Stephen Malkmus was trying to write like Taylor Swift on 'Wig Out At Jagbags' track 'Lariat'

Stephen Malkmus (formerly of Pavement, currently of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks) has always had a strange approach toward songwriting. But on his latest album Wig Out At Jagbags, he did something that was strange even for him. He tried to write a Katy Perry  song.

Via Billboard:

In the song "Lariat" I love the lyric "we grew up listening to the music of the best decade ever." What to you was so special about the tunes you grew up with?

I was trying to write something that Taylor Swift would write, or maybe even more Katy Perry. I was thinking in wide ways. For me I'm a seventies guy, and sometimes when you're in your early adolescence or when the chicks are just a little older, and kind of out of your reach, they're the ones you sort of like at that young age. Seventies chicks and seventies rock.

Malkmus also revealed himself to be a major fan of the recent Pavement-indebted wave of indie rockers, citing Parquet Courts and Joanna Gruesome as bands that he's particularly fond of. He also says he likes Magic Markers, Kurt Vile and Cass McCombs.

If you haven't heard SM&TJ's excellent new album, you should definitely get on that.