Taylor Swift‘s songwriting uses one trick over and over — and it’s an excellent trick. She learned a lot about songwriting from one classic rock song. Here’s what she had to say about the track in question.

Taylor Swift praised the ‘bitter’ songwriting of a 1970s diva

During a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Swift named songs that influenced her. They included Faith Hill’s “This Kiss,” Ed Sheeran’s “Lego House,” Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank,” and “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World. Perhaps the most famous track on the list was Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” 

“It was the shot heard ’round the world that left everyone debating and wondering, ‘Which famous ex-lover did she write it about?’” Swift said. “I’ve felt the ripples of that blaring public curiosity affect my own lyrics. I was a poetry-obsessed preteen the first time I heard that incredibly genius kiss-off, ‘You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you.’ After hearing that, it was like a key had just unlocked this forbidden area of storytelling for me. You can say exactly what you feel, even if it’s bitter and brazen! 

“Almost 10 years later, I sat in my dressing room in Boston,” she added. “Carly Simon had just performed ‘You’re So Vain’ with me in front of 65,000 fans. She leaned over and whispered to me who the song was written about — me, the one person who hadn’t asked her.”

Taylor Swift’s songwriting about celebrities goes back to Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain’

It’s clear to see that “You’re So Vain” had a huge impact on Swift’s songwriting. For starters, its catchy, soft rock sound is close to a lot of Swift’s music. She’s experimented with rock many times, and her approach to the genre is closer to Simon’s smooth 1970s soft rock than it is to hard rock or heavy metal.

On top of that, Swift has written numerous songs about her relationship troubles. That wasn’t exactly novel when Simon wrote “You’re So Vain.” However, what made Simon’s signature song so tantalizing is that fans were left to speculate on the man who inspired the song. The two most widely-cited candidates were movie star Warren Beatty and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

That is similar to Swift’s approach to songwriting. She is known for writing songs about her famous boyfriends, but instead of calling out anybody by name, she lets fans theorize about which song is about which celebrity. Simon only pulled this trick once, but Swift took it and made it one of her trademarks. With that in mind, it’s fair to say that “You’re So Vain” changed the course of popular music.

How Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain’ changed pop culture

Swift is not the only artist who felt the power of “You’re So Vain.” Janet Jackson sampled it in her R&B hit “Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You).” Nine Inch Nails incorporated lyrics from the tune into “Starf*ckers, Inc.” Marilyn Manson also covered Simon’s track with Johnny Depp on drums. The cover was obviously supposed to play on Manson’s image as a narcissist. It’s part of Manson’s long history of reinterpreting top 40 hits in a Goth style.

Simon’s brilliance way paved the way for Swift’s.