Becca: Thank you for listening to Big Machine Radio as we celebrate the twelve-year anniversary of the release of Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album. I am Becca and, you know, it's been over a decade that Taylor has been connecting with people through her songwriting, and one of the things that I have always just been blown away about Taylor's writing are the details and the imagery that she includes. In fact, a lot of people who wanted to become songwriters often ask Taylor for advice and that's kind of what she tells them

Taylor Swift: My advice to first-time songwriters would be, you know, the person you're writing the song about, first know that, and then write a letter to them, like, what you would say if you could, 'cause that's why I listen to music, it's because it says how I feel better than I could and it says what I wish I'd said when that moment was there. So, I would say, be as direct as you possibly can. If you needed to rewrite it back later, I guess do that, but, for me, I think the more details, the better. The more it seems like a journal entry, the better. The more it seems like an open letter, the better. The more true and honest and real it gets, where you're naming the places you were, the times it happened, all the things about a relationship. If you can, in your songwriting, be as detailed as possible, because, for people to relate to it, they may not have the same details in their relationship that you had in yours, but they can relate in that they had these little details to their relationship, too

Becca: In fact, I know a lot of people connected to the details of this next song that we're about to play off Taylor Swift's debut album. This is "Stay Beautiful" on Big Machine Radio.