“What’s the security issue?” one event photographer asked another. “You know why there are security issues,” the second answered. “Taylor Swift is here.” On Thursday, the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City played host to a small pack of bomb-sniffing dogs, an army of security guards, miles of black partition curtains, and unsuspecting hotel-goers who seemed unfamiliar with the mechanics of the Marquis’s automatic revolving doors—all (or at least some) in anticipation of Swift’s arrival. But before there was Taylor Swift, the sea-parting mega-celebrity; Taylor Swift, the world-conquering music mogul; or even Taylor Swift, the pop star, there was Taylor Swift, the songwriter. That’s the Swift who was being honored at the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala: the youngest woman ever to be inducted, and the second-youngest person overall, behind Stevie Wonder, who was inducted at the age of 32. Swift’s class of fellow inductees includes Alanis Morissette, Kiss’s Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Kenny Loggins, Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, Walter Afanasieff, and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. Paul Stanley, Taylor Swift and Nile …