Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIMETaylor Swift is a role model to millions of fans worldwide, but in a new video she made for TIME, she gushes about the person who she calls HER role model: former Beatle Paul McCartney:
Asked to name her three biggest influences, Taylor says the social networking site Tumblr is #3, and McCartney is #2.
“He’s had just this amazing career. He’s created, just, unparalleled art and y’know, probably been faced with more pressure than most people,” Taylor says. “And he’s always been known to be kind to people, respectful and also really selfless as a performer.”
What she means by that, she explains, is that McCartney is perfectly happy to perform numerous classic Beatles hits in concert, along with his own solo material.
“You wanna hear all that old, iconic, classic stuff, and I like it when a performer knows that and will give that to their fans, rather than being, like, ‘No, I’m only playing this new project,'” Taylor says.
“I think you gotta be respectful of what people want and I just think that’s really cool,” she adds. “And I also like his new music too. He’s still got it…really love Paul McCartney!”
But Taylor says her #1 influence is cats — especially her two cats, Olivia and Meredith. Taylor also jokes she accepted a role in the upcoming movie musical Cats because of them.
“I went to cat school, which they have on set readily available for us,” she says of filming the upcoming musical. “And learned how to be as much like a cat as I possibly could.”
“Cats are just really cool…they’re very dignified,” she adds. “They’re independent. They’re very capable of dealing with their own life and if you fit into that on that day, they’ll make some time for you…maybe.”
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