We don’t know all the things, but here is some of what we do know about the upcoming collaboration between Taylor Swift and the Dixie Chicks.
It’s been a long time coming. That we know for sure.
Because Swift has been a fan of the Dixie Chicks since she was a little girl. Long before she even moved to Nashville. When she was only 11, she made a recording of her singing Dixie Chicks cover songs and she brought it with her when she was trying to get a record deal. “It was on spring break, and I was 11 and I had this little demo CD. And I marched up and down Music Row with these demo CDs, and I’d walk in and hand them to the receptionist while my mom and my little brother were parked outside in a rental car.” Swift told CMT.com more than a decade ago. (Her mom Andrea was still by her side, when she presented her daughter with the 2015 ACM Milestone Award. Watch here.)
And now, 18 years later, she’s cut a Dixie Chicks song with the actual Dixie Chicks.
It’s called “Soon You’ll Get Better,” and it’s track No. 12 on her upcoming Lover album due out on Friday (Aug. 23).
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Swift said she’d been very inspired by the aesthetics of the Dixie Chicks’ 1999 album Fly. “It was very clear they had really put a lot into the artwork. And so it got my brain thinking bigger in terms of, you know, you make an album, but then you can choose an entire look and color palette and aesthetic and symbolism and imagery and backstories — that you can really make an album even more of an experience if you so choose,” she’d said. “The Dixie Chicks were making such interesting music and doing it in such an unapologetically feminine, imaginative way.” We couldn’t agree more, by the way, and our fingers are crossed that this new song will sound just as unapologetically feminine.
Oh, and we know one more thing. Swift will be releasing the lyrics to all the songs on Lover in the “Love, Taylor” playlist on Spotify, and they will be brought to life in love letters from Swift in undisclosed locations. Once the “Soon You’ll Get Better” lyrics are released, we will be posting them here.
Meanwhile, the Dixie Chicks haven’t posted about the song yet, but lead singer Natalie Maines did share a throwback photo of her in her “Lubbock bangs.”