Taylor Swift stuns in velvet mini dress as she becomes the youngest artist to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Taylor Swift reached another career milestone on Monday.

The Anti-Hero hitmaker, 36, became the youngest artist ever to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization's 56th anniversary gala.

The singer opted for a leggy look, wearing a velvet floral Raisa Vanessa mini dress for the special event, held at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. She paired the strapless ensemble with matching Jimmy Choo heels.

The superstar beamed as she was inducted by her former tour mate Brad Paisley, 53, and later playfully addressed their nearly two-decade long 'estrangement' in her acceptance speech, before getting nostalgic as she reminisced about her first album.

'We've been estranged since 2007,' she told the country singer, before explaining to the audience that it was due to Paisley taking a 'tour prank too far,' as per Rolling Stone.

Swift said Paisley 'filled my entire tour bus with live crickets, thousands of them. For months I couldn’t sleep. All night I considered buying a pet lizard to eradicate the problem.' 

Her appearance comes after the Daily Mail shared exclusive images that showcased how her design team transformed Madison Square Garden for her lavish wedding to Travis Kelce.

Swift wore her shoulder-length tresses styled in delicate waves and halfway pinned back, with her signature voluminous bangs framing her face. 

The singer is joining the Class of 2026 alongside Lyle Lovett, Bruce Channel, Shawn Camp and Lee Thomas Miller.

In her speech, she also talked about how Nashville shaped her career and discussed the recent 20th anniversary of her debut album coming out.

'I am shocked and stunned to say that as of a couple days ago, that album is 20 years old,' she said of the self-titled album she created in Nashville in 2006.

'Nashville is the place that I went to in my middle school daydreams. It was the place where all the wisdom that I wished to acquire existed in one place. All the lessons that I wished to learn existed in this magical place for me. And it ended up being all of that and more. It ended up being everything.' 

'I've been very fortunate I've gotten to genre hop and travel the world and write with so many different people and in so many different ways. And the only reason that I've been able to have that kind of dexterity in my creative process is because of the fundamentals and the foundation that I learned here in Nashville.'

'And I never forget that for a single second when I tell every single person I know about what we have here. And I'm so incredibly honored to be inducted into this sacred club, especially at this point in my life.'

She also spoke about fame and what she learned from working with other songwriters in Nashville.

'Songwriters, although they possess the superhuman ability to understand and interpret the human condition and insane levels of empathy, they are just people too,' she said. 'And they are people who in a lot of ways raised me and guided me through my formative years.'

The star-studded evening also featured a performance from Lainey Wilson.

Brooks & Dunn legend Kix Brooks was also in attendance. 

While Swift is known for her pop hits, she has recently been revisiting her country roots. 

Her song for Toy Story 5, I Knew It, I Knew You, topped the US country radio chart in September, marking her first number one hit on the chart in 13 years. 

At the time of her nomination, Swift shared in a statement: 'From the time I started writing songs as a child, I fixated on Nashville as the perfect place to be.'

'I wanted to learn with and from the best and get to immerse myself in a community of storytellers, and thankfully, Nashville turned out to be exactly what I'd dreamed of.'

'A town that validated and prioritized hard work, determination and imagination. Where the writers show up to work every day even when the mysterious muses and the magic don't. To be honored by this city I love so much is a beautiful thing, and I'm very grateful.'