Swift revisits memories, creative risks

Taylor Swift returned to the piano she took on her record-breaking 'Eras Tour' for a special performance at the 2026 Grammy Museum Icons Sessions gala, delivering a medley built around memory while reflecting on the creative choices that have shaped her career.

The singer-songwriter, 36, performed an 'Eras Tour'-style mashup of 'I Knew It, I Knew You', 'August' and 'All Too Well' at the event in Los Angeles on August 18. A recording of the performance was released on YouTube on Monday.

Dressed in a 1930s-inspired sage green silk chiffon dress from Doen, Swift sat at the same piano she had used during her mammoth tour and explained why she had chosen to connect the three songs.

She said the songs shared a common theme of "being about memory and reliving certain detailed memories of your life, and the significance of those memories", making the medley an exploration of how moments from the past can continue to shape the present.

The performance formed part of an extended conversation with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr, during which Swift also opened up about the way she approaches songwriting and collaboration.

Swift said she makes music because she is playing for her fans, describing them as people who care about her work and turn to music as a means of coping with their own lives. "I'm putting this out for people who care about it and who look to music as a way to cope with their life in the way that I did," she said.

The singer also discussed the creative process behind 'I Knew You Were Trouble', revealing that she had originally imagined the song very differently from the final version. Swift said she initially wrote the track as a "really sad piano ballad", but producers Max Martin and Shellback challenged her to consider a radically different direction.

She recalled playing them the ballad and suggesting that it might work with no drums, only to hear the unexpected response: "What if it's dubstep?" Although the idea initially surprised her, Swift agreed to experiment, eventually finding that the unconventional production became the right choice for the song.

For Swift, the experience illustrated the importance of working with collaborators who are willing to take creative risks rather than simply repeating what has already been done.

She described her favourite collaborators as "'Yes, and?' people" and said enthusiasm in the studio can make or break the music ultimately created.

The singer also reflected on her relationship with her country roots, saying she has felt increasingly connected to them as her career has progressed.

"I love my country roots more and more the further along this path I get, and I want to honour them more and more," she said, adding that she feels increasingly loyal to the people and musical traditions that shaped her.