In 2009, Taylor Swift hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. She had previously joined the show as a musical guest, but she was now tasked with performing a night’s worth of sketches, live for a nationwide audience. It’s a daunting task for anyone, let alone a 19-year-old.
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In typical Swift fashion, she managed to pull it off flawlessly. The feat was made even more impressive by the fact that Swift wrote her opening monologue, which is not something many SNL hosts can boast.
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The song was the perfect tongue-in-cheek clapback at the gossip about her that was swirling around at the time. She sings about her famous beau at the time, Taylor Lautner, getting dumped in a phone call, and more. It was delightfully fun and pointed at the same time.
I like writing songs about douchebags who cheat on me / But I’m not gonna say that in my monologue / I like writing their names into songs so they’re ashamed to go in public / But I’m not gonna say that in my monologue, she sings.
The song not only impressed the audience, but also the SNL cast and crew.
“It really speaks to what a force of nature she is and the depths of her talent,” SNL alum Seth Meyers explained to Howard Stern. “Here is a 19-year-old who–again no one is really helping her out–came to us and said, ‘I wrote a song for the opening monologue.'”
“It was not only a beautiful song by a beautiful singer but, it’s a perfect SNL monologue–fully formed,” Myers continued. “To this day, I’ve never had a moment like that where someone brings you a fully giftwrapped present and it’s exactly what you need it to be.”
Swift has been featured on SNL several times since her first hosting gig, and every time she’s wowed us with her comedic timing and unparalleled stage presence.
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