Philly Pop-Punk Band Sends Gleaming Message to Taylor Swift for ‘Memorializing’ Them in a Song

Taylor Swift, The Starting Line band members

On April 19, Taylor Swift dropped her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. The highly-anticipated release was twice as sweet, as Swift surprised fans with a double album. Unsurprisingly, TTPD shattered multiple streaming records in less than 24 hours.

As Swifties continued to soak in the lyrics and song meanings, the people Swift name-dropped in her new tracks reacted. Philly pop-punk band The Starting Line is among the most recent to send her a message of gratitude after calling them out in Track 14, "The Black Dog."

"We heard the song, thank you for name checking our band," The Starting Line wrote in a note addressed to Swift and posted via Instagram. "We feel flattered and humbled by the reverberations of love that have come back to us as a result. It's an honor to have TSL memorialized on such a lovely song. You didn't have to do that, but you did, and we appreciate it wholeheartedly. Respect!"

In the lyrics of "The Black Dog," Swift sings: "I just don't understand / How you don't miss me in The Black Dog / When someone plays The Starting Line / And you jump up, but she's too young to know this song."

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The official TikTok account for the actual London pub The Black Dog also responded to Swift's mention. "POV: Your cozy little pub gets name-dropped in the new Taylor Swift album??!" it wrote alongside photos of the bar's exterior.

Meanwhile, poet Patti Smith also reacted to Swift mentioning her in the album's titular track, "The Tortured Poets Department."

"This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas," Smith wrote on Instagram. "Thank you Taylor."

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Additionally, Swift name-dropped Charlie Puth (who has yet to publicly respond), Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (who died in 1953), Stevie Nicks (who wrote a poem included in TTPD vinyl), producer Jack Antonoff, and (seemingly) boygenius band member Lucy Dacus.

Next: Post Malone Shares Honest Opinion of Working With Taylor Swift With Behind-the-Scenes Photo