Last year Stevie Nicks came up about being influenced by Taylor Swift in her own music — which has long been welcomed by fans for its vulnerability and honesty — and now the queen of rock and roll is featured in Swift's current work.
Swift, 34, received a poem written by Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter Nicks on August 13, 2023; this poem serves as the written prologue for Swift's upcoming album. Nicks does not sing on The Tortured Poets Department.
"For T and me..." Nicks, 75, titled the piece, which includes an annotation that it was written in Austin, Texas.
"He was in love with her / Or at least she thought so / She was brokenhearted / Maybe he was too," Nicks starts off the poem, which details a relationship between two ill-fated lovers — one "way too hot to handle" and the other "way too high to try."
Many of the issues in Nick's poetry may be found in Swift's most recent body of work, such as being abruptly dumped by a romantic partner who "didn't say goodbye."
Like Swift's path after splitting with ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn after six years of dating and having a brief relationship with Matty Healy, the protagonist of Nicks' poem finds her "way to the stars" as she recovers from a traumatic experience.
"I never don't tell the truth. And I think that's something that if Taylor Swift, who is my friend, if Taylor got anything from me, that's what she got," Nicks told TODAY.com last October. "I don't ever lie in my songs — and if you broke up with me, I don't put I broke up with you. I tell the truth, always."