Rocking and rolling in style! Taylor Swift opened up the 36th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony with an impressive tribute to Carole King.
“It was a watershed moment for humans in the world with feelings and for cats who have big dreams of one day ending up on iconic album covers,” the “Bad Blood” songstress, 31, said at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, October 30, according to social media footage, while discussing King’s chart-topping “Tapestry” album.
The “Betty” singer gushed over the 79-year-old Gilmore Girls alum’s songwriting style, calling her tracks “precious heirlooms” in a speech, per Rolling Stone.
“Her songs speak to the true and honest feelings that everyone has felt, is currently feeling, or hopes to feel one day,” Swift said on Saturday. “So it is only right for them to be passed down like precious heirlooms from parents to children, from older siblings to younger, and from lovers to each other. These songs come to you from somewhere else — a loved one, a friend, the radio. And then, suddenly, they are partly yours.”
While on the stage, the Pennsylvania native belted out stunning renditions of the New York native’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “You’ve Got a Friend.”
“I cannot remember a time when I didn’t know Carole King’s music,” Swift gushed over the songwriter in her speech. “I was raised by two of her biggest fans, who taught me the basic truths of life as they saw it: That you should treat people the way you want to be treated, that you must believe that you can achieve whatever you want to in life and that Carole King is the greatest songwriter of all time.”
She continued, “I grew up dancing around the living room in socked feet to the sounds of Carole’s soulful voice, her infectious melodies and lyrics that I, a 7-year-old, thought had been crafted for my exact, specific life experience. I listen to Carole’s music now and feel that same tingle of recognition.”
The “Lover” musician performed while wearing a black lace bodysuit by Sarah Regensburger and Greta Constantine. Her performance excited many fans and attendees via social media.
“The crowd went crazy when @taylorswift13 came on stage,” one social media user tweeted on Saturday, alongside snaps of the stage. Another wrote, “This woman, taylor swift, she’s a literal goddess.”
Swift is gearing up for the anticipated re-release of her Red album in November, which she announced earlier this year.
“I’ve always said that the world is a different place for the heartbroken,” the “Everything Has Changed” singer wrote via Instagram in June. “It moves on a different axis, at a different speed. Time skips backwards and forwards fleetingly. The heartbroken might go through thousands of micro-emotions a day trying to figure out how to get through it without picking up the phone to hear that old familiar voice. In the land of heartbreak, moments of strength, independence, and devil-may-care rebellion are intricately woven together with grief, paralyzing vulnerability and hopelessness. Imagining your future might always take you on a detour back to the past. And this is all to say, that the next album I’ll be releasing is my version of Red.”
