Hayley Williams Says Taylor Swift Told Her She Wanted to Be Like Carole King at 19

Taylor Swift talked about wanting to be like Carole King at 19, Paramore vocalist Hayley Williams revealed in a new interview.

Speaking with Billboard about her group's upcoming LP This Is Why and its opening slot on the first night of Swift's The Eras tour, the Good Dye Young co-creator, 34, reflected on a conversation she had with Swift, 33, when they were both still coming up in the industry.

"When we were 19, [Swift] told me — she was a country singer at that point — that she wanted to be like Carole King," Williams remembered. "And I was like, 'Whoa, that's a crazy thing to say,' you know? Because we were kids. And I'll be damned, this woman, she's crossing genres and bleeding over into other aspects of pop culture, and she's helping to shape it at the very least."

While Williams called the March opening night slot in Arizona a "big deal" for Paramore, Swift also commented on what the moment meant to her in the Billboard cover story, describing it as "such an honor."

"We came up alongside each other as Nashville teenagers writing our own music, so it feels insanely special to kick off the tour together nearly two decades later," Swift said. "I just remember being constantly floored and inspired by their writing, originality and artistic integrity."

"Hayley is such a riveting performer because she's so multifaceted — bold and playful and ferocious and completely in command," Swift continued. "It's a dream come true to join forces like this."

Swift's admiration for the iconic singer-songwriter is well documented: In 2021, she kicked off the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony with a rendition of the classic "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" in tribute to King, who was part of the inductee class.

During that event, Swift spoke about what it was like to grow up "dancing around the living room in socked feet to the sounds of Carole's soulful voice."

"Her songs speak to the true and honest feelings that everyone has felt, is currently feeling, or hopes to feel one day," she said. "So it is only right for them to be passed down like precious heirlooms from parents to children, older siblings to younger, lovers to each other."

Additionally, Swift accepted the Artist of the Decade Award from King at the 2019 American Music Awards.

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Elsewhere in Billboard's story, Williams reflected on a speech she gave at Paramore's When We Were Young festival, where she stated that the scene wasn't always a safe place "if you were different, if you were a young woman, if you were a person of color, [or] if you were queer."

"We don't want to be a nostalgia band," Williams said, reflecting on that speech. "But I think what I felt was a mixture of vindication and also a lot of anger. I was really surprised that I had so much anger well up in me because I was like, 'Wait a minute. They're treating us like a prize now...' And I feel strongly that without young women, people of color and also the queer community, I just think we would still be where we were then."

Paramore shared its latest single, "C'est Comme Ça," last week. This is Why will drop via Atlantic Records on Feb. 10.