Taylor Swift is now the youngest member ever inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Brad Paisley presented the 36-year-old with the honor Monday night at a gala at Music City Center, Rolling Stone and Consequence reported.
"This is somebody who has conquered the world and done it with songs," Paisley said, recalling how the industry marveled at the teenager's talent and noting she wrote the Speak Now album entirely on her own. Lainey Wilson performed a stripped-back acoustic "Love Story" during the ceremony.
Back to the beginning
In her speech, Swift built her remarks around the three words in the institution's name. She described the city as the place she dreamed about in middle school, where all the wisdom she hoped to gain seemed to exist, and recalled signing a publishing deal with Sony at 14 and writing every day after school. She credited the town's songwriters with essentially raising her, and told stories of writing with Liz Rose at Jody Williams Music and recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman. Closing, she said she was honored to join what she called a sacred club at this point in her life, adding that she knew how surreal it was.
The induction came two days after the 20th anniversary of her self-titled debut, released Oct. 24, 2006, when she was 16.
The class and the honors
Swift was one of six inductees this year, alongside Lyle Lovett, Bruce Channel, Shawn Camp and Lee Thomas Miller, with former Crickets member J.I. Allison honored posthumously. George Strait received the Career Maker Award.
It caps a string of songwriting honors. In June she became the youngest woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, introduced by Steven Spielberg, and in 2022 she received the Nashville Songwriters Association International's Songwriter-Artist of the Decade award. This summer she also landed another country radio No. 1 with "I Knew It, I Knew You," her first since "Highway Don't Care" in 2013.
Reporting sources: Consequence, “Taylor Swift Makes History as Youngest-Ever Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee” · Music News, “Taylor Swift Inducted Into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame: ‘Not Lost on Me How Crazy This Is’”.