Taylor Swift says it felt ‘f***ing fantastic’ to use explicit lyrics on Folkelore

‘I wasn’t adhering to any of the guidelines that I had placed on myself,' Grammy-winning artist says

Taylor Swift has revealed that it felt “f***ing fantastic” to swear on Folklore.

Swift shocked some fans with her latest album, which saw the acclaimed singer use explicit language in several instances.

Swift has sworn once previously on a record, having sung the word “s***” in “I Did Something Bad” on her 2017 album Reputation.

The 30-year-old opened up about the decision to swear more on Folklore during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. She said: “[It felt] f***ing fantastic. Every rule book was thrown out.”

Swift continued: “I always had these rules in my head and one of them was, 'You haven’t done this before, so you can’t ever do this. Well, you’ve never had an explicit sticker, so you can’t ever have an explicit sticker.’

“But that was one of the times where I felt like you need to follow the language and you need to follow the storyline. And if the storyline and the language match up and you end up saying the F-word, just go for it. I wasn’t adhering to any of the guidelines that I had placed on myself.”

Taylor Swift attends the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2020 in Park City, Utah (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

The popstar swears in five of the 16 tracks on Folklore, including “betty”, “mad woman” and “the 1”.

“I decided to just make what I wanted to make. And I’m really happy that the fans were stoked about that because I think they could feel that,” said the singer.

“I’m not blaming anyone else for me restricting myself in the past. That was all, I guess, making what I want to make,” said Swift. “I think my fans could feel that I opened the gate and ran out of the pasture for the first time, which I’m glad they picked up on because they’re very intuitive.”

In the same interview, the Grammy-winning artist opened up about the inspiration behind some of the album’s songs. She confirmed that both “My Tears Richochet” and “Mad Woman” were inspired by her former Big Machine label boss Scott Borchetta and music industry bigwig Scooter Braun.

"I found myself being very triggered by any stories, movies, or narratives revolving around divorce," she said of other song themes, while acknowledging that she had not experienced a marriage dissolution firsthand.

Folklore was a surprise release in July earlier this year. The pared-back album received highly positive reviews from both fans and critics and has been nominated for Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

You can read The Independent’s review of Folklore here.