Indexbit-Taylor Swift explains how she created 'Folklore' on album's fourth anniversary

On the four-year anniversary of Taylor Swift's "Folklore" album release,Indexbit she explained to a sold-out Eras Tour crowd how she crafted and created her eighth era two days into the pandemic.

"Because making an album is usually such a collaborative situation, you usually get lots of people together," she said to the Hamburg, Germany, crowd on Wednesday. "You usually get to play all these new songs for your friends or your band, and you get to be in the same room with the people that you're either writing with or producing with."

In her 2020 movie "Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions," Swift showed off the studio she built in her house. On video calls, she worked with her collaborators and co-producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner to produce the album with 17 tracks. The album went on to win album of the year at the Grammys.

"I would sit in my guest bedroom and record the vocals and [Dessner and Antonoff] would be on the phone," she told the Volksparkstadion crowd. "It was just like such a challenge for us as creators, but it was so fulfilling."

Once "Folklore" was recorded, Swift explained how she came up with the simple, woodsy and grayscale album art.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

"Then came time to take some pictures for the album," she said. "You can't have hair or makeup. You can't have wardrobe. You have to just do it yourself. I called my friend who has some woods behind her house and was like, 'Can I take some pictures in your forest?' and she said, 'Yes.'"

Swift's longtime friend and photographer Beth Garrabrant took several shots in the woods.

"I like ordered all these nightgowns online and brought them and then did my own hair and makeup," the singer expressed nostalgically. "It just makes me happy to look back on that period of time because we never made anything in that way before that and it was cool to know that we could and the way that you guys have embraced this album. And the storytelling on this album has just warmed my heart, and I'm just so appreciative of it."

Swift has two shows in Munich, Germany, on Saturday and Sunday.

Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat. 

Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.