Taylor Swift interviewed by Ryan Adams: The five most pretentious moments from their GQ magazine interview

The esteemed musicians discuss their creative process - but it's not as exciting as they think

(GQ)

Taylor Swift can now join the hallowed ranks of Celebrities Who Give Insincere Interviews after being interviewed by Ryan Adams about her album 1989.

Adams released a cover album of 1989 earlier this year, and as part of Swift’s GQ magazine shoot the pair sat down to discuss the creative process of the two talented individuals.

Swift has made a career out of being a refreshing alternative to your typical lofty, pretentious pop star, but it’s hard to listen to the pair over-brewing their creative process and musing on the intricate power of their own dreams without thinking the whole thing is a bit ridiculous.

Here are the most awkward moments.

Taylor's songs come to her in her dreams

Swift explains that a track from the album, "Stay", was inspired by a dream in which she couldn’t stop wailing the title at a man who turned up at her door. “I woke up and was like, that was mortifying,” she says, “but that’s kind of a cool vocal part.”

Adams notes that the ‘staaay’ part of the song is so high-pitched he couldn’t even sing it on his cover.

“It’s a really weird part of the song,” Swift says, nodding.

(It’s not that weird)

Ryan Adams says listening to the Smiths basically supercharges his brain

“Whenever I’m stuck when I’m writing, I can just put a Smiths record on and, it’s kind of like if my songwriting was like an iPhone, it recharges it in five minutes. It’s because there’s all these question marks in it,” he muses.

Another tip for writer’s block: record an album that’s still in the charts, add some guitars, and whack it out in time for Christmas.

Taylor is really impressed that Ryan Adam’s version of 1989 sounds a bit different to her version of 1989

The singer contemplates that, in taking her energetic pop bangers and making them sound maudlin enough to be played at a funeral, Ryan Adams is, in fact, like an actor re-interpreting lines in a play.

“When [actors] say a line with different emphasis on different words, they completely change it. That’s what you did with my album!” she gushes. “My version of ["Stay"] was like ‘All you had to do was stay! Sorry about it! I don’t miss you and now you’re back’, but yours is like, ‘You broke my heart! All you had to do was stay!’”

This is in relation to Adams adding pauses in at several points during the song. Deep!

Taylor Swift’s creative process is a bit like those word clouds you see on Twitter

Swift explains that the line ‘Darling I’m a nightmare, dressed like a daydream’ from "Blank Space" came from a notepad document on her phone that was jam-packed with witty observations that she’d stowed away for a rainy day.

As she describes mining her phone for her thoughts and musings from months gone by - Adams points out she’s basically just creating a ‘word blurb’, those clouds of random words and phrases people often post on social media.

The best thing is, though, when he suggests it, Swift just ignores him, and carries on talking as if he didn’t compare writing one of the best selling albums of all time to the sort of activity you do when you’re bored at work.

Taylor would watch John Hughes movies for inspiration

Obviously an acclaimed chanteuse like Taylor Swift would eschew listening to 80’s guilty pleasures when she needed a smart hook or angle. Instead, she would watch John Hughes films, pause the film and try and figure out what each character was thinking.

She admits that because she was single, and happy, she didn’t have any anguish to draw from (and, presumably, she’d mined her drafts folder empty) so she had to look elsewhere for inspiration.

“Wow,” Adams said, audibly gasping.

The good news is, while the interview is ridiculous, neither Swift or Adams have done a James Franco and started interviewing themselves, so it could be worse.