Ryan Adams Likens Taylor Swift to Shakespeare, Says 1989 Cover Was ''Cathartic'' After Mandy Moore Divorce

''She's a popular artist for a reason,'' the musician tells the U.K.'s Guardian

Ryan Adams is a Swiftie at heart. 

Last month, the 40-year-old musician released his cover album of Taylor Swift's 1989, which was inspired by his deep admiration for the 25-year-old pop star. 

While the album received rave reviews, Adams, who has, to date, released 15 studio albums, belittles his talent while speaking about Swift's genius in a new interview with the U.K.'s Guardian—and clearly, he's placed the pop star on a pedestal. 

"The first time I heard it I got chills head to toe," he says of Swift's single "White Horse," from her 2008 album Fearless. "I remember feeling shocked by her voice, shocked at how clean that song was. I like stuff that sort of penetrates through my regular consciousness and hits me where I'm not looking. That's usually stuff that's a little darker."

While Swift wholeheartedly backed the cover album, Adams says the project was more than just an homage to the Grammy winner. 

"It sounds very selfish and it is – I thought about Ryan. I projected into this universe. And the songs were this spacecraft that took me into this parallel universe," he reveals.

"It was very cathartic for me, because I found myself singing those songs and feeling things from my divorce," Adams, who split from Mandy Moore in Jan. 2015 after nearly six years of marriage, adds, "Feeling things from a current relationship, feeling things from the distant past."

In fact, he compares his work to "being in Ghostbusters or something, and then all of a sudden," he says referencing Swift's singles, "I have to go do Shakespeare." 

When the author suggests the analogy is a little "overgenerous," Adams simply replies, "Well, look, those songs are popular for a reason. She's a popular artist for a reason."

And he doesn't stop there, later comparing Swift and himself to astronauts, although he insists the singer's skills far surpass his own.  

"Some of us just go up and we work on the satellites, we do some space walks and we go back to Earth. Then there's the Neil Armstrongs – those folks that go to the moon. They're awesome," he says, adding, "I'm just a dude who works on the satellites. And I'm happy with that. At least I get to go to space."