Taylor Swift
Producer Shellback created the foundation of "Shake It Off" by stomping on the wooden floor of Conway Studios and clapping. He and Max Martin looped the pattern with deliberately bad brass sounds. Taylor Swift hummed over it during the session, then went home and finished the lyrics in 30 minutes. When Scott Borchetta heard the completed album, he asked whether they could put a fiddle on the track. Swift's reply: "Love you, mean it. But this is how it's going to be." The song debuted at number 1, making it only the 22nd song in Billboard history to do so on its first week.
In our deep dive into Shake It Off, we trace the song from a stomped floor to Swift's definitive statement of purpose, and what it reveals about an artist who knew exactly when she was ready to change genres and wouldn't be talked out of it.
