\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tTaylor 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.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring a conversation at the Grammy Museum presented by the Recording Academy\u2019s 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, \u201cTim McGraw,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\n
\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/P102T055-e1787600854761.jpg?crop=0px%2C42px%2C1800px%2C1116px&resize=237%2C147\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\t\t\t\t\tAdam Scott Reveals the Impression Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce\u2019s Wedding Left on\u00a0Him\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Taylor](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Taylor-Swift-Fate-of-Ophelia-video-screengrab-billboard-1800.jpg?w=237&h=147&crop=1\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\t\t\t\t\tWho Should Win Video of the Year at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards?\u00a0Vote!\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Taylor](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/taylor-swift-jessie-toy-story-5-premiere-2026-billboard-1800.jpg?w=237&h=147&crop=1\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\t\t\t\t\tTaylor Swift Breaks Record for Most Adult Pop Airplay No. 1s With \u2018I Knew It, I Knew\u00a0You\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve loved \u2014 and I think this can happen as you grow up \u2014 my country roots more and more,\u201d Swift said. \u201cThe 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 \u2014 the people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThose 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.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat early immersion in country music did influence the picturesque storytelling that would become one of the distinctive and beloved attributes of Swift\u2019s songwriting. Looking back at \u201cTim McGraw,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was 16 putting out an album in country music that was all about my life as a kid in high school,\u201d Swift explained during the conversation, recalling how some people around her questioned whether a teenager writing about her own life would connect with country\u2019s music presumed audience. She decidedly trusted her instincts rather than conforming to those expectations.<\/p>\n
\n\tSwift famously pushed far beyond the country genre once her debut album ignited. Audiences first saw her experimenting with her 2012 album Red<\/em>, straying away from traditional collaborators and sounds before she made her official pop pivot with 2014\u2019s 1989<\/em>, both of which debuted atop the Billboard 200. Even as her music evolved, however, the songwriting principles she refined in Nashville remained part of her creative groundwork.<\/p>\n \n\tShe pointed to \u201cMean,\u201d from 2010\u2019s Speak Now<\/em>, as one example of how her country background directly influenced her approach. At the time, one criticism she was hearing was that she wasn\u2019t \u201ccountry enough,\u201d so she responded by leaning into the genre\u2019s sonic characteristics, joking that she put \u201cjust as much banjo on this as we can possibly put.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat willingness to experiment did lead her to some of the more unexpected genre combinations of her career. Swift spoke about bringing the earworm hit \u201cI Knew You Were Trouble\u201d to Max Martin and Shellback as a sad piano ballad, only for the producers to suggest turning it into somewhat of a dubstep-influenced track. She agreed to try it, and the result become the biggest turning point of her moving away from the country genre.<\/p>\n \n\tNearly 20 years after \u201cTim McGraw,\u201d Swift seems to be looking back at her country beginnings with renewed appreciation.<\/p>\n \n\tHer comments don\u2019t amount to an announcement that she\u2019s returning to country music, or that another country music is on the way; But, they do suggest that, as Swift continues to move through this new period of her life, the Nashville roots she once grew further from remain something she wants to embrace and honor rather than forget.<\/p>\n \n\tWatch the full conversation with The Recording Academy below.<\/p>\n