Taylor Swift covers the January issue of British Vogue to promote her role in CATS: The Movie. Which still looks absolutely bonkers. The computer-generated “fur” on the actors is an absolute hellscape, and I’m just concerned about this film overall. Taylor’s into it though. She probably knows that the film is bonkers, but she was – at the time – angling for a Best Song Oscar nomination for “Beautiful Ghosts,” the song she cowrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber. That hope is now dead in the water! Webber was there with Taylor for the Vogue interview too and he seems somewhat fond of her. You can read the cover excerpt here. Some highlights:

Taylor on songwriting: “I think [writing] is really important – also from the side of ownership over what you do and make. Even if you aren’t a natural writer, you should try to involve yourself in the messages you’re sending.” Lloyd Webber agrees: “Today, very few people have a major career unless they write.”

Taylor approached ‘Lover’ as almost a live album: “I did. I was really singing a lot at that point – I’d just come from a stadium tour, and then did Cats, which was all based on live performances – so a lot of that album is nearly whole takes. When you perform live, you’re narrating and you’re getting into the story and you’re making faces that are ugly and you’re putting a different meaning on a song every time you perform it.”

Whether she wanted to be an actress: “I have no idea. When I was younger, I used to get questions like, ‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years?’ I’d try to answer. As I get older, I’m learning that wisdom is learning how dumb you are compared to how much you are going to know. I really had an amazing time with Cats. I think I loved the weirdness of it. I loved how I felt I’d never get another opportunity to be like this in my life.”

A story about Judi Dench: “There is one scene that Idris [Elba, who plays Macavity] and I do with Judi [Old Deuteronomy], and someone walked up to me with this kind of gummy candy and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve never had this before, this must be British candy, this is amazing.’ I was raving about this candy so much, and Judi must have overheard me, because the next day I got to my dressing room and there was a signed photo from Judi and, like, six bags of it.”

[From British Vogue]

Dame Judi: candy-gifter. That’s a nice story. But… Taylor has spent so much time in Britain over the years, was that really the first time she’d ever tried British candy? Or was it a specific kind of candy that she hadn’t tried before? I know I’m weird for focusing on that, but it bugs me! As for songwriting… I agree, that’s how it should be, that musical artists should be writers or at least keep their toe in songwriting. But many current artists do not.

Also: Tay’s styling for this cover shoot was AMAZING. She should hire these people to work with her full-time.

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A post shared by British Vogue (@britishvogue) on Dec 1, 2019 at 9:17am PST

Cover & Instagram courtesy of British Vogue.