Stevie Nicks Shared How a Taylor Swift Song Helped Her Mourn Christine McVie
Stevie Nicks has always spoken highly of new artists who have moved her, and she recently showered Taylor Swift with thanks. Nicks said one of Swift’s recent songs helped her deal with losing her longtime friend and Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie. McVie died at the end of 2022, and Nicks said her death devastated her. She shared what Swift’s song meant to her.
Stevie Nicks said a Taylor Swift song has helped her mourn Christine McVie
Nicks has long considered herself a fan of Swift, but her song “You’re On Your Own Kid” has taken on particular meaning for her following McVie’s death. McVie died of a stroke following a cancer diagnosis in 2022. Nicks has spoken about the acute sense of loss. In a recent concert, she thanked Swift for writing the song, saying it has helped her mourn her friend.
“Thank you to Taylor Swift for doing a favor for me, and that is, writing a song called ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid,'” Nicks told fans at an Atlanta show, via Billboard. “That is the sadness of how I feel.”
She shared how she relates to the song’s lyrics.
“The two of us were on our own, kids,” she said. “We always were. And now, I’m having to learn to be on my own, kid, by myself. You helped me to do that. Thank you.”
While addressing the audience, Nicks also noted how close she and McVie had been. Even after long periods of separation, such as McVie’s 16-year hiatus from Fleetwood Mac, they could always pick up as though no time had passed.
“Even on the other side of the world, we didn’t have to talk on the phone,” Nicks said. “And then we’d go back to Fleetwood Mac and we’d walk in and just be like, ‘Little sister, how are you.’ It was like never a minute had passed. Never an argument in our entire 47 years.”
Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie were friends for years
Nicks and McVie met when the former joined Fleetwood Mac. According to McVie, they clicked right away.
“It was critical that I got on with her because I’d never played with another girl,” McVie told The Guardian. “But I liked her instantly. She was funny and nice but also there was no competition. We were completely different on the stage to each other and we wrote differently too.”
Nicks shared her relief when McVie decided to join the band after a lengthy hiatus. She had her friend back, bringing some much-needed levity to band dynamics.
“[McVie] brings the funny back into Fleetwood Mac,” Nicks told the Star Tribune. “Before, it was just a boys’ club. With her back, there’s more of a feminine touch to the whole thing. I never want her to ever go out of my life again, and that has nothing to do with music and everything to do with her and I as friends.”
Stevie Nicks once called Taylor Swift the future of the music industry
Nicks and Swift have performed together, and Nicks has offered heaps of praise to the younger artist. In an essay for Time, Nicks referred to Swift as someone who could save the music industry.
“I still walk around singing her song ‘Today Was a Fairytale,'” Nicks wrote. “All of us girls want that boy to pick us up and think that we look beautiful even though we’re in jeans and clogs. We want it at 14, and we want it at 60. Taylor is writing for the universal woman and for the man who wants to know her. The female rock-‘n’-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it’s women like her who are going to save the music business.”
