Neil Young Predicted Taylor Swift's Success Years Ago

Summary

• Taylor Swift's ability to handle public criticism was praised by music legend Neil Young in 2011.
• Neil Young expressed his dislike for being limited to one genre, predicting the return of artistic freedom in the music industry.
• Swift switched genres with her album "1989," facing resistance from her record label, but ultimately achieving unprecedented success.

When one makes it big in music, there are two distinct things that happen to that artist. For one thing, they amass a large following of fans around the world. However, this also opens them up to a lot of criticism from the public.

Such has been the case with Taylor Swift, whose meteoric rise to fame in country music was swiftly followed by crossover success on the pop charts. This was something that led Swift to experience the second distinct thing that happens to big artists. That of course being respect from music legends.

When Neil Young complimented Swift at a press conference in 2011, he spoke highly of how the singer handled criticism from the public. However, his additional comments seemed to unintentionally predict a major career move Swift would later make.

It was also one that would pay off for her big time.

Neil Young Praised Taylor And Spoke About Switching Musical Genres

In 2011, Swift was touring the world on her "Speak Now World Tour" in support of her album of the same name. She was a huge star in the country music world who made several crossover pop hits. However, she was also being criticized by a harsh public like most people in her position.

In June of that year, music legend Neil Young spoke about Swift at a press conference for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Young said he respected Swift's poise when faced with criticism.

"I like Taylor Swift. I like listening to her," Young revealed. "I kind of like watching her respond to all the attacks. I like the ways she's defining herself. So I keep my eye on it."

In an interesting addition, Young mentioned how he doesn't like being pigeonholed to one particular musical genre. He said that such a limiting viewpoint would stifle his creativity.

"I don't like boundaries. They don't really work. They do for some people. It all started when they started formatting radio and separating things into different little areas that they could talk about, and then restricting who would play what," he observed.

Young concluded that he believed such artistic freedom would be returning to the music industry.

"That was very counterproductive, when they took the decision-making from the individuals and gave it to the corporate heads," he said. "That was destructive to music. But we're coming back."

Little did Young know that Swift would eventually switch genres, upset her record label as a result, and end up with the biggest album of her career.

Taylor Switched Musical Genres When She Made Her '1989' Album

Prior to her album "1989," Swift had already been delving into pop territory. Even though her brand of country music always incorporated pop elements, she was starting to stray away from country with her album "Red" in 2012. She scored big hits with the singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," "22," and "I Knew You Were Trouble."

Among her collaborators on "Red" was pop songwriting genius Max Martin. Swift enlisted him again for "1989," as she told Billboard in 2014.

"Max Martin and [Karl Johan] Shellback [Schuster] were the last people I collaborated with on 'Red,' and I wished we could have done more and explored more," Swift said. "So going into this album, I knew that I wanted to start with them again."

She continued, "Then I thought, 'Wouldn't it be amazing to work with Ryan Tedder?' And then I was with Jack Antonoff and Lena Dunham at the beach, and we started talking about our favorite ’80s music. All of this started happening organically, and I found myself gravitating toward pop sensibilities, pop hooks, pop production styles."

While Swift was happy with the album, not everyone on her team was as enthusiastic.

"When I knew the album had hit its stride, I went to Scott Borchetta and said, 'I have to be honest with you: I did not make a country album. I did not make any semblance of a country album,'" she said. "And of course he went into a state of semi-panic and went through all the stages of grief — the pleading, the denial."

Ultimately, Swift stuck to her guns and "1989" became the most successful album of her career. She would later re-record the album as "1989 (Taylor's Version)," which was released in October 2023.

Paul McCartney Also Said He Admires Taylor And Even Wrote A Song About Her

Like Young, Swift also has a fan in former Beatle Paul McCartney. When McCartney released his album "Egypt Station," many of his fans were surprised to learn that one of its tracks was inspired by Swift. The song "Who Cares" is mainly inspired by Swift's personal life and her relationship with her fans.

McCartney spoke about Swift and the song's inspiration in a BBC interview.

"I was actually thinking about Taylor Swift and her relationship to her young fans and how it’s sort of a sisterly thing," McCartney said. "And I was imagining talking to one of these young fans and saying, ‘Have you ever been bullied? Do you get bullied?’"