echo Intro
Is it just me or does the air taste a little…salty? As August arrives, we officially enter the Salt Air Season, putting on our cardigans and once again drowning ourselves in the sound of Folklore. It seems as if the moment you start listening to Taylor, not only does your entire discography shift its path, but every month and season starts developing an identity of its own, swaying your emotions ever so subtly like rust that appears on your door. The real question is: how does she do it? The impact of Taylor Swift on the world is certainly intriguing, with the 14 Grammys that she’s won and the immense support for the ongoing Eras Tour, we are led to ponder about how the Queen of Pop rose to her fame and the significant battles she has gone through in this journey of music.
Taylor Swift (2006)
Taylor Allison Swift was born on 13th December 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania. She began singing at age 9 and was writing her own songs and learning to play guitar by 12. In 2005, a performance at an industry showcase in a Nashville cafe caught the attention of Dreamworks Records executive Scott Borchetta, who was just starting to set up an independent record label, Big Machine Records, of which Swift was one of their first signings. From there, she worked on her self-titled debut album Taylor Swift, which was released in October 2006. It hit number 5 on the US Billboard 200, where it stayed for 157 weeks, becoming the longest album to stay on the chart in the 2000s decade. The album featured well-loved hits like “Tim McGraw”, “Teardrops On My Guitar”, “Picture To Burn” and “Our Song”– a number-one single. Taylor had just discovered a new market – teenage girls who listened to country music, and this discovery would soon launch her career to unprecedented heights!
Taylor Swift, album by Taylor Swift
Fearless (2006)
‘Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone.’ Fearless – Taylor’s second album was probably her rise to fame. Officially released in North America in November 2008 and March 2009 in other markets, the album received utter support from listeners, maintaining at number one for 11 weeks on the Billboard 200 and achieving the title of ‘Longest Running Number One Female Country Album’. Fearless also became the best selling album in the United States, forever solidifying her name in the history of pop music, paving the way towards her success in the future. The two biggest hits on the album; “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me”, truly captured the hearts of listeners. This is further proven as “You Belong With Me’ won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Being named by Billboard as 2009’s Artist Of The Year and winning four Grammys despite this being her second album, Taylor truly made herself a household name. During the Fearless Era, Taylor also featured and worked with multiple artists, including Kellie Pickler and well known “singer (and ex lover),John Mayer. Her rising fame also led to her hosting and performing on Saturday Night Live, whereby she was the first host to ever write their own opening monologue.
Fearless, album by Taylor Swift
Speak Now (2010)
The world was ‘enchanted’ when Taylor dropped her third studio album, Speak Now, in August 2010. It was written solely by Swift who also co-produced every song on the album following criticisms that her songwriting was “only good because she worked with co-writers.” Featuring beloved songs like “Mine”, “Back to December”, “Enchanted”, “Speak Now” and “Better Than Revenge”, the album placed third on the Billboard 200, with one million copies sold in just the first week. Swift then ran the Speak Now World Tour between 2011 to 2012, grossing over $123 million. Her performance of “Mean” at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012 won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. She won multiple awards for Speak Now, including Woman of the Year by Billboard (2011), Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music (2011 and 2012), and the Country Music Association in 2011. She also collaborated with the Civil Wars in releasing two original songs “Eyes Open” and “Safe and Sound” for The Hunger Games soundtrack, the latter of which won both a Grammy Award and a Golden Globe nomination.
Speak Now, album by Taylor Swift
Red (2012)
Now, it’s time to ‘go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me’ about Taylor’s fourth album – ‘Red’. Released in October 2012, the album topped the Billboard 200 and sold 1.21 million copies, successfully striking the world with its eclectic styles of pop and rock. Popular break up anthem “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” even became Swift’s first song to reach number one on Billboard Hot 100. With the utter amount of support she obtained, she was awarded Best Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards and became the second recipient of the Pinnacle Award during the 2014 Country Music Association Awards. Fun fact for the day; did you know that The Red Tour which lasted from March 2013 to June 2014 is the highest grossing country tour ever? Well, now you know! Besides producing music, Swift also had multiple other projects, including voice acting for the film ‘The Lorax’, making a cameo in famous sitcom ‘New Girl’ and playing a supporting role in dystopian movie ‘The Giver’.
1989 (2014)
1989 is a timeless and monumental album evoking the aesthetics of seagulls, ocean breezes, and Polaroids, one that many of Taylor’s fans feel will never run ‘out of style’. It marked Swift’s break from country-style music with its release in October 2014 as her first ‘official pop album’, selling 1.28 million copies in the US during the first week of its release and placing 1st on the Billboard 200 chart with singles “Shake It Off”, “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood”, which features rapper Kendrick Lamar. She then set off on The 1989 World Tour, running from May to December 2015 and grossing $250 million in total revenue, becoming the highest-grossing tour of that year. Swift won Billboard’s Woman of the Year for a second time in 2014 and “Bad Blood” won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, amongst other awards. She also co-wrote “This Is What You Came For” with Calvin Harris, featuring the vocals of Rihanna, and also collaborated with Zayn Malik on “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” on the soundtrack for Fifty Shades Darker.
Reputation (2017)
“Are you ready for it?” because the world was definitely not.
The famous feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West took place in 2016, leading to Taylor being ‘cancelled’ by the internet with the #IsOverParty hashtag, and her subsequent disappearance from social media and the public eye for most of 2016. In 2017, David Mueller sued Taylor for damages leading to loss of employment after she told his boss that he groped her at an event. In response, she successfully countersued David Mueller for sexual assault. These scandals had a great influence on her sixth studio album ‘Reputation’, marking her iconic comeback in November 2017. It was a response as much as a ‘defence mechanism’ towards her tarnished public image that had developed as a result of the media’s scrutiny over her multiple failed relationships and celebrity scandals, incorporating electropop sounds with urban hip hop and R&B styles. The songs on Reputation formed a narrative of a protagonist inflicting revenge on those who had wronged her (“Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours”) and finding joy in a blossoming relationship (“Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me”), possibly alluding to her then relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn.
Reputation topped the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million US sales and charts in the UK, Australia, and Canada. In her music video for the lead single “Look What You Made Me Do”, Taylor played characters portraying all her misrepresentations, and it broke the record for the most views in the first 24 hours of release. She ran the Reputation Stadium Tour from May to November 2018, grossing $345.7 million worldwide and beating her own record for the highest-grossing US tour by a woman. The 2018 AMAs marked Taylor as the most awarded female musician in AMA history with a total of 23 awards, surpassing Whitney Houston.
Taylor’s sixth album ‘reputation’
Lover (2019)
As we descend into a world filled with pink heart-shaped bubbles, we smile and reassure our loved ones that ‘at every table I’ll save you a seat’. After the edgy comeback – “Reputation”, Swift provided a glimpse into her relationship with “London Boy”, Joe Alwyn. The sweet and romantic energy that ‘Lover’ provides highlights the trust and comfort between the couple. The album was released in August 2019 as her first album with Republic Records. She produced the album with Jack Antonoff, Louis Bell, Frank Dukes and Joel Little, once again peaking atop the charts of many countries. Singles “Me!” featuring Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco and “You Need To Come Down” reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while the popular single “Cruel Summer” topped the chart, becoming the song of the summer for many. ‘Lover’ became the best selling album of the year 2019, earning a Grammy nomination and three awards in the MTV Video Music Awards. However, the Lover era was also the time that Swift fell into a public dispute with talent manager Scooter Braun, whereby Big Machine Records refused to give her ownership of her previous masters, merely offering her a deal where she had to exchange one new album for an older one under a new contract. Fortunately, Swift refused the deal and decided to re-record her previous albums, enabling her to gain ownership of her masters and licensing of her songs for commercial use. This was also aided by the deal she struck with Universal Music Group, whereby she finally obtained the authority to maintain ownership of her masters. Swift had the opportunity to star in the film adaptation ‘Cats’ which originated from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical.
With the sudden arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, Taylor released the sister albums “Folklore” and “Evermore”. Taylor signed a deal with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) in February 2020 when her 16-year deal with Sony/ATV expired. In July, she released ‘Folklore’ while ‘Evermore’ was released in December. The two albums were both produced with Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, moreover some songs in the albums were co-wrote and co-produced by Joe Alwyn under the pseudonym of William Bowery. The albums incorporated indie folk and alternative rock elements, paving the way to Folklore being the best selling album of 2020 in the United States. The success of the album was also evident through Swift being the first artist to debut a US number one-album and number-one song in the same week with the single “Cardigan”, whereby she reached this peak again with Evermore and ‘Willow’. In 2020, Swift became the highest-paid musician in the United States and also highest-paid solo musician worldwide, as reported by Billboard. During the Folklore era, Swift made record-breaking history, officially becoming the first woman to win three Album Of The Year awards in Grammy history. She also won three awards at The American Music Awards, namely Artist of the Year, Favourite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favourite Pop/Rock Album. It is also worth mentioning that Swift’s life and career was made into a documentary directed by Lana Wilson – ‘Miss Americana’.
Folklore, album by Taylor Swift
Evermore, album by Taylor Swift
Re-recordings and the Eras Tour
In November 2020, Taylor announced that she was going to begin re-recording her first six albums. But why? When Taylor signed with Universal Music Group in 2018 after her contract with Big Machine Records expired, the rights to her first six albums still remained with Big Machine Records. When Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records, he sold her master recordings to another company for an estimated $300 million. Thus, Taylor took back control and ownership of her music by re-recording “Taylor’s Version” of her six older albums. Additionally, fans were thrilled to hear the unreleased songs she had written at the time, to which she titled ‘From the Vault’. This was a largely successful move as seen by the way the new versions knocked the originals off the Billboard’s 200 chart. So far, at the time of writing, Swifties still await the re-recordings of Taylor’s debut album and ‘Reputation’.
Album covers for the re-recorded albums: Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989
Taylor kicked off the Eras World Tour in March 2023, and it’s still going on now! Stunning fans with a 3 hour long concert and a tracklist featuring her best songs from each of her ‘eras’, Taylor turns her fans’ wildest dreams into a reality. She features surprise song mashups and puts on carefully planned, bejewelled performances complete with outfit changes and stage stunts. It has led many to applaud her for the effort and care she pours into her work, making each performance a masterpiece. The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour in history, earning more than $1 billion. The concert film of the Eras Tour, released in October 2023, became the highest grossing concert film with over $250 million earned.
Midnights (2022)
Paper rings just don’t last, do they? The six year relationship with Joe Alwyn officially came to an end with the release of the breakup album – Midnights, as Swift invites us to indulge in late night thoughts. The album was released worldwide in October 2022, incorporating a restrained electropop and synth-pop sound joined with elements of hip-hop, R&B and electronica. Receiving huge amounts of support from Swifties all around the world, Midnights opened atop Billboard 200 with over one million copies being sold in the first week. The general public too fell in love, with radios constantly blasting hit song “Anti-Hero”, which serves to remind us that ‘we may be the problem’ but streaming Taylor is never a problem! Swift became the first artist to monopolise the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, achieving the most single day streams and single week streams on Spotify globally, peaking atop the charts of at least 14 countries. The two further singles of the album “Lavender Haze” and “Karma” also peaked at number two of the Billboard Hot 100, once again demonstrating the impact of Swift in the music industry. During the Midnights era, the album successfully won two Grammys – Best Pop Vocal Album and Album Of The Year, making her the first artist to win four Album Of The Year Awards inGrammy History.
Midnights, album by Taylor Swift
The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
At the 2024 Grammy Awards, Taylor announced her 11th studio album “The Tortured Poets Department” would be released on 19th April 2024. Fans were surprised again by a double album – The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, featuring 15 extra songs, totalling it up to 31 songs overall. Taylor once again proved her masterful lyricism in hit songs such as “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, “So Long London” and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”. As expected, it became the first album to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify in a week. At 14 weeks, The Tortured Poets Department spent more time on the Billboard 200 Chart than any of her albums before.
Conclusion
Taylor has time and time again proven that she is a ‘mastermind’ in the music industry, continuously ‘rising from the ashes’ with every new album she produces. Through this, she has gathered an army of loyal and dedicated ‘Swifties’, always ready to praise her work and talents. Taylor’s success and popularity is more evident than ever as she dominates the industry, helping newer artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams make their way to fame. The question is, will these new, trending pop stars ever achieve Taylor’s level of significance, or would they perhaps reach an even bigger milestone?
Don’t worry, there won’t ever be any ‘bland goodbyes’ from us…. Catch us with more exciting articles about your fav artists and don’t be surprised to see us replay every Taylor album as we’re ‘still at the restaurant’!
Written By: Vanessa and Reeya
Edited By: Ashley
