Watch Taylor Swift’s Chilling, Stripped-Down Performance of “Wildest Dreams”

January 6, 2016

Written by

Fabi Reyna

Text by

Fabi Reyna

For many, the 26-year-old megastar is known as an award winning pop artist, mostly noted as a singer and occasionally praised for her songwriting. We get it—when you’re selling out 20 thousand capacity arenas for the 16th time it’s hard to see past the hits and remember what made someone so admirable in the first place.

On January 4th, In celebration of her record breaking exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum, Taylor Swift released an intimate version of “Wildest Dreams,” performed for 100 lucky fans at the Clive Theater on September 30th. The performance featured Swift confidently strumming her Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar along to her own ethereal vocals.

For the majority of pop icons—specifically women—it’s difficult to be seen or portrayed as anything but a singer. This holds truth for “singers” such as Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, Lana Del Rey and the list goes on and on. For this reason, watching one of the world’s biggest pop icons portrayed as a musician rather than a media celebrity was nothing short of inspiring. We’ll let the video do most of the talking but in case you were wondering, yes, this is an official call for T Swift to come join the She Shreds squad.

[youtube id=”OGDkg3QiJmk”]

This is really good, but someone needs to learn what “acoustic” means.
Comment by Dave on January 6, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Who ever said anything about acoustic? The discretionary if this performance were “intimate” and “stripped down”
Comment by Hypson on January 7, 2016 at 11:44 am
The URL says acoustic
Comment by BoomerP on January 8, 2016 at 1:25 pm
That’s what I’m saying. Plus, I’ve never seen this magazine before, sorry, but if it refers to shredding on the guitar, I wouldn’t be selecting this video, there’s no shredding going on here.
Comment by Thimbrithel on January 10, 2016 at 6:05 am
That was a surprise. I dig the funky palm muting at 2:22. Good on her.
Comment by Bruce on January 6, 2016 at 5:16 pm
Wonder what amp was used. Sounds great.
Comment by JP on January 6, 2016 at 6:39 pm
Probably just pedals and then into the PA?
Comment by John L Rice on January 7, 2016 at 7:43 am
Was wondering same thing… Def not pedals direct like one guy suggested…?
Comment by William k on January 7, 2016 at 10:34 am
…Well… Maybe an amp simulator rack unit? But doubt it???
Comment by William k on January 7, 2016 at 10:36 am
Fairly certain that camp uses Axe FX. Sounds great.
Comment by SRG on January 7, 2016 at 10:57 am
She sounds amazing and I can’t wait for her and Ryan to tour together.
Comment by Colton on January 6, 2016 at 11:24 pm
Um Amy Winehouse played
Multiple different instruments and was a trained jazz guitarist her entire life…”just a singer” my ass…do your research!
Comment by Mk on January 7, 2016 at 7:27 am
Read the article again. Singer is in quotes to make the point you’re exactly making.
Comment by Sunny on January 7, 2016 at 8:36 am
Umm…that’s the exact point the article is making.
Comment by Jenniquatro on January 7, 2016 at 2:37 pm
That’s the point of the article, you illiterate pile of moldy chicken strips.
Comment by tuffman on January 22, 2016 at 9:50 am
love it! here’s my version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7bWgsvwSuU
Comment by Derrick Hart on January 7, 2016 at 7:37 am
Still waiting for the shredding to start when the clip ended. “I don’t think that word means what you think it means”.
Comment by Noah F. San Tsorbutz on January 7, 2016 at 7:48 am
Haha, Inconceivable! That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Comment by Thimbrithel on January 10, 2016 at 6:07 am
Your post captures the issue peylcetfr!
Comment by Matilda on February 7, 2016 at 5:05 pm
A great talent!
Comment by Stanley C. on January 7, 2016 at 11:33 am
says acoustic in teh URL
Comment by gmork on January 7, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Not usually a huge fan of her stuff but that was great! I wonder what her other songs would sound like if you took some of the poppy bombast out of them. If it’s anything like this I’d buy that album.
Comment by Brett on January 7, 2016 at 3:27 pm
You should probably get the Ryan Adams version of the album in that case. It’s precisely that
Comment by Simon on January 8, 2016 at 12:04 am
still seems like a professional pop calculation, a concoction. a really good song struggles and just barely comes through, this blares, like bullshit
Comment by fref on January 7, 2016 at 8:19 pm
Are you kidding me?
Her guitar playing is rudimentary at best. When I give guitar lessons that’s what I would expect someone to be able to do after lesson 1.
Her singing is forced and banal.
And the song us, like most of her stiff ( and contemporary pop in general) boring and based on as single melodic line that just repeated ad nauseum.
This is crap.
Comment by Emmet Grogan on January 8, 2016 at 6:24 am
well, you know what somebody once said ’bout haters, lol
Comment by The Mamatova on January 8, 2016 at 8:32 am
Ok you’re wrong- she is using rudimentary tools at a high level here. He dynamics are quite good. Novice guitar players can’t make simple passage sound as engaging as she does. They don’t know how to keep a quiet part quiet and consistent and don’t know how to keep a loud section of a song from feeling clunky. Taylor definitely knows what she is doing- she is playing a simple song but is clearly not a simple player. You should work on your listening if you are a guitar teacher.

Don’t get me wrong. She isn’t showing me anything incredible in this video. But definitely not rudimentary either.
Comment by Gabriel on January 8, 2016 at 4:40 pm
You think she is a great musician because she can get loud, then get quiet..? there are so many artists that deserve the chance she got, but would have done so much more with it. Real music is dead.
Comment by RealMusicIsDead on January 9, 2016 at 4:01 am
Actually, after the verse she moves into a stepped three-part chorus, elevating the song each time. You can’t do that with a single melodic line.
Comment by Andrew on January 9, 2016 at 12:53 am
Ah…that explains why you’re a guitar teacher and she’s a multi-millionaire
Comment by mainecoast on January 10, 2016 at 10:57 am
wow you certainly have ur head up ur own ass
Comment by noah on January 14, 2016 at 3:21 pm
I think it is funny how people talk about what is wrong with this and how she isn’t any good etc.! Really, she has a fan base that runs in ages from 3 to 100 and sells out nearly every venue she plays. Obviously she has something going for her. If any of you complainers are able to do those things as well then you are entitled to talk shit. If not then where do you get off critisizing?
I think she is awesome and I have loved all most every song she has put out since she was 16 and “Tim McGraw” first played on the radio. Need to give credit where it is due.
Comment by D Halverson on January 8, 2016 at 9:22 am
[…] Wildest Dreams – acoustic […]
Pingback by 101.7 The One | Talented Taylor strips it down on January 8, 2016 at 1:32 pm
I don’t get it. She is OK but nothing spectacular. I recently heard Nathan Osmond (son of 70’s teen idol Alan Osmond and nephew to Donny & Marie Osmond) and I was blown away. He reminds me of a young Garth Brooks. If Big Machine is smart they will grab this young man before someone else does.
Comment by Alan Gibson on January 8, 2016 at 1:32 pm
I love Taylor and also LOVE Nathan Osmond! Not only is he handsome, he is an Amazing entertainer!! Here is his website: http://www.NathanOsmond.com I love the video on his homepage!! 🙂
Comment by Amy on January 8, 2016 at 1:41 pm
Gotta say, there’s a lot of dudes griping about her technical ability on this site that is for female guitarists. How absolutely predictable!
Comment by Diana on January 8, 2016 at 10:34 pm
I’m a chick, and I think this video is not impressive at all, sorry. Nothing against her, she’s obviously got some tremendous charisma to draw people in, and anyone that has the courage to write lyrics personal and intimate and song to the world, I give them credit for that too, but sorry, she’s not very talented. Not her voice, definitely not her guitar, just her innocent persona and disarming smile.

I could yeah my 7 year old niece to play that on her guitar, it’s DEFINITELY not shredding.

But kudos for the effort and musical stretch, I respect her efforts.
Comment by Thimbrithel on January 10, 2016 at 6:15 am
She played four chords… The video ended a while ago and I’m still waiting for her to “shred”… It sucks when a artist is too weak to stand up for their creative decisions, and instead blindly follow the wishings of a record company. At the same time who wouldn’t want to be rich for absolutely nothing?
Comment by Dick on January 9, 2016 at 3:45 am
She played four chords… This was pathetic! “Shredding”? The song ended a while ago and I’m still waiting for a single lick. It’s sad that music is more about the beauty of a face rather than the skill and talent people have spent years working on.
Comment by Dick on January 9, 2016 at 3:51 am
Ummm…where was the shredding?
Comment by Flip on January 9, 2016 at 4:48 pm
100 bucks that all the bros & ‘guitar teachers’ talking about shredding on this thread play the loudest instrument in the band on Monday night when they cover sweet child of mine. Dynamics = shredding, expand ur definition bruh
Comment by Fred on January 9, 2016 at 5:38 pm
I love TS! I admire her determination and creativeness!
Comment by Carol Quarles on January 9, 2016 at 6:12 pm
It’s amazing the amount of armchair QB’s we have bitching about her on here.

God forbid she doesn’t play like James Hetfield or Dimebag.

She can sing beautifully and plays more than one instrument.

Best of all. She’s well known for writing her own songs.

Some of you bitch just to hear the sound of your own voice.
Comment by Kyle on January 10, 2016 at 7:55 am
Great. Have always enjoyed her. Would love to see more of this side of her, even (possibly?) a few songs that simply rock in the next few years would send her orbit way higher for Gen Xers like me. Can’t wait for more.
Comment by Jonathan on January 10, 2016 at 9:52 am
You can most certainly get that sound with pedals nowadays
Comment by Byron on January 10, 2016 at 6:53 pm
I think she is very talented, singing and guitar, all the put downers, you go up on stage and do it!
Comment by Carolyn on January 16, 2016 at 4:35 pm
This is a fantastic performance.

To answer the question of what kind of amp she’s using, it’s widely known that Taylor uses a Fractal Design Axe FX rig off-stage, direct to the PA. While I’m not a fan of modellers, at all, it works just fine here.

I had no idea that Johnny Marr even had a Signature Jaguar until I saw this video a few years ago, even though he’s one of my favorite guitarists of all time. Now I want my next guitar to be inspired by this model, and I think it would be really cool if Fender also released this exact model as the Taylor Swift Signature Model.

I love how Taylor brings out the worst in people. She’s a great songwriter and a great performer, and if she’s not your cup of tea, why do you feel the need to vent your irrational rage? Is your ego really so fragile that you have to put her down to make yourself feel better?
Comment by Gemma Seymour on January 14, 2020 at 1:20 pm