Taylor Swift stood on stage at her own Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction and revealed she and Brad Paisley had been jokingly estranged since 2007, all because he once filled her tour bus with thousands of live crickets. The singer said the prank kept her awake for months and nearly pushed her to adopt a pet lizard just to clear out the bugs.
Swift made the comments during her induction speech on Monday, October 26, 2026, telling the crowd, “we've been estranged since 2007,” according to E! News. She explained the insect infestation left her so sleep-deprived that she looked into drastic pest control measures, saying, “I considered buying a pet lizard to eradicate the problem.” The prank dated back to when Swift opened for Paisley on his Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour, as Us Weekly reported.
Swift gave a fuller account of the prank's scale during the ceremony, saying, “You took a tour prank too far, filled my entire tour bus with live crickets, thousands of them,” according to the same account. The remark came as Paisley himself took the stage to induct her, a moment the outlet described as a kind introduction. After hearing him speak, Swift told the audience, “I think we can let bygones be bygones. I think we're good now,” per the TMZ account of the ceremony.
A Nearly Two-Decade Prank War
The cricket incident was not a one-sided feud. During that same 2007 tour, Swift got her own payback by appearing onstage beside Paisley dressed as a giant, bloated tick, a nod to his song “Ticks,” according to Yahoo. She later struck again at her hometown tour stop, darting around the stage dressed as a fisherman with a giant net and fishing pole during a performance of “I'm Gonna Miss Her,” the outlet noted. Paisley had a reputation for this kind of stunt, with Rolling Stone describing him as an artist who brings the funny and inflicts it on his opening acts through unforgettable pranks.
Whatever tension existed clearly didn't last. Paisley and his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, were guests at Swift and Travis Kelce's July 3rd wedding, per E! News.
Youngest Inductee in Hall History
The induction itself marked a milestone for Swift, who became the youngest writer ever inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, according to Elle. She was inducted on Monday, October 26, 2026, at age 36, alongside four other inductees, as Vulture reported. The ceremony took place at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville, according to Rolling Stone, and included a performance of “Love Story” from Lainey Wilson alongside Paisley's introduction.
In her speech, Swift reflected on her early career, noting she secured a publishing deal with Sony Publishing when she was just 14 years old, per the same Elle transcript. She also pointed out that her self-titled debut album, recorded in Nashville, had just turned 20 years old. The Songwriters Hall of Fame's own profile on Swift states she has released 12 studio albums totaling 187 songs and has won 14 Grammy Awards, including four for Album of the Year.
For all the career milestones recognized that night, it was the cricket story that landed as the lighter, more human moment of the evening — proof that even a record-breaking induction speech has room for an old tour grudge finally put to bed.
