Taylor Swift explained the thought process behind how she writes her iconic lyrics.
The "Bad Blood" singer accepted the songwriter-artist of the decade award at the Nashville Songwriter Awards on Tuesday at the Ryman Auditorium.
"I’ve never talked about this publicly before," Swift told the audience, Billboard reported.
TAYLOR SWIFT TAKES HOME VMAS VIDEO OF THE YEAR AWARD, ANNOUNCES SURPRISE ALBUM
"It's dorky," she said. "But I also have, in my mind, secretly, established genres categories for lyrics I write. Three of them, to be exact: They are affectionately titled Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics.… I came up with these categories based on what writing tool I imagine having in my hand when I scribbled it down – figuratively. I don’t actually have a quill. Anymore. I broke it once when I was mad."
Swift, who recently announced another album titled "Midnights," explained what each pen category meant.
The quill pen is used "if my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain," Swift explained. For this category, Swift used her song "Ivy" as an example.
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A glitter gel pen is used for lyrics that "are the drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an Angel in the bathroom." Swift's hit song "Shake It Off" was used as an example for this category.
The fountain pen is used when the pop star is "trying to paint a vivid picture of a situation, down to the chipped paint on the door frame and the incense dust on the vinyl shelf" and "All Too Well" was given as the example.
Swift went on to explain why she created the lyric categories during the speech.
"Why did I make these categories, you ask? Because I love doing this thing we are fortunate enough to call a job," she said. "Writing songs is my life’s work and my hobby and my never-ending thrill. I am moved beyond words that you, my peers, decided to honor me in this way for work I’d still be doing if I had never been recognized for it."
Swift surprised fans by releasing the title for a track on her upcoming album "Midnights." The "Look What You Made Me Do" singer started a new series on TikTok where she plans to slowly release the track list for the new album titled "Midnights Mayhem with Me."
At midnight on Sept. 21, Swift revealed the title of track 13 is "Mastermind."
The album will be released on Oct. 21.
