The Surprising Novel That Has Shaped Taylor Swift's Songwriting

You don't have to be a Swiftie to know Taylor Swift is a whiz at writing some of the most fun (and sometimes heart wrenching) songs. I still remember listening to "Forever & Always" and thinking maybe Joe Jonas was in the wrong (which as a hardcore Jonas Brothers fan is a big thing to admit). But while her music is often inspired by her own life and relationships, the Grammy Award winner has also been influenced by classic books. I stumbled across a few old interviews, where Swift talked about how To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced some of her songwriting.

If you didn't have the chance to read the novel in school, the story is narrated by Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a six-year-old living in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The book is centered around her father, Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer that defends a Black man who was falsely accused of raping a white woman. The novel touches on issues of race, justice and prejudice. So, what does this have to do with Taylor?

On October 24, 2012, the singer was meeting contest winners in Times Square, where she shared the 1960 novel (and another popular book series) influenced her writing. "There was a book called To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee that really changed the way I looked at life, and after reading all the Hunger Games books, I was so sad that they were over like I wanted to read them over and over again," she said. "So a lot of books have a very addictive quality and they know a lot of writers are really good at putting lines at the end of a chapter that make you wanna read the next one and I think that's something I really admire about writers."

Now, this wasn't the first time TSwift mentioned the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. According to Taste of Country, the "Cruel Summer" singer went in depth about how it has shaped her songs and sparked creativity. "You know, you hear storytelling like in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and it just...it makes your mind wander," she told Big Machine Label Group. "It makes you feel like it makes your world more vast. And you think about more things and greater concepts after you read something like that."