Music legend Don McLean has revealed why he’s worried for Taylor Swift‘s mental health amid her ‘monster’ fame.
After spending decades dominating the industry, acclaimed singer, songwriter, and guitarist Don, 79 – whose song American Pie held the record for longest number-one hit for almost 50 years before Taylor dethroned him with her track All Too Well – has certainly seen it all.
And now, he’s using his expertise to share some advice for the 34-year-old Cruel Summer songstress, who is currently enjoying a well-deserved break from her Eras Tour at her Rhode Island mansion with boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and A-list friends.
He told her to prioritize her ‘happiness’ as her booming career continues to flourish, while praising her ‘talent and hard work.’
‘She’s working all of the time and everything [she does] she does better than everybody else, whether it’s a video or a performance or songwriting or records,’ he gushed to UK’s The Standard recently.
‘She does it all, just way better than everybody else and it’s really interesting because all of those other acts are suddenly old fashioned.
‘The only thing is that [I hope] she stays happy. Showbusiness and fame… I’m very fortunate that I’ve had that. I know how to [handle] that.’
Don explained that having ‘interests’ outside of his career helped him combat the immense pressures that came with being a star.
‘I have a lot of interests and they sustain me. I don’t go around thinking, “Man, why don’t I have this?” or, “Why don’t I have that?”‘ he added. ‘That is the quickest way to be unhappy.’
He also advised against chasing ‘commercial success’ and stressed the importance of not caring about whether or not a song ‘caught the fancy of the public.’
‘You have to be happy with what you’re doing and a lot of people say well if a song or an album isn’t commercially successful that somehow that’s a negative,’ the singer continued.
‘I don’t even think of it. I don’t really think about whether it caught the fancy of the public, it doesn’t matter to me.’
He described record companies as the ‘biggest thieves on the planet,’ and said their main business was ‘stealing.’
It’s a sentiment Taylor would likely agree with, as she’s been re-recording her old albums ever since her old label Big Machine Records announced that it had sold the rights to them to music mogul Scooter Braun – after she said she spent years ‘pleading for a chance to own her own work.’
‘You have to be very careful. Look at Taylor Swift. Such a smart lady and so talented yet she didn’t realize the albums that she was making were not hers,’ Don said.
‘She overlooked something that she should have been told about by her lawyer. One of the reason why I own all of the songs that I’ve ever written, all of the albums I’ve ever made and anything else I’ve ever been a part of is I was given good legal advice when I started out in 1968.’
Don described Taylor as ‘an example of what talent and really hard work can accomplish.’
‘A lot of people think showbusiness is just something like, “Oh you’re so wonderful, you should be a star,”‘ he explained.
‘Taylor Swift was a star for 15 years before she became a monster star, the size of the galaxy for God’s sake.’
The American Pie crooner previously revealed that the popstar had sent him flowers and a heartfelt note after her track All Too Well broke his record for the longest number-one hit. ‘I will never forget that I’m standing on the shoulders of giants,’ Taylor wrote in her handwritten letter to Don.
‘Your music has been so important to me. Sending love one writer of long songs to another.’ ‘What a class act,’ Don gushed while sharing a snap of the message to her Instagram in 2021. ‘Thank you Taylor Swift for the flowers and note.’
