Phil Collins has praised Taylor Swift‘s rise to global superstardom, saying the pop icon “deserves” to be “the hugest thing in the world” after being impressed by her live performance more than 15 years ago.
Speaking on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years with Vernon Kay, the Genesis legend recalled meeting Swift in 2010 and watching her perform “White Horse”, a moment he says has stayed with him ever since.
Phil Collins recalls first meeting Taylor Swift
Explaining why he selected “White Horse” for the programme, Collins revealed that his daughter, Lily Collins, introduced him to Taylor Swift at the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He said:
“I was at an event, Songwriters Hall of Fame. This was way, way back. And Taylor Swift, I met her.
And [my daughter] Lily introduced me, funnily enough, because she knew her. And I met her and I’d kind of known the name, but she wasn’t anywhere near the star she is today.
This very nice lady then got up on stage with a guitar and sang White Horse, and it blew me away completely because not only was the song great, and the sentiment of the song really got me, but she sang it beautifully. And it was just so simple, you know, her on a guitar.
I’ve always had a soft spot for this song since then and I’m so pleased that she’s the hugest thing in the world now because she kind of feels like she deserves it.
I mean it’s easy to knock someone that’s got so much success, but I think she really deserves it.”
Swift released “White Horse” in 2008 as part of her second studio album, Fearless. The song went on to become one of the defining tracks of her early career.
Phil Collins says In The Air Tonight was largely improvised
Elsewhere in the interview, Collins reflected on writing one of his most iconic songs, “In the Air Tonight”, revealing that much of the lyric came together spontaneously.
He explained:
“I suppose a lot of my lyrics come from somewhere. I very rarely sit down and think, what am I going to write about? I don’t ever do that.
Normally, if I’m playing, something usually comes when I’m playing a piano and something will develop if I’m lucky and then what I’m going to sing comes along very soon afterwards.
You only need a couple of lines, two or three lines, and you kind of know what it’s going to be about or what the feeling is, you know. And so a lot of the lyrics are kind of improvised. The classic example of that would be In The Air Tonight, which was pretty much 80% improvised.
I had this chord sound on this keyboard that I had, Prophet-5 was the keyboard and I had this lovely sound which is the sound you hear on the record. It is the version of when I first kind of wrote it on the record.
I mean I might have done it once or twice but I certainly didn’t labour on it…
That’s why I was thinking of craft. It’s not crafting. That’s the scenario of luck, you know, and good fortune.”
Where to hear the full interview
Phil Collins’ appearance on Tracks of My Years is available on BBC Sounds, with video available through Radio 2’s YouTube channel and BBC iPlayer. The series also airs on Vernon Kay’s weekday morning show on BBC Radio 2 between 3 and 7 August.
