#53 "Soon You'll Get Better" ft. The Chicks (2019)
An emotional ballad about Taylor's mother, Andrea, battling cancer.
This collab meant a lot to Taylor, who was inspired by The Chicks early doors: “Early in my life, these three women showed me that female artists can play their own instruments while also putting on a flamboyant spectacle of a live show. They taught me that creativity, eccentricity, unapologetic boldness and kitsch can all go together authentically."
The Chicks famously faced backlash in 2003, when right before the Iraq war began, the group said at a concert in London that they were "ashamed" that President Bush was from their home state of Texas. Within days their music stopped being played on country radio in the States and they were essentially cancelled. And they were getting death threats left right centre.
Taylor kept quiet about her political beliefs for many years, presumably because she didn't want to suffer the same fate as The Chicks. In 2020 however, in the documentary Miss Americana (filmed in 2018), she spoke up against Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, calling her "Trump in a wig". She proved that being on the right side of history is more important to her than her own safety:
As for Andrea, she has beaten breast cancer twice but is now battling brain tumor found amid chemotherapy treatments.
"That's a song I don't know if I'll ever play it live. It's just really difficult for me. It was hard to write. It's hard to sing. It's hard to listen to for me.”