The Who’s Pete Townshend praises Taylor Swift’s songwriting: “I love what she does”

22 September, 2024

Pete Townshend and Taylor Swift. CREDIT: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Image and Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images

The Who‘s Pete Townshend has revealed that he admires Taylor Swift.

The guitarist and co-founder of The Who was discussing the art of songwriting with the What It Takes podcast earlier this summer.

“I’m a song dreamer in a sense,” he told the podcast. “So I love the great songwriters of my father’s era, Gershwin and so on. And also the great songwriters of today, past The Beatles and all the rest of them to Taylor Swift.”

Townshend went on to praise Swift, saying: “I love what she does, too. Not that she’s necessarily absolutely always to my taste, but I just love the fact that she seems to love it, that she seems to be having so much fun. That’s what I identify with.”

It’s not the first time the rock legend has spoken in support of Swift. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2019, he expressed sympathy for the ‘Cruel Summer’ singer, after Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group, which included Swift’s early work. Swift had previously tried to regain ownership of her master recordings – but revealed that her music had been sold off without her knowledge. She’s since decided to re-record her first six studio albums.

“Watching Taylor Swift go through what she’s putting herself through at the moment is heartbreaking,” Townshend told the magazine. “She doesn’t own the fucking music. She doesn’t own the words. I think she has a financial right to it, but she shouldn’t screw herself up about this stuff.”

Taylor Swift at the 2024 MTV VMAs.
Taylor Swift. Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

In other The Who news, earlier this year, Townshend said he hoped he and Roger Daltrey could establish some “common ground and find some way to work again”. The pair are the only surviving members of The Who’s classic lineup, and the only two currently in the band.

This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that Townshend has discussed the possibility of new The Who music or live dates. In June, he told NME that he was “pretty sure” there would be more Who shows, and that “The story of the end of The Who is gonna be when either Roger or I drop dead or can’t function anymore on the stage”.

But a new album? “If there was a need or a place for a Who album, could I write the songs for it within six weeks? Of course I fucking could, it’s a piece of cake,” he said. “The problem is I don’t think Roger wants to do it again. For me it would be a joy because I love writing songs, I love writing to a brief, I love having a commission, I love having a deadline and I love the feedback.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Roger Daltrey of The Who performs at The O2 Arena on July 12, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Baker/Getty Images)

In March, meanwhile, Daltrey said he’s “on [his] way out” and that he “has to be realistic” about future plans.

And, when NME asked Daltrey about the possibility of a new album last year, he laughed: “What’s the point? What’s the point of records? We released an album four years ago [2019’s ‘WHO’], and it did nothing. It’s a great album too, but there isn’t the interest out there for new music these days. People want to hear the old music. I don’t know why, but that’s the fact.”

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