‘She always was writing poetry’: Taylor Swift’s elementary school teacher on the pop star – whose 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, dropped this month
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Retired music teacher Barbara Kolvek – who taught Swift from first through fourth grade at Wyndcroft School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania – told CBS Philadelphia that she still remembers what the singer was like as a student.
![Taylor Swift shared a little kid pic of herself in honour of her 30th birthday in December 2019. Photo: @taylorswift/Instagram](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/04/26/77c7dbd1-7ea1-4c7b-baa8-b2a763d2182a_02112669.jpg)
“She always was writing poetry, always. Even in music class when she shouldn’t,” Kolvek said. “I did give her her very first singing solo. ‘Fast Talk Freddie,’ I believe it was called.”
Kolvek added that she and Swift had stayed in touch for a while after.
“I feel like maybe I gave her a little spark of encouragement to do what she was doing,” Kolvek said.
![The cover art for Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. Photo: Republic Records via AP](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/04/26/b6e15287-80a6-4a4c-868d-104dda92fd2d_1638767f.jpg)
Kolvek’s support of creativity may have played a bigger part than she imagined. Creativity is one of the top skills a person needs to thrive in the workplace, per the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs Report. According to the organisation’s estimates, building soft skills in children could contribute US$2.54 trillion to the global economy.
![Taylor Swift shared a still from the music video to her song “Fortnight”, featuring Post Malone, on April 20. Photo: @taylorswift/Instagram](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/04/26/561b1e55-dd66-4c02-ad8f-6c41b76a23ec_d7491f3d.jpg)
In the caption of an Instagram post celebrating the album’s surprise songs on April 19, Swift even referred to the tracks as “tortured poetry”.
The “Cruel Summer” singer writes her own songs and has always been known for her lyrics, especially among her fans. She also often references famous authors and their literary works in her music.
In September 2022, while accepting the award for Songwriter-Artist of the Decade at the Nashville Songwriters Awards, Swift even referenced the poet Emily Dickinson in her speech.
![Taylor Swift in February teased her upcoming album release with some handwritten “tortured poetry”. Photo: @taylorswift/Instagram](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/04/26/69d0c3e9-4730-41ea-99d4-2463f4de729c_d7491f3d.jpg)
“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,” she said, per Billboard.
But poetry does seem to run in her blood: as it turns out, Swift and Dickinson are sixth cousins, three times removed, according to genealogy website Ancestry.
A representative for Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
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- The teacher who gave Taylor Swift her first singing solo during elementary school remembers that, as a little girl, the then future star was always writing poetry – ‘even in music class when she shouldn’t’
- Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department broke records on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, and the tortured poetess herself referenced Emily Dickinson during a 2022 award acceptance speech