Speak Now,<\/em> an LP Swift wrote entirely on her own. Swift and her parents sang along, softly.<\/p>\n\n\tSwift\u2019s Oscar-winning dinner guest had the honor of inducting her into the esteemed organization. \u201cAs a director I am acutely aware of the power music can have on audiences,\u201d Spielberg said, noting that songs have the power to unite us anywhere and everywhere: \u201cWhether it\u2019s sung at the top of our lungs in our cars, in houses of worship, at football games or on the streets of Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSo, why was one of the greatest living filmmakers on hand to salute one of our greatest living singer-songwriters? The short answer: she asked him. After receiving a phone call from her several months ago, Spielberg admitted that his elation quickly deflated after he hung up. \u201cWhat could I possibly say about Taylor Swift that hasn\u2019t already been said?\u201d Spielberg pondered. \u201cOut of curiosity, I asked AI how many words have been written about Taylor Swift.\u201d The effort yielded him nothing. So he continued the experiment, asking AI how many words Taylor Swift herself has written. Once again, AI flopped the assignment. \u201cShe is such a force that the depths of her achievement defies AI,\u201d Spielberg quipped.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen it was time for Swift\u2019s big moment, she hugged Liz Rose (a songwriting collaborator from her early days who was inducted into the SHOF in 2023) and walked up to the stage.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe moment she opened her mouth, it was clear that Knicks Mania \u2014 which is currently gripping New York \u2014 had gotten the best of her. A hoarse-voiced Swift, who was courtside at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night with Kelce, admitted she spent the previous night \u201cscreaming for 100%\u201d of the Knicks\u2019 victorious game. \u201cI got home and was like, \u2018You gotta stop screaming, you\u2019re screaming too much, you\u2019re screaming instead of talking, you\u2019re too excited.\u2019 Then I got to witness the amazing performances I saw tonight, and I just kept screaming and I never stopped screaming and this is what you get. I make no apologies for that \u2014 I\u2019ve had a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSwift shed some light as to why Spielberg was one of her personal heroes and her pick for the person to induct her into the SHOF. \u201cThrough his decades of spellbinding storytelling Steven Spielberg has unknowingly inducted me and countless others into his sacred club of expansive world building,\u201d she explained, thanking him for joining her the same night his latest film, Disclosure Day<\/em>, hits theaters. \u201cI watched him ace every genre\u2026 because of examples like Steven\u2019s I trusted my imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tLater on, she thanked Sombr for his \u201cperfect performance\u201d of two songs that spanned a decade of her life. \u201cHis writing is so exceptional that it makes me envious and I love that feeling.\u201d According to Swift, she\u2019s always telling her friends, \u201cSombr is the future \u2013 he does it all on his own and he doesn\u2019t need that AI. The kids will be fine!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThroughout a thoughtful, well-paced and expertly written speech, Swift placed her songwriting within the context of her wider career and life.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIf I look back at my entire 23-year career in music, the ups and downs and industry battles, the trials and tribulations, the cheers and tears and dogpiling of doubt, the criticisms \u2014 both fair and unfair \u2014 the complete loss of privacy, the world tours and ego wars, and the twists of fate, the absolute magical chaos of this path that I chose when I was too young to remember it even being a choice at all, songwriting was the easiest thing I ever did,\u201d she said. \u201cNot because it didn\u2019t take effort. It definitely did. Not that it wasn\u2019t frustrating at times, because it could be. And not that my songwriting didn\u2019t haunt me relentlessly until I cracked the perfect internal rhyme scheme for the third line of the second verse before my teachers called me out in class for not paying attention, because that definitely happened.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBut when I say that songwriting was the easiest part for me, I think what I mean is that it was instinctual. No one taught me how to do it. I had to be taught how to entertain a crowd. And learn choreography, and be less annoying and navigate the industry and fiercely protect my own sanity through difficult lessons and massive amounts of trial and error and chaos and calamity. But songwriting for me was pretty much the only thing I naturally did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCalm and collected throughout most of the speech, Swift faltered a bit when speaking about her family. \u201cIt was easy to choose songwriting. But for everyone else in my life, it couldn\u2019t have been easy for my parents and my brother to pick up our entire family and move from Pennsylvania to Nashville,\u201d she said, pausing after choking up a bit. \u201cEven though words are kinda supposed to be my thing I will never be able to express my gratitude,\u201d she told her family. \u201cYou are the reason I\u2019m here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBefore leaving the stage, she offered up a quote from one of her favorite TV shows, Yellowstone<\/em>, by way of advising the next generation of songwriters. \u201c\u2019It\u2019s the one constant in life, son: you build something worth having, somebody\u2019s gonna try to take it,\u2019\u201d Swift said in her best paternal Southern accent (which was aided somewhat by her strained vocal cords). \u201cI\u2019m using this quote to refer to self-worth, peace of mind and singular vision as a creator,\u201d she explained. \u201cPositive feedback and people loving what you wrote feels incredible\u2026 but you need to be ready to receive negative feedback,\u201d she added. \u201cIf you make anything awesome, someone out there is bound to say horrible things about it. Or twist what you meant into something completely unrecognizable to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tHer advice? \u201cYou can be sensitive but also durable\u2026. Take what\u2019s useful and constructive and leave out what\u2019s damaging to your creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThough she graciously kept a low profile before taking the stage, Swift\u2019s star power was undeniable throughout the entire evening, something many of her fellow inductees couldn\u2019t help but comment on. Walter Afanasieff mentioned it was the \u201cjoy of his life\u201d to watch Swift sing along to a medley of his songs performed by Shel\u00e9a prior to his induction. Johnny Mercer Award honoree John Fogerty, when addressing the \u201cdark\u201d years he spent not playing his best-known songs in concert, joked, \u201cTaylor Swift, I don\u2019t recommend you do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSwift\u2019s induction as part of the Class of 2026 makes her the youngest woman ever inducted into the SHOF. Furthermore, she\u2019s the first recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award (which the SHOF gives out to promising young talents; she nabbed it in 2010, and RAYE got it this year) to gain full membership. And as Linda Moran, Songwriters Hall of Fame CEO and president, said earlier in the evening, Swift seems to be on track for the organization\u2019s highest honor, the aforementioned Johnny Mercer Award, if she keeps pace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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