Laufey Is Unapologetically Herself
00:00When someone you love is diagnosed with cancer or another serious illness,all you want to do is help.But where do you start?On the Life Kit podcast, we have tips for you.Your agenda should be, I'm going to be with you and be totally present to whatever comes up.Listen in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts for different ways to offer support.This is fresh air.I'm Terry Gross.
00:24My guest, Leve, is a singer, cellist, pianist, guitarist, and songwriter, who's 2023,album Bewitched was the first album ever to top Billboard's jazz and traditional jazz chartsin its first week of release. But is she a jazz artist? Only partially, her 2023 albumBewitched, won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop album, and was named Crossover Album of the Yearby Variety. Her music resembles her personal identity in that both are hard to categorize.Her songs draw on her deep knowledge of classical music and jazz, as well as from pop andclassic musicals. She grew up in Reykjavik Iceland and Washington, D.C., with a mother who emigratedfrom China and is a violinist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Her father is from Iceland,
01:11and Leveh grew up listening to recordings from his jazz collection. She started piano lessonsat age four, cello lessons at age eight, and performed on cello with the Iceland Symphony Orchestrawhen she was 15. She describes her music as taking inspiration from the past, with lyrics firmly rooted inthe present. Her concerts are filled with listeners in their 20s who may not know or care muchabout jazz or classical music. Leve is 26. She started attracting an audience during the COVIDlockdown when she began posting videos of her singing jazz standards and originals,accompanying herself on cello, guitar, or piano. She brought her guitar with her today to playand sing some songs, including music from her new album, A Matter of Time. Let's start with a track
01:58called Clockwork.It's an upbeat love songwith an obvious jazz influence,so here's Clockwork.So I'd never do this again.Think that I'm so cleverI could date a friend.He just called me,
02:16said he's running late,like me, he probably had to regurgitate.I know it's irrational.At least I'm so.for where I'm shivering maybe I'll stay home oh no he's here myso wild place I've considered every way words will forget deeply regret he'll run awayand nothing brings me fear like meeting with myJust a knee
03:00But my clockwork thingHe fell in love with meLevei, welcome to fresh airIt's a pleasure to have you on the showAnd thank you for bringing your guitar with youWe'll hear some music in a couple of minutesYou're so popular, especially amongPeople in their 20s
03:19Your first music festival was when you performed at LollapaloozaAnd you brought an orchestra with youWhat insights does that offer about who you areand about your music.Well, thank you so much for having me.It's such a pleasure to be here.I mean, Lollapalooza was such a perfect moment for meof showing exactly who I am to the world
03:41because, I mean, Lollapalooza is a music festivalthat I would say is for modern music and for young people.I've never viewed myself as anything other than a modern artist,but I've always, of course, loved classical musicand jazz music and had a love for,all things a bit older.So to get to bring an orchestra and that sound onto such a modern stage,I mean, we had a K-pop act playing after us and a rapper before us on that very same stage.
04:12I think it's so beautiful that all of these different styles of music can exist in one.And what does it say that you'd never been to a music festival?I mean, I'd been to Newport Jazz Festival, so that might answer your question.I guess, I mean, I grew up in Iceland, so I just wasn't very close to that culture.We had our own smaller festivals.Let's talk a little bit about your musical origin story.Your mother plays violin in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.What did you learn about music from hearing her practice at home?
04:48I learned a couple of things.I think, like, hard work is really, really important, and it's something you need to keep up.I mean, my mom has been in the same.the orchestra for almost 30 years and she still practices every single day for every singleconcert it's not something you shelve after you grow up and but it also has taught me that it'ssomething that never really leaves you growing up in a musical family i mean my grandma's 80 something nowand she still plays piano every single day just like as she did when she was seven so it'staught me that it's kind of this thing that can follow you forever but my mom always talked about
05:26especially like the beauty of music and and how it has to come from your heart and I thinkthat's been such an important through line with with my music no matter what genre it's leaningtowards did you grow up backstage oh absolutely I grew up on stage I think I have stories of my momplaying some contemporary Icelandic composers and it was really loud and every break she wouldlike check her tummy like I have a twin sister so the two of us were in there and she was likeare they still moving?Like, did we silence them?When you started taking music lessons, would your mother ever holler from another room?
06:05Wrong note.Every single day.Really?Not from another room.The same room.Oh, yeah.Did that make yourself conscious practicing with a pro with an airshot all the time?It was like having a teacher every single day.
06:19I would practice piano while my sister was practicing violin.And then we would swap and she would practice piano.and I would practice cello and my mom spent the entire afternoon just drifting back and forth fromthe piano room to the string room to the piano room to the string room and it was very disciplinedbut I'm so thankful for that and my mom still tells me if I'm playing out of tune and I'm sothankful for her for that and I think it's one of the reasons I'm I'm the musician I am todayso I think your grandparents are both music professors in China is that right yeah so how much timehave you spent in China and did you take any lessons while you were there? Yeah, I did. I spent a lot of time
07:00in China every summer growing up. I would go spend two to three months there and just immerse myselfin properly learning the language and also probably learning classical music. So definitely, like,my first cello lessons were in China and I received all my cellos there. Is it a different styleof teaching than in the U.S.?yes and no i mean my grandfather was was known for a very specific technique that was full of idioms andand metaphors and he taught mostly like young prodigies um and so it was a very like poetic way oflearning like he would talk about how vibrato needed to feel natural and flow like wind flowingthrough the branches of a tree and pronating properly on a bow it felt like pouring water out of
07:52of a kettle, things like that that kind of taught me how to learn music in a very poetic way,which I think has had such an effect on me as a songwriter as well, because I think so muchabout how music and physical movement come together.Well, here's what I'd like to do, since we're talking about classical music and orchestra,I want to ask you to sing your song Snow White.And then I want to play, in the middle of the album, there's an interlude called,cuckoo ballet. And it's almost like an overture with melodies from your songs interwoven. And it'sjust orchestral. So there's a really nice orchestral passage of the song Snow White with you on
08:36shallow. So I just want to contrast the two to show two of your side, like the singer-songwriter'sside, and then transforming that into something, you know, much more classical sounding.Absolutely. Okay. So let's start with you doing Snow White. Do you want to introduce the song?Yes. So it's a song that I wrote about my never-ending kind of battle with beauty standards and this idea of perfection. And it was very, I was a little scared to put this song out because it's very honest. And I never want to show, especially all the young woman in my audience that I don't believe in myself, because how can they believe in themselves if I have trouble believing in myself? But I,came to this realization that that it was perhaps comforting to know that other people feel thesame way so this is snow whiteI feel myselfI feel the
09:55littlethe sameI don't think I'm prettyit's not upfor debatea woman's bestcurrenciesher body
10:15not her brainthey tried totry to tell metell me I'm wrongbut mirrors tell lies to memy mind just plays alonethe world is a sick placeat least for a girl
10:47the people won't beRudy, skinny, always wins, and I don't have enough of it.I'll never have enough of it.Well, thank you for that.So I want to compare that to what you've done when you had it orchestrated.this is from a medley called Cuckoo Ballet in the middle of your album.And this is the excerpt in which you're playing in an orchestral setting that part of the songand you're featured on cello.
11:50So that was mySo that was my guest, Levei on cello.That's from an orchestral interlude in the middle of her new album,and the album is called A Matter of Time.So now that we've heard you on cello,you started playing cello when you were eight.Did you choose that?Was it chosen for you?
12:34I chose it.I think I wanted to be different from everyone in my family.My sister chose violin,and I think because I'm the older twin,so I thought I should play the bigger instrument.Uh-huh.Older by seconds.Yeah.
12:49So you listened to a lot of jazz growing up because your father had a big jazz collection.What era or what songs or singers particularly influenced you?I think Ella Fitzgerald was the very first singer that I really felt that I vocally resonated with.I think she just sounded like a cello.So I immediately was like, oh, I want to sound like her.and I was having trouble finding songs in my range to sing, but Ella's range, thoughmore than, bigger than mine, still, her singing style, I seemed to fall most naturally into thatkind of style. Same with Billie Holiday, and I also loved Nat King Cole and Julie London and Peggy Lee
13:43and Doris Day. It was kind of, you know, that type of era of mid-century singing that I reallywas drawn to. Would you play a standard for us that you particularly liked? Yeah. Do you want to doit could happen to you? Yes. And let's mention here that this is one of the things thatkind of put you on the map because you recorded this on your phone during COVID, and I thinkit's the first and one of the first videos that you put out on YouTube? Yes, COVID started and I hadwhat I thought would be a two-week break. So I thought I'd use that time to just post videos ofmyself singing online. And it started with a lot of jazz standards. And I was playing the jazzstandards on cello and singing along. And yeah, I did a cover of It Could Happen to You. And also of the song,
14:40I wish you love. And the two of those kind of hit the algorithm or whatever you say.They kind of definitely were the first things. I think people were like, what? Why is this girl,this young woman playing cello and singing? It was like multiple things they hadn't seencombined together. Yeah. And Chet Baker has a great recording of this. Yes. Yeah. That's myfavorite Jack Baker album. It could happen to your one. So. Okay. And this is Leve.Hide your heart from side, lock your dreams at night, it could happen to you, don't count stars or you might stumble, someone drops a sigh and down you tumble, keep an eye, and down you tumble, keep an eye,on spring from when church bells ring it could happen to you all I did was wonder how your arms would be and it happened to me thank you that was levy singing and playing guitar and she has a new album called A Matter of Timeso that video that you posted like before you actually made studio recordings you accompanied yourself on cello when you sang that song
16:20but you strummed and and kind of picked as if it was a guitar so I'm wondering if the opposite has happenedsince cello is your first instrument your main instrument have you taken any cello techniques andtransfer them to guitar I you know I haven't bowed a guitar yet butMaybe I should. I think I've tried as a joke before.Really? I was thinking too of the kind of cello vibrato.Yeah. I mean, I don't think I've directly put it into guitar, but I've definitely,I started playing cello before I started singing. So I think my singing style has alwayskind of been something similar to cello playing, and whether it's the vibrato style or the ligato.
17:10and kind of sliding into notes.Like, that's very much my vocal style.And I think it is quite similar to my cello style.So you grew up in two extremes.You grew up in Iceland,but you also spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C.What were you doing there?What was your family doing there?
17:28My father was working for the Icelandic government there.But my mom would sub with the Baltimore Symphony when she was there.So I kind of got to be a little bit of,an American kid for a bit, which I think having a childhood in America is really where I fell inlove with a great American songbook. What was your father doing in the government?He was working for the IMF. The International Monetary Fund? Yes. So two extremes, like Icelandis like remote. It's a small country. It's very cold. Washington, D.C. is one of the capitalsof the world, not just the capital of the U.S. And it's so busy.
18:10What was it like growing up into pretty opposite worlds?It's certainly a lot warmer and swampier than...Certainly, yeah.Than Iceland, yeah.I think it's one of the most important experiences that I've gone through.I had a very deep understanding of how big the world was from a very early agebecause I would still spend my summers in China.And the three are so, so, so, so different.
18:35I think from...What I really learned from Washington, D.C., I think especially, was just how multicultural it was.I mean, I went to a public school in D.C. and even within just my neighborhood school, I think 90% of my class was international kids.And I was such a naturally multicultural kid. It made me quite happy. I also loved all the museums.And I remember going to the ballet at the Kennedy Center and the symphony. And I just have very,beautiful memories from growing up there. And like I remember moving back to Iceland when I waseight or nine. And I remember it felt like the world fell dark for a little bit because there was somuch brightness in Washington, which sounds like a crazy thing to say right now. But I think it really
19:26just opened my eyes up to how very big the world is. Because Washington, D.C. is also such aunique city within the United States. Well, since you're half of Chinese,and half Icelandic, and you grew up in Iceland, not a lot of Chinese people in Iceland.So being half Chinese was probably considered unusual, maybe even, like, quote, exotic.But growing up in Washington, there's like lots of people from China and other Asian countries.So what was it like for you to be so unusual in such a homogenous place as Iceland?It was really difficult. I think Iceland is so small and it's lovely and I miss it every single day, but it was very hard as a kid to comprehend why I didn't look like everyone else or how my interests were different. There weren't many kids around me taking a competitive pre-professional classical music route. There weren't many kids around me who had to go back home and practice every single day. And I often felt like my voice.wasn't being heard and I was ready to do anything to get my voice to be heard. And I knew that
20:42the first step to that was trying to get out of Iceland and see if perhaps my voice wouldresonate more in the big world where I wasn't an odd fish. Let's take another short break hereand then we'll be back for more music and conversation with Levei. Her new album is called A Matter ofTime. I'm Terry Gross and this is fresh air.Across the country, states and counties are rushing to change their voting rules.Stacey Abrams says these attacks on voting rights are part of the authoritarian playbook.You may not be into politics, but politics is into you and it is a stalker.Listen to Code Switch in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcast.
21:28Before Gwendolyn Christie was cast as Breanne of Tarth on Game of Thrones,She had a hard time finding a good role.The feedback she'd always get was the same, and it wasn't particularly helpful.Because you're too tall and you're too unconventional looking.And I just thought, gosh, I'm limited.Gwendolyn Christie from Game of Thrones, Severance, and more on Bullseye for Maximumfund.org and NPR.Hi, this is Molly C.V. Nesper, digital producer at Fresh Air.And this is Terry Gross, host of the show.
21:58One of the things I do is write the weekly newsletter.And I'm a newsletter fan.it every Saturday after breakfast. The newsletter includes all the week's shows, staff recommendations,and Molly picks timely highlights from the archive. It's a fun read. It's also the only placewhere we tell you what's coming up next week, an exclusive. So subscribe at www.orgslash fresh air and look for an email from Molly every Saturday morning. I want to ask you to doanother song for us, and this is Castle in Hollywood. Would you give us the backstory for the song?yeah this song is written about a friendship breakup i i found that there are not many songs about
22:39breaking up with a friend but it's a pain that can sometimes be more painful than breaking up witha romantic lover so i wanted to write about this experience that i had and i think especiallywhen women fall apart with women there's such an interesting line of empathy that's between themIt's it's kind of like I'll love you forever, but just not.Don't be around me.I rack my brain, spend hours and days.I still can't figure it.What happened that year in the house?
23:22Still learning to live without you.I wonder what you tell your friendsWhich version of our fairy storyThe one where you walk out in gloryOr the night I moved out in a hurryI think about you alwaysTied together with a stringI thought the lilies died by winter
23:50Then they bloomed again in springIt's a heartbreakMark the end of my girlhood will never goback to the castle in HollywoodThank you. That was Leveiperforming for us. And what was the castle in Hollywood?Was that a fantasy of what you wanted your life to be?No, I lived in the first apartment I moved into
24:16was this English storybook house in West Hollywoodthat had a turret. And it was commissioned by Charlie Chaplin,actually in 1928, I believe.Wait, wait.The first apartment that you rented was one that Charlie Chaplin commissioned.How did that happen?Yeah.Pure internet luck, I think.
24:38It was definitely a little scary.It was very dark.But my bedroom was circular.It was inside a turret.And I had a tiny little window with bars on it, like a proper Rapunzel window.And yeah, it was a really, really weird apartment.apartment, but so charming and exactly what I, what my storybook heart craved when I firstmoved to L.A. So you compose on guitar, even though that's not your first instrument. Chalo's
25:10your first instrument, you're a very good pianist. Why do you compose on guitar as opposed tosay piano, which would be the more obvious choice? Yeah, I compose a lot on piano too, I thinkincreasingly now. I started writing a lot on guitar, I think, because it was this unknowninstrument to me where I wasn't following a set of rules that I had learned over my yearsof classical training. I wasn't going back to any habits. I was just letting my heart and fingerswander. So I think also it's a fairly soft instrument. So singing over it, it's easy to hearmyself and hear the lyrics and really understand what I'm trying to say. It didn'tget in the way of my songwriting.
25:57You've performed to a lot of different audiences like jazz, classical, pop, and thereforeto different ages as well, like the jazz audience tends to be older, ditto for classicalmusic audience, your pop audience, I think is largely made of people in their 20s.Do you become a different self for each type of audience?No, I think I'm pretty similar in every single setting, and I'm very very, very,unapologetically myself, like when I'm on stage with an orchestra and I really do try toplay as many concerts with orchestras because I just want to get young people into thosebuildings, into those rooms, get young people used to that sound of, you know, 60 plus instruments
26:42playing and musicians playing at the same time. There's nothing quite like it. And then at the sametime, I kind of push against the classical medium of just kind of blabbering on stage, like inbetween songs. I'll explain what the songs are about and just to feel that connection withthe audience and just to further show them that this is something classical music, orchestralmusic is something that can be theirs too and doesn't need to feel like this foreign thingthat exists behind a wall. I might be totally wrong in thinking this so you can tell meafter I explain. Okay. So you're capable of singing, you know, pretty high up, but also when you singfull out and a low voice. It's a very strong voice. And similar to a cello, which was your
27:31ambition, but the dresses that you wear, a lot of the clothes that you wear are very likediaphanous and flowy, almost like angelic. And the contrast between like the deep voice thatyou can have and those, you know, kind of diaphanous clothes reminds me of ballet.and I know at some point you were studying ballet, right?Yeah, I've always loved ballet so much.And I grew up dancing ballet very badly,but just being completely enamored by itbecause it was the physical answer to classical music.
28:08Right.So here's why the comparison isbetween your deep voice and the contrast with your clothesand ballet, because in ballet,you have to be really strong.And you have to have incredible enduranceand be willing to live with pain.and be incredibly disciplined.
28:25But with a tutu on and with a lot of the classic ballet choreography,you're supposed to look totally weightless and like princess-like or angelic.And the contrast between the strength that's required and the image on stage of the ballerina,it's a huge difference, kind of like your voice and the way you often dress.Does that make any sense?do you? Oh no it absolutely does I think like ballet I go to lengths to make my performance lookeffortless but yeah I mean ballet costumes dresses very inspired by that in my dressing on stagefor multiple reasons the first being comfort you can move in them and I need to be able to breathe
29:14and and move around but I think you know when I'm playing with whether it's a string quartet or anorchestra and those little moments in between the movement of a tutu, the movement of a dress,the movement of clothing, it just adds to the performance and it's something I think about a lot.I don't like wearing stiff clothing because it pulls the music down and it pulls my performancedown too.Let's take another break here and then we'll hear more music played by Leve, who is my guest.She's from Iceland and this, Leve, this sounds like a very Icelandic name.Yes, it's from Norse mythology.
29:52Oh, meaning what?It's also my great-grandmother's name, but the god of mischief, Loewke, or Loki, his mother was named Loewe.Oh, I've heard of Loki.Yeah, if you look up his full name, it's Loki Loe-Lovee son, son of Levee.And what's your full name?My full name is Loewe, Lin-Bing, Yonstot-Ear.So the Lin-Bing is the Chinese part?That's the Chinese part.
30:21Bing means ice, so I'm named after Iceland.Lynn is my Chinese family name.And Yon Stotter means daughter of Yon.My father's name is Yon, and I am his daughter.Right, okay.We'll be back after a break, and her new album, by the way, is called A Matter of Time.This is Fresh Air.I want to play another song from your album, and this is a song.
30:47that I think is very different from the other songs on the album.It's more of, it has more of a soul influence to it.And the song is called Silver Lining.Do you want to talk about writing this?Silver Lining is one of those very rare songs that I wrote to kind of perfectly compliment my voice.I wasn't thinking about anything other than just wanting to write.of course I love song and I wanted to get those feelings off my chest and I'm a very naturallysarcastic person so it carried through in a very sarcastic way but with lyrics like when you go to hell
31:28I'll go there with you too that's my way of describing how much I love you I'll follow you anywherebut I really wanted to write a song that was just built around my vocal performance I thinksomething that I didn't get to explore as much in my last album was my vocal range andI don't use reverb often, but the voice is seeped in reverb, but with intention.Okay, let's hear it. This is Silver Lining from LeVay's new album, A Matter of Time.Drowning in red wine and sniffing cinemaWe've been kissing on the playgroundActing like little kids
32:34Making dirty jokes and getting away with itSo I proposeIt's long overdueWhen you go to hell, I'll go there with you too.And land were punished for being so cruelThe silver linings I'll be there'll be there.That was Silver Lining from Leve's new album, A Matter of Time.Are you on tour now?
33:25I am on tour right now, and it's my first arena tour, so it's definitely different and a littlebit daunting, but I feel like I've been able to show every part of my artistic vision atonce, which makes me so happy.I have ballerinas on stage with me.jazz dancers. I have my band and I have a string quartet and I have a jazz club in the middle of thestage and it just feels really, really special to finally get to kind of show the world exactlywhat I'm about. No, it's like 360 degrees of view with the ballet dancers and jazz dancers anda jazz set in the middle. What kind of reaction do you get to that? I think at first some people were
34:15confused because I've previously due to, of course, budget restraints and other thingsand room restraints, I've just been showing a more muted side of myself or acoustic sideof myself, which I absolutely love and adore and will continue to do too, whether that'sconcerts with orchestras or concerts at jazz clubs or just solo. But I've always beeninspired by Golden Age films, the va-va-voom of it all. And I've also always loved popmusic and how I feel like at pop concerts that the artists can go all out and be unapologeticallythemselves. I've always wanted the same. I think I gained a bit of a reputation as this verysoft artist with my last projects. And though I am that, I am so much more than that as well.
35:08since you have a jazz set in the middle of your concerts now when you're on tourI'm going to ask you to play a jazz original that you wroteand this is one of your early songs that's called ValentineI've been playing a much more swingy version of this on tourso it's going to be weird to go back to this version butthis is how I wrote it so it is how it shall be performedaffection for years and years.Now I have it, and damn it, it's kind of weird.
35:50He tells me I'm pretty, don't know how to respond.I tell him that he's pretty too.Can I say that?Don't have a clue.Every passing moment I surprise myself.I'm scared of flies or I'm scared of guysSomeone please helpBecause I think I've fallen in love this time
36:20I blinked and suddenly I had aValentineThat's a nice songIt's sweetIt's very naive. It reminds me of being 21Folling in love for the first time?Yes.Do you get back to Iceland much?
36:41I do. I go home a lot. It really grounds me.And I write the best there. I wrote half the album there.And your music's popular there, right?I don't know. I think so.I don't know if my music is very popular, but I think there's definitely a lot of hometown pride.So when I go home and play concerts, I think it's always very special because they're very proud of different.artists or athletes who've kind of gone past, gone outside of the country and made their mark there.Well, Leve, I want to thank you so much for talking with us and for doing some songs for us.
37:16Thank you so much. I wish you well on your tour. And, you know, thank you.Thank you so much for having me. It's been such an honor. Oh, my pleasure.Leve's new album is called A Matter of Time. After we take a short break, our rock critic Ken Tucker,will review Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of a Showgirl.This is fresh air.Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of a Showgirl, is her 12th studio album and arrives at a timewhen Swift dominates not just the music industry, but American pop culture itself.The details of her recent engagement to football player Travis Kelsey can seem to her fans
37:55as important as her music.So what does this mean for the dozen new songs on this album?Rock critic Kent Tucker has a review.I heard you calling on the megaphone.You want to see me all alone.As legend has it, you are quite the pyro.You light the match to watch it blow.And if you'd never call for me,
38:25I might have drowned in a melancholy.I swore my loyalty to me, myself.Taylor Swift's crisp, clever new album, The Life of a Showgirl is offered to its audience in an intentionally crass, playfully cynical manner.There she is on the cover, dressed in the skimpy attire of a Las Vegas showgirl.A few weeks before its release, on the podcast of her football fiancé Travis Kelsey, she said,this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during the Erez tour.It's about what I was going through off stage.Half control freak, half cool English teacher, Swift is trying to guide the narrative interpretations for the life of a showgirl.
39:19I hadn't thought of you in a long time, but you keep sending me funny Valentine's.And I know you think it comes off vicious, but it's precious, adorable, like a toy to all.out blocking in me from a tiny purse.That's how much it hurts.How many times has your boyfriend said?Why are we always talking about her?It's actually sweet all the time you've spent on me.It's honestly a wild.
39:51All the effort you've put in.It's actually romantic.I really got to hand it to you.That's a song called Actually Romantic.On this album, Swift is reunited with the Swedish producer Max Martin,with whom she's made her catchiest hits, including Shake It Off,and we are never, ever getting back together.I much prefer the grand, intense pop productions of Max Martin
40:24to the brooding ballads that prevail on non-Martin productions,such as Swift's last album, The Tortured Poets Department.On the new song Wood, Martin turned Swift looseto tear through a rhythm and blues chorusthat's unlike any singing she's done before.All that miss now is shit on the falling star.Never did me any good.I ain't got to knock on wood.
40:52It's you and me forever dancing in the dark.Over me.I ain't got to knock on my eyes.Forgive me, it sounds cocky, he hypnotize me and open my eyes.Redwood tree, it ain't hard to see his love was the key that opened my skies.The lyrics for that song, by the way, are full of double entendres,and single ones that may require a certain amount of parental explanationfor a considerable portion of Swift's audience.
41:23It's PG-13 autobiography, for the fans who love to parse the lyrics seeking privateit's why publications are reduced to coming up with clickbait headlines about the song opalitepeople magazine to take just one of many offer this headline taylor swift's opalite lyrics explainedbreaking down the travis kelsey inspired track this would be merely silly where the music not so strongwith its creamy disco beat and surging chorusSee it before, they'll see it againLife is a songIt ends when it ends
42:05I was rawBut my mama told meIt's all rightYou were dancing through the lightning strikesSleepless in the on its nightBut now the sky is over lightOh oh my lordOn never made no one like you before
42:31You had to make your arms sunshineBut now the sky is open lightOn the title songSwift joins up with pop star of the moment Sabrina CarpenterTo offer one of those showbizies hard extravaganzasThat could serve as a Broadway musical showstopperI took her pearls of wisdomHung them from my neck
42:54I paid my dues with every bruiseI knew what to expectDo you want to take a skateOn the ice inside my veinsThey ripped me off like false lashesAnd then threw me awayAnd all the headshots on the wallsOf the dance holler of the witches
43:11Who wish I'd hurry up and dieBut I'm immortal nowBaby dollsI couldn't if I triedSo I say,Thank you for the lovely bookHey, I'm married to the hustleAnd now I know the life of a show girl, babe
43:36And I'll never know anotherHeyAs the album proceeds, you begin to realizethat Swift focuses less and lessOn her perennial subjects, heartache and heartbreak.Her dozen songs combined to form a picture of true loveFound, tested, and proven as strong as her early workalways yearn to find.
43:57She uses a couple of songsto dispatch a few bad men,such as a condescending controlleron this one calledFather Figure.When I found you, you were young,we were lost in the cold,pulled up to you in the jack,
44:15turned your axe into gold.The winding roadleads to the chateau.You remind me of a young,Come me, I saw potential.I'll be a father figure, I drink that brown maker,I can make deals with the death, because my check's bigger.This love is pure profit, just step into my office.
44:45I dry your tears with the sleep, leave it with me.One key to Taylor Swift's success is that she's turned fame into aa game her fans are invited to play along with her.Everyone is welcome backstage now, where Taylor will greet you with open arms, a big smile,and a knowing wink.You can call me, honey, if you want, because I'm the one you want.When anyone called me, sweetheart, it was passive or aggressive at the bar, and the chick was telling me,back off because a man had looked at me wrong if anyone call me honey it was standing in the
45:33bathroom white teeth they were saying that skirt don't fit me and I cried the whole way homebut you touch my face redefine all of those blues when you say honey summer timeKen Tucker reviewed Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of a Showgirl.Tomorrow on fresh air, we'll talk about how the Pentagon and military are being transformed.Last week, Defense Secretary Hexeth told hundreds of top military commanders to end, quote, woke policies.And President Trump suggested using the military against the enemy from within.Trump has deployed the National Guard to several U.S. cities.Our guest will be Nancy Yusef, who covers the defense.
46:25Department for the Atlantic. I hope you'll join us. To keep up with what's on the show and gethighlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR Fresh Air. Fresh Air's executive producer isDanny Miller. Our senior producer today is Teresa Madden. Our technical director and engineer isAudrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Brigger. Our interviews and reviews are produced and editedby Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Bledonado, Lauren Crenzel, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yucindi, and Anna Bauman.Our digital media producer is Molly C.B. Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson.Roberta Shorock directs the show. Our co-host is Tanya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross.
There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click any sentence in the transcript to leave one.