A Career Retrospective
Taylor Swift sat down with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. for a wide-ranging conversation at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, presented by the Recording Academy's Songwriters & Composers Wing. The event, billed as "The Icon Sessions with Taylor Swift: A 20-Year Retrospective," was released online on Monday after being held earlier in the month. Billboard reported the conversation took place on Aug. 18 and was released in full on YouTube.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Swift arrived at the event after a busy summer that included her induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the release of an original song for Toy Story 5, and her marriage.
Country Roots and Nashville
A central theme of the discussion, according to Billboard and Variety, was Swift's deepening appreciation for her country origins. "I've loved — and I think this can happen as you grow up — my country roots more and more," Swift said, per Billboard. "The further along this path I get, I want to honor them more and more, and I feel more and more tied and more loyal to them — the people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer." She added, as both outlets reported: "That all happened in Nashville."
Swift recalled becoming captivated by Nashville around age 10 after learning that Faith Hill had been discovered at the Bluebird Cafe, and setting a goal to perform at that venue. She also reflected on her debut single, "Tim McGraw," pointing to its character-driven detail and time-shifting storytelling as portents of her writing style. At 16, she released a country album about her high school life, and noted that some questioned whether it would resonate.
Regarding the criticism she received that she was not "country enough," Swift told Mason that she responded with "Mean," joking, as Variety reported, that she put "just as much banjo on this as we can possibly put."
Musical Evolution and Public Perception
Swift touched on her evolution across genres. Billboard highlighted her acknowledgment of experimentation on 2012's Red and the pop pivot of 2014's 1989, both of which debuted atop the Billboard 200. She also described bringing "I Knew You Were Trouble" to producers Max Martin and Shellback as a sad piano ballad, with their suggestion to turn it into a dubstep-influenced track marking a turning point in her move away from pure country, as Billboard reported.
The Hollywood Reporter's coverage focused on Swift's candid comments about public scrutiny. She said that dealing with the public perception and analysis of her lyrics "sometimes fuels [her songwriting]": "Sometimes when people are mocking me, it's really fun to mock them back." Asked about her coping mechanisms, she revealed one: "You chose this. You chose this every day. You could have opted out of this any day before it got unmanageably big," and added that she decided not to because she loves making music that much.
Regarding her Reputation era, Swift was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter as saying "people had really actively tried to misunderstand me." She expressed pride in the album, and, in comments covered by both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, she said that "not all shocking revelations you make about yourself are deep" when discussing the label of a confessional songwriter.
Swift also gave a nod to the toll of public perception on her songwriting, noting that times of being the subject of attempted understanding "are the moments I'm the most proud of," as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Piano Mashup
A centerpiece of the event, Variety reported, was a six-minute solo piano performance that followed the interview. Swift explained that the medley concept drew from the acoustic section of her Eras Tour, where she performed different songs nightly. She described selecting songs with a common theme; the mashup, she said, brought together "I KnewIt, I Knew You," "August," and "All Too Well," tied by their focus on memory.
Variety noted the performance began with opening lines from "I Knew It, I Knew You," then interweaved "All Too Well" and "August" with other lyrics. Swift introduced it with the piano she carried on the Eras Tour, joking, "This is the piano that I brought with me all around the world on the Eras Tour,” as excerpted. She sang the trio as a meditation on reliving detailed memories. Variety also observed that "I Knew It, I Knew You" had been performing well on the country chart and on its Hot 100.
The event was kept understated, according to Variety, with fewer than 200 attendees in the Clive Davis Theater, and the nature of the performance stayed under wraps until the video was released Monday on the Recording Academy's YouTube channel.
Advice for Songwriters
During the conversation, Swift offered career advice for young songwriters, as The Hollywood Reporter reported: "Show up to work even when the idea fairy doesn't," and "enthusiasm can protect you from anything." She also reflected on the process of reliving her re-records, comparing it to a day when "the dog actually did eat your homework," saying the public side-eyed her like a teacher would.
She also spoke about writing backwards from a track, citing "Tis the Damn Season," and embraced the "human contradiction" in her songwriting, per Variety.
The full interview, which Variety said ran 42 minutes, is available on YouTube via the Recording Academy's channel.