Taylor Swift Covers Phil Collins, Plays Red Deep Cut “Holy Ground” For BBC Radio 1
Here in the United States, Taylor Swift’s Lover just had the biggest opening week since her own Reputation in 2017. It’s also #1 over in the UK, where Swift spends a lot of her time these days due to the romance with “London Boy” Joe Alwyn that inspired much of the album. However, she was not in London when she recorded her new BBC Live Lounge session. Clara Amfo and the BBC Radio 1 mer her in New York last Friday, and today we’re hearing it.
The session included a six-song live set from Swift comprising four Lover tracks (“London Boy,” “Lover,” “The Archer,” and “You Need To Calm Down”) plus fan favorite “Holy Ground” from Red and a cover of “Can’t Stop Loving You,” the Billy Nicholls-penned hit for Leo Sayer in 1978 and Phil Collins in 2002. Regarding the cover song, she explained, “I really love exploring all different types of love, and especially on this album. And the type of love that is addressed in this song is unconditional love. And people say ‘unconditional love’ all the time, but I don’t think they really know that unconditional love truly is still loving someone even if they don’t love you anymore. That’s like the saddest thing ever, but would you love someone even if they said, ‘I don’t want to be with you anymore, I don’t love you anymore’? Would you still have that love for them?”
During her interview with Amfo, Swift once again asserted that she plans to re-record her catalog in response to Scooter Braun recently acquiring her masters, much to her dismay. She also said the “London Boy” lyric “don’t threaten me with a good time” is not a reference to British reality star Gemma Collins, who helped popularize the phrase.
Hear Swift’s Live Lounge session here or watch below.