When the trailer for Where the Crawdads Sing first debuted, fans were taken on a journey through mystery, romance, and everything forbidden. While the acting is mesmerizing alongside the storyline, a beautiful and chilling voice also navigated us through the experience.
That voice is none other than Taylor Swift, and the original song she wrote for Where the Crawdads Sing is hypnotic. In a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly, Olivia Newman and Reese Witherspoon both spoke about how their film landed a coveted Swift original.
Witherspoon said that Swift reached out to them about the project, because she loved it so much.
“We got a call that Taylor had been so inspired by the book and read the book, and she heard the movie was coming out, that when she was with her partners and they were writing the Folklore album, they wrote a song specifically for this movie. It’s so haunting. It’s so beautiful. It’s so accurate. We were just the benevolent receivers of this incredible artistic gift.”
Newman talked about the idea that Swift had for the song to really channel the storyline and characters within the movie. A particular word can be used to describe the tune, one Swift, Newman, and Witherspoon have all keyed into — haunting.
She also spoke about her excitement with the dedication Swift put into the making of the song.
“She talked about how she wanted it to feel like this haunting, gothic, lullaby, and she used instruments that were only available before 1953, and she recorded it in all one take the way they recorded songs at the time. She really put so much thought into both the tonality of the song and the way in which she recorded it. It was so moving to me.”
Witherspoon also noted that Swift loved the female empowerment in the film, and how much the impact of those involved with the project had on her.
“It’s really touching how much she’s moved by that it was female authorship, and that she’s so inspired by star Daisy Edgar-Jones, and by director Olivia Newman, and that this incredible group of women got together to make this timeless, classic, romantic film.”
Swift said that she wanted to create something “haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story,” and she did just that.
“Where The Crawdads Sing is a book I got absolutely lost in when I read it years ago. As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible Daisy Edgar-Jones and produced by the brilliant Reese Witherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side.”
Where the Crawdads Sing hits theaters on July 15, and you can hear Swift’s song, “Carolina” in its entirety now.