Taylor Swift Red Carpet AMA - H 2011
Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesTaylor Swift premiered her music video for “Safe & Sound,” the haunting track she made along with the Nashville-based band the Civil Wars (which is made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White) for the Hunger Games soundtrack Monday.
The video’s mood matches the song’s haunting and almost eerie sound, featuring a solo Swift wandering through a dark, and almost dangerous looking wood. It’s spliced with clips of the Civil Wars, who are together in a cabin, sitting near a fire.
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But, at the height of the song, Swift finally reaches the cabin, only to find it abandoned. She also finds the video’s only Hunger Games reference, the famed Mockingjay pin.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with both Williams and White at the Grammys to discuss making the movie’s song and video, which was produced by Grammy winner T-Bone Burnett.
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“We were thankful when T-Bone Burnett called and said ‘Do you wanna write your own original song for it?’ We said ‘Yeah, sure.’ You don’t say no when T-Bone calls.” Williams admitted to THR.
But, they were also under a considerable amount of pressure. “We had a four-hour window and knocked it out,” White told THR of writing the track in a very limited amount of time.
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“We’re very excited, that’s some good company to be in,” Williams said of the soundtrack’s high-profile acts, including Arcade Fire and The Decemberists.
Watch the video below.
