Taylor Swift Just Revealed Her Biggest Influence & It May Not Be What You Think

The cat's out of the bag: Taylor Swift just revealed her biggest life influence — and it may surprise you. As part of being honored on the 2019 TIME 100 list of the year's most influential people, the 10-time Grammy winner answered the magazine's video prompt, flipping the script, and asking Swift to name three things that influence her. At the top of her list? Her cats Olivia and Meredith — and the entire feline family in general, really.

"No. 1 for me, most influential factor in my life is cats. I have cats. I'm obsessed with them. They're just a real joy to live with," Swift explained in the video. "I love my cats so much that when a role came up in a movie called Cats I just thought that I had to do this. This is my calling in life to do this for the ladies."

Indeed, Swift will appear as Bombalurina in the upcoming Cats musical movie adaptation and revealed to TIME that she even went to cat school on set to learn "how to be as much like a cat as I possibly could. Joining her in the superstar ensemble cast are: James Corden, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen and Rebel Wilson.

You didn't think she was done gushing about her love of cats yet though, did you? "Cats are just really cool. They're really great. They're very dignified. They're independent," she added in the TIME video. "They're very capable of dealing with their own life and if you fit into that on that day, they'll make some time for you maybe. I just really respect it."

The singer even used a photo of Olivia and Meredith as one of the mysterious clues leading up to the April 26 release of new music. Her caption, of course: "4.26"

Cats were only one of her three biggest influences, however. The No. 2 slot went to none other than former Beatles singer Paul McCartney. As she explained to TIME:

“I look at Paul McCartney and I see how he’s had just this amazing career. He’s created just unparalleled art and probably been faced with more pressure than most people. And he’s always been known to be kind to people, respectful, and also really selfless as a performer. I really like it when you go and see a show and you want to see those songs that you loved like you want to hear all that old, iconic classic stuff, and I like it when a performer knows that and will give that to their fans.”

Last year, McCartney also sang Swift's praises to the BBC, saying that her "sisterly" relationship with her young fans helped him learn how to communicate with and relate to his own.

Finally, Swift revealed her third biggest influence is the social media platform Tumblr, which she said causes her to "go down the rabbit hole a lot sometimes." And, yes, she sees you, Swifties.

“I go on Tumblr and it’s like a window into what my fans are going through,” Swift also said her video for TIME. “They post about their lives. They post about what they’re into. They post about what they think is cool, what they think is unjust or problematic and they basically are very, very expressive and it makes me feel like I can know them better. They’re also posting like cool pictures that I like of just things completely unrelated to their lives or my music or anything.”

And that's why her Swifties think she's so purr-fect.