Watch Taylor Swift Say She Feels ‘More Loyal’ to Her Country Roots Than Ever & Whip Up an Eras Tour-Coded Surprise Piano Mash-Up

Taylor Swift has made a name for herself as a singer/songwriter for the past two decades exploring different genres of music, including pop, indie, country and other territories.

But she says her country roots have only become more meaningful to her over time.

During a conversation at the Grammy Museum presented by the Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing on Aug.

18 (which was just released in full on YouTube), Swift fondly reflected on the songwriter she was when she released her debut single, “Tim McGraw,” and the artist she has become nearly two decades later.

When asked by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. what has remained the same and what has changed between herself then and now, Swift pointed to the country foundation that assisted in the launching of her career.

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1s With ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ “I’ve loved — and I think this can happen as you grow up — my country roots more and more,” Swift said.

“The further along this path I get, I want to honor them more and more, and I feel more and more tied and more loyal to them — the people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer.” Those roots, Swift noted, trace back to Nashville, where she developed her identity as a songwriter.

Earlier in the conversation, she recalled becoming fascinated with the city at around age 10 after learning that Faith Hill had been discovered at the Bluebird Cafe.

Swift made it a personal goal to perform at the famed Nashville venue, while also teaching herself instruments and writing songs by studying the structures of the music she loved.

That early immersion in country music did influence the picturesque storytelling that would become one of the distinctive and beloved attributes of Swift’s songwriting.

Looking back at “Tim McGraw,” she pointed to elements of the song that seemingly foreshadowed the kind of writer she would eventually become, including character work, vivid detailing and the way the song moves through time.

“I was 16 putting out an album in country music that was all about my life as a kid in high school,” Swift explained during the conversation, recalling how some people around her questioned whether a teenager writing about her own life would connect with country’s music presumed audience.

She decidedly trusted her instincts rather than conforming to those expectations.