Taylor Swift honors her mentors and love of songwriting during moving speech
The 2021 National Music Publishers’ Association honored Taylor Swift with the Songwriter Icon Award on Wednesday.
During the singer's virtual acceptance speech, she spoke about why the acknowledgement is so meaningful to her.
"It honors the part of my job that is so magical and mystifying to me still," she said about the NMPA Songwriter Icon Award. "I love songwriting so much because there's an element to it that's still really mysterious."
"I think any songwriter will tell you when you get an idea, you're not quite sure where it floated down from," she continued. "But if you can grab onto that idea and turn it into something -- a piece of music -- that's where craftsmanship comes in. And that's where you have the opportunity to learn and to nurture that craft."
Swift then took the time to acknowledge the many figures in the music industry who she considers her "teachers of the craft of songwriting."
"First of all, anyone who wrote with me in Nashville when I was in like eighth or ninth grade, that is insane that you did that," she said. "I am so lucky that I got to learn from some of the best writers on Music Row."
The "cardigan" singer went on to name several of her collaborators, starting off with Liz Rose, who assisted with her self-titled debut album.
"Liz Rose is someone who spent hours and hours and hours with me when there was absolutely no sign that anything would happen in my career," she said. "My dance card was not full, I was 14, and she wrote with me so many times and taught me how to edit my ideas down to something more concise that packed an emotional punch."
Swift also shared her appreciation for producers including Max Martin and Shellback, who helped with her make the transition to pop, and other recent collaborators, including Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner.
"All of these people changed my writing and helped shape it," she said. "There are so many others though, and so if you've ever sat in a room and co-written with me, thank you so much."
Swift joins an esteemed list of artist who previously received the Songwriter Icon Award including Garth Brooks, Alicia Keys and Pharrell Williams.
