While it may be a while before we have the opportunity to hear Taylor Swift perform songs from her new albums, folklore and evermore, live and in person, the artist is apparently already anticipating the satisfaction she expects to feel when fans sing one very specific set of lyrics from an evermore song. On an album that's brimming with beautifully sad moments, it's "Champagne Problems" that Taylor Swift singled out when discussing the experience of hearing her fans sing with her during her live performances.
The topic came up during an hour-long conversation with Zane Lowe to celebrate Taylor Swift winning Apple Music's Songwriter of the Year. When they got on the topic of "Champagne Problems," the second song on the newly released evermore album, Taylor Swift revealed that she's so excited to hear fans sing a specific part of the bridge from the song, while also referencing the 'joyful' experience of singing "All Too Well" live:
That was one of my favorite bridges to write. I really love a bridge where you tell the full story in the bridge. You really like, you shift gears in that bridge. I'm so excited to one day be in front of a crowd when they all sing 'she would've made such a lovely bride, what a shame she's fucked in the head'.I know it's so sad, but it's those songs, like "All Too Well"... performing the song "All Too Well" is one of the most joyful experiences I ever go through when I perform live. So, when there's a song like Champagne Problems where, you know it's so sad, you know that but, I love a sad song, you know?
Fans of Taylor Swift who've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend one of her live shows likely need no further explanation. As sad as some of her songs tend to be, there is something truly (and perhaps bizarrely) gratifying about getting to belt them out with her during a concert. "She would've made such a lovely bride, what a shame she's fucked in the head," is certainly something fans would get a kick out of singing live along with her.
Telling a story about a rejected marriage proposal, "Champagne Problems" is one of a few songs on evermore that credits William Bowery as one of the writers. As it was confirmed by Taylor Swift during the Disney+ concert film, folklore: the long pond studio sessions, the pseudonym belongs to Taylor's long-term partner, actor Joe Alwyn. From what Swift said during her Apple Music conversation, it sounds like sad songs are a shared love for the couple, and music is something they bonded over:
Joe and I really love sad songs. We've always bonded over music... We just really love sad songs, what can I say? He started that one and came up with the melodic structure of it. I say it was a surprise that we started writing together, but in a way it wasn't because we have always bonded over music and had the same musical tastes and he's always the person who's showing me songs by artists and then they became my favorite songs or whatever.
In addition to co-writing the lyrics for "Champagne Problems," Joe Alwyn also co-wrote "Coney Island" and "Evermore" for the evermore album. Watch the lyrics video for Taylor Swift's "Champagne Problems" below:
