Where it all began
Released 20 years ago, Taylor Swift’s debut single is, on the surface, a tribute to the power of music, and about how hearing a song by your favourite artist can send you back to the memories associated with first hearing it. She named Tim McGraw after one of her favourite country singers, with a sentiment aimed at a former boyfriend who had left her behind: “When you think Tim McGraw,” she sang, “I hope you think of me.” The power of Swift’s songwriting and the immediate force of her presence as a pop star mean that that is what most of us think when we think Tim McGraw. From day one, we could see Swift’s power to remake culture in her own image, a talent that has – two decades on – made her one of history’s biggest pop stars.
