Three words stood out to Taylor Swift when she learned of her Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction: "Nashville," "songwriters" and "fame."
The youngest inductee reflected on each during her acceptance speech at the Oct. 26 gala at Music City Center, recalling the Music Row writing sessions that shaped her career. She wore a strapless purple velvet minidress by Raisa Vanessa with a colorful floral chiffon print, matching heels and a diamond choker.
Joined by her parents, Scott and Andrea Swift, Swift sat alongside Lainey Wilson, Brad Paisley, his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Her husband, Travis Kelce, was absent after playing in the team's 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle the night before.
Paisley introduced Swift, recalling
her days opening for him on tour, while Wilson performed a bluegrass rendition of "Love Story." Swift opened her speech by joking about Paisley's 2007 tour prank involving thousands of live crickets.
Below are the full transcripts of Paisley's introduction and Swift's acceptance speech at the Oct. 26 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala.
Pre-order this exclusive Dolly Parton book
Brad Paisley's introduction:
"Well, I'm here tonight to introduce only the youngest person that's ever done this. More than that, this is emotional. This is somebody who has conquered the world and done it with songs.
"She is first and foremost one of us. Somebody that came to Nashville as a teenager, started writing with Liz Rose. Shout out to Liz here tonight. And all of us were like, how is this teenager doing this? How is she so brilliant?
"And then she goes off and just sort of really put her feelings into something that is 100% hers, writes the 'Speak Now' album all by herself. 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.
"And literally the world. I mean, something like 149 sold-out stadiums on the last tour, over six continents. I didn't know there were that many. And the world lines up to hear her.
"And more than that, she is the voice of a generation. She has encapsulated the heartbreak of girls and boys and people who have needed the songs that she writes for so long.
"She is somebody that Billy Joel called our generation's Beatles. It's true. She is somebody that more than anything, I think this matters to her tonight, that she's one of you.
"And it's an amazing thing to watch that somebody can accomplish when they write the truth on a piece of paper, put it in the tape recorder with the guitar, and then go out and conquer the universe.
"I'm so honored to get this chance tonight because I think, I'm speaking for her now, this might be your proudest thing, right? At your core, you're a songwriter.
"She's also, by the way, the most streamed artist in the history of Spotify. I could list all these things, but it's my honor tonight to do this because she was, I like to think she went to Brad Paisley High School as a 17-year-old who was not at all difficult, maybe a little bit. And really so much fun to have out there.
"Taylor, can I apply to your college? Because I need to learn a thing or two from you.
So I think the honor tonight actually also introducing somebody who's going to do an incredible tribute to you. Please welcome Lainey Wilson."
Taylor Swift's speech:
"Wow. I first of all want to say thank you to Lainey Wilson, who I just think is one of the coolest people. I've been doing that. And I've had her new single on repeat. It just puts me in the best mood. It's called 'Kind of Love It.' Check it out.
"Brad Paisley, thank you so much for that, that introduction. I'm really surprised to see you here actually because we've been estranged since 2007. I think you know why.
"He took a tour prank too far, filled my entire tour bus with live crickets, thousands of them. For months I couldn't sleep, just chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp. All night, I considered buying a pet lizard to eradicate the problem. It was a dark time, but you know what? You did such an amazing job with that introduction. I think we can let bygones be bygones.
"Yeah, I think we're good now.
"So, you know, I am so honored to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. I got the news, and I was just kind of staring at the words, staring at Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. I was just like, wow, this is crazy.
"And then I kind of zeroed in on a few words that have had a particularly intense impact on my life. The first one being Nashville. The second, songwriters. And the last one, fame.
"I'd like to start with songwriters and expanding upon the impact that word has had on my life.
"I started writing songs when I was a little kid, and I knew from the time I wrote my first song that even if it couldn't be my career, it would be my passion. It would be what I centered my entire life around.
"Nashville is the place that I went to in my middle school daydreams. It was the place where all the wisdom that I wished to acquire existed in one place, all the lessons that I wished to learn existed in this magical place for me, and it ended up being all of that and more. It ended up being everything.
"Fame. You know, that's sort of the byproduct of my love for music. It's kind of like songwriter plus Nashville equals fame. It's why a lot of people know the words to my music, which is awesome.
"It's also why there's sort of like these daily random doses of chaos that just sort of like pop up in my life every once in a while, every couple of hours. And that can be kind of weird, but I have tools in place in my mind that help me kind of navigate that and get back to true north when life feels a little bit bizarre.
"Those tools are my memories and the memories that I visit most frequently when I need to return back to some semblance of remembering what normalcy is and why I do this. I think back to when I first got to Nashville.
"I started writing on Music Row. I was lucky enough to get a publishing deal with Sony Publishing when I was 14 and I just hit the ground running. I started writing every single day. I learned so much.
"I was, I was like a sponge and I had really curly hair and it was yellow, so I kind of looked like a sponge, too.
"But I learned by repetition. 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.
"Like there is no music community like this music community. I know I've checked all the communities. There's no one doing it. There just isn't
"I learned so much. I learned, you know, how to push through a creative block when you're in the middle of a session. Like, are we going to tunnel under this? Are we going to hurdle over it?
"I learned which ideas are worth fighting for, which ideas are worth letting go of and move on to the next one.
"I learned how to accommodate when your co-writer has a hangover or when they're going to need to talk about their divorce for a really long time before we write anything.
"Because, you know, one thing that I did learn is that songwriters, although they possess the superhuman ability to understand and interpret the human condition and like insane levels of empathy, they are just people too, and they are people who in a lot of ways raised me and guided me through my formative years.
"One of the memories I revisit a lot on good days and bad, because it just makes me feel cozy, is that I used to write a lot in two favorite buildings. I had two favorite places that I loved to write the most.
"The first one being the Sony Fire Hall, because you could get Sony Fire Hall. 'Cause you could, you know, you could hear the other writers through the walls and I just kind of liked to pretend that I was in the Brill Building.
"And then my most favorite was a place called Jody Williams Music, an independent publishing company that was located in the little craftsman house.
"And, you know, let's say the year is like 2005 in this memory. My mom would pick me up from Hendersonville High School, drive me downtown and drop me off and I'd scamper in the front of Jody Williams Music and I'd say hi to Katherine who worked at the front and sometimes her boyfriend Eric would be there visiting.
"Things have gone great for them. They've got a couple kids, married like 20 years now. His full name is Eric Church, just for clarity.
"But then I'd run up the stairs and I would plop down on the couch in front of Liz Rose in this room that was painted red.
"I'd say, 'Liz, this happened at school today. I've got a hook that I want to like, you know, we've got to write this thing.'
"And she'd get her notebook and we'd just write so fast.
"And when we finished with the song, you know, I'd kind of jog out the back of this house to the backyard where there was a garden shed.
"And in that garden shed was a one-person studio where Jody Williams Music's favorite demo producer, Nathan Chapman, was making demos.
"And I would run in, and Nathan would play every single instrument on these demos, and he interpreted my music so intuitively that later on I would fight for him to produce my entire first album.
"And it was our first album, both of us, and I am shocked and stunned to say that as of a couple days ago that album is 20 years old.
"You know, I've been very fortunate. I've gotten to genre hop and travel the world and write with so many different people and in so many different ways, and the only reason that I've been able to have that kind of dexterity in my creative process is because of the fundamentals and the foundation that I learned here in Nashville.
"And I never forget that for a single second when I tell every single person I know about what we have here.
"And I am 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, and I will cherish it forever because Nashville is the place that honed and polished this thing about myself and the thing about my life that I am the most proud of and the most passionate about.
"So to be here with you and to be getting to have this moment, I am truly grateful and it just feels like one of those amazing Nashville moments I'm going to revisit on a rainy day.
Thank you so much."
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: See Taylor Swift's full Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame speech
Our editors independently choose our recommendations. Some content is produced with paid support from a third party, however our editorial decisions remain independent. If you buy through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices and availability may change.
