Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner’s Complete Friendship Timeline:

If musical soulmates exist, Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner would be strong contenders for the title.

The pair have collaborated on multiple albums together, including Swift’s hotly anticipated 11th record, The Tortured Poets Department. Dessner, a founding member of the rock band The National, has lent his producing and writing skills to many of Swift’s tracks, including beloved tunes like “Willow” and “Cardigan.”

 

Outside of the studio, the duo frequently share high praise for one another, with Dessner telling the “Broken Record” podcast in April 2023 that they’ve had “amazing moments” during their songwriting sessions. “We’ve become really close friends and she couldn’t be more lovely and fun,” he said. “Legitimately, she’s just a really lovely, hyper-intelligent, down-to-earth person.”

Keep scrolling for the complete timeline of Swift and Dessner’s friendship:

CELEBRITY NEWS

Inside Taylor Swift’s Friendship With The National’s Aaron Dessner: A Complete Timeline

By Thea Glassman


 

Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner’s Complete Friendship Timeline:
Octavio Jones/TAS23/Getty Images for for TAS Rights Management

If musical soulmates exist, Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner would be strong contenders for the title.

The pair have collaborated on multiple albums together, including Swift’s hotly anticipated 11th record, The Tortured Poets Department. Dessner, a founding member of the rock band The National, has lent his producing and writing skills to many of Swift’s tracks, including beloved tunes like “Willow” and “Cardigan.”

 

Outside of the studio, the duo frequently share high praise for one another, with Dessner telling the “Broken Record” podcast in April 2023 that they’ve had “amazing moments” during their songwriting sessions. “We’ve become really close friends and she couldn’t be more lovely and fun,” he said. “Legitimately, she’s just a really lovely, hyper-intelligent, down-to-earth person.”

Keep scrolling for the complete timeline of Swift and Dessner’s friendship:

 

March 2014

Dessner first crossed paths with Swift on the set of Saturday Night Live. The National was featured as a musical guest on the sketch comedy show when Lena Dunham, a close pal of Swift’s, hosted the show. Five years later, the pair reunited when Swift attended a National concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

“She talked a lot with my brother [Bryce] and me,” he recounted in an interview with Pitchfork. “That’s when we realized how much of a fan she was, and how lovely and down-to-earth.”

April 2019

Swift reached out to Dessner via text and suggested the pair collaborate on her album Folklore. “I got a text and it said, ‘Hey, it’s Taylor. Would you ever be up for writing songs with me?’ I said, ‘Wow. Of course,’” he told Pitchfork.

July 2020

Folklore featured 11 songs cowritten by Dessner, including “Seven” and “Hoax.” Dessner later opened up about the experience of recording the album amid the COVID pandemic, explaining how the songs came together during such a complicated time.

“I thought it would take a while for song ideas to come and I had no expectations as far as what we could accomplish remotely. But a few hours after sharing music, my phone lit up with a voice memo from Taylor of a fully written version of a song — the momentum never really stopped,” he wrote via Instagram after the album’s surprise release, adding that he had “rarely” been so inspired by someone
Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner’s Complete Friendship Timeline: