Patti Smith, the influential singer, was deeply moved by Taylor Swift’s sweet mention of her in her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” The 77-year-old artist took to Instagram to share her gratitude, posting two black-and-white photos of herself engrossed in a book by Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas. Swift’s title track includes the lyrics, “I laughed in your face and said, ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas / I’m not Patti Smith / This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel / We’re modern idiots.'” Smith, known for her memoir “Just Kids,” which chronicles her time at the Chelsea Hotel with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, expressed her appreciation for the mention. “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas,” she captioned her post. “Thank you, Taylor.”
This isn’t the first time that Smith, also a poet, has commended the Grammy-winning pop star. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Smith reflected on the pressures Swift faces as a constantly scrutinized pop star. “She’s a pop star who’s under tremendous scrutiny all the time, and one can’t imagine what that’s like,” Smith remarked. “It’s unbelievable to not be able to go anywhere, do anything, have messy hair.” Smith further expressed her belief that Swift’s intentions are good and that if her music influences her dedicated fans to broaden their perspectives, it shouldn’t be a concern.
Smith and Thomas, who passed away in 1953, are just two of the many individuals Swift references in the tracks of her eleventh studio album. The 34-year-old “Cruel Summer” singer also name-drops Charlie Puth, Lucy Dacus from Boygenius, and her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff. Swift’s devoted fans, known as Swifties, are convinced that she has written songs about her former boyfriends Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy, and John Mayer, whom she dated prior to her current relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce. Additionally, fans speculate that Swift’s song “Cassandra” was inspired by her prolonged feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. In the track, she sings, “They knew, they knew, they knew the whole time… the family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line,” seemingly alluding to the Kardashian family’s wealth and West’s Sunday Service ceremonies. Swift’s ongoing feud with West began in 2009 when he infamously interrupted her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. The relationship soured again in 2016 due to the lyrics of West’s song “Famous” and a leaked phone call by Kardashian.
