Don McLean worried for “monster star” Taylor Swift: “I hope she stays happy”
Don McLean has spoken about the mammoth success of Taylor Swift, and said that he hopes that the pop star can “stay happy” above all else.
The 78-year-old American music icon – best known for tracks including ‘American Pie’ and ‘Vincent’ – opened up about his thoughts on Swift in a new interview with The Standard, and expressed how he hopes the singer puts her mental well-being first while dealing with “monster” fame.
“She is a person who is an example of what talent and really hard work can accomplish,” he began when asked about the ‘Midnights’ singer.
“A lot of people think showbusiness is just something ‘Oh, you’re so wonderful, you should be a star’, Taylor Swift was a star for 15 years before she became a monster star, the size of the galaxy for god sake.
“She’s working all of the time and she does everything that she does better than everybody else, whether it’s a video or a performance or songwriting or records or whatever… The only thing is that she stays happy.”
He continued: “I’m very fortunate that I’ve had that. I know how to do that. I have a lot of interests and they sustain me. I don’t go around thinking ‘Man, why don’t I have this?’ or ‘Why don’t I have that?’ – that is the quickest way to be unhappy I can think of.
“So, you have to be happy with what you’re doing and a lot of people say well if a song or an album isn’t commercially successful that somehow that’s a negative and I don’t even think of it. I don’t really think about whether it caught the fancy of the public, it doesn’t matter to me.”
McLean, who has sold over 50million records since launching his career in the late ‘60s, has connected with Swift before. Back in 2021, the pop star sent him a note and a bouquet of flowers after she broke one of his music records – with her 10minute version of ‘All Too Well’ surpassing his eight-minute ‘American Pie (Parts I & II)’ as US Billboard Hot 100’s longest-length Number One entry.
Elsewhere in the interview with Standard – which comes ahead of his UK exclusive headline slot at The Long Road Festival this weekend – McLean reflected on the darker side of the music industry and recalled how Swift has already dealt with it firsthand.
“The record companies are the biggest thieves on the planet. That was their business stealing. You have to be very careful. Once again, look at Taylor Swift. Such a smart lady and so talented yet she didn’t realise the albums that she was making were not hers,” he said, referring to Scooter Braun’s sale of her discography, which led to her re-recording her first six studio albums as ‘(Taylor’s Version)’.
“She overlooked something that she should have been told about by her lawyer. One of the reasons why I own all of the songs that I’ve ever written, all of the albums I’ve ever made and anything else I’ve ever been a part of is I was given good legal advice when I started out in 1968.”
McLean is set to play his only UK performance of 2024 on Saturday (August 24) as part of the Long Road Festival in Leicestershire. Visit here for remaining tickets.
As for Swift, the singer is wrapping up her huge run of nights at London’s Wembley Stadium as part of her huge ‘Eras’ tour. Following this, she’ll head back to North America this autumn and end the tour in Vancouver, Canada in early December. Visit here for any remaining tickets.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
