Taylor Swift has honoured the late country music icon Dolly Parton with an emotional note. Shortly after Parton's demise on Tuesday, Taylor reflected on Parton's contribution to the music industry.
Taylor issued an emotional statement with various news portals and wrote, “A world without Dolly doesn't feel possible, real, or right. But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one."
The statement continued, “She was truly the gift that kept on giving. Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously.”
Reflecting on Dolly Parton's legacy, Taylor added, “She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life but to give full transparency in the ways that counted. Somehow she was true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person. She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others and a backbone of steel to defend her own self-worth as an artist.”
Concluding the note, the August singer wrote, “Along with her other fans, I am so grateful for all of it. For the melodies and lyrics she wrote that thawed even the coldest hearts. For the millions of books she provided children all over the world so that they might fall in love with stories the way she did. For the tightropes she walked so that young girls like me could grow up dreaming of joining the circus too. Dolly, I'll think of you each step of the way.”
Dolly Parton, the queen of country music, died at the age of 80 in Nashville following a “brief battle with cancer," her representatives told PEOPLE. Dolly's nephew, Bryan Seaver, confirmed her passing in an Instagram video shared earlier on Tuesday.
Alongside Taylor Swift, other artists of the industry, including Dolly's goddaughter Miley Cyrus and her father Billy Ray Cyrus, actor Reese Witherspoon, singer Beyoncé, rapper Eminem, and Kelly Clarkson, among others, paid their heartfelt tribute to the icon.
