Taylor Swift has finally revealed who her 2008 track “Hey Stephen” is about – although it’s not clear if she’s joking.
The singer made an appearance on The Late Show on Tuesday night (13 April), during which she was asked by host Stephen Colbert if the song is about him.
“I recorded that song in 2008, I think I was like 18,” she said, dismissing the suggestion.
“Right, and I was also a younger age,” said Colbert, who would have been 44 at the time.
The skit also saw Swift quipping that to get into the “right headspace” to authentically re-record the song, she dug out a mood board covered in pictures of Colbert.
Telling Colbert who the song is really about, Swift said: “I’ve never revealed this before to anyone, but ‘Hey Stephen’ is about Stephen King. He’s amazing. The Dark Tower series changed my life, plus The Shining, The Stand, and don’t even get me started on his short stories. Absolutely luminescent.”
Swift’s appearance on the show ended with the singer pretending she was getting a call from King himself.
Swift has been creating new versions of the albums released with her old label Big Machine Records, after a long-running dispute with the label’s new owner Scooter Braun over the rights to her master recordings.
On Friday (9 April), Swift released the full-length re-recording of her 2008 record Fearless, calling the new release Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
The album, which is out now, has been met with positive reviews and has already led fans to attempt to “disappear” the original recording of Fearless on Spotify.
Read The Independent’s four-star review of the album here.
