Take the Shot

I know you’ve taken to wearing around your father’s hand-me-down anger. But I wish that you wouldn’t.  It’s a few  sizes too big and everyone can see it doesn’t fit you, makes you look silly, hangs loose at all the wrong places, even if it does match your skin colour.

I know you think you’ll grow into it, that your arms will beef up after all the fighting and it will sit on your shoulders if you pin it on the right places with well-placed conviction. The bathroom mirror tells you you look good in it, that it makes your fists look a lot more justified, when you dig your hands deep into the pockets you’ll find stories hidden he left there for you to hand out to the other boys like car bombs.

And on days when everything else is slipping through your fingers, this you can wrap yourself inside of, this will keep you warm at night, help you drift off to sleep with a certainty that no matter what, it will still be there when you wake up. And the longer you wear it, the better it starts to fit, until some of the stories are your own. Maybe the holes in the sleeve are from the bullets you dodged yourself, so when it rips, snags on a barbed wire fence or someone else’s family, don’t worry. Cos your mother and your sister will help mend it- patch the holes, sew the tears, replace a button or two, help you back into it and tell you how proud they are of you, how good it looks on you the same way it looked on your dad, and your granddad too, and on his dad before him and on his father before him.

But back then, back then there was only sand until someone drew a line, someone built a wall, someone threw a stone. And the crack in the skull that it hit fractured perfectly outward, like twigs on the branches on the limbs of a family tree. So someone threw a stone back, and each fracture, each tiny break wound itself together into thread and the thread pulled itself around him- your great-great-great-great somebody.

What makes this evening so special is that this introduction is a reflection of how her peers in the music industry view her remarkable gifts as a songwriter, but also her dedication to collaboration, and her respect for her producers, cowriters, and other songwriters who have influenced her since she first picked up a 12-string guitar. Of course, most people start with six strings, isn’t that right? But to no one’s surprise, you were an overachiever at the age of 12. Everybody knows that. So, when I was first called, and Taylor first talked to me about coming here tonight, I admit I was flattered, and I was completely honored to accept, but about five minutes after I hung up, my elation faded slightly, because I mean, what could I possibly say about Taylor that has already been said? Just thinking about how much true, false, and plain crazy stuff has been written about you boggle the mind. So, just out of curiosity, I asked AI if it could tell me how many words have been written about Taylor Swift. And you know what? It couldn’t tell me. And I asked it how many words have been written by Taylor Swift, and it couldn’t tell me that either. And I just thought, ‘Wow, she is such a force that the depth of her achievements defy AI.’ And I should have known that something that starts with ‘artificial’ wouldn’t have a clue, because no algorithm can replace the soul of a true original who defies the status quo and easily refuses to be categorized.

Taylor is a beacon for those who refuse to let others define their narrative—someone who embraces artistic risk, and trusts us with her memories, grudges, thoughts, secrets, fears, and dreams. Through her songs, she has taken billions of people by the hand and by the heart, and reaches across the footlights to them with a message that is rooted in community, and infused with hope and relatability. Through her songs, she makes her believe we are in this together, and together, we can grow up, live, love, make mistakes, succeed, fail, and yet, continue to believe in our own self-worth. Her connection with her billions of fans is so impermeable, inspirational, and encompassing that it literally offers all of us a way to define true connection in a world that is clearly struggling with so many overwhelming challenges. Somehow, Taylor knows us all too well. I love making movies, I love making movies, but I don’t think I would ever fill stadiums of multigenerational fans who want to recite the dialogue from Indiana Jones. That’s just not going to happen. But when Taylor steps onto the stage, her words are sung back to her by a devoted audience that does not want to be anywhere else in the world in that moment. So tonight is a recognition that while she wrote You Belong With Me, in the most profound way, we belong to her. So thank you, Taylor, for the gift of your stories, and for insisting on being an authentic voice in a world where the line between real and fake is increasingly blurred. You are our mirror(ball), and tonight, to again steal from a great, great songwriter, Taylor, I just want you to know that this is me trying to tell everyone that in my book, you are evermore. So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Songwriters Hall of Fame class of 2026 inductee, Taylor Swift."