Taylor Swift was featured answering questions during an “iHeartCountry House Party” on BOB 94.9 FM out of Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday night (Sept. 5). Why make a random appearance on Pennsylvania country radio this weekend?
Well, Swift made a return to country airplay this summer with “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the original song she penned for Toy Story 5 — and that track was the topic of conversation on Saturday. The station’s also based just about an hour west of Swift’s childhood home in Wyomissing, where she lived before bringing her family to Nashville to launch her country career.
Though Swift’s appearance was said to have a 7 p.m. ET start by the station, her voice didn’t get any airtime until about 7:45 p.m. Q&A clips with her were sparse from that point on, with just a few questions broadcast overall as it neared 10 p.m.
The 45-minute lead-up to any sign of Swift had a modern country playlist of singles like Morgan Wallen & Post Malone’s “I Ain’t Comin’ Back,” Lainey Wilson feat. John Mayer’s “Phone, Keys, Wallet,” Kip Moore’s “Somethin’ Bout a Truck” and Russell Dickerson’s “Worth Your Wild” before Swift’s latest hit, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” finally got airplay. Next up was Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night,” Thomas Rhett’s “After All the Bars Are Closed” and, at last, a Swift classic, “Teardrops on My Guitar.” Soon the first question of the night for Swift came up.
She talked about her contribution to the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, zoning in on the beloved film franchise’s “legacy” musical landscape. Swift gushed that “it has a sonic world that Randy Newman has crafted so beautifully.” Fortunately, “I Knew It, I Knew You” got the “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” creator’s approval: “He told me he likes it, which is really all I need to know.”
“House Party” by Sam Hunt, “Hands Up” by Jelly Roll, “Painted You Pretty” by Hudson Westbrook, “Kid Myself” by John Morgan, “I Need Some Help” by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen and “South of Sanity” by Zach Top all played on the station before host Wayne D tuned back in to Swift, who, now two decades into her career, offered some insight on having a successful songwriting session.
“One thing I’ve learned over the many years of studio sessions and writing sessions and working with people collaboratively is your energy and attitude you bring into the room can affect absolutely everything about the day,” said Swift, who added, “If you come in and act like you don’t want to be there, everyone else is gonna pick up on that.”
“Be enthusiastic about being able to be making art every day that you can make art,” Swift advised.
Many more country songs, by various artists, followed before Swift’s voice made a return on air, with what would be the most interesting piece of the night for Swifties, or anyone who loves to pore over a good lyric booklet.
Swift revealed she went into writing “I Knew It, I Knew You” with words that could support two interpretations.
“I love that the lyrics of this song are really being delved into by the fans. There are several lyrics that have more than one meaning to them,” Swift said of “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
“You only have so long in a song to convey and surmise and sum up this entire film [Toy Story 5] that people just watched. Sometimes you’ll try to have a double meaning in a line,” she continued.
Swift gave specific examples from the first couple lines of the song: “I knew you through the daze of the blades of the grass in summer/ Parachutes for the free fall of being younger.”
“The word daze is spelled ‘d-a-z-e’ in the lyrics, but you could also, if you wanted to, think of it as days, ‘d-a-y-s,’ you could perceive it as that. I thought of it as like a childhood daze of you look back and you see this sort of blurry, beautiful memory that’s kind of blurry at the edges,” Swift explained.
“Blades of the grass in summer, that harkens back to childhood and playing and using your imagination, but also there’s the added meaning of they’re toys,” she said. “They can only see up to the height of blades of grass.”
“Parachutes for the free fall of being younger: There’s the actual parachute army toys in Toy Story, as well as symbolically, somebody who helps you grow up, helps your landings be softer,” said Swift.
Later in the evening, another Swift moment aired. She spoke of the inspiration behind writing “I Knew It, I Knew You.” Swift was drawn to Toy Story cowgirl Jessie upon attending an early screening of Toy Story 5 — “I was seeing that she was going through a full-circle moment as a character,” Swift said, in part — plus seeing “a lot of reunions of old friends, seeing people that you haven’t seen in a while, and kind of forgiving past heartbreak, or whatever, and kind of healing that within yourself.”
Swift spoke fondly of her country roots in a recent conversation with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. held at the Grammy Museum.
“The further along this path I get, I want to honor them more and more, and I feel more and more tied and more loyal to them — the people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer,” she said at the Aug. 18 event that focused on her songwriting and had her performing an acoustic mashup on piano of “I Knew It, I Knew You,” “August” and “All Too Well” that felt like a mid-late 2024 Eras Tour throwback.
Swift’s most recent original, full-length studio album was 2025’s The Life of a Showgirl. The pop collection tallied 12 weeks total at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Her next original, full-length studio album, which she has yet to speak about, will mark the 13th of her career. (This number doesn’t count her successful series of re-recorded albums, the four “Taylor’s Version” releases she put out prior to ultimately obtaining ownership of her masters last year.)
