Pop punk band The Starting Line saw a surge in popularity after they were named in one of Taylor Swift’s new songs that came out last Friday (April 19), and the group responded in a social media post .
The pop star released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on Friday, and one of the songs, “The Black Dog,” mentions the pop punk group two separate times.
The group’s name is first verified during the first chorus when Swift sings “I just don’t understand / How you don’t miss me in Black Dog / When someone plays The Starting Line / And you jump, but she’s too young to know this song.” , and then again during the final chorus, which has slightly different verbiage.
The Starting Line responded to the mention on social media and thanked Swift for the recognition.
«Dear Taylor, we heard the song, thank you for naming our band. We are flattered and honored by the reverberations of love that have returned to us as a result. It is an honor that TSL is commemorated with such a beautiful song. You didn’t have to do that, but you did, and we wholeheartedly appreciate it. “Respect!” they wrote from The Starting Line, according to Loudwire.
What song was Taylor Swift referring to?
Although Taylor Swift did not specify which song she was referring to in the lyrics, The Starting Line’s best-known song, “The Best of Me,” came out in 2002 on her debut studio album “Say It Like You Mean It.”
As Billboard noted, Swift reportedly dated The 1975’s Matty Healy in 2023, and the band played snippets of “The Best of Me” during a couple of their shows last year.
The Starting Line increases its monthly listeners
The Starting Line is already benefiting from the Swift reference. On April 19, the day their album came out, a fan on Reddit noted that as of 6:30 p.m. ET, the band’s monthly Spotify listeners numbered around 498,200.
And as of Monday, April 22, its monthly total of listeners is 511,179. So they’ve already gained over 10,000 new listeners since “The Black Dog” came out three days ago.
