A new mural in Nashville that features some of the biggest names in country music, including Taylor Swift, has one big problem. And no matter what she sings in “Anti-Hero,” Taylor’s not it.
The issue lies with the lyrics painted beside each artist featured in the mural. Taylor’s, well, they aren’t Taylor’s.
The new mural is on a brand new apartment building in Nashville’s Trinity Hills neighborhood owned by O.I.C. Horizon. It features headshots of country artists including Lainey Wilson, George Strait, Jelly Roll, Tim McGraw and of course, Taylor Swift.
Beside each artist are song lyrics that all feature the word “horizon.”
There’s Lainey Wilson beside lyrics from her hit “Bright Side”: “Drivin’, keep ridin’ / All you need’s four wheels, gas, and the horizon.”
George Strait’s face sits beside lyrics from his song,”West Texas Town”: “Friday comes, it’s time to roll, time for me to hit the road / I’ve got my eyes on the horizon.”
In the bottom right corner, an image of Jelly Roll is painted beside lyrics to his tune “Fall in the Fall”: “I feel the good times over the horizon / I can feel ’em comin’ with the sun shinin.’”
Above Jelly Roll, you see Tim McGraw, and the lyrics to his hit “Set This Circus Down“: “Sometimes I lie awake, just thinking / Of all the horizons we have seen.
But right in the middle, well, there’s Taylor Swift alright. But the lyrics? They’re from a song called “One Way Ticket”: “There’s a new horizon and the promise of favorable wind.” The problem? Lee Ann Rimes sang that song. Not Taylor.
Ironically, Taylor Swift Grew Up As a Huge Lee Ann Rimes Fan
Ironically, while Taylor Swift is a prolific songwriter, penning more than 250 songs, not a single one contains lyrics that include the word “horizon.”
Still, it may not be that difficult for Swift to just “Shake It Off.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, the singer said she idolized Lee Ann Rimes as a child. Swift discovered Rimes’ record “Blue” when she was just six-years-old. By the time she was 11, she was recording covers of Rimes’ songs with her karaoke machine.
And, yes, one of those was “One Way Ticket.”
Taylor Swift’s Lee Ann Rimes Connection Runs Deep
While no known video of it exists, author Rob Sheffield writes in his book “Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music” that an 8-year-old Taylor Swift attended a Lee Ann Rimes concert. Standing in the front row, Swift held up a banner that asked Rimes if she got Swift’s letters. Rimes evidently read the sign and said, “I sure did Taylor.”
Sheffield writes, “That moment of LeAnn Rimes remembering Taylor’s name had a massive impact on the world we live in now — it formed Taylor’s idea of how a pop star rolls, raising the standard so high that it’s now just part of any rookie pop star’s job. We owe LeAnn so much.”
As for the mural… will the lyrics be painted over leaving a “Blank Space?” Or will Taylor’s face be swapped for Rimes? No one is saying… yet.