Pop punk band The Starting Line saw a surge in popularity after they were namechecked in one of Taylor Swift’s new songs that came out this past Friday (April 19), and the group has responded in a post on social media.
The pop star released her 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department on Friday, and one of the tracks, “The Black Dog,” mentions the pop punk outfit two separate times.
The group is first namechecked during the first chorus when 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,” and then again during the final chorus, which has slightly different verbiage [via Genius].
The Starting Line responded to the mention on social media, thanking Swift for the recognition.
“Dear Taylor, we heard the song, thank you for namechecking our band. We feel flattered and humbled by the reverberations of love that have come back to us as a result,” they wrote.
“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!”
Which Song Was Swift Referring To?
Though Swift didn’t specify which song she was referring to in the lyrics, The Starting Line’s most well-known song “The Best of Me” came out in 2002 on their debut studio album Say It Like You Mean It.
As Billboard pointed out, Swift reportedly dated The 1975’s Matty Healy in 2023, and the band played bits of “The Best of Me” during a couple of their shows last year.
The Starting Line, ‘The Best of Me’
The Starting Line’s Monthly Spotify Listeners Has Increased
The Starting Line are already benefitting from Swift’s reference. On April 19, the day her album came out, a fan on Reddit noted that as of 6:30PM ET, the band’s monthly Spotify listeners was totaled at around 498,200.
And as of Monday, April 22, their monthly listener total is 511,179. So they’ve already gained over 10,000 new listeners since “The Black Dog” came out three days ago.
They apparently had a spike in Google searches as well, according to someone’s post on X.
Fans React to Swift’s Mention of The Starting Line in Song
A lot of fans were excited when they made the connection after hearing “The Black Dog,” and have shared their feelings on social media. Apparently, Swift was a fan of pop-punk and emo growing up, so the reference isn’t totally surprising.
READ MORE: 33 Amazing Examples of Emo Hair
“When we’re all shocked Taylor Swift mentioned The Starting Line on her new album but she literally posted photos like this on Myspace,” someone wrote in a post with a photo of Swift with an emo hairstyle.
50 Greatest Pop-Punk Albums of All-Time
Prepare your Dickies and black wristbands.
Gallery Credit: Loudwire Staff
