Patti Smith
American · 20th–21st century
Singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist associated with the New York punk scene. Known for fusing poetry with rock music. Author of the memoir Just Kids.
Connection to Taylor Swift
Referenced in "loml" ("just kids, babe") and named in "The Tortured Poets Department" ("I'm not Patti Smith"). Publicly thanked Taylor for the mention.
Notable Works
- Just Kids, Horses, Gloria
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
Just Kids
“"We were just kids, babe"”
"Just kids" echoes the title of Patti Smith's memoir. Taylor also names Patti Smith in "The Tortured Poets Department", suggesting a deliberate thread across the album. Smith publicly thanked Taylor for the reference.
Just Kids
“"We were just kids, babe"”
Just Kids shares an unusually dense cluster of thematic and imagistic parallels with Taylor's catalogue: Peter Pan imagery, Coney Island, the 1989 aesthetic, Polaroids, New York City, Alice in Wonderland, The Chelsea Hotel, and alien imagery. The density of overlap has led community members to speculate Taylor may have read and drawn inspiration from the memoir. The memory and youth themes are directly relevant to loml's core concerns.