How Priscilla Block's Life Changed After Meeting Taylor Swift

Country-pop-rock singer Priscilla Block used TikTok to get her music out there and build a fanbase, and her efforts earned her a record deal with UMG Nashville back in 2020. However, before then, things weren't so easy. In a 2022 interview on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Block spoke about how much she was struggling to pave her own way in the industry before meeting Taylor Swift, which was a game changer for her and her music career.

When she crossed paths with the "Fortnight" singer, Block was about 18 and had been in Nashville for almost a year after growing up in North Carolina. She told Clarkson that she was "crumbling day by day" as she wasn't making any progress in turning music into a full-time job. Block recalled speaking to her sister on the phone about how she felt lost. She knew it would be fine if she decided to move back home and had nearly resigned herself to doing just that. However, after work that same day, Block was wearing a Swift-themed shirt and met the icon herself.

"And she was just driving by and saw me standing there and was like, 'Hey! I love your shirt!'" Block recalled, excited about the memory. Clarkson — who is friends with Swift — felt it was some kind of divine intervention, since Block had been close to stopping pursuing music. The "Getting Even" singer continued, "Oh, it was crazy. I'm like, 'I'm quitting my job, I'm quitting school, and I'm gonna go figure this out. I don't know how to do it, but I'm gonna figure it out.'"

When Priscilla Block met Taylor Swift, she also got a selfie with the "Mastermind" singer, which she showed at her "The Kelly Clarkson Show" appearance. Their selfie was also featured in a Facebook post Block made outlining the exciting day from September 2014. In the post's caption, Block said her shirt was from Swift's "Red" tour and shared, "As I'm leaving work, I hear honking and see waving! Who is it? Taylor Swift herself. She pulls her car over to the side of the road, hops into her passenger seat and opens the door and says, 'I love your shirt!'"

Block said she and Swift spoke a bit more and got pictures. In her caption, she also commended musicians who do things like that for fans, no matter how popular they've become. "This girl has been my idol since I started writing music, and I think that today was a wink in the right direction!" Block added.

The biography on Block's website tells the story as well, reiterating how meeting Swift inspired her to drop out of school and quit her job to throw herself into songwriting and her music career full-time. On songwriting, Block said, "I write about what I know. If that's heartbreak or struggle or owning my flaws and being unapologetically me."

Taylor Swift seems to operate on the same wavelength as Priscilla Block when it comes to being open and vulnerable through music. When she released "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," Swift explained the teenage mindset she had when initially writing the tracks: "The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing ... and living to speak about it" (via Instagram).

When Swift won the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) Songwriter Icon Award in 2021, Block was one of the people who honored her. In a video uploaded to the NMPA YouTube account, Block said, "I started writing songs because of Taylor. I wanted to move to Nashville and be a country artist because of Taylor." After explaining how life-changing her experience meeting Swift was and describing how big of a fan she was, Block sang a mash-up of multiple Swift songs. "So I'm gonna start with the song that I first learned on guitar, called 'Tim McGraw,'" Block said, before transitioning to "Teardrops On My Guitar," "Sparks Fly," and back to "Tim McGraw."

Although Block and Swift have yet to collaborate professionally, some of Swift's fans in the music industry have worked with her and become her friends, evidenced by her friendship with Ice Spice. Who knows what could happen!