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Justin Vernon Praises Taylor Swift For Transforming Big Red Machine Song Into ‘Exile’: ‘Strongest Set of Lyrics and Songwriting’

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon praised Taylor Swift for her 'strongest set of lyrics and songwriting' on their 'Exile' collaboration.

The plan was for Dessner to play DJ and cue up demos of songs from his Big Red Machine side project — a long-running collaboration with Vernon — before the Bon Iver arena sets. The tour was quickly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so like a lot of musicians at the time Dessner went on Instagram Live to play some unreleased music for fans and who happened to hear what he was laying down but Taylor Swift? “The love and community that Aaron had shown me over these years… Taylor was just stepping into it and flawlessly taking it,” Vernon said, adding that Dessner rang him up during the process and said that there was a track Swift wanted him to sing on.

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