From “Mad Woman” to “No Body, No Crime,” Taylor Swift has apparently had female rage on the mind.
In the case of the latter song, the sixth track off of her second surprise album of the year, Evermore, Swift teams up with longtime pals Haim to avenge the murder of a woman named Este, who confronted her cheating husband and was killed for it. Swift reveals to EW exclusively where the idea for the song came from, and how she got the group — which consists of sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim — involved.
“Working with the Haim sisters on 'No Body, No Crime’ was pretty hilarious because it came about after I wrote a pretty dark murder mystery song and had named the character Este, because she’s the friend I have who would be stoked to be in a song like that,” Swift says of the track. “I had finished the song and was nailing down some lyric details and texted her, 'You’re not going to understand this text for a few days but… which chain restaurant do you like best?’ and I named a few.”
Swift continues, “She chose Olive Garden and a few days later I sent her the song and asked if they would sing on it. It was an immediate 'YES.’” (The popular Italian chain appears in the lyrics of the song: “Este wasn’t there/ Tuesday night at Olive Garden.”)
Though they’ve been friends for years and even toured together, Swift and the Haim sisters had never before collaborated on a song together. “We can’t figure out why we hadn’t collaborated sooner. We’ve toured together, played live together, choreographed dances like we’re at summer camp, but it took a song about avenging your friend’s murder to give us the idea to take this step,” Swift explains, adding, “Long story short, I’m the 4th Haim sister now, confirmed.”
To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.
