Taylor Swift has had an enviable career, but she said she’s hoping to achieve a path similar to that of an iconic musician. Though Swift is a millennial pop star, she takes a great deal of inspiration from older singer-songwriters. She said there’s one person in particular who had a career she’d like for herself.

Taylor Swift wants a career like 1 musician

By 2012, Swift had already released four studio albums and was well on her way to becoming the global superstar she is now. When she thought ahead to the rest of her career, though, she wanted to follow a path similar to that of a slightly surprising artist.

“I look back and I think about Kris Kristofferson,” she told Vogue. “He is so versatile and so appreciated for all of the things that he has done. The fact that he shines in songwriting, shines in his solo career, shines in movies and does it all so tastefully.”

She said she also appreciated the fact that Kristofferson did not appear to have grown jaded from his decades in the music industry.

“I got to meet him last year, and he’s just one of those people who has been in this business for years but you can tell it hasn’t chewed him up and spit him out,” she said. “He just seemed like the human embodiment of gratitude.”

Taylor Swift and the musician met

Swift’s dreams came true when she met Kristofferson in 2010. Per New York Magazine, he told her he knew she would have “the most wonderful career, and most wonderful life.”

“I felt like I was going to pass out!” she said afterward. “He said so many nice things about my songwriting … I can’t even remember everything he said; I blacked out a little bit.”

She spoke about people outside the music industry who inspired her

Swift felt overwhelmed when she met Kristofferson, but she said she felt powerfully starstruck when she met members of the Kennedy family. She briefly dated Conor Kennedy in 2012.

“The only time in my life I have ever been starstruck was meeting Caroline and Ethel Kennedy,” she said. “I got to spend the afternoon with Ethel a couple of weeks ago. She is one of my favorites because you look back at the pictures of her and Bobby and they always look like they are having the most fun out of everybody. You know, eleven kids, all these exotic animals on their property. I’ve read a lot about them.”

In some ways, they reminded her of Kristofferson.

“Sometimes you see these people who are just so — God — so affected by all of it, where ambition has taken precedence over happiness,” she said. “But when I meet people who really embody this serenity of knowing that they have had an amazing life — James Taylor, Kris Kristofferson, and Ethel Kennedy. . . . They just seem to be effervescent.”

Over a decade after this, Swift has the kind of career that many younger artists would love for themselves.