Taylor Swift has paid tribute to Dolly Parton following the country legend’s death at the age of 80.
“A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right,” Swift said in a statement released late Tuesday. “But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.”
“She was truly the gift that kept on giving,” Swift continued. “Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously. She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life, but to give full transparency in the ways that counted. Somehow she was true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person. She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist.
“Along with her other fans, I am so grateful for all of it. For the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts. For the millions of books she provided children all over the world so that they might fall in love with stories the way she did. For the tightropes she walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too.”
“Dolly, I’ll think of you each step of the way.”
Swift and Parton shared a mutual admiration since meeting at the Grand Ole Opry House’s 85th birthday bash in October 2010. In recent years, Parton praised Swift as “a great writer — with or without anybody” following insults from Damon Albarn, while Swift told The Hollywood Reporter that Dolly was “a force of evolution and transformation in our industry.”
“She’s never stopped challenging herself to clear new hurdles and explore new territory artistically, and I think that speaks to her great curiosity about the human condition,” Swift added. “She’s a legendary empath and the storyteller for the ages. She’s also having the most fun doing it.”
In July, Swift and her husband, Travis Kelce, donated $2 million to Parton’s Imagination Library. “I’m blown away and overjoyed,” Parton said in a video thanking the couple. “It’s evident that you two have made giving back a key part of your lives.”
