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Taylor Swift became the youngest woman ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame Thursday night at age 36.
“It was instinctual. No one taught me how to do it,” she said of songwriting, through a raspy voice she attributed to screaming along to the night’s performances and Wednesday night’s historic game between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs.
She told the room about her family uprooting their lives to move her from Pennsylvania to Nashville as a tween.
“I will never be able to express my gratitude,” the singer-songwriter said while holding back tears — crediting their sacrifice for her career.
She offered young songwriters advice: “You really have to prioritize what you love, down to your very core. Because you’ll need that.”
Steven Spielberg introduced Swift with a surprise speech about the power of songwriting. “There is something undeniable about how songs imprint on our souls,” he said, before changing his focus to Swift. “Somehow Taylor knows us all too well.”
Swift started her speech by acknowledging Spielberg. “Because of examples like Steven’s, I trusted my imagination,” she said.
Did you know that Alanis Morissette and Taylor Swift broke the same record, more than a decade apart?
The Gen Z singer Sombr launched Swift’s segment by performing Cardigan and Dear John in front of her.
Though Swift is now the youngest woman inducted, Stevie Wonder, who started his recording career at 13, remains the youngest of all inductees, it was announced on stage.
In addition to Swift, Canada’s own Alanis Morissette, was honoured.
Brandi Carlile performed Uninvited alongside SistaStrings, before introducing Morissette.
“Writing to me is not a hobby,” Morissette said, it’s critical. “It’s write or die.” Then she performed Mary Jane and You Oughta Know from her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill.
Tamar Braxton opened the gala at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City with a spirited tribute to another new inductee — the game-changing R&B songwriter, producer and rapper Christopher “Tricky” Stewart — with one of the biggest songs he’s known for: Beyonce’s Single Ladies.
He’s also responsible for singer-songwriter Rihanna’s Umbrella, Mariah Carey’s Touch My Body and Justin Bieber’s Baby.
Dallas Austin, a songwriter and producer known for work with Boyz ll Men and Madonna, introduced Stewart. “Think about that catalog,” he said, listing off those zeitgeist-shifting records. “Those are cultural moments.”
Kiss founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were also recognized — two and a half years after the band’s farewell — for their glam rock classics Rock and Roll All Nite and I Love It Loud. The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan covered the former, a fittingly fiery introduction for the band. He was joined by Goo Goo Dolls’ frontman John Rzeznik for the latter.
Simmons wasn’t present; Stanley said he had a family emergency.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honour those creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.
