Musician Spotlight: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift – or Taylor Alison Swift to give her her full name – was born on 13th December 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She created a musical genre that is very much hers and used it to capture the imagination and the hearts of her fans. Her music tells stories, heart-breaking, angsty stories for the most part, but does so in such a catchy, pop-ridden way that when listening, one can’t help but tap a foot or hum along.

Swift has always been interested in music, showing a talent for it from very early on, singing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in front of a huge crowd before the commencement of a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. By the time she was 12, that precocious musical talent had turned into song-writing, and her inspirations – something you can still hear now when she sings – were female country singers such as The Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain; acts who had taken the country music genre and modernized it for a new generation. At 14, Swift had signed with Sony/ATV and while performing in Tennessee (where her parents had moved to for Swift to have the best chance of ‘making it’) she was spotted by Scott Borchetta who signed her to his brand new Big Machine label. She released her first single, ‘Tim McGraw’, in 2006.

With this song being such a hit, Swift’s confidence – and the confidence of her management team – grew, and she released a self-titled album in 2007 which quickly became a platinum seller. She then went on to tour, opening for some of her favorite singers including Tim McGraw, as well as Faith Hill, George Strait, and Kenny Chesney. It was in November 2007 that Swift was awarded the Country Music Association Horizon Award for best new artist.

The difficult second album came next, but for Swift there was no difficulty at all. 2008 saw Fearless released, and the combination of country and pop was something that took her further than ever before, with this album outselling her first – 500,000 copies were sold in the first week alone. This was the album that contained ‘Love Story’, the song that ultimately propelled Swift to superstardom not just in her home country, but around the world.

2009 was the year of Swift’s first headlining tour, and it was a sold-out event wherever she went across the US. This was also an award-winning year, with Fearless garnering album of the year from the Academy of Country Music, as well as an award for the best female video for ‘You Belong To Me’ at the VMAs. This latter award, though, caused plenty of controversy when Kayne West interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech to declare that it should have been Beyonce who won. ‘Imma let you finish’ became a meme that is still used today. Luckily for Swift, however, Beyonce won an award for video of the year and graciously allowed Swift to join her on stage to finish her own speech. The idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity was proven at this time, with Swift gaining a swathe of new fans because of the interruption. However, Swift never forgave West, and even released a song called ‘Famous’ ostensibly about the rapper later in her career.

The awards kept coming, and in 2010, Swift won four Grammys including album of the year and best country album. In 2011, it was Grammys for best country solo performance and best country song (this was for ‘Mean’ from the album Speak Now).

2014 saw the release in 1989, which included the smash hit ‘Shake It Off’, and on the back of this song alone the album became her best selling one ever, and of course, it earned album of the year at the Grammys. Check out the live performance of that song here:

2017 saw some controversies for Swift. Not only did the feud with West escalate, but she also was part of a trial wherein radio host David Mueller said that she had falsely accused him of groping her.

Despite this, Swift went on to regain her crown as a true star, and in 2020 she released Folklore. This album was a departure from her previous style, it is much more reserved and introspective, and has found praise with critics and fans alike.