At a Recording Academy Icon Sessions talk with Harvey Mason Jr., Swift said she feels 'more and more' loyal to the country music that launched her and closed the event with a piano mash-up of “I Knew It, I Knew You,” “August” and “All Too Well.”
Swift said she feels increasingly tied and loyal to the country roots that shaped her songwriting, tracing them back to Nashville and venues like the Bluebird Cafe.
She explained how early country songwriting techniques — character work, vivid detail and time-based storytelling — informed her later pop and genre experiments.
For the audience, Swift performed a six-minute piano mash-up on the Eras Tour piano, blending 'I Knew It, I Knew You,' 'August' and 'All Too Well.'
# What happened
# What Swift said about country music Swift traced her songwriting identity back to Nashville and to early goals like performing at the Bluebird Cafe. She pointed to the songwriting habits she developed there — telling stories through characters, vivid details, and songs that move through time — and connected those habits to her earliest releases, including "Tim McGraw."
On how her relationship to that past has changed, she was direct: "I've loved — and I think this can happen as you grow up — my country roots more and more," she 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."
She also described a specific example of genre-driven response: after criticisms about not being "country enough," she leaned into country elements on the song "Mean," saying she put "just as much banjo on this as we can possibly put."
# How that shaped later turns
Even as she explored pop, indie and other sounds, she credited the country-derived songwriting approach as foundational to her career.
# The piano mash-up As part of the session, Swift brought out the same piano she used during the acoustic mash-up section of the Eras Tour and performed a medley of three songs: "I Knew It, I Knew You" (her Toy Story 5 song), "August," and "All Too Well." She explained she looks for a through-line when crafting mash-ups — rhythmic or emotional links that make different songs fit together. The performance was released in full on YouTube by the Grammy Museum/Recording Academy.
# Why this moment matters for fans and listeners
# Takeaway Swift described a renewed desire to honor the people and musical practices that launched her career in Nashville, while still acknowledging the experiments that moved her beyond country. The piano mash-up capped the talk with a direct link to the Eras Tour's acoustic surprises.
The superstar spoke with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. for the institution's Icon Sessions series
She blended three fan favorites using the Eras Tour piano.
Taylor Swift has revealed more about the origin of her hit song “I Knew You Were Trouble” and why she wants to honor her country roots as her career continues. In a new interview with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. as part of the Icon Sessions, Swift opened up that she originally wrote “I […]
Taylor Swift just gave her beloved fans (affectionately called #Swifties) another reason to press PLAY. During a special Grammy Museum session recently, the superstar surprised attendees with a six-minute piano mashup of hits weaving together her songs ‘ I Knew It, I Knew You ,’ ‘ August ‘ and ‘ All Too Well .’ » Read
Nearly 20 years after "Tim McGraw" launched her career, Taylor Swift is looking back at the country roots that shaped her as an artist and songwriter. Continue reading…
Yes, there is a lot of choice with music.. You name some good artists there…
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