Listen to the full version of Taylor Swift’s new song “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing
The new song from Taylor Swift will have you wanting to stay forever and ever.
At exactly midnight on June 24, the 32-year-old singer released the whole version of her song “Carolina” from the newest film, Where The Crawdads Sing.
After the song’s release, Swift posted on social media, “I composed this one alone in the middle of the night.” She wished for the audio to “be true to the time this story takes place.”
If you think back to December, er, March, you might remember that the teaser for the movie “Carolina” was first heard by viewers in the trailer. They can now listen to the entire song because there is no longer a gap between the rest of the lyrics and them.
The best-selling book by Delia Owens served as the inspiration for the film Where The Crawdads Sing. In a message she published on Instagram following the debut of the teaser, Swift recounted how she “got utterly lost in” the book when she read it years ago.
She also knew she “wanted to be a part of it from the musical side” after learning that the “amazing” Daisy Edgar-Jones was starring in the movie and that the “brilliant” Reese Witherspoon was producing it.
The 11-time Grammy winner wrote “Carolina” on her own with the help of producer Aaron Dessner, with whom she had worked before on the albums folklore and evermore.
For “Carolina,” Swift stated that she “wanted to create something spooky and otherworldly to match this captivating story.” And Witherspoon will always remember her first listening to the song.
During a recent online discussion for the movie hosted by Sony Pictures, the Oscar winner revealed, “I freaked out when I heard Taylor wrote a song for this movie. She’s one of my all-time favorite musicians, but her songwriting is particularly powerful.
But the fact that she read this book and loved it so much and then she heard we were making a movie, she was making her folklore album, and then she wrote a song with that entire folklore team, which was so haunting and magical, and the beautiful instruments that they used—I was blown away,” Witherspoon continued.
Swift allegedly wrote the director, Olivia Newman, “this wonderful letter,” saying that in order to stay true to the period of the film, she only used musical instruments that were readily available before 1953. The director added that Swift “recorded it in one take like they recorded songs at the time.”
According to Newman, the conclusion of the novel leaves you with a very particular sense, which is what makes it so haunting. This emotion is what the filmmakers really sought to replicate in the movie’s conclusion. “We aimed to leave audiences with a similar level of emotion.” And her music simply leans in that direction.
Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., and David Strathairn are all featured in Where The Crawdads Sing, in addition to Edgar-Jones. Fans can listen to Swift perform “Carolina” now above before the movie opens in theaters on July 15.