Taylor Swift received the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International on Tuesday evening during a ceremony (20.09.22).

During her 13-minute acceptance speech at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Swift touched on a variety of topics, including her approach to songwriting, the extended version of ‘All Too Well’ that appeared on ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ last year, and the re-recording of her first six studio albums as a result of her highly publicized masters dispute.

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At the NSAI’s 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards, the Grammy winner admitted that she hadn’t discussed it in public “because, well, it’s dorky” (per The Hollywood Reporter). The three types of lyrics she personally writes in are “affectionately titled Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics, and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics,” she continued. This is a figurative designation based on what she believes is the best writing instrument for the lyrics (I don’t actually have a quill. Anymore. When I was angry, I once broke it.

“I categorize certain songs of mine in the ‘Quill’ style if the words and phrasings are antiquated, if I was inspired to write it after reading Charlotte Brontë or after watching a movie where everyone is wearing poet shirts and corsets,” Swift said. “If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre.” Her example for Quill lyrics was the evermore track “ivy,” she continued.

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She asserts that quill lyrics are those that use archaic words and expressions, whereas songs written in the fountain pen style tend to have a modern plot or references. According to Swift, this is true of the majority of her lyrics.

Finally, there are the lyrics to Glitter Gel Pen, which are “frivolous, carefree, bouncy, syncopated perfectly to the beat.” Swift compares these songs to “the drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an angel in the bathroom,” using metaphor.