Taylor Swift has been honoured with the National Music Publishers Association’s Songwriter Icon Award, presented yesterday (June 9) during its annual membership meeting.

As reported by Variety, in her speech, Swift thanked her publisher Universal, fans and fellow songwriters, saying the practice of writing songs remains “magical and mystical” to her.

• READ MORE: Taylor Swift – ‘Evermore’ review: the freewheeling younger sibling to ‘Folklore’

“I love songwriting so much because there’s an element to it that is still really mysterious – like I think any songwriter will tell you, when you get an idea you’re not quite sure where it floated down from, but if you can grab onto that idea and turn it into something, a piece of music, that’s where craftsmanship comes in,” Swift said in her speech.

“That’s where you have the opportunity to learn and to nurture that craft, and I want to take a moment to thank the people who were my professors, my teachers, of the craft of songwriting.”

The singer also took a moment to thanks past and present collaborators, from “anyone who wrote with me in Nashville when I was in eighth or ninth grade” to ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner.

“Jack Antonoff is such a wonderful creator and such a nurturing presence – with his own art and other artists, he’s just so versatile and such a wonderful friend. Aaron Dessner came into my life recently and he is just such a prolific creator. All of these people changed my writing and helped shape it,” Swift said.

“There are so many others, though. So if you’ve ever sat in a room and cowritten with me, thank you so much. Anyone who’s ever wanted to produce one of my songs, any collaborator I’ve ever had – I’ve learned from all of you.”

Earlier this year, ‘Folklore’, one of the two albums Swift released last year along with ‘Evermore’, went on the win the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Album, and cemented her as the first woman to win the award three times.