Taylor Swift has opened up about how early 2000s emo bands like Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional helped shape her approach to songwriting.

Taylor Swift has said that her best friend’s favorite band played a role in influencing her development as a songwriter and helping shape the artist she has become today.

Taylor Swift has described herself as an “emo kid at heart,” revealing that early 2000s emo music played a major role in shaping her songwriting style.

In a profile by The New York Times for its list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, the 36-year-old artist pointed to bands like Dashboard Confessional and Fall Out Boy as key influences during her formative years as a writer.

She praised the emotional intensity and lyrical creativity of the genre, highlighting Chris Carrabba and Pete Wentz in particular. Swift noted how they would take familiar phrases and rework them in striking ways, citing lines such as “I’m just a notch in your bedpost, but you’re just a line in a song” and “Drop a heart, break a name,” explaining how those kinds of lyric twists left a lasting impression on her. She also recalled being deeply moved by the specificity in songs like Dashboard Confessional’s “Hands Down.”

Following her comments, Dashboard Confessional responded warmly, thanking Swift for acknowledging their influence and saying they felt honored to be part of her artistic journey.

Swift has also previously shared her admiration for the band in a personal way. In 2015, she surprised her best friend Abigail Anderson—who is a major Dashboard Confessional fan—by bringing Chris Carrabba to a birthday celebration, where he performed “Hands Down” for guests including Paramore’s Hayley Williams and members of Kings of Leon.