Generation Taylor: Gracie, Maisie, Phoebe (with Jensen McRae)

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Taylor Swift isn't just a world-conquering pop star at the top of her game, her approach to songwriting has also proven massively influential for an up-and-coming generation of singer-songwriters. Gracie Abrams, Maisie Peters, and Phoebe Bridgers—all of whom opened for Swift during her Eras Tour—each owe a debt to Swift's hyperspecific lyrics, minimal melodies, and bombastic bridges. We break down the key aspects of Swift's songcraft and how we can hear them manifest in the work of her young acolytes, and we speak to another burgeoning artist, the brilliant Jensen McRae, to learn firsthand why Swift's style has been so resonant. Songs Discussed Taylor Swift - All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) Gracie Abrams - That’s So True Maisie Peters - There It Goes Taylor Swift - Style (Taylor's Version) Taylor Swift - You're On Your Own, Kid Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness Taylor Swift - Our Song Beyoncé - Sandcastles Katy Perry - Unconditionally Taylor Swift - cardigan Dua Lipa - Levitating Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift - Dear John (Taylor's Version) Jensen McRae - Praying For Your Downfall Jensen McRae - Savannah Jensen McRae - Immune Taylor Swift - Would've, Could've, Should've MORE Subscribe to our newsletter to receive your own bingo card! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Start a business that sells decorative plates.
0:03.0	Find out you have to track expenses.
0:05.0	Use Intuit QuickBooks to auto-track expenses, so you can keep spinning, selling those plates.
0:10.6	Manage and grow your business all in one place.
0:12.9	Intuit QuickBooks, your way to money.
0:18.9	Welcome to Switched on Pop.
0:41.3	Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And yet you're not just songwriter Charlie Harding anymore. Are you, Charlie? You're music professor, Charlie Harding. That's true. Which is annoying, frankly. I've caught up and I didn't even do the whole PhD. I don't have anything to hold over you anymore. We're basically equals now.
0:48.4	It's horrible. I teach you two institutions, so maybe I'm twice the professor you are. Whoa,
0:53.5	okay, okay. Slow your role the professor you are. Whoa, whoa, okay.
0:55.0	Slow your role, child.
0:57.0	You told me something really interesting about your students,
1:01.0	and it's something that also resonated with me as a professor as well.
1:05.0	You and I have certain musical icons that we looked up to when we were budding musicians. And the generation that's
1:13.4	early 20s now, late teens, they have their own icons. And who are they? Well, one of the biggest ones
1:20.5	is Taylor Swift. Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, I feel like in my classes, I'm just constantly hearing
1:26.2	songs with allusions to Taylor-like
1:29.1	melodies, her chord progressions, her spoken bridges.
1:34.0	You know, Taylor's been in the game for like two decades now, but I feel like she's only
1:38.1	just beginning to be a main influence on the next generation of songwriters.
1:42.7	She's 35 years old, but as you point out, she's been in this game for a while, so she's had
1:48.0	a lot of opportunity to make an impact on impressionable young songwriters.
1:54.0	This is something I was also thinking about when I was watching the artist Gracie Abrams
	...

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