Taylor Swift is taking her folk era straight to the marshes. In a new trailer for the upcoming thriller Where the Crawdads Sing, which stars Normal People breakout (and current cannibal fighter) Daisy Edgar-Jones, the pop star teased her new single “Carolina,” an eerie ode to swamplands. Pulled right from Reese Witherspoon’s book club, this coming-of-age adaptation has a murderous twist in the harmonious bayou.
We meet Kya, the so-called “marsh girl,” in the first look at Where the Crawdads Sing, played by Edgar-Jones and her younger counterpart Jojo Regina. Poor little Kya is abandoned by her family, forced to live out in the marshlands alone. But it’s not all bad: she’s got a thriving mussel business, her art, and a new love interest. That’s all upended, however, when her boyfriend is murdered and she becomes the prime suspect.
“Every creature does what it must to survive,” Kya narrates in the trailer. What’s there left for her to do but run? As the law hunts the marsh girl, they continue to harass her, even throwing her in jail, it appears. Whether or not Kya actually murdered her boyfriend has yet to be revealed—though the rest of society seems to have made their mind up about the social outcast.
While the trailer is absolutely stunning, we barely get to hear any of T. Swift’s new masterpiece. Swift wrote that she knew she had to be a part of the musical side of Where the Crawdads Sing as soon as she heard an adaptation was in the works; what Taylor wants, Taylor gets! “I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story,” she posted on Instagram as she previewed the song. Produced by frequent collaborator Aaron Dessner, “Carolina” will be released “soon,” she says.
Most recently, Edgar-Jones starred in similarly murderous film Fresh, which starred Sebastian Stan as her cannibal boyfriend. The actress is seeing a wave of new roles after her big breakthrough in Normal People alongside Paul Mescal. Alongside Fresh and Where the Crawdads Sing, the actress will also star in Hulu mini-series Under the Banner of Heaven with Andrew Garfield.
When the Crawdads Sing also stars Harris Dickinson, David Strathairn, Garret Dillahunt, and Taylor John Smith. It’s directed by Olivia Newman, with a script by Lucy Alibar. Reese Witherspoon, who selected Delia Owens’ best-selling book for her book club in 2018, will serve as executive producer under her Hello Sunshine Banner.
Where the Crawdads Sing will release exclusively in theaters on July 15.
