five negative tweets to seventy thousand who actually made an effort, I think it’s probably worth remembering that they’re probably at home with their curtains closed and their trousers around their ankles and not worth taking seriously.

James Blunt on “Love Me Better” via Swiftcast: The #1 Taylor Swift Podcast (https://www.theswiftcast.com/episode-226)

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188 - The Taylor Swift Experience and AT&T Party - Swiftcast: the #1 Taylor Swift Podcast

The Taylor Swift Experience just ended its run at the Grammy Museum in New York City! To celebrate its final weekend, AT&T and DIRECTV hosted a special fan celebration inside the exhibit.

On this week's episode, we talk with Kayla, a fan who attended, to get the inside scoop! Kayla tells us everything, from the AT&T fan party to Taylor's outfits to the Wildest Dreams piano!

Thanks for listening! If you haven't already, please subscribe to us on iTunes and leave us a review and a 5 star rating.

Listen Now!

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187 - Taylor's Best Grammy Moments - Swiftcast: the #1 Taylor Swift Podcast

The 2017 Grammy awards aired this week, and Taylor sadly did not attend. But several of her friends performed including Kelsea Ballerini, Ed Sheeran and Little Big Town. We discuss our favorite moments from this year's show, and take a look back at some of the best Taylor moments from past years, as voted by you guys on our Twitter polls!

Thanks for listening! If you haven't already, please SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes and leave us a review and a 5 star rating.

Listen Now!

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186 - DIRECTV's Super Saturday Night Concert - Swiftcast: the #1 Taylor Swift Podcast

Our hosts attended Taylor's Super Saturday Night concert in Houston this weekend, along with an awesome pre-party before the show. We recap the entire experience on this week's episode. Special thanks to Taylor Nation, AT&T and DIRECTV for putting together such a great event.

Thanks for listening! If you haven't already, please subscribe to us on iTunes and leave us a review and a 5 star rating.

Listen Now!

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In this week's episode, we recapped episodes 1-6 of #TaylorSwiftNow! Check out the link in our bio to listen!

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Episode 183 all about our predictions for Taylor's @ATT concert in Houston is out now! Listen: swiftcast13.libsyn.com/183

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We celebrated Taylor's birthday by taking YOUR calls on Episode 180! Listen now: swiftcast13.libsyn.com/180

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It’s almost Taylor’s birthday and we’re ready to celebrate!!! Like, comment, share and tag your friends for chances to win and join us during our live call in episode next week! #happybirthdaytaylor