June 12, 2026
David Richard/Imagn Images
Taylor Swift, 36, pictured at an NBA game last month, became the youngest woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on Thursday night.
As Taylor Swift became the youngest woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on Thursday night, the pop star tearfully thanked her family for making sacrifices so she could pursue a music career as a teenager.
"It felt easy to nurture something I loved so much," Swift, 36, said during her acceptance speech. "... 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."
The Berks County native was introduced by director Steven Spielberg, whose new film "Disclosure Day" includes scenes shot in South Jersey. Swift credited the filmmaker for shaping her storytelling skills.
"Through his decades of spellbinding storytelling, Steven Spielberg has unknowingly inducted me and countless others into his sacred club of expansive world-building," she said. "... The man has a massive film called 'Disclosure Day' that's coming out at midnight tonight and he's still going to agree and show up to do this for me a few hours before it comes out."
Swift recalled the phone conversation in which she asked Spielberg to appear at the event, saying she tried to give him "an out" so he could focus on the release of "Disclosure Day." But Spielberg's wife, Kate Crenshaw, insisted the couple would show up in her honor, Swift said.
"Wouldn't that be too hard to balance? Wouldn't that be too difficult scheduling wise?" Swift said she replied. "At which point (Crenshaw) said something I'll never forget. She said 'Good and true things are easy.'"
Swift's induction came one week after she released "I Knew It, I Knew You," an original song for "Toy Story 5," which hits theaters June 19. It's her first new music since her album "The Life of a Showgirl" was released in October.
Swifties became enamored with the country-inspired song, which evokes nostalgic feelings to the pop star's early music. The single received more than 8 million Spotify streams within 24 hours of its release, becoming Spotify's most-streamed country song by a female artist in a single day. Swift also gave a nod to the relentless devotion of her fans Thursday night.
"I'm humbled by the ways that fans have immortalized my songs in their own individual ways, allowing them to be the underscore of some of their real life expeditions on this earth, the magnificent moments as important to me as the seemingly mundane," she said.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame highlighted five Swift songs when it released its nominees last fall: "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version)," "Blank Space," "Anti-Hero," "Love Story" and "The Last Great American Dynasty." She was named to the hall of fame in April.
"Swift's ability to shapeshift as a songwriter, to inhabit different sonic landscapes and write as credibly in the world of one genre as she does another is part of her superpower as a songwriter," the organization wrote in its bio on Swift. "It also represents the boldness and bravery of her artistry: to explore new frontiers when the most practical next step would be to keep mining the material that has gotten you the success in the first place."
Check out Swift's full 21-minute speech here.
🚨 Taylor Swift’s full speech at Songwriters Hall of Fame induction. pic.twitter.com/SK5S5bRmhU
— Taylor Swift Updates (@TSUpdating) June 12, 2026
