Published 20:51 IST, June 26th 2020
Taylor Swift goes by the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg, here's when she's used it
Taylor Swift is well-known was playing mystery games with her fans. But she surprised them all when she adapted a pseudonym to write songs for new projects.
Taylor Swift is one of the most influential artists on the planet. The country music star turned pop sensation has delivered several hits and has ruled the music charts with many chartbusters. Apart from proving her lyrical prowess from time to time, Taylor Swift is also known for dropping several Easter eggs for her fans through her records and music videos, and most importantly using a pseudonym for herself. Find out more details about Taylor Swift’s pseudonym and the reason she uses it.
Taylor Swift’s history with her pseudonym
Over the years, pop culture fans have seen several spy thrillers and mystery films use alias or pseudonyms for their characters. These aliases and pseudonyms have frequently impressed the audience and have also inspired other filmmakers to apply a similar narrative in their films.
But one musician has been using a pseudonym to deliver chartbusters without anybody noticing. This musician is none other than singer Taylor Swift. Taylor is known for playing mystery games and dropping Easter Eggs for her fans about her music. But the singer took it a step further when she used her pseudonym twice.
So what exactly is a pseudonym? A pseudonym is a fictional name that somebody adopts for a particular reason. Taylor Swift’s now revealed pseudonym is Nils Sjöberg. So when has Taylor Swift used her pseudonym for her songs?
Taylor Swift first used her pseudonym when she wrote a song for her ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris. The Blank Space singer wrote the song This Is What You Came For in 2016. The song which was sung by Rihanna also had vocals by Swift which were cleverly disguised under Riri’s vocals. Taylor Swift used her pseudonym Nils Sjöberg to not let the focus of the audience be shifted from the song to Taylor and Calvin’s relationship.
But when Taylor Swift’s relationship with Calvin Harris came to an end, her fans were quick to dig deep and find out this information. This is not the last time Taylor Swift used her pseudonym. Taylor Swift’s fans recently got a glimpse of Nils Sjöberg once again on an episode of Sandra Oh’s TV series Killing Eve.
This recent episode of Killing eve featured a cover of Taylor’s song Look What You Made Do, which was the first single from Taylor Swift’s sixth album, Reputation. Taylor even talked about it, where it was mentioned by her that the song was sung by a band named Jack Leopards & The Dolphin Club. But in reality, Jack Leopards & The Dolphin Club does not exist.
Taylor swift’s fans soon started speculating that this song was covered by none other than Taylor Swift’s brother and actor Austin Kingsley Swift. The fans also speculated that Taylor used Nils Sjöberg as a band member to not let Scooter Braun earn profits from this cover. Braun’s Big Machine Records’ currently owns Taylor’s previous six albums and hence he would have received the song’s royalty. Hence by using the pseudonym, she made sure that the royalty from the song was diverted towards her.
Updated 20:52 IST, June 26th 2020