Phil Collins says he knew Taylor Swift was destined for something special long before the rest of the world caught on. In a recent interview on BBC Radio 2's Tracks of My Years with Vernon Kay, Collins recalled watching Swift perform at a Songwriters Hall of Fame event roughly 15 years ago, before she had reached her current level of fame.
According to Billboard, Collins described the moment she took the stage. "This very nice lady then got up on stage with a guitar and sang 'White Horse,' and it blew me away completely," he said. "Not only was the song great, and the sentiment of the song really got me, but she sang it beautifully. And it was just so simple, you know, her on a guitar."
Collins said the performance stayed with him. "I'm so pleased that she's the hugest thing in the world now because she kind of feels like she deserves it," he said. "I mean it's easy to knock someone that's got so much success, but I think she really deserves it."
"White Horse," the song Collins singled out, appeared on Swift's 2008 album Fearless and went on to win two Grammy Awards, including Best Country Song. Swift currently holds the record for the most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 among soloists with 15. Her most recent release, The Life of a Showgirl, debuted with a modern-era record of 4 million equivalent album units.
Collins also used the interview to reflect on the origins of his own most enduring recording. He revealed that his 1981 debut solo single "In the Air Tonight" came together almost entirely without planning. "A lot of my lyrics are kind of improvised. The classic example of that would be 'In the Air Tonight,' which was pretty much 80% improvised," he said, adding that the song's atmospheric sound came from a Prophet-5 keyboard and that he "certainly didn't labour on it." He described the result as "the scenario of luck… and good fortune" rather than craft.
"In the Air Tonight" reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became one of the most enduring recordings of his career, later finding new life through film, television, and a viral 2020 reaction video. Across his solo career, Collins scored seven No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1980s, including "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)," "One More Night," "Sussudio," and "Groovy Kind of Love."
The interview comes during a landmark year for Collins. In 2026 he will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, 16 years after first entering as a member of Genesis.
