Taylor Swift’s career has eternally thrived with artist collaborations. Now, the singer name-dropping a hit 2000s pop-punk band in her latest single has sparked hopes of another potential collaboration in the future. Days after her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department’s release, Swift dropped her new single, The Black Dog that names band The Starting Line in the lyrics.
In response, The Starting Line acknowledged the gesture. They publicly thanked Taylor Swift for “name-checking” their band in her new song and dedicated a post on Instagram.
The Starting Line honored by Taylor Swift
After The Tortured Poets Department dropped, the 34-year-old singer continued her dominance over the spotlight with her TTPD single, The Black Dog on Friday. The song is speculated to be based on one of Swift’s exes, singer-songwriter Matty Healy. Thus, The Starting Line reference was made denoting his love for the band.
The lyric in question of The Black Dog reads, “When someone plays The Starting Line/And you jump up/But she’s too young to know this song/That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming.” Regardless of the motive behind Swift’s shout-out, the band, which rose to fame in the early 2000s, penned a thankful message for the Cruel Summer songstress on Instagram.
“Re: ‘The Black Dog’ Dear Taylor, We heard the song, thank you for name checking our band. We feel flattered and humbled by the reverberations of love that have come back to us as a result,” the Starting Line acknowledged. They attached a smiling picture of TSL lead singer Kenny Vasoli in the second slide and added, “It’s an honor to have TSL memorialized on such a lovely song.” In the official statement, the band also noted that while Swift didn’t have to do it, The Starting Line appreciates the act “wholeheartedly.”
The Starting Line formed in 1999 in Churchville, Pennsylvania, and is most noted for their songs, The Best of Me, Leaving, and Something Left to Give. The band members include Kenny Vasoli, Matt Watts, Mike Golia, Tom Gryskiewicz, Brian Schmutz, Simon White, and Ryan Altmiller.
Apparently, Matty Healy’s band The 1975 performed The Starting Line’s hit song, Best of Me in concerts in the summer of 2023. Healy is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the band. Soon after, Swift and Healy were captured holding hands which went viral online sparking dating rumors. Consequently, fans speculated a future collab with The Starting Line would be a cherry on the cake.
Taylor Swift’s TTPD is a record-breaking endeavor
Within a day of its release, the pop star had another record-breaking feat under her name. The Tortured Poets Department became the first album to cross 313 million streams in a single day on Spotify, per Variety. The record eventually snowballed into 1 billion streams globally within three days becoming the first and fastest album in the world to do so, per Prestige.
Earlier, Taylor Swift herself held the record for the most streamed artist in a single day with her 2023 re-recorded album, 1989 Taylor’s Version.
