Who Is Taylor Swift?
By the time she was 16, Taylor Swift had already become a well-known country music singer. Her debut album, Fearless, was nominated for a Grammy, and her subsequent albums went multi-platinum thanks to the success of singles like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" (2008). Swift's 2014 studio album 1989, which included the top-charting singles "Shake it Off" and "Blank Space," and won Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, continued her reign atop the charts. Her subsequent albums, reputation (2018) and Lover (2019), were just as commercially successful.
Early Life
A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Taylor Alison Swift entered the world on December 13, 1989. Swift grew up in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, on the family Christmas tree farm. Swift took after her opera-singing grandmother, who was also a professional singer. Swift began performing at fairs and contests around her hometown at the young age of 10. She sang the national anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers game when she was just 11 years old, and by the time she was 12, she had started writing her own songs and learning guitar.
Swift frequented the country music mecca of Nashville, Tennessee, to advance her career. She attempted to secure a recording contract and co-wrote songs while she was there. Swift's determination was recognized, and she and her family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee, to pursue Swift's music career.
Country Music Career
Taylor Swift signed with Scott Borchetta and Big Machine Records after an impressive set at Nashville's The Bluebird Café. In 2006, she dropped her debut single, "Tim McGraw," which quickly climbed to the top of the country charts. As of October of that year, it was included on her self-titled debut album, which has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. More successful singles, including the number one country music hit "Our Song," soon followed. The songs "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Picture to Burn," and "Should've Said No" were also hits.
For her first album, Swift was lauded by the critics as well. In 2007, she was honored as both the Country Music Association's Horizon Award winner and the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist awardee. In the same year, Swift dropped her second studio album, titled simply 1989. Her versions of "Silent Night" and "Santa Baby" did reasonably well on country music charts.
'Fearless'
Swift won the ACM Female Vocalist of the Year Award and was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2008. Swift's subsequent album, Fearless, was released around this time and quickly climbed to the top of both the country and pop charts, where it remained for an impressive 11 weeks. Swift surpassed all other country artists in 2008 in terms of album sales by year's end..
2009 VMAs and Kanye West
In recognition of her efforts on Fearless, Swift was honored with several awards at the 2009 CMT Music Awards. Swift also made history by becoming the first female country music artist to win a VMA for her video for "You Belong With Me," which won the award at that year's ceremony. A controversy arose when rapper Kanye West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech by grabbing the microphone and saying that R&B singer Beyoncé should have won the award instead.
Swift, who had just won an award, was so shocked that she couldn't even give her acceptance speech before Kanye West was booted offstage. Later in the show, when Beyoncé was accepting her award for Best Video of the Year, she invited Swift to join her onstage to finish her acceptance speech. West later made a public apology to Swift on The Jay Leno Show and he also said sorry to her privately. Timeline of Taylor Swift and Kanye West's Decade-Long Rivalry'Speak Now' and 'Red'
Swift quickly rose in demand. Tickets for her concerts began selling out in under two minutes, and she made her second appearance on Saturday Night Live, this time as the show's host and musical guest. Further, in 2010, at the age of 21, she won the Grammy for Album of the Year for Fearless, setting a new record for youngest Grammy winner ever.
Swift's new album, Speak Now, was released that year, and it featured the radio smashes "Mean," "Ours," and "Sparks Fly." Sales of over a million copies in its first week made the album an instant hit and helped it reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Red (2012), which featured the smash hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," also sold over a million copies in its first week.
Philanthropic Efforts and More Accolades
Forbes magazine named Swift the highest-paid celebrity under 30 in 2012, and her $57 million in earnings put her ahead of Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga. The following year, the singer donated $4 million to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville to establish the Taylor Swift Education Center. At its inception, the center housed three classrooms, a learning lab, and a kid-friendly exhibit area. She stated, "Music education is really such an important part of my life," in an interview with CMT Hot 20 Countdown. Songwriting and guitar playing completely transformed my life in ways that can't be taught in school because there simply aren't enough hours in the day."
According to the CMA website, Swift was also awarded the CMA Pinnacle Award in 2013 for her "positive impact" on country music and her achievements as a country music performer. At that year's CMA Awards ceremony in November, she took home two more awards for her work with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. At the American Music Awards, Swift won multiple awards, including Artist of the Year for the third time in a row.
'1989'
Swift's next album featured even less country music influences. In October of 2014, she dropped a record titled 1989. With "Shake It Off," one of the year's most infectious songs, she topped the pop charts, and then she quickly returned with another number one with "Blank Space." At a time when album sales are typically low, 1989 sold over 1.2 million copies in its first week, making Swift the first artist to sell over 1 million copies in a single week for three separate albums.
The track "Bad Blood," which features Kendrick Lamar, shows that Swift is still experimenting with her public persona. She plays a tough, cutthroat character named "Catastrophe" in the music video for the song, which made its world premiere at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards and doubles as a noir action short. Swift also enlisted the likes of Karlie Kloss, Cindy Crawford, and Lena Dunham to make cameo appearances in the video.
Swift also performed "Out of the Woods" as the opening number at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2016. Swift became the first woman in Grammy history to win Album of the Year for a second time after she already made history by becoming the first woman to win Best Music Video and Best Pop Vocal Album prior to the televised ceremony.
Swift used her acceptance speech to issue a statement of female empowerment, which many saw as a direct response to a new song by West in which he took credit for her fame. Women, she warned, should expect "people along the way who will try to undercut your success" and "take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." "But if you keep your head down and don't let those distractions get to you, you'll be able to look around at your accomplishments and know that you and the people who cared about you helped bring them to fruition. That's the best feeling in the world, for sure."
Feud With Katy Perry
After both dating John Mayer, Swift and Katy Perry reportedly became rivals after Perry attempted to steal Swift's tour dancers. She wrote "Bad Blood" about her animosity toward Perry. For years, I wasn't sure if we were friends or not," Swift admitted to Rolling Stone in 2014. At award ceremonies, she would approach me, say something, and then leave, leaving me to wonder, "Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?" Then, Swift claims, Perry went too far. "She did something so horrible," Swift cries out. "At first I was confused, but then I realized, "Oh, we're just straight-up enemies." And it had nothing to do with males. This was a business-related matter. In essence, she plotted to derail an entire arena tour. She made an effort to steal my job by hiring competitors. And you wouldn't believe how much I despise confrontation; it's surprising even to me. Unfortunately, I have to keep my distance from her now. In a word, it's uncomfortable." In an effort to end their feud, Perry sent Swift an actual olive branch and a note reading, "I've been doing some reflecting on past miscommunication and hurt feelings between us," on May 8, 2018.
Trial for Sexual Assault and Copyright Violation
After the overwhelming success of 1989, Swift decided to take a break from the public eye. In August of 2017, however, she made headlines again when she testified in the trial of David Mueller, the former radio DJ she had accused of groping her in 2013. Mueller sued Swift, her mother, and a radio station employee in 2015 after he denied her allegations and claimed the incident cost him his job. Swift filed a countersuit against him in 2017, alleging assault and battery, and the jury found in her favor, awarding her a nominal $1 in damages.
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