It turns out Taylor Swift may have inherited her writing chops from another tortured poet.
AncestryDNA has discovered that the biggest star on the planet is related to Emily Dickinson. The big reveal was shared with TODAY, and acccording to the genealogy company the two are sixth cousins, three times removed.
“Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th century English immigrant (Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut),” Ancestry confirmed. “Taylor Swift’s ancestors remained in Connecticut for six generations until her part of the family eventually settled in northwestern Pennsylvania, where they married into the Swift family line.”
What is most remarkable about this connection is that Swift has cited Dickinson as an influence. While accepting the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2002, Swift said, “If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre."
It doesn't stop there though. Upon the release of 2020's Evermore, fans were quick to come up with a theory that the album was inspired by the singer-songwriter's long-lost cousin.
This was partially based on the fact that Swift announced Evermore's release on December 10 that year, which just so happened to be Dickinson's birthday (three days before Swift's). The album's title may have also been lifted from Dickinson's poem "One Sister Have I in Our House,” which includes the word “forevermore."
Taylor Swift releases her next album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19.