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Taylor Swift revealed the prank Brad Paisley took “too far.”
Swift, 36, made history as the youngest-ever inductee in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame during a gala in Music City on Monday evening (October 26). Paisley, 53, inducted the global megastar nearly 20 years after bringing her on tour with him in 2007. Swift was 17 at the time.
Swift joked that she’s “been estranged” from Paisley for nearly 20 years. “He took a tour prank too far, filled my entire tour bus with live crickets, thousands of them,” she said, according to Rolling Stone, which shared Swift’s full acceptance speech. “For months I couldn’t sleep. All night I considered buying a pet lizard to eradicate the problem.”
Despite the prank that went “too far,” there appears to be no bad blood between the two artists. Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, 55, attended Swift’s wedding to Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce over the summer at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Maren Morris and Sugarland were also in attendance). Paisley said he and Williams-Paisley knew the moment they received the invitation that “we gotta be there.” Swift and Kelce donated $26 million to various charities before their wedding, including a “transformative” donation to Paisley’s non-profit, The Store.
Swift’s Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction arrives days after she celebrated the 20th anniversary of her landmark debut record. The self-titled country album released on October 24, 2006, when Swift was 16. Swift’s debut era included “Tim McGraw,” “Picture To Burn,” “Teardrops On My Guitar,” “Should’ve Said No,” “Our Song,” and more.
Next month, Swift will return to Nashville for the Country Music Association’s CMA Awards, which will take place at Bridgestone Arena. Reigning Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson, who performed “Love Story” in Swift’s honor on Monday night, will host the event for her third consecutive year. Swift gushed as she reacted to the nomination, “LOOKS LIKE I HAVEN’T YEE’D MY LAST HAW THANK YOU CMA!!!! See you there Nov. 18 🤠” The 60th CMA Awards will air on Wednesday, November 18 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC and Disney+, and the following day on Hulu.
Swift became a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Lyle Lovett, Bruce Channel, Shawn Camp, Lee Thomas Miller and J.I. Allison.