Delia Owens and her former husband Mark are wanted for questioning over the murder of an unidentified man in Zambia and previously called for human population control in Africa.
On Wednesday, Taylor Swift returned to her Instagram page to proudly announce her involvement in the movie adaptation of Delia Owens’ bestselling 2018 novel, Where the Crawdads Sing.
Taylor admitted that she is a huge fan of the book and had been keen to write music for the upcoming movie’s soundtrack.
Teasing a snippet of her new song, “Carolina,” in a clip of the movie’s trailer, Taylor wrote: “Where The Crawdads Sing is a book I got absolutely lost in when I read it years ago.”
“As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible @daisyedgarjones and produced by the brilliant @reesewitherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side,” she continued. “I wrote the song ‘Carolina’ alone and asked my friend @aarondessner to produce it.”
“I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story,” Taylor concluded. “You’ll hear it fully soon, but for now check out the @crawdadsmovie trailer for a clip!”
Delia was over the moon to have Taylor on board and shared a handwritten note of thanks to her Instagram page on Thursday.
Dated March 24, 2022, the letter read: “Dear Taylor, thank you for the stirring yet sensitive theme song you wrote and sang for the Crawdads movie. I cannot imagine a more perfect tribute to Kya’s story than your voice drifting forever through the marsh.”
Most Taylor fans were also thrilled to be getting new music from the singer, the first since the rerelease of her album Red back in November.
However, it didn’t take long for some people to point out that, despite its critical acclaim, Where the Crawdads Sing has been shrouded in controversy after problematic information about Delia came to light.
In 2010, almost a decade before the book’s release, the New Yorker published a lengthy article written by Jeffrey Goldberg called “The Hunted,” which details Delia’s time in Africa alongside her then-husband Mark and his son Christopher.
The piece asks the question “Did American conservationists in Africa go too far?” as it explores the family’s involvement in the death of an unidentified victim, believed to have been a potential poacher.
In fact, both Delia and Mark are wanted in Zambia for questioning over the murder, which was filmed and aired on ABC back in 1995.
The network had contacted the couple to make a Turning Point episode about elephant poaching after seeing them on The Tonight Show, with the episode titled “Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story.”
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