Aaron Dessner producing and playing on Taylor Swift’s recent albums are creating a new fanbase for his band, the National. In a new interview with NME at England’s Glastonbury Festival, the National frontman Matt Berninger discussed the newfound attention the band has received since working with Swift. Berninger admits that Dessner’s collaborations with Swift – along with Matt’s duet with Taylor on Evermore’s, “Coney Island,” and their duet on “The Alcott” on the National’s 2023 album First Two Pages Of Frankenstein – has been “a really, really fruitful thing for our whole band, not just Aaron.”

Berninger reveals that working with Swift has changed the audience at the National’s shows. “We see a lot of Taylor Swift fans coming to shows and being bewildered by the first 25 minutes or so,” he said. “We’ve been blessed with demographics that are across the spectrum. Then 10 or 15 years ago, a lot of younger people started coming – more and more women. The first 10 years was kind of a dude-fest at most of our shows, but that’s changed a lot.” (Consequence of Sound)