Sometimes in life, you don’t need an essay or a hundred words to evoke what you really want to say. Taylor Swift did just that opening up about songwriting in a speech at this ear’s Time 100 Gala! Our favorite quote of the day is brought to us by the country princess turned global musique icon: ‘If you write, you can turn your lessons into your legacy’
That’s exactly what we’ve done for the past 10 years. And since at the end of this year we’ll be celebrating a design of the decade we couldn’t capture the sentiment more so! The pop kitten was celebrated in New York at the 2019 TIME 100 Gala and spoke at the Lincoln Center stage for a medley set that included a stripped-down performance of her now timeless hits “Style” and “Delicate.” There were also tributes to her own piano-accompanied renditions of “Love Story” and “Shake It Off.”
Taylor shared at thee event: “One of my favorite things about female writers, about writers in general, about people who take what happens to them and they process it and put it out into the world. It’s if you write, you can turn your lessons into your legacy. I’m just really happy to get to do this.”
She also reminisced when in 2010, she made TIME’s list of the world’s most influential and how fellow artists who were also named on this year’s TIME 100 list and performed earlier in the night: “The first time I was ever on this magnificent list was almost 10 years ago. I performed in Khalid’s spot. And I’m a huge Khalid fan. If you haven’t listened to his new album Free Spirit, that’s a real loss. That’s a real missed opportunity.”
Taylor proceeded on the heels of Jennifer Lopez and Shawn Mendes, who strutted at last year’s gala. In a tribute published in the TIME 100 issue, Mendes spilled his brain about Tay-Tay: “Taylor makes the job of creating music for millions of people look easy. It all comes from her. Her belief in magic and love, and her ability to be as honest and raw as possible. She’s the master of putting the perfect amount of thought into not overthinking, and that’s why her music connects so well.”
Dig out clips of Taylor Swift’s performance right below!
.@taylorswift13 performed at Tuesday night’s #TIME100 Gala in New York City for an audience of fellow honorees https://t.co/8pVOCBcmvL pic.twitter.com/TUg4P3noBs— TIME (@TIME) April 24, 2019
