Time isn't the only influential publication that's celebrating Taylor Swift's benchmark run in 2023. In addition to being Time's Person of the Year, Swift's on the cover of People's Most Intriguing People of the Year issue.
Tim McGraw's among those quoted in People's cover story about Swift. He's the namesake of Swift's first hit from 2006. In 2007, Swift joined McGraw and Faith Hill for select dates on the couple's Soul2Soul II Tour.
"We had long conversations with her in Faith's dressing room about always being open to listening, but always know that you're the leader, that you're the one making decisions, that you will know what song is going to work or not and that you are the captain of your ship," McGraw said.
Swift made an instant positive impression on McGraw.
"I remember thinking this girl has so much talent and so much moxie, and she's so curious," McGraw added. "We both absolutely fell in love with her instantly, as an artist and as a person — just a fellow professional that you realize totally knows what they are doing."
In addition, McGraw praised Swift's poise when it comes to maintaining a sense of privacy while being one of the most famous people on the planet.
"She knows when, where, how to promote [her work], but she also knows when, where, how to be normal and be a human just living her life," McGraw said. "I think she has brilliantly navigated that line."
In a 2021 chat with Apple Music Country for Apple Music Essentials, McGraw joked about how he felt upon first hearing the Swift song "Tim McGraw.
"I thought, have I gotten to that age now to where they're singing songs about me? Does that mean I've jumped the shark a bit? Is everything still cool?" he said (as quoted by People). "And then I realized that somebody had told me that she was in her seventh-grade math class when she wrote the song, so it made me feel a little bit better about that because she was so young writing it. So I didn't feel like I was that terribly old."
