Two Bay Area producers helped out with Taylor Swift’s latest release from Tiny Telephone Oakland.
Some of Taylor Swift’s most gut-wrenching new songs were developed in the Bay Area.
Union City’s Maryam Qudus, better known as singer-songwriter Spacemoth, and her husband, producer and engineer Beau Sorenson, worked on a handful of songs on Swift’s latest release, “The Tortured Poets Department,” and its subsequent “secret” second installment, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.”
Qudus confirmed their involvement with the Chronicle, but said they couldn’t share further details.
“This can finally be declassified: @spacemoth__ and I worked on the new @taylorswift record!! some at @tiny.telephone in Oakland, then some more in NY,” Sorenson posted to Instagram following the albums’ release on April 19.
The couple worked on the songs at Tiny Telephone Oakland, an independent recording studio founded by musician John Vanderslice that he initially established in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1997. Sorenson’s Instagram post revealed that he and Qudus then traveled to Long Pond Studios in New York, one of Swift’s favorites, to continue working on the project.
Taylor Swift performs in July at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Both musicians worked with Aaron Dessner, Swift’s longtime collaborator and founding member of rock band the National.
Sorenson was credited as an engineer on “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” a fan favorite from Swift’s 11th studio album that many speculate to be about her ex Matty Healy of the 1975.
For her part, Qudus helped to engineer “The Anthology” tracks “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus,” “I Hate It Here,” “thanK you aIMee” and “Robin,” according to her post.
Many fans have speculated that “thanK you aIMee” is about Kim Kardashian because of how the song title is stylized, spelling out “Kim,” and a lyric that references Kardashian’s daughter North West publicly enjoying Swift’s music despite Kardashian and Swift’s bad blood (“And one day, your kid comes home singin’ a song that only us two is gonna know is about you”).
“Who knew a last minute session at @tiny.telephone would lead to all of this!” she wrote on Instagram. “Life is weird / unexpected / beautiful and I am so so thankful!”
“The Tortured Poets Department” made a historic debut earlier this month, occupying the top 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, bypassing the record Swift previously set with her 2022 album “Midnights.” Swift’s latest release has also become the highest selling album of the year so far, with nearly 1 million units sold, beating out Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.”
“Love and respect to everyone involved,” Sorenson wrote. “I am astonished & honored to (be) a small part of something huge.”
Reach Zara Irshad: [email protected]
Zara Irshad is the Chronicle’s Arts & Entertainment Engagement Reporter. She joined the Chronicle as a summer 2023 intern for the Datebook team. She is a recent graduate of UC San Diego, where she studied communications. She previously interned for the San Diego Union-Tribune and wrote for her campus newspaper, the Guardian, where she served as editor-in-chief. Irshad was part of the honors program for her major and double-minored in world literature and film studies.
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