Ryan Adams, the alt-country rocker turned folk music hero, released his much-anticipated cover of pop darling Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood," RollingStone reported. The track is the first song from Adams' upcoming cover album of "1989," Swift's hugely successful fifth album.
Adams first revealed that he would work on his cover album via Instagram last month, according to a press release. He posted a shot of a microphone on a stand with a bass player and guitarist in the background with the caption, "Taylor Swift 1989 full album cover night 1. As played by the Smiths."
And he delivered. He posted snippets of his re-imagined versions of Swift's songs via video clips on Instagram throughout the recording process, but his version of "Bad Blood" premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show in its entirety.
The singer-songwriter stripped down "Bad Blood" to its bare bones, making his voice and an acoustic guitar the star of the track. His re-written music adds a twang to the chorus and he keeps the melody similar, but he slowed down the tempo. A quiet vocal delivery on the bridge as he sings Swift's "Band-Aids don't fix bullet holes" line gives his version a moodiness that was missing on the original song.
His full cover album, titled "1989" as well, is available for pre-order at iTunes and will be released digitally on Monday, Sept. 21 via PAX-AM/Blue Note. The album is also pending on a physical CD and vinyl release.
Swift responded to the news that Adams would be reinterpreting her music via social media and gave Adams her blessing on the release of his album on Twitter.
"Ryan's music helped shape my songwriting," she wrote. "This is surreal and dreamlike."
Listen to Adams' version of "Bad Blood" and see Taylor Swift's tweet below.
Ryan's music helped shape my songwriting. This is surreal and dreamlike. Countdown to #RyanAdams1989 @TheRyanAdams pic.twitter.com/pGZB0uUqiB
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 17, 2015
