Swiftly to Stardom: The Story of Taylor Swift
In the world of music there are stars, legends, and then there is Taylor Swift. A woman who has defied the odds and has become one of the most influential figures in the entertainment industry. This is not just a tale of a talented artist but a story of resilience, change, vulnerability, and truth. From being just a small-town girl to a pop sensation Taylor Swift’s life can feel “happy, free, confusing, and lonely at the same time.”
Born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading Pennsylvania, Taylor Allison Swift spent the early years of her childhood on her parents’ Christmas tree farm. At the age of nine, Taylor started taking singing and acting classes in New York City. She was inspired by her Grandma Majorie, who had been a singer, and began to develop a love for music. At the age of 11, she made her debut as a singer for the Philadelphia 76ers at a basketball game. At the age of 13, her parents decided to sell their farm and relocate to Tennessee, allowing her to pursue a career in country music. In 2004, at the age of 14, she became the youngest person ever to be signed to Sony/ATV.
Taylor released her debut single “Tim McGraw” in 2006. It was on the Billboard country singles chart. She later released her self-titled album with first-week sales of 40,000 copies. She began opening for Rascal Flatts. By 2007 she became certified platinum and sold more than ne million copies in United States. She began opening for artists such as George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill. That November she received the Horizon Award for best new artist from the Country Music Association. In 2008, she dropped “Fearless”, which was a huge success – it sold over half a million copies in its first week and hit number one on the charts.
2009 saw Swift win album of the year at the Academy of Country Music and best female video at the American Music Awards. She was about to accept the award when Kanye West cut her off, claiming that the award should go to Beyonce for “One of the greatest videos of all time”. Beyonce then invited Swift on stage to finish her acceptance speech. Swift was the youngest-ever CMA entertainer to win the award, and the first solo female solo artist to do so since 1999.
2010 was another eventful year for her as she took home four awards including Album of the Year. She played Felicia in the movie “Valentine’s Day” along with Taylor Lautner, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway and many more well-known actors. She released her third album Speak Now which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, its sales of 1,047,000 copies making it just the 16th album in United States history to sell one million copies in a single week. The following year she reclaimed the CMA entertainer of the year award.
In 2012, she won two Grammy Awards for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song for “Mean“. The following year, she released the album Red, which marked a transition from her signature country music style to more pop-oriented songs such as “22”, “We Are Never Getting Back Together”, and “I Knew You Were Trouble”. The album featured a more edgy pop rock style. It achieved a record-breaking first week of sales, the highest in ten years, and gave Taylor her first number one single on the pop singles chart.
In 2014 Taylor released her first fully pop album “1989” named after the year she was born and took inspiration from music of that era. This album rebirthed her image as a singer. “1989” outsold Red won her second grammy for Album of the Year.
Let’s fast forward to 2016 and the release of “Famous” by Kanye West. In the song, he used Swift’s name in a way that wasn’t respectful. He put out a phone call with her saying he got her permission, but it’s clear that he didn’t get it for the other lyrics in the song. Taylor stated “Of course I wanted to like the song. I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me that I would love the song. I wanted us to have a friendly relationship. He promised to play the song for me, but he never did. While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot ‘approve’ a song you haven’t heard. Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination.” She was called a snake and was being attacked by numerous people on Twitter and the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty was born.
During the 2016 Grammys while Taylor was accepting the award for Album of the Year she inspired her fans and subtly referenced the song and stated “I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.” She continued, “If you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment.”
After the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty started on Twitter and Taylor disappeared from the public eye for a year and came back announcing her next album Reputation almost a year after the phone call was released. Her promo for her album included videos of snakes which were referencing to the comments made about her being a snake and a liar throughout the whole Kanye West feud. The song “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” seems to be all about their feud. In the song she sings the words
“… It was so nice being friends again
There I was giving you a second chance
But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand
And therein lies the issue, friends don’t try to trick you
Get you on the phone and mind-twist you”
Reputation ended up being the top-selling American LP of 2017.
On this same year she also had David Meuller attempt to sue her for allegedly lying about being assaulted. He sued her for $3 million. She decided to countersue him for $1 and ended up winning the case.
In 2018 Taylor’s contract with her record label at the time Big Machine Records had ended and she decided to leave. She later signed with Republic Records and Universal Music Group. She spoke out saying “I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta (CEO of Big Machine) would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past.”
The following year her masters for all her albums were stolen. Which means that now Scooter owns Taylor’s original recordings. She claims she only found out about this when it went public. He now is making money off her songs, and she doesn’t have full control over these recordings. She also claimed that she was not allowed to perform any of her songs from her first 6 albums because Scooter and Scott told her so. This is what she had to say about it:
“I’ve been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show,” “The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, ‘Be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished.’” They later denied these claims stating, “At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs,” the label claimed. “In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere.”
In October 2020 her masters were then sold to Shamrock Capital, a financial firm. She claimed this sale went on without her knowledge. “He would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me,” she wrote on Twitter.
On April 9th, 2021, her rerecording of her second album “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” was released. She is planning to do this with all her albums up until Reputation. All of Taylor’s rerecordings now say (Taylor’s Version) indicating that she owns it. Since then, she has released “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” She recently announced “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” which will come out on October 27th, 2023.
Besides her recordings she has released “Lover”,” Folklore”, “Evermore”, and “Midnights”. She is not only focusing on owning her old songs but releasing new songs for her fans the “Swifties”. She now has 10 albums and is on her sixth tour named the “The Eras Tour”
Taylor Swift’s life story is not just about fame and fortune but a reminder that with talent, hard work, and self-belief no dream is too big. It’s clear to that Taylor Swifts impact on the music industry and popular culture will stay relevant for years to come. Her music and lyrics have touched millions of people. Connecting her experiences, heartbreaks, love, and triumphs with the world. Her story is far from over and her legacy will live on for many years to come.
