-Welcome, welcome, welcome back!
It's so great to see you! -You know what? It's really
great to see you, too. -I miss you, bud.
-I miss you, too. -I promise you this time
I did not talk to your mom. I'm not gonna give any
embarrassing videos of you... -Wow.
-...like I did last time, yeah. No, this is --
-Yeah, we don't let my mom have a phone around me anymore.
[ Laughter ] -Because just of that?
-The last time that I was on the show,
my mom sent videos that she had secretly recorded
of me to Jimmy after I'd gotten LASIK
and was high as hell. -Yeah, yeah.
[ Laughter ] -It's literally -- They became
memes, they became gifs. -They went on
to live a different life that we never knew.
-They will be the legacy that lives on
after my music has faded. -Yeah, right, no, please.
I want to talk to you about -- -Goggles were taped to my face.
Sorry. It's an important detail. -It was so funny. I just want to --
I think you're phenomenal. I just want to just say that.
-Thank you. I think you're phenomenal.
-No, but you are just unbelievable.
[ Cheers and applause ] There's no --
I don't even know if you understand how great
you are and how cool you are and how phenomenal you are.
But I mean -- -Can I just interrupt and say,
it's really phenomenal to be in the presence of men
and women who have served our country, so thank you
for everything that you do. -It's kind of perfect.
They're amazing. -They're amazing.
[ Applause ] We don't --
We've never done that, and you're amazing.
-I -- Very busy two years for you.
During the pandemic, well, we did whatever we could,
but you put out five albums, a documentary,
and you won a Grammy. So, I mean,
I think you overshot. And all great stuff.
-Thank you. -Quality stuff. And it's almost midnight.
"Red (Taylor's Version)" will be out very soon,
like in a matter of minutes. [ Cheers and applause ] Can you believe?
-I'm really -- I'm really, really
excited about it. I've been going through
the process of re-recording all of my older music,
and in the process, I've dug up these songs
that I wrote along the way that didn't make the album
because I thought, "I want to save this
for the next album," but then I --
the next album would just be a completely different thing,
so I'd be like, "Well, what's gonna happen
to that?" And it turns out this.
It's an opportunity for me to go back and re-record
all the music that was on the original album, and then,
what I'm really excited about is these songs that no one's
ever heard before that were supposed to be
on that album. And I've got artists
like Chris Stapleton and Phoebe Bridgers
featured on them, so... -I mean, come on.
[ Cheers and applause ] I mean, I don't know
what I can even show of the album,
because everyone -- with you, there's so many little
easter eggs and spoilers, that I don't want
to ruin anything for fans. That's all I'll show.
-Oh. Whoa!
-That was something, yeah. -That was bold.
-They just got -- yeah. So you know it's real.
That's real. -Oh, my God.
-But this is like four albums. This is like four vinyls.
-Yeah, and it's not -- I mean, it is.
It's four vinyls. -It is four vinyls.
-It's super heavy. It's actually -- It's incredibly
hard to lift that. -It's hefty, yeah.
-I'm actually impressed. -Thank you very much.
I appreciate it. [ Laughter ] I've been working out
with a trainer. I'll give you...
-I was gonna talk to you about that later.
-Yeah, no problem, yeah. -I, uh... What song are you most excited
for the fans to hear? -Thank you for asking.
I'll tell you. [ Laughter ]
The one -- -Unbelievable.
-The one that I am the most excited about
is a song called "All Too Well," in parentheses,
"(The 10-minute version)." -Yeah, the 10-minute version.
-So... -Explain this.
-I will. [ Laughter ]
Basically, when I was writing the "Red" album, I knew I had
a favorite on the album, and it was a song
called "All Too Well." But oftentimes,
my personal favorites don't line up with songs
that end up being singles or having videos. I always just have these
favorites where I'm like, "That one's just my favorite." But what happened
on this album was, this song became the fans'
favorite on its own. My favorite and their
favorite song aligned. -Yes.
-And the way that this song was written was --
I was -- I was going through a bit
of a sad time. And I was 22,
and I was in band rehearsals, and I think
I was 21 when I wrote this, and I was in band rehearsals
for a tour that I was about to go out on called
The Speak Now Tour, and I showed up for rehearsals,
and I just was really upset and sad and everybody
could tell. It was really, like, not fun
to be around me that day. And so I started playing guitar
and just kind of playing the same four chords
over and over again. And I just started kind of --
the band sort of joined in, and I started ad-libbing
what I was going through and what I was feeling,
and it went on, and the song kept building
and building and building in intensity, and the song just
went on for about, you know, 10 to 15 minutes
of us doing this. And then we got done with that,
and then we moved on to the regularly scheduled
rehearsal. And at the end of the day,
my mom came up to my sound guy, and she's like, "Is there any
chance that you recorded that?" -Yeah.
-And he was like, "Yep," and handed her a CD.
The 10-minute version of "All Too Well"
is what was originally written for the song before I had to cut
it down to a normal-length song. 'Cause that's -- You know.
-Yeah, in case it gets played on the radio or whatever.
10 minutes is long. -'Cause 10 minutes is absurd.
That's an absurd length of time for a song to be --
-It's like "American Pie" or something, yeah.
-Who thinks that they can put out a 10-minute song.
-We want a 10-minute song from you.
We want this from you. -Well, thanks,
and that's what you'll get, and that's the thing
I'm the most excited about, 'cause it's the original lyrics.
[ Cheers and applause ] Is that --
[ Clears throat ] Is that the normal way --
Is that cathartic for you? Is that the normal way you deal
if you're having a rough time? Do you just grab your guitar
and start writing? -Yeah, usually.
That's usually the process that happens.
-No, I mean, or is it, like, a journal or you talk
to your friends or your mom? -No, I do all of that.
-At the same time. -Literally all of it.
-You do anything. -I do --
Basically, I journal, I talk to my friends,
I write songs, um... -Well, what reactions --
-I buy cats. [ Laughter ]
-Just buy cats. -I hang out with the cats.
-Yeah. -Adopt a cat.
-Yeah. I mean... -If you're
going through a hard time, they're really understanding
sometimes. -Well, this song
is very, very, very -- obviously very personal,
but it's so beautiful and so well-written.
What do you expect from fans to react to
when they hear this song? -I really do feel like
I know them really well. I go online, I -- I look at what
they think about things. I really care about
their opinions and their theories
and their teasing and their mocking
and their joking. It's all
from a very loving place. Like, we have a very --
I really like our relationship. So I think I know
what they are wanting. I think that the version
that we're putting out tonight is gonna be, for them, the new,
like, standard version of what this song is, because
it is the original form. I'm just that proud of it. -Wow.
I got to see "All Too Well," the short film, earlier today.
Thank you for showing it to me. -Oh, you're so welcome.
-It is amazing, by the way. You wrote this,
you directed this. -Yeah!
-And this will be released on YouTube tomorrow
at 7:00 p.m., Eastern. It -- Sadie Sink, by the way.
-Oh, my God! -No, I love her.
I was fan from "Stranger Things," I go...
-I feel like people -- Like, we've got to explain
what's going on. Like, everybody's so busy,
and I feel like I should just tell you, like,
I wrote and directed a short film
based on the premise of the song "All Too Well." So, I cast Sadie Sink
and Dylan O'Brien, who are incredible actors...
-Yes. -...in this short film,
and they could not have blown me away more.
It was the most unbelievable experience working with people who are that prepared,
committed. Just the chemistry between them
is really on another planet. -You did a great job, though.
The way it's shot. There's one shot...
-Thank you. -...that's a continuous shot.
-'Cause it's a new thing for me. Thank you for saying that. It's not a thing
that I do normally, so... -No, it isn't, but I was --
-I appreciate the compliment. -Oh, good.
I didn't know if you were saying thank you like you didn't mean
I believed it. -No, I really loved --
I just liked the compliment. -No, I-I -- I really --
There's a shot, I was gonna say,
this continuous shot around... -So, there's this scene where
there is one very tense scene between the two of them.
-It's so well done. -And they're --
They were so electric and improv'ing
a lot of what they were doing that we just couldn't
take the camera off them. We couldn't cut,
we couldn't edit. So there's a very long
one-take, one-camera shot that lasts for a very long time,
and you -- and when you're watching it, you
don't -- you don't note that. You don't realize that
because they are so magnetic. They really are.
-Feels real. I was like, "Oh, my God.
-I'm so glad that you felt that, too.
-Props. I was like, "That was so good."
Yeah, I love it. -I can't wait
for you guys to see it. -And there's going to be
a film premiere for this? -Yes, actually, and I haven't
actually told people that yet, but I'm so excited.
It's going to be at the -- [ Laughter ]
-I'm sorry about that. -No, it's great!
-I'm so sorry. -It's great!
No, it's good. This is a great place
to announce things. -Okay, perfect.
Yeah, sorry, yes, yes. -This is cool.
It's at the AMC 13 theater in Lincoln Square in New York
tomorrow afternoon. -Yeah!
[ Cheers and applause ] That's what
I'm talking about, buddy. How --
How fun will that be? -I mean, I hope fun.
-Yeah, it'll be great. -I hope it'll be fun.
-More with Taylor Swift when we come back, everybody.
We're gonna talk more.
