The National's Aaron Dessner couldn't even tell his 8-year-old daughter he was working with Taylor Swift

Happy Folklore Friday, everyone! Midnight marked the surprise release of Taylor Swift’s eighth studio album, conceived and recorded entirely while under quarantine this past spring, as well as apparently costing a hefty fee in piano repairs.

As we dive into the album today, one of the more interesting bits of news to already come from Swift’s new LP announcement was that it was produced and largely co-written with the help of The National’s Aaron Dessner, who (not that we’re judging) isn’t exactly the first person to come to mind when naming potential T.Swift collabs. And, as Dessner revealed today, he went to great lengths to keep the whole project a secret, including lying to his 8-year-old daughter’s face about the whole thing.

“I have an eight-year-old daughter, and one day she asked me. She’s just like, ‘Daddy, do you know Taylor Swift?,’” Dessner recounted during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “It was the morning after we’d written one of these songs. And every time we would write a song, it was like a weird lightning bolt, getting this struck by lightning or something, just exhilarated with electricity. I just looked her straight in the eye and said, ‘No.’ I honored my confidentiality.”

Dessner’s discussion with Lowe includes a bunch of other interesting tidbits, like how he roped in Justin Vernon for a duet with Swift, and what quarantine can actually mean for artists’ creative freedom—which, look, we’ll take any sliver of silver-lining we can right now.

[via Stereogum]

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