While her friends were watching the Disney Channel, Taylor Swift watched a more adult TV show. The show in question taught her a lot about being a celebrity. She’s put those lessons to good use.

Taylor Swift said 1 TV show showed her how some singers ‘went off the rails’

During a 2014 interview with Esquire, Swift gave us insight into her childhood. “When I was a little kid, my friends were watching Disney Channel, but I was watching Behind the Music,” she said. For context, Behind the Music was a series of mini-documentaries about famous musicians. If you weren’t around when a certain singer peaked, Behind the Music was a good way to catch up on their backstory. The show frequently depicted rise and fall stories. 

The “Love Story” singer said that Behind the Music was instructive. “I was drawing these conclusions, like the reason these people went off the rails is because they lost their level of self-awareness,” she said. “They turned a blind eye to things they didn’t want to see, and all of a sudden, all they were seeing were their delusions of grandeur. And I never wanted to make that mistake in my life, regardless of what my career ended up being. I take away these kind of life lessons from that show.”

Taylor Swift explained how she feels about her public image

Behind the Music did a lot to craft the images of many public figures. Swift was asked if she ever found her public image constraining. “No, because I’m realistic about the fact that millions of people don’t have time in their day to maintain a complex profile of who I am,” the “Cardigan” star replied. “They’re busy with their work and their kids and their husband or their boyfriend and their friends. They only have time to come up with about two or three adjectives to describe people in the public eye. And that’s OK.”

Swift said she was fine being reduced to three adjectives as long as those adjectives were not “mess,” “trainwreck,” or “terrible.” Behind the Music dealt with many celebrity trainwrecks. On the other hand, Swift seems to have become so career-savvy that she’s less of a pop star at this point and more of an institution.

Why we’ll never get an episode of the TV show about the ‘Shake It Off’ singer

Swift could make for a great episode of Behind the Music. She’s made headlines not just for her music or her live performances but also for her personal life. She’s dated many famous men, made friends with many famous women, feuded with Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and Katy Perry, and inspired numerous conspiracy theories. In fact, she might have given the press too much material to fit into one episode of Behind the Music. She might take up a whole season or two!

However, Behind the Music is no longer in production. That’s not because it was a bad show. It’s just that new media has taken its place. If you want to watch someone talk about Swift’s public drama, there are countless YouTube channels that have documented and dissected everything she’s ever done. It must be really challenging to be a celebrity these days!

While Behind the Music was just entertainment for most of us, Swift saw it as a warning.