The National's Aaron Dessner ‘Honored’ To Collaborate With Taylor Swift

On Thursday (July 23), Taylor Swift announced she would be surprise-releasing her eighth album, folklore, at midnight Friday (July 24). The 16-track project was created while in quarantine, and Aaron Dessner co-wrote 11 of the songs.

After news broke, The National co-founder shared a lengthy note on Twitter gushing over the collaboration.

“I was excited and honored when Taylor approached me in late April about maybe writing some songs remotely together,” Dessner began his message. “I had been isolating with my family but writing a ton of music in the first months of quarantine, which I shared. I thought it would take a while for song ideas to come and I had no expectations as far as what we could accomplish remotely. But a few hours after sharing music, my phone lit up with a voice memo from Taylor of a fully written version of a song — the momentum never really stopped.”

“I’ve rarely been so inspired by someone and it’s still hard to believe this even happened — these songs came together in such a challenging time,” he added. Dessner's bandmates Bryan Devendorf and Bryce Dessner also contributed to some of the songs, his brother adding “beautiful orchestration on several songs from across the ocean," as did Bleachers' Jack Antonoff and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.

“I’m very proud of all these songs and profoundly grateful to Taylor for inviting me into and trusting me in her process,” Dessner concluded. “She is one of the most talented, hardworking and deeply caring artists I’ve ever encountered. There’s a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you’ll love and take comfort in as much as I do.”

See his full statement below.

Photo: Getty Images