Music
A Taylor Swift Song Inspired Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life
Here’s why her latest novel may remind you of a specific Folklore track.
It’s no secret that Taylor Swift has inspired many musical artists — several of which are affectionately known as “Taydaughters.” But as it turns out, her creative impact isn’t limited to songwriters. Upon the release of Emily Henry’s new book, Great Big Beautiful Life, the novelist opened up about the way Swift’s music influenced her latest romance.
A Touch Of Folklore
Great Big Beautiful Life follows two writers who are competing to pen the biography of enigmatic heiress Margaret Ives. Now in her 80s, no one has seen Margaret, who’s described as a “former tabloid princess,” in a long time, but her family was one of the most famous of the 20th century.
In fleshing out such a noteworthy name, she drew inspiration from Swift’s Folklore track, “The Last Great American Dynasty,” and the woman it’s about, Rebekah Harkness, Henry told E!
“I love that song, and love the story behind it,” she said. “Every once in a while I find myself back on the Wikipedia page, just reading through. I just find those kinds of larger-than-life families really, really intriguing.”
Other reference points include Princess Diana and the royal family, the Kennedys, and the Hearsts, Henry shared.
Yes, She’s A Total Swiftie
If you’ve been keeping up with Henry for some time, you may not be too surprised that Folklore influenced her latest novel. The best-selling author has been open about her love for Swift’s music — once assigning her books to albums (or Eras) in an interview with Today.
ICYMI, she compared Book Lovers to 1989, People We Meet on Vacation to Lover, Beach Read to Folklore, Happy Place to Red, and Funny Story to both The Tortured Poets Department and, later, Midnights — the happier songs.
Henry shares Swift’s penchant for hiding Easter eggs in her writing. (She teased that Happy Place includes a discreet reference to Book Lovers.) But she also revealed the other ways in which the singer has influenced her.
“The details feel really significant, the emotion feels really intense, and there’s so much pining and nostalgia and achiness in [Swift’s] lyrics,” Henry told Rolling Stone in 2023. “In readers, in fiction, we’re seeing this huge resurgence of an appreciation for earnestness and ardor after what felt like forever of irony.”
Indeed, as Swift herself once said, “The worst kind of person is someone who makes someone feel bad, dumb, or stupid for being excited about something.”
It looks like Great Big Beautiful Life is simply the latest example of Henry infusing her Swiftie spirit into her work.
