As we say every year, the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony <\/a>is a combination of an awards show and a family reunion \u2014 an annual gathering of superstars virtually everyone recognizes, iconic behind-the-scenes songwriters that a few people recognize, and top executives from the music industry who hardly any normal person recognizes. And every non-pandemic year for the last half-century-plus, the ceremony has inducted several legendary, contemporary and up-and-coming talents \u2014 and often as not, the inductees say the honor means more to them than any other, because it\u2019s recognition from their peers, many of whom are in the room.<\/p>\n However, when one of the inductees is the most popular musician in the entire world, much of that intimacy inevitably vanishes, and on this night, along with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss, John Fogerty, Alanis Morissette, Raye, Kenny Loggins, and non-performing songwriters Walter Afanasieff, Terry Britten & Graham Lyle and Christopher \u201cTricky\u201d Stewart, one of those inductees was Taylor Swift. Thus, security was tight and the event did not allow for the usual socializing and table-hopping \u2014 and the press, as social media shows, was banished to the balconies.<\/p>\n More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n As she usually is at such events, Swift was in the room for the entire ceremony, seated beside fianc\u00e9 Travis Kelce and flanked by her mother, early songwriting collaborator Liz Rose, and Steven Spielberg (with wife Kate Capshaw), who would later give her induction speech after Sombr performed \u201cCardigan\u201d and \u201cDear John\u201d to her delighted reaction and effusive praise during her speech.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say thank you to Sombr for that perfect performance,\u201d she said. \u201cHis writing is so exceptional that it makes me actually envious, and I love that feeling \u2014 he\u2019s gonna be the top of my Spotify Wrapped this year guaranteed, it\u2019s locked, it\u2019s in the bag. A lot of my late night debates with my friends about the state of the music industry involve me saying very loudly, \u2018Sombr is the future and he does it all on his own and he doesn\u2019t need AI. The kids are fine.\u2019 And so obviously, Shane is a very well-adjusted person and artist, and doesn\u2019t need any of my advice at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the night she whooped and rocked out in familiar fashion \u2014 so much that, as she took the stage at midnight, as the always-long ceremony entered its fifth hour (and combined with her highly publicized enthusiasm during the Knicks victory the night before), her voice was raspy. (Read her 21-minute speech here<\/a> in full.)<\/p>\n Spielberg\u2019s introduction was dynamic as well. \u201cAs a director, I am acutely aware of the power that music can have on audiences. And as much as I believe that the stories we tell as filmmakers have the potential to entertain and engage, there is something undeniable about how songs\u00a0enrich our souls,\u201d he said. \u201cMusic will always be the guiding force, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0sung in our cars at the top of our lungs, or in houses of worship, or at football games, or on the streets of Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n He went on to say that Swift, the youngest female ever to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, \u201chas no fear when it comes to shattering records as a writer, singer, and storyteller, a singular artist, and a genuine phenomenon whose place in our culture rivals that of the composers of the American Songbook, Lennon McCartney of the \u201960s and the singer-songwriters of the 1970s like Carole King and Stevie \u2018Let\u2019s Go Knicks,\u2019\u201d punning the Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter with the hometown NBA heroes \u2014 \u201cand your namesake, James Taylor.\u201d<\/p>\n Noting her long efforts to own her music, he said her \u201cfearless determination to stand up for all artists\u2019 rights is a reflection of her deep understanding of how best to use the meteoric fame that she has been navigating since she was just a teenager.\u201d<\/p>\n After initially feeling honored by the invitation to induct her, Spielberg said, \u201cAbout five minutes after I hung up, my elation faded slightly because, I mean, what could I\u00a0possibly say\u00a0about Taylor that has not already been said? Just thinking about how much true, false, and plain crazy stuff has been written about you boggles the mind. So just out of curiosity, I asked AI if you could tell me how many words have been written about Taylor Swift,\u201d he said to laughter. \u201cAnd you know what? It couldn\u2019t\u00a0tell me. Then I asked it, how many words have been written by Taylor Swift? And it\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0tell\u00a0me that\u00a0either. And I just thought,\u00a0wow,\u00a0she is such a force that the depth of her achievements\u00a0defies\u00a0AI!,\u201d adding to cheers, \u201cI should have known that something that starts with \u2018artificial\u2019\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0have a clue.\u201d<\/p>\n He concluded, \u201cThrough her songs, she has taken billions of people by the hand and by the heart, and lights them with a message that is rooted in community and infused with hope and relatability. Through her songs, she makes us believe that we are in this together and together we can grow up, live, love, make mistakes, succeed, fail, and yet continue to believe in our own self-worth. Somehow, Taylor knows us\u00a0all too\u00a0well.<\/p>\n \u201cI love making movies,\u201d he cracked \u201cbut I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think I will ever fill stadiums of multi-generational fans who want to recite the dialogue from \u2018Indiana Jones.\u2019 So\u00a0thank you, Taylor, for the gift of your stories and for insisting on being an authentic voice in a world where the line between real and fake is increasingly blurred. You are our mirror ball.\u201d<\/p>\n The show began with R&B singer Tamar Braxton honoring Tricky Stewart with a lively performance of \u201cSingle Ladies.\u201d During a brief induction speech, Stewart\u2019s longtime friend and fellow Atlanta hitmaker Dallas Austin said, \u201cHe is a kind-hearted person, and to me, music is a reflection of the person who created it.\u201d Another performance followed \u2014 this time Republic Recording artist Kylie Cantrall singing the Rihanna smash \u201cUmbrella\u201d \u2014 before Stewart\u2019s long acceptance speech, in which he reeled off his long history of publishing deals and finished by announcing his newest, with BMG.<\/p>\n Next up was Britten and Lyle, honored with a jazzy cover of \u201cWhat\u2019s Love Got to Do With It?,\u201d made famous by Tina Turner in 1984, and a more conventional one from Taylor Dayne on another Turner hit, \u201cHero.\u201d Jane Seymour gave a warm induction speech, and the pair followed with brief comments of their own, noting that others who\u2019d covered \u201cWhat\u2019s Love Got to Do With It\u201d before Turner \u201cdidn\u2019t have the legs\u201d she did.<\/p>\n Accepting a second award from the Hall was John Fogerty, who was already an inductee but on this night was receiving the Johnny Mercer Awards, recognizing \u201ca writer or writers already inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and judged by the Nominating Committee as having established a history of outstanding creative works.\u201d Veteran rocker Steve Miller gave the induction speech, saying that \u201cJohn Fogerty is Americana at its finest\u201d and referencing his \u201cunwavering fight for artists\u2019 rights and his decades-long battle to regain the rights to his work,\u201d referencing Fogerty\u2019s long, and ultimately successful, battle with Fantasy Records and subsequent owners.<\/p>\n Fogerty charmed the crowd by taking the stage with an effusive \u201cHello all you wonderful songwriters!\u201d but soon lost favor as his speech went on for nearly half an hour, beginning with him as a three-year-old receiving a record as a gift from his mother (\u201cOh Susannah!\u201d on one side and \u201cCamptown Races\u201d on the flip) and proceeding seemingly in real time throughout the rest of his 81 years.However, a high point came when he said that he\u2019d finally gained control of his catalog because he\u2019d \u201coutlived all those sons of bitches!\u201d<\/p>\n He then was joined onstage by two guitarists for not one but four songs: a brief \u201cOh Susannah\u201d followed by his own hits \u201cProud Mary,\u201d \u201cHave You Ever Seen Rain?\u201d and finally \u201cThe Old Man Down the Road,\u201d which concluded with a long and fiery guitar duel. By the time he left the stage, Fogerty\u2019s segment alone had lasted for more than 45 minutes and deflated the mood of the room. However, eyebrows raised when Mariah Carey hitmaker Walter Afanaesieff was inducted by his friend, actor Jeremy Renner, praising him for creating \u201cthe soundtrack of our lives,\u201d and a lovely version of \u201cOne Sweet Day\u201d from Shel\u00e9a.<\/p>\n A jolt of energy hit the room as Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan entered the stage wearing dark eye makeup and clad in one of his now-characteristic long tunics \u2014 an incongruously serious getup in which to be singing Kiss\u2019 classic \u201cRock and Roll All Night.\u201d He was then joined by Goo Goo Dolls singer Johnny Rzaznik, and as the pair took the podium, Corgan said \u201cWe just lived a childhood dream!\u201d<\/p>\n The pair paid tribute to the \u201cdemonic dynamic duo\u201d of Stanley and Simmons and their half-century long partnership, before ceding the stage to Stanley, who said how humbled he was to be on the stage before explaining that his \u201cpartner of 57 years\u201d had an unspecified \u00a0family emergency and was currently at a hospital.\u00a0 He continued by saying that amid the \u201cbombs and the bombast and all the things the band is known for, it\u2019s nothing without a song,\u201d and recalled his days as a young musician trying to hawk his songs at the legendary Brill Building in Manhattan and hoping one day to emulate his songwriting heroes there like Carole King, Doc Pomus, how she longed to hear Ellie Greenwich and others. Stanley, 74, added, \u201cAt this point in my life, I say I f you love me let me know \u2014\u00a0don\u2019t save it for my obituary!\u201d<\/p>\n The evening took an unusual turn as a violinist and cellist \u2014 SistaStrings \u2014\u00a0took the stage and were followed by Brandi Carlile bearing an acoustic guitar. The musicians then proceeded to peel off a fiery cover of Alanis Morissette\u2019s \u201cUninvited\u201d that was the most musically innovative performance of the night.<\/p>\n During the induction speech, Carlile spoke of being a young gay woman in the Pacific Northwest, growing up amid the sound of \u201cangry young white men\u201d singing the grunge music that emanated from the region and how she \u201clonged to hear a woman\u2019s voice singing rock and roll \u2014\u00a0and it came from Ottawa, Canada.\u201d She spoke effusively of Morissette\u2019s \u201cunusual cadence and unhinged precision,\u201d and how her music is a \u201cmasterclass on knowing oneself, and challenge what it means to be a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n Morissette, clad in a glittering gold dress, took the podium and said that \u201cwriting has always been a survivial strategy, an imperative. It helps me locate and find myself from outside-in, as opposed to inside-out.<\/p>\n \u201cI love humans, but don\u2019t get me wrong\u201d \u2014 she laughed \u2014 \u201cI hate us sometimes too.\u201d Accompanied by two guitarists, she then played \u201cMerry Go Round\u201d and the 1995 hit that put her on the map, \u201cYou Oughta Know.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up was Raye, who received the Hal David Starlight Award for rising young talent, but likely just as much for her fierce advocacy for songwriters, who, as everyone in the room knows all too well, are unfairly at the bottom of the streaming economy. She was inducted by none other than Chic cofounder and legendary producer, songwriter and guitarist Nile Rodgers, who has been chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame for some eight years. He said he would keep the introduction short \u2014 adding \u201cYo, John,\u201d with a laugh to Fogerty \u2014 before ceding the stage to Raye.<\/p>\n She too said that although she is naturally verbose and \u201cI\u2019m sometimes irritating and annoying to some people\u201d and would keep it short, but \u201cwe have an obligation to protect [songwriters] \u2014\u00a0it can\u2019t just be rich people writing songs!\u201d and then spoke briefly but emphatically of the need for songwriters to receive \u201cpoints on the master\u201d<\/a> \u2014 meaning a percentage of the profit, which artists, labels, publishers and producers receive but songwriters inexplicably do not.<\/p>\n The pre-Taylor show concluded with Gavin DeGraw paying tribute to Kenny Loggins with a slow, soulful version of his 1972 hit \u201cDanny\u2019s Song,\u201d an arrangement so imaginative that Loggins joked at the beginning of his speech \u201cWhat song was that?\u201d He too spoke at length about how music came into his childhood via his brother\u2019s record collection, which he was forbidden to play but did anyway.<\/p>\n In a telling moment for the rebellious spirit of rock and roll and a tip for parents everywhere, he said, \u201cIf you want your kids to love music \u2014 forbid it!\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we say every year, the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony is a combination of an awards show and a family reunion \u2014 an annual gathering of superstars virtually everyone recognizes, iconic behind-the-scenes songwriters that a few people recognize, and top executives from the music industry who hardly any normal person recognizes. And every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2458541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[357820,376613,348513,434462,370583,306985,401957,345380,345991,319685,338984,309280,444915,23084,434348,190738,434347],"class_list":["post-2458540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-alanis-morissette","tag-carole-king","tag-gene-simmons","tag-graham-lyle","tag-james-taylor","tag-john-fogerty","tag-kate-capshaw","tag-kenny-loggins","tag-nile-rodgers","tag-paul-stanley","tag-songwriters-hall-of-fame","tag-steven-spielberg","tag-taylor-dayne","tag-taylor-swift","tag-terry-britten","tag-travis-kelce","tag-walter-afanasieff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Sombr-Covers-Two-Taylor-Swift-Songs-as-Steven-Spielberg-Compares.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458542,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458540\/revisions\/2458542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2458541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n