Taylor Swift

About

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after singer-songwriter James Taylor. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), is a former homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Taylor has a younger brother, actor Austin Swift, and is of Scottish, German, and Italian descent. Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, was an opera singer. Swift spent summers in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, until she was 14 years old, performing in a local coffee shop.

At age nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions. She also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. Swift later shifted her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain's songs, which made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything". She spent weekends performing at local festivals and events. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music. She traveled there with her mother at age eleven to visit record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected, however, because "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."

In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York based talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and met with major record labels. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift, then 13 years old, was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother. To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School before transferring to Aaron Academy after two years, which better accommodated her touring schedule through homeschooling. She graduated one year early.

In Nashville, Swift worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and the Warren Brothers and formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose. They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school. Rose called the sessions "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks." Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house, but left then BMG-owned RCA Records (later bought by Sony Music) at the age of 14 due to the label's lack of care and them "cut[ting] other people's stuff". She was also concerned that development deals can shelve artists and recalled: "I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through."

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift began professional songwriting at age 14 and signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country singer. She released six studio albums under the label, four of them to country radio, starting with her 2006 self-titled album. Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. Country Weekly critic Chris Neal deemed Swift better than previous aspiring teenage country singers because of her "honesty, intelligence and idealism". The album peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200, on which it spent 157 weeks—the longest stay on the chart by any release in the U.S. in the 2000s decade. Swift became the first female country music artist to write or co-write every track on a U.S. platinum-certified debut album. Swift is credited as a writer on all 11 of the album's tracks, three of which solely; Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, Angelo Petraglia, and Liz Rose have co-writing credits. Drawing on her personal life, the songs reflect Swift's outlook on life as a teenager, dealing with romantic relationships, friendships, and insecurity. Produced by Orrall and Nathan Chapman, Taylor Swift is a country record with pop and pop rock elements, incorporating acoustic instruments such as guitars, banjos, and fiddles.

FEARLESS

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008, in North America, and in March 2009 in other markets. Critics lauded Swift's honest and vulnerable songwriting in contrast to other teenage singers. Fearless became her first number-one album on the Billboard 200 and 2009's top-selling album in the U.S. The Fearless Tour, Swift's first headlining concert tour, grossed over $63 million. In 2009, the music video for "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, an incident that became the subject of controversy, widespread media attention and Internet memes. That year she won five American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album. Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year. Fearless is a country pop album whose composition incorporates country-associated instruments such as banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and acoustic guitars, that intertwine with dynamic electric guitars and strings. Music critics found the album to feature a crossover appeal brought by the influences of different styles of pop, folk, and rock. Inspired by Swift's teenage feelings, the lyrics explore themes of romance, heartache, and aspirations. The album's title refers to the overarching theme of all of its tracks, as they altogether depict Swift's courage to embrace the challenges of love.

Speak Now

Swift wrote the album alone and co-produced every track. It was released on October 25, 2010, opening atop the Billboard 200 with over one million copies sold. It became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist, with 278,000 downloads in a week. Critics appreciated Swift's grown-up perspectives; Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote, "in a mere four years, the 20-year-old Nashville firecracker has put her name on three dozen or so of the smartest songs released by anyone in pop, rock or country. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, Swift won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for "Mean", which she performed during the ceremony. Swift won other awards for Speak Now, including Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association (2010 and 2011), Woman of the Year by Billboard (2011),and Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music (2011 and 2012) and the Country Music Association in 2011. Inspired by Swift's transition from adolescence into adulthood, Speak Now is a loose concept albumconsisting of confessional songs mostly about love and heartbreak that explore past relationships and depart from the youthful optimism on her past albums. Some tracks were inspired by her rising stardom and public experience, and they have lyrics about confrontation against her critics and adversaries.

RED

In August 2012, Swift released "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", the lead single from her fourth studio album, Red. It became her first number one in the U.S. and New Zealand, and became the fastest-selling single in digital history. On Red, released on October 22, 2012, Swift worked with Chapman and Rose, as well as the new producers Max Martin and Shellback. It incorporated many pop and rock styles such as heartland rock, dubstep and dance-pop. Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times said Swift "strives for something much more grand and accomplished" with Red. It opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, making Swift the first female to have two million-selling first-weeks.Red was Swift's first number-one album in the U.K. It earned several accolades, including four nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (2014). The album's title refers to the tumultuous, "red" emotions Swift experienced during the album's conception; its songs discuss the complex and conflicting feelings resulting from fading romance. Contemporaneous critics praised Swift's songwriting in Red but they were divided on the album's sonic range; praise was directed at the album's versatility but criticism targeted its inconsistency. Retrospectively, many critics regard Red one of Swift's best albums and a transitional record bridging her country roots to mainstream pop.

1989

1989 was released on October 27, 2014, and opened atop the Billboard 200 with 1.28 million copies sold. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space" and "Bad Blood" reached number one in Australia, Canada and the U.S., the first two making Swift the first woman to replace herself at the Hot 100 top spot. The 1989 World Tour (2015) was the highest-grossing tour of the year with $250 million in total revenue.Inspired by 1980s synth-pop, Swift conceived 1989 to recalibrate her artistry to pop after critics disputed her status as a country musician when she released the cross-genre Red (2012) to country radio. She titled 1989 after her birth year as a symbolic artistic rebirth and enlisted Max Martin, who produced Red's electronic-influenced pop tracks, as co-executive producer. When 1989 was first released, music critics generally complimented its production as catchy; they found an emotional engagement in its songwriting but some felt the synth-pop production eroded Swift's artistic integrity—a criticism that journalists and academics retrospectively regarded as rockist. 1989 won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards, and it was listed in all-time album rankings by Rolling Stone and Consequence. Critics and academics have considered 1989 an album that transformed Swift's status to a pop icon and promoted poptimism, but they also highlighted the media scrutiny that ensued.

r e p u t a t i o n

Reputation, released on November 10, 2017, incorporated heavy electropop, along with hip hop and EDM sounds. Reviews praised Swift's mature artistry, but some denounced the themes of fame and gossip. The album opened atop the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, making Swift the first act to have four albums sell one million copies in a week in the U.S. The album topped the charts in the UK, Australia, and Canada, and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. It spawned three more singles: "...Ready for It?", "End Game" and "Delicate". Reputation was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019. In April 2018, Swift featured on country duo Sugarland's "Babe". She embarked on her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018. It broke many records, such as the highest-grossing North American concert tour in history with $345.7 million revenue worldwide. Swift conceived the album during her self-seclusion from public appearances as an effect of the rampant tabloid scrutiny on her private life and celebrity after her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014).Inspired by the fantasy series Game of Thrones, she split the album's lyrical scope in two: one is about the downsides of fame and the resultant anger, and the other about love amidst the tumult.

Lover

Swift released her seventh studio album, Lover, on August 23, 2019. Lover made Swift the first female artist to have a sixth consecutive album sell more than 500,000 copies in one week in the U.S. Critics commended the album's free-spirited mood and emotional intimacy. The lead single, "Me!", peaked at number two on the Hot 100. Other singles from Lover were the U.S. top 10 singles "You Need to Calm Down" and "Lover", top 40 single "The Man", and "Cruel Summer", which became a resurgent success in 2023 and reached number one on the Hot 100. Lover was the world's best-selling album by a solo artist of 2019, selling 3.2 million copies, and along with its singles earned nominations at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020. Swift conceived Lover as a "love letter to love", taking inspiration from her recalibrated personal life and newfound artistic freedom. Compared to the dark, heavy, hip hop-influenced tones of Reputation, Lover's brighter electropop sound draws mostly from pop rock and synth-pop, with melodies characterized by atmospheric synthesizers, mid-tempo rhythms, and acoustic instruments. The songs incorporate eclectic styles ranging from country and folk to funk and bubblegum pop. They explore emotions such as infatuation, commitment, lust, and heartache. A few discuss political issues such as LGBT rights and feminism.

folklore

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Swift canceled the concert tour for her seventh studio album Lover(2019). It was a surprise album, released on July 24, 2020. She conceived Folklore during quarantine as "a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness" Folklore received widespread critical acclaim, centering on its emotional weight, poetic lyricism, and relaxed pace. Critics found its introspective essence timely for the pandemic and regarded its sound a bold reinvention of Swift's artistry. Folklore received widespread critical acclaim, centering on its emotional weight, poetic lyricism, and relaxed pace. Critics found its introspective essence timely for the pandemic and regarded its sound a bold reinvention of Swift's artistry. The album was featured on numerous 2020 year-end rankings. It won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making Swift the first woman in history to win the honor three times.

evermore

Evermore was a surprise album released on December 11, 2020, via Republic Records, less than five months after Folklore, her eighth studio album. Swift described Evermore as an offshoot of "the folklorian woods"—an escapist, cottagecore-inspired direction she first ideated with Folklore during the COVID-19 pandemic; she regards them as sister albums. Evermore blends alternative rock, indie folk and chamber pop styles, carried by fingerpicked guitars, somber pianos, lavish strings, and sparse percussion. Impressionist storytelling and mythopoeia dominate its lyrical technique. The subject matter has been described as an anthology of tales about love, marriage, infidelity, and grief, exploring the complexities of human emotion. Evermore was nominated for Album of the Year at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, a second consecutive nomination for Swift in the category after winning it with Folklore the previous year.

Midnights

Midnights, was released on October 21, 2022. Experimenting with chill-out music, it received critical acclaim; Rolling Stone critics dubbed it an instant classic.The album was Swift's fifth to open atop the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of over one million copies and broke various sales and streaming records, including the most U.S. first-week vinyl sales and the most single-day streams and most single-week streams on Spotify. Its tracks, led by the single "Anti-Hero", monopolized the entire top 10 of the Hot 100, making Swift the first artist to do so. Inspired by Swift's "sleepless nights", Midnights explores topics of anxiety, insecurity, self-criticism, self-awareness, insomnia, and self-confidence, with lyricism characterized as confessional yet cryptic. Acclaimed by music critics for its restrained production, candid songwriting, and vocal cadences, Midnights won a range of awards and was ranked by publications amongst the best albums of 2022. Journalists felt the album's ubiquitous success is a testament to Swift's cultural impact.