Taylor Swift on Her Songwriting Process: "There Are Mystical, Magical Moments"

Even after 12 years, six studio albums, and countless image reinventions, Taylor Swift says the way she writes her always-honest, ever-relatable songs has been the same since she was 12 years old.

The now 28-year-old singer discussed songwriting and the ups and downs of fame with iconic model, photographer, and rock 'n' roll muse Pattie Boyd for the August cover of Harper's Bazaar. When Pattie, who was married to legendary rock musicians George Harrison of the Beatles and Eric Clapton, described how her simply getting dressed for a party inspired Clapton's hit "Wonderful Tonight," Taylor explained that she, too, finds musical inspiration from everyday life.

"There are definitely moments when it’s like this cloud of an idea comes and just lands in front of your face, and you reach up and grab it," Taylor said. "A lot of songwriting is things you learn, structure, and cultivating that skill, and knowing how to craft a song. But there are mystical, magical moments, inexplicable moments when an idea that is fully formed just pops into your head. And that’s the purest part of my job. It can get complicated on every other level, but the songwriting is still the same uncomplicated process it was when I was 12 years old writing songs in my room."

Still, Taylor notes that not just anyone can inspire her work. "I don’t know what it is that makes some people really creatively inspiring," she continued. "There have been people I’ve spent a lot of time with who I just couldn’t write about." Well, it seems that the Grammy winner's boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, isn't one of them. Taylor's fans are pretty convinced that several songs on her latest album, Reputation, are about her relationship with Joe.

"I don’t know. It’s just that some people come into your life and they have this effect on you," Taylor continued, telling Pattie, "It’s really interesting because in your case you inspired that creative output from two iconic musicians. That just blows my mind. It’s very rare!"

Elsewhere in the interview, the two women related over the hardships that come with living life in the spotlight. Pattie experienced the peak of Beatlemania in her relationship with Harrison, and described one "absolutely terrifying" incident to Taylor in which she was leaving a show when she and her friends were physically and verbally assaulted by a group of Beatles fans. Taylor can certainly relate to this scary situation — in the past, the singer has dealt with with a slew of completely violating stalkers and threats to her and her family's safety. "What were they saying?" Taylor asked Pattie of the group that attacked her. "'We hate you,'" she answered.

"That is my worst nightmare," said Taylor. "You probably felt like, 'If you knew me and I knew you, you would not be pulling my hair in an alleyway and saying, 'I hate you.'"

Indeed — but clearly, there's nothing but love between these two icons. Pattie ended the interview by offering Taylor some poignant words of wisdom: "You have to remember that nothing remains the same," she said. "It’s always going to change. The whole world keeps changing, we keep changing, things in our lives keep changing. Nothing remains the same. If you’re happy or you’re sad, it’s not going to last forever. You just have to keep remembering that."

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