Taylor Swift is not the kind of girl who is going to pick just any song at her wedding. So when it comes to the big first dance, you know it will be deeply meaningful and meticulously planned out. “You would think that I had been the type of person who would have obsessed over the idea of a wedding my whole life,” she said last year after her engagement, “but I actually never thought about what I would ever do or what I would want until I met the person.” Sure, Taylor, sure.
As a pop superstar, she can practically guarantee a live rendition of whatever classic she wants from just about any living musician. She’s also been a huge fan of several songbooks, showing love for everyone from Carole King to the National. There’s still a lot up in the air about the wedding of the decade century, and we’ve got burning questions about all of it, including if it’s even happening this weekend. But as we presumably get closer to the big day, we compiled a list of top song selections we think could make the first dance cut.
Stevie Nicks, ‘Landslide’
Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesStevie Nicks will be in the room, so it’s a safe bet that the night will not end without her singing “Landslide,” her most beloved song. “Stand Back” might suit the Swift/Kelce story, but it’s too much of a rocker for a first dance, and for damn sure nobody’s in the mood for anything from Rumours tonight. Count on Stevie to deliver “Landslide,” and to work all the drama in “snow-covered HIIIIIIIILLS” like it’s never been worked before. —Rob Sheffield
Paul McCartney, ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’
Jim Dyson/Getty ImagesIf Paul McCartney makes it to the wedding, as is rumored, he’ll surely sing a not-so-silly love song for the bride and groom. “Maybe I’m Amazed” would be the ideal choice. We know Swift is into the fine details of the 1970s Paul-and-Linda love story, ever since she took their “what a mind” anecdote and turned it into her own song, “Sweet Nothing.” We also know how much Stella McCartney loves this song, and Swift is the self-proclaimed “Tennessee Stella McCartney.” Plus, “Maybe I’m Amazed” has one of the greatest bridges ever — and there’s nothing the bride appreciates like a bridge. —R.S.
Kenny Chesney ‘You Had Me From Hello’
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Kenny Chesney cancelled a concert to be at this wedding, so don’t be surprised if he’s got something up his sleeve. He was one of the first major country stars to give her a break when she was just a kid starting out. She’s never forgotten that — 10 years later, she surprised him by showing up on his birthday to sing a duet on “Big Star.” Maybe he’ll do one of his beloved first-dance standards like “You and Me,” or “You Had Me From Hello,” which really fits their story, even if it could be retitled “You Had Me From Begging Me To Date You on Your Podcast.” —R.S.
Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, ‘It’s Your Love’
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Tim McGraw is one of the stars confirmed for the guests list, according to Page Six, which also reported that the country singer will perform at the wedding. If that’s the case, there’s a big chance he brings up his superstar wife Faith Hill along for the ride of a lifetime. We know Swift loves Hill’s crossover hit “This Kiss,” but it’s admittedly too saccharine and upbeat for a first dance feeling. No worries, the mom and dad of country music have more than a handful of collaborations together, though nothing beats out their first duet “It’s Your Love.” The 1997 hit is a perfect ballad and makes even more sense as Swift leans back into her country roots. —Maya Georgi
Ed Sheeran, ‘Thinking Out Loud’
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The only musician who loves a wedding more than Swift might be Ed Sheeran. He’s written sweet melodies tailor-made for walking down the aisle, depicted a Persian wedding for one of his music videos, and literally just crashed a wedding this week to perform his latest release. As his close friend, Swift also knows this fact about Sheeran very well. “It would be hard to keep him from it, I think,” she said when asked if he would perform on her big day. “It’s like, ‘Ed, if there’s a stage you know that you’ll be on it.’ He knows what people want, and he wants to give people what they want,” she added. Well, the people want Sheeran trying his hand at his Swift collab “Everything Has Changed” but the (solo version) or even that song mashed up with “End Game” — it is the perfect opportunity to sing “somethin’ was born on the 4th of July” after all. But a Sheeran wedding classic like “Thinking Out Loud” would be just as sweet, maybe even more so coming from such a longtime pal. —M.G.
Lana Del Rey, ‘Young and Beautiful’
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Swift is a huge Lana Del Rey fan; she’s gushed about the singer time and time again, and even called her “one of the best musical artists ever.” So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the singer would not only be in attendance, but might even perform one of her cinematic cuts at the wedding. Sure, there’s always the Taylor-Lana 2023 collaboration “Snow on the Beach,” but those mellotron notes sound much more disquieting than the ones on “Strawberry Fields.” Plus, Del Rey has a plethora of romantic, slow-dance songs to pick from. There’s “Video Games,” of course, but the devotional “Young and Beautiful” feels like the obvious choice here. —M.G.
Taylor Swift, “Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)”
John Shearer/Getty ImagesAdmit it: Her wedding would be a pretty bad-ass place to announce the long-awaited Taylor’s Version of Debutation. “Mary’s Song,” from her debut, is the first wedding song she ever recorded when she was just a teenager. But it has the prophetic line, “I’ll be 87, you’ll be 89,” prescient since 87 is Travis’ uniform number and 1989 was one of her biggest albums. True, it’s a little tricky to have the bride try to sing at the same time she’s hitting the dance floor, but Taylor does specialize in trying things that have never been done before. As for Rep, though, we can feel very, very, very sure the bride is not singing “Getaway Car” tonight. —R.S.
A New Taylor Original
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Picture this: Swift and Kelce share their first dance to a soft, finger-plucked song that no one recognizes until a familiar voice comes in. It’s Swift singing a brand new release that swells with the beauty of the “Eldest Daughter” bridge and the hopeful feeling of “Begin Again.” All 1,000 guests are too stunned to speak. The track is titled “Something New” because that is simply the most Swiftian thing that could happen at Swift’s wedding. Go big or go home type of vibe. There’s absolutely no indication that this will happen, but it would be the first dance song of our wildest dreams. —M.G.
Foreigner, ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’
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A week after Swift and Kelce announced their engagement, the classic-rock dudes in Foreigner decided to shoot their shot. They issued a public plea, volunteering to play the wedding. “Dear Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce,” their Instagram post began, “We know what love is. We spent 40 years figuring it out…and now you guys have too. Please accept this as our formal offer to be your wedding band.” As far as we know, Swift never said yes — but she never publicly said no, either. So maybe they’ll play, or maybe Selena Gomez will belt “I Want to Know What Love Is” Or Cara Delevingne singing “Waiting for a Girl Like You”? Phoebe Bridgers doing “Hot Blooded”? —R.S.
‘Karma’s a Bitch’: Boy George on Why Culture Club Recreated Their Biggest Hit With AI
More than 40 years after its original release, Boy George and Culture Club have rerecorded their chart-topping hit, “Karma Chameleon,” using AI to recreate the vocal characteristics of the original 1983 recording. Alongside digital formats, the release will be available on vinyl in red, gold and green, the colors referenced in the song, featuring reimagined cover art. The rerecord marks the launch of Artist Included, a music technology company co-founded by Boy George’s manager, Paul Kemsley, and entertainment attorney and film producer Jeremy Rosen. Boy George serves as creative director.
Asked why he decided to recreate the song, Boy George has a simple answer: “Control!,” he tells Rolling Stone. “Having some say over where it goes. ‘Karma Chameleon’ is a secret weapon. It’s a song you starve the audience for because they want to hear it, and live, it’s always been a real pleasure to sing it. But in terms of what it does commercially, it’s like having something really powerful with your name on it, and you have no say about where it goes.”
The idea for the rerecord was prompted by a commercial sync license for “Karma Chameleon” involving Richard Branson for Virgin Voyages. Culture Club signed to Branson’s Virgin Records in 1982, and Boy George has maintained a close relationship with the entrepreneur ever since. According to Kemsley, Branson paid approximately $4 million for the deal ($2 million of which went to the master recording rights holders), while Boy George received only an appearance fee because he has never owned the masters for his biggest song.
“Karma’s a bitch,” Boy George states. “When we wrote that song, we weren’t looking 40 years ahead. We weren’t thinking of longevity. That song, because of the context of when it was recorded, the social feeling has stayed with people. It’s become part of people’s lives. Having control over it again, to a certain extent, is very exciting.”
The rerecord has a warmer vocal tone and sits slightly lower in the mix than the original, but is faithful enough to it that it plays like a remaster. The rerecording was produced by JJ Blair and Culture Club’s guitarist Roy Hay with additional production by song’s original producer, Steve Levine. Prior to the session, the AI was trained using archival demos licensed from Levine who had preserved them for decades. The instrumentation was newly recorded by Hay, Culture Club bassist Mikey Craig and session musicians. Only the vocal performance is AI-assisted.
“When I went into the studio to record it, I was like a pub singer imitating myself,” says Boy George. “You listen to where you pace things [sings the first line of ‘Karma Chameleon’]. You listen to where you put the voice: in your nose or your throat or chest. What you do instinctively as a 22-year-old, you don’t do as a 40-year-old or a 65-year-old. There’s a clipped way of singing it, which you forget through playing it live so many times. It was very European-sounding and youthful. I’ve taken it somewhere much more blues-y over the years, dragging out the notes. It’s about the nuance. When you sing something live over 40 years, it changes shape. It’s interesting to take it back to the original recording and recapture that feeling.”
Getting close to the original vocal is a hurdle for most musicians whose voices change over time. It took 18 months for Artist Included’s AI to work out the kinks. In the first iteration, Boy George sounded like “Pinky and Perky, two pigs on helium in a cartoon,” says Kemsley, referring to a children’s television series where the titular characters sing in high-pitched, fast-paced voices. The technology is now refined, and the plan is to rerecord Culture Club’s and Boy George’s entire back catalogs. Kemsley claims this will take two weeks, or as long as it takes Boy George to sing every song.
“I was a naysayer,” admits Boy George. “I was like, ‘This will never work.’ But I actually prefer this version [of ‘Karma Chameleon’]. For me, as the person that sang it originally, and re-sang it, what I love about this version, it has the sound of that time, but the warmth and experience and integrity of everything I’ve learned in my life.”
Kemsley, who has managed Boy George since 2014, frames the project as an attempt to rebalance longstanding industry economics. “This record has been making millions of dollars for [almost] 45 years, and George hasn’t,” says Kemsley. “The whole thing seems terribly unjust. You sign your life away at the age of 22, then have to wait 35 years to get the reversions, but you still don’t get any master recording income. Over the years, bands try to get their masters back and they never get them, with the major labels claiming they are work-for-hire.”
To put this in context, a record company often owns or controls master recording rights, a term stipulated when it signs an artist. That covers the music; the lyrics and composition are an entirely separate right known as publishing, which, by contrast, follows the composition, and therefore the song through every new recording. As a result, rerecords create a new master recording, and can benefit publishing by re-engaging the artist and generating renewed interest in the underlying work.
When it comes to rerecords, many artists are restricted to a certain length of time during which they are forbidden from releasing a new, faithful version to the original. Longstanding artists sometimes use Section 203 of the U.S. Copyright Act to reclaim rights to their masters after 35 years. They are rarely successful, as record companies often argue the masters were created as work made for hire.
The way Artist Included is structured, the artist receives the lion’s share of revenue. “The industry I was in no longer exists,” Boy George points out. “Artists like me are expected to carry on following that model. I haven’t done that for years. I used to say I’m the only person who realizes the ‘80s are over. You want to keep the spirit of that moment to some extent, but you move on. AI is not going anywhere, so having that conversation is exciting. And being ahead of the game in terms of how people use it, is also quite exciting for me.”
Considering Culture Club’s acrimonious split with their former drummer, Jon Moss, which resulted in a hefty settlement, rerecords of their songs also have the benefit of bypassing the need for his approval to use the original master recordings, which have four-way songwriting credit between its members.
“He still gets something from it,” clarifies Boy George. “Jon is a part of what we did [originally as a band].” But Kemsley is quick to point out that Moss is not a part of what they’re doing now with the rerecords, and is not entitled to any percentage of it. The band will see an increase in publishing, and as a credited songwriter, Moss will continue to receive publishing income, while the new master revenues do not involve him.
The next song queued up for rerecord is another signature Culture Club hit, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” and Artist Included’s AI is primed, having retained Boy George’s voice for training purposes. The company has also been in conversations with publishing companies and other artists, mainly from the Eighties and Nineties, though no names are being disclosed yet. Kemsley says the conversations have not been a hard sell.
“People will react to what they see and hear,” says Boy George. “It’s much more powerful when people see it released and see what can happen.”
Kemsley notes Boy George turns 65 the day before the release of the new “Karma Chameleon,” which is the retirement age in the UK. “We’re not retiring,” Kemsley clarifies. “Far from it. We’re going back to the beginning, and we’re going to do it all again. We’re going to change the way revenue flows through to the artist. And we’re going to have some real fun with it.”