Taylor Swift delivers must-save life advice in SHOF speech

Bryan West, Nashville TennesseanFri, June 12, 2026 at 6:55 PM UTC

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Need a little motivation heading into the weekend?

Taylor Swift and Steven Spielberg delivered an unexpected one-two punch at June 11's Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Less than 24 hours after cheering on the New York Knicks at Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Swift took the stage to reflect on resilience, trusting your instincts and tuning out critics. Spielberg, who inducted the singer-songwriter into the Hall of Fame, praised the power of authentic storytelling in an age increasingly blurred by algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Together, the two offered a master class in creativity and believing in your own voice.

Below is the full transcript of their remarks from the ceremony.

Taylor Swift spoke to fans and artists in inspirational Songwriters Hall of Fame speech

Hi. The quality of my speaking voice is the product of two things that I'm not sorry for. One is that I went to, I was lucky enough to go to, a Knicks game last night, screamed for 100% of it, and then I got home and I was like, 'You gotta stop screaming. You're screaming too much. You're screaming instead of talking. You're too excited.' And I was like, 'Okay, I'm not gonna scream tonight.' And then I got to witness the amazing performances that I saw tonight, and then I just kept screaming. I just never stopped screaming, and so this is what you get. And again, I make no apologies for that. I've had a blast.

I want to begin by thanking the person who introduced and inducted me tonight. He thinks that this is the first time he has inducted me into something. But what he may not be taking into consideration is that through his decades of spellbinding storytelling, Steven Spielberg has unknowingly inducted me and countless others into his sacred club of expansive world building.

From the time he was a kid, every time he dreamed something up, he wanted to do anything humanly possible to be able to show it to you. I watched his films pivot between different genres, action to sci-fi to historical epic to drama to comedy, romance, fantasy to musical, and I watched him ace every single genre.

And that kind of limitless creativity isn't just inspiring to burgeoning filmmakers. Because of examples like Steven's, I trusted my imagination regardless of if it was taking me somewhere new and uncharted. And every time I dreamed something up, I wanted to do everything humanly possible to be able to play it for you.

A few months ago, when the Songwriters Hall of Fame asked me about my heroes and the creatives who shaped my storytelling and who I might want to present this award to me, I said Steven's name. And about an hour later to my absolute delight, I ended up on the phone with him and his legendarily effervescent wife, Kate Capshaw, who is here tonight.

And he was telling me that, yes, absolutely, he would be thrilled to be here. And I was completely blown away because, I mean, the man has a massive film called Disclosure Day that's coming out at midnight tonight. And he's still going to agree to show up and do this for me a few hours before it comes out.

Taylor Swift

Wouldn't that be possibly hard to balance? Wouldn't that be too difficult scheduling-wise? [I was] trying to give him out. At which point, Kate said something I'll never forget. She said, 'Good and true things are easy.' And if I look back at my entire 23-year career in music, the ups and downs, the industry battles, the trials and tribulations, the tears and the cheers and the dogpiling of doubt, the criticisms, both fair and unfair, the complete loss of privacy, the world tours and the 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 ever being a choice at all.

The songwriting was the easiest thing I ever did. Not because it didn't take effort, it definitely did. Not that it wasn't frustrating at times, because it could be. And not that my songwriting didn't haunt me relentlessly until I cracked the perfect internal rhyme scheme for the third line, the second verse, to the point where my teachers called me out in class for not paying attention because that definitely happened. But 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 the crowd and learn choreography and be less annoying and navigate the industry and fiercely protect my sanity.

I had to learn all of that over time through difficult lessons and massive amounts of trial and error and chaos and calamity. The songwriting for me, it was pretty much the only thing I ever just naturally did. My parents tell me stories about driving home from taking me to see Disney movies. And in the theaters they were noticing I was singing the songs on the way home from the film in the car, but I was changing the lyrics and the melodies to be about my own life.

As a little kid I loved to sing, I loved to do children's theater performances, but everything came together when I learned to play guitar at 12. I wrote my first song after learning my first three chords. It felt easy to work incredibly hard with this. It felt easy to nurture something I loved so much, to watch calluses form on the face of my 20 fingers, and to become a constant observer of the human condition. Because people's feelings, passions, and motivations have always fascinated me. And it was easy to choose songwriting over everything else in my life.

But it couldn't have been easy for my parents and my brother to just pick up and move our entire family from Pennsylvania to relocate to Nashville so that I could hone my craft in the songwriting capital of the world. But after it became obvious that this was not even remotely a temporary phase their teen daughter was going through, they uprooted their entire lives to move me to Music City.

And even though words are supposed to kind of be my thing, I will never be able to express my gratitude to you guys for doing that for me. You're the reason I'm here tonight.

In Nashville, I took meetings and I played acoustic shows until I was able to secure a publishing deal. I got signed when I was 14. And I got the chance to work with incredibly wise and experienced programmers. People like Liz Rose, Troy Burgess, Hillary Lindsey, Robert Ellis Orrall, Angelo [Petraglia], the Warren Brothers, and the late but so very loved Brett James.

So I'd written over a hundred songs on my own at that point. This would be my first experience co-writing. My parents, my parents have raised me to be overprepared. Show up early. Never assume the world owes you anything. And I might have been 14 years old, but I didn't want anyone in a professional setting to treat me like a baby, or for these songwriters to think that I expected them to write songs for me to slap my name on. So at this point, I started to approach songwriting like a full-time vocation. And that didn't mean just showing up to my appointments and hoping that the ideas would show up to. It meant spending nearly all of my free time writing ideas in preparation for my writing sessions and then stopping myself at a certain point to allow my co-writers to later weigh in.

So some of these ideas were 50% done, some were 75% done, some were just a hook with lyrics and a melody or a chorus. I stockpiled them so that when I went into a writing session with a co-writer, I'd play them and sing them a few of these ideas, sort of like it was a pitch session, and whichever idea they liked the best was the one we would finish together.

I kept long lists of words that I loved, and I added to it every time I got a new one and developed a serious fixation on alliterations and juxtaposition, and I wrote poems when I didn't have the right melody yet.

When I was inspired by my own life, my curiosities about the world, or my very dramatic but extremely dire crushes on boys at school who had never once talked to me. I wrote about that. If I wasn't inspired by my own life, I'd use other methods to spark my imagination. I figured if the idea doesn't come to you, you have to become your own search party and go find it.

Oftentimes, I'd put a movie on. I'd pause a scene and try to write a song from each character's perspectives. Even the villain. I'd explore what they were going through and try to say it in a vernacular that that character might use. And this is how I learned that every person has a self-constructed justification system that they live by. And we each get to decide what choices we're willing to condone in ourselves. We each decide what we see as good and true, fair and right.

(L-R) Sombr, Taylor Swift and Jimmy Jam

And so, with my metaphorical Mary Poppins bag of hooks, choruses and bridges, and my non-metaphorical backpack from sophomore year of high school, I'd walk into my writing sessions on Music Row. And one of my favorite stories from this time in my life was when I got a chance to write with one of my favorite songwriters of all time, Craig Wiseman. Craig is an absolute savant of a writer, but he's also one of the funniest people I've ever met too, so I know that I can tell this story. I brought in about five different semi-formed songs that I thought were really strong.

Because it was Craig Wiseman, I led my pitch with a song I really thought was special. It was pretty much done except for a few lines of the bridge. So filled with nervous anticipation, I played it on guitar and sang it for him. And when I finished, he very kindly told me that he thought it was good, but he didn't really get it. And he'd love to hear the other ideas I brought. A few songs later, we landed on one that resonated better with him and we had a fantastic writing session. It turns out you really can and should meet some of your heroes.

But years back, years later, we still look back on that session and we laugh about that first idea that I played for him. I had ended up going home and finishing the song on my own later that night.

It was called, "Love Story."

Finishing that song that night was me trusting my instincts as a writer, regardless of any feedback or information I had about what other people's take on it might be. I think now more than ever, in an industry that seems to be consumed by metrics, data, analytics, and we're all trying to predict whether something will trend or not, writers need trust their human intuition. And I think the thousands of hours I've spent lovingly working in this craft have taught me to really be able to identify the ideas that jump out at me and sparkle and linger, the ones that matter to me the most.

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I have to say thank you to Sombr for that perfect performance. And his writing is so exceptional that it makes me actually envious, and I love that feeling. He's going to be the top of my Spotify Wrapped this year, guaranteed. It's locked, it's in the bag. And a lot of my late night debates with my friends about the state of the music industry involve me saying very loudly, "Sombr is the future and he does it all on his own and he doesn't need that AI. The kids are fine."

And so obviously, Shane is a very well-adjusted person and artist and doesn't need any of my advice at all. There are so many incredible writers who I love who have come into their own recently. And if I had advice for young artists who should perhaps be interested in it, I would say you really have to prioritize what you love down to your very core. Because you'll need that if your song ever gets heard by the public or the critics, or the haters posing as critics, or the people who are chronically online, or the robots posing as people who are chronically online.

Songwriters have a real balancing act that they have to conduct every day. Because inherently, we're supposed to let it all in, feel deep and sensitive to the point of mere delusion, and then reflect those feelings and delusions back to the world in the form of a three and a half minute sonic landscape, or a bop, or a folk tale, or a battle cry, or a ten minute coming of age song about a scarf. So it's hard to harden yourself to certain brutal elements of this world, but allow me to now make a hard pivot and pull out a quote I love from the show "Yellowstone" when a father says to his sons, "It's the one constant in life, son: You build something worth having, somebody's going to try to take it."

So John Dutton was talking about ranch, but I'm using this quote to refer to your self-worth, your peace of mind, and your singular vision as a creator. Positive feedback and people loving what you wrote feels incredible, and I hope you get lots of it. But you need to be ready to receive more feedback, whether you seek it out or not. It's no longer a shock that this is how things work, but somehow it feels like I have this conversation with a young writer every other week.

If 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. What I hope you discover is this: You can be sensitive, but also durable. And you can accept that feedback and skepticism and criticism are inevitable. You can take what's useful or constructive from that information and leave out what's simply damaging to your creativity. No one does or should make art that appeals to everyone, everywhere, all the time. My favorite art is detailed and singular in its voice. Therefore, it can't be digested and metabolized by everyone who experiences it in the same way.

I'm very frequently told by people how they feel about my music. That they never really got my music until they got their heart broken. Or started driving their daughter to school every day. Or until I made an alternative album in the pandemic called "Folklore." Or that they only like the hits. Or that they only like the ones that weren't hits. Or that they don't like any of it at all. But it doesn't feel uncomfortable for me to get feedback of all sorts because I know where I stand regarding the work I've made. As writers, we can only hope to meet people where they are in their lives. But you can't ever orchestrate or force the encounter.

You just have to hope that in some exquisite happenstance you bump into them, on the same path at the same time. And somehow amidst the noise of life, a line we wrote or a melody that we crafted cuts through and they hear it and they feel something. That they get chills or feel lighter. They think of someone they love. Our goal is to elicit that glint of recognition in another human being because something that felt good and true to us feels good and true to them at the same time.

And in that moment, when someone blurts out, I love this song, it was easy.

Before I go, there are so many people who helped me get to this podium, who vouched for my writing and cared about my perspective before anyone cares about my name. And then the fans came along and they wanted to hear my stories, my pros, my hooks, my heartache. And nothing, nothing delights and surprises me more than the fact that 20 years after my first song came out, they still want to read the next chapter. Nothing makes me happier than when someone tells me that they used to listen to my music with their parent and now decades later, they listen to it with their own child. Or that they listen to it with their best friend or when a couple tells me that "Love Story" is their song.

Where somebody does a cute little dance to "The Fate of Ophelia," where I hear people from different countries singing "Opalite" in their own accents, or someone tells me that the song "Enchanted" gets their baby to stop crying.

I'm humbled by the ways that fans have immortalized my songs in their own individual ways, allowing them to be the underscore [to] some of their real-life expeditions on this earth, the magnificent moments important to me as this seemingly mundane.

Lastly, I know that when it comes to legacy, there are so many songwriters who have had such remarkable careers before me. I know that the Songwriters Hall of Fame could have chosen any of these deserving and brilliant writers to receive this honor this year. But you chose to include me in this group of exemplary songwriters, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame class of 2026 tonight. So I want to thank the voters for celebrating and honoring the best and truest parts of my life. I will be forever grateful. Have a good night, guys. Thank you.

More: Taylor Swift, KISS lead 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony

Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg rallies for artists over AI in his introduction to Taylor Swift

May I just take this moment to express my deep appreciation to all the songwriters in the room for their individual achievements and congratulate all the inductees here tonight.

As a director, I am acutely aware of the power that music can have on audiences. And as much as I believe that the stories we tell as filmmakers have the potential to entertain and engage, there is something undeniable about how songs imprint on our souls. They leave a mark and they provide a map. They provide a map to those moments in our lives that allow all of us to remember ourselves. And now more than ever, what we do matters deeply.

Music will always be a uniting force, whether it's sung in our cars at the top of our lungs, or in houses of worship, or at football games or on the streets of Minnesota. So I am honored to be here tonight to introduce the youngest female ever to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. A woman who has no fear when it comes to shattering rivers as a writer, singer, and storyteller, a singular artist, and a genuine phenomenon in place in our culture that rivals that of the composers of the American Songbook, Lennon and McCarthy of the '60s, and the singer-songwriters of the 1970s, like Carole King and Stevie "Let's Go Knicks." And your namesake, James Taylor.

Her iconic success is fueled by her innate gifts and the unwavering support of her family. Her fearless determination to stand up for all artists' rights is a reflection of her deep understanding of how best to use the meteoric fame that she has been navigating since she was just a teenager.

And tonight, she is making history, and we get to witness yet another milestone as Taylor Swift continues to fulfill her destiny as the most successful female artist of not just our time, but of all time.

What's makes this even more special is that this introduction is a reflection of how her peers in the music industry view her remarkable gifts as a songwriter but also her dedication to collaboration and her respect for her producers, co-writers, and other songwriters who have influenced her since she first picked up the 12-string guitar.

Of course, most people start with 6-strings, isn't that right? But there's no, to no surprise, you were an overachiever at the age of 12, everybody knows that.

So when I was first called and Taylor first talked to me about coming here tonight. I admit I was flattered and I was completely honored to accept, but about five minutes after I hung up, my elations faded slightly because, I mean, what could I possibly say about Taylor that has not already been said? Just thinking about how much true, false, and plain crazy stuff has been written about you boggles the mind.

So just out of curiosity, I asked AI if it could tell me how many words have been written about Taylor Swift. And you know what? It couldn't tell me. Then I asked it, how many words have been written by Taylor Swift? And it couldn't tell me that either. And I just thought, wow, she is such a force that the depth of her achievements defy AI.

I should have known that something that starts with artificial wouldn't have a clue because no algorithm can replace the soul of a true original who defies the status quo and easily refuses to be categorized. Taylor is a beacon for those who refuse to let others define her narrative. Someone who embraces artistic risk and trust us with her memories, grudges, thoughts, secrets, fears, and dreams.

Through her songs, she has taken billions of people by the hand and by the heart and reaches across to put lights to them with a message that is rooted in community and infused with hope and relatability. Through her songs, she makes us believe that we are in this together and together we can grow up, live, love, make mistakes, succeed, fail, and yet continue to believe in our own self-worth. Her connection with her billions of fans is impermeable and inspirational and encompassing and literally offers all of us a way to find true connection in a world that is clearly struggling with so many overwhelming challenges, somehow Taylor knows us "All Too Well."

I love making movies, I love making movies, but I don't think I will ever fill stadiums of multi-generational fans who want to recite the dialogue from Indiana Jones. That's just not going to happen.

But when Taylor steps onto the stage, her words are sung back to her by a devoted audience that does not want to be anywhere else in the world in that moment. So tonight is a recognition that while she wrote "You Belong With Me," in the most profound way, we belong to her.

So thank you, Taylor, for the gift of your stories and for insisting on being an authentic voice in a world where the line between real and fake is increasingly blurred. You are our "Mirror Ball" and tonight to again steal from a great, great songwriter: Taylor, I just want you to know that "This is Me Trying" to tell everyone that in my book, you are "Evermore." So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome songwriter, Hall of Fame, class of 2026, inductee, Taylor Swift.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Taylor Swift's SHOF speech is advice everyone should read

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