“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 NBA 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, Tennessee, 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.”
