Taylor Swift Inducted Into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame: ‘Not Lost on Me How Crazy This Is’

Taylor Swift officially became the youngest-ever member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame when she was formally inducted into the institution by Brad Paisley during an industry gala on Monday night in Nashville.

“This is somebody who has conquered the world and done it with songs,” Paisley said as he inducted the star. The country singer noted Swift’s rise in Music City. “All of us were like, ‘How is this teenager doing this? How is she so brilliant?’ And then she goes off and really put her feelings into something that is 100% hers, writes the Speak Now album all by herself,” he said, adding: “It’s an amazing thing to watch her evolution from somebody who realized this all starts with a song, to take that exact thing and change the world with it.”

Swift was one of six inductees into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this year, along with Texas troubadour Lyle Lovett, frequent Paisley collaborator Lee Thomas Miller, “Two Piña Coladas” writer Shawn Camp, “Hey! Baby” singer-songwriter Bruce Channel, and former member of Buddy Holly’s Crickets, J.I. Allison, who was inducted posthumously.

The ceremony, held at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville, also recognized George Strait with the Career Maker Award. All of the institution’s members in attendance, including Swift, stood on stage to recognize Strait.

While the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, founded in 1970, has a history of all-star induction events, this year’s was particularly high-profile due to the presence of Swift. The pop superstar was in attendance on Monday night and watched as Lainey Wilson sang a stripped-down acoustic version of “Love Story.”

In her acceptance speech, Swift focused on the words “Nashville,” “songwriting,” and “fame” as she shared what it meant to receive the honor. The singer-songwriter reflected on her early days in the music business, and called Nashville “the place that I went to in my middle school daydream” and “the place where all the wisdom that I wished to acquire existed in one place.” She added, “I think you truly learn a craft when you do it over and over and over and that is what the magnificent songwriters that work in this amazing town do. There is no music community like this music community. I know. I checked all the communities. There’s no one doing it.”

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Swift finished her speech by emphasizing the importance of the moment. “I’m so incredibly honored to be inducted into this sacred club, especially at this point in my life. It’s not lost on me how crazy this is,” she said.

This is just the latest songwriting honor for Swift. During a ceremony in New York in June, she became the youngest woman ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. And in 2022, she was lauded with the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
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That Monday night’s induction took place in Nashville reinforced the global icon’s apparent return to Nashville. Earlier this summer, she scored another country radio Number One with “I Knew It, I Knew You,” her first country chart-topper since “Highway Don’t Care” in 2013. And this past August, Swift talked at length about reconnecting with her Nashville roots during a conversation with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. for the institution’s Icon Sessions series in L.A.

“I love my country roots more and more the further along this path I get and I want to honor them more and more,” Swift said. “I feel more tied to them, more loyal to them … The people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer, that all happened in Nashville.”