Keith Urban shared his honest perspective on Taylor Swift and her long-lasting career, looking back at how she has grown since opening for him in 2009.

In a new interview as a guest on the podcast Rolling Stone Music Now, Urban talked about a few different music icons, including Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Swift. While discussing the “Style” singer, he specifically referenced her “inabilities” and shared his opinion on how she deals with them.

“I think what I love about Taylor is, she was always willing to confront her inabilities and work on ’em, you know?” he said. “She worked on being a better singer. She worked on being a better performer. She worked on all of it.”

Urban also had immense praise for her writing abilities, adding, “She was always a great writer, and that side of her just got better, and better, and better.”

“To me, she will be one of the greatest writers, historically, musically speaking. She’ll be up there with the best of them. She’s a phenomenal writer,” the country star concluded.

In 2006, at just 16, Swift opened for Rascal Flatts, replacing Eric Church, before becoming the opening act for George Strait the next year. She went on to open for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Brad Paisley and then Urban, before she embarked on her first headlining tour in 2009, the Fearless Tour.

In his new interview, Urban also talked about how Swift was when she opened for him.

“What she is now, she was that, when she was opening for me. I could see it,” he said. “Her vision was way off into the future.”

Since the 2009 tour, Swift and Urban have collaborated a few times, with Urban recently featuring on the song “That’s When,” released as part of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in 2021.