Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. A subject of widespread public interest with a vast fanbase, she has influenced the music industry, popular culture and politics through her artistry, songwriting, entrepreneurship, and advocacy.
For the album, see Taylor Swift (album).
Taylor Swift
- Singer-songwriter
- producer
- director
- businesswoman
- actress
2004–present
- Austin Swift (brother)
- Marjorie Finlay (grandmother)
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
- banjo
- ukulele
Swift began professional songwriting at age 14. She signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 and achieved prominence as a country pop singer with the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008). Their singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" were crossover successes on country and pop radio formats and brought Swift mainstream fame. She experimented with rock and electronic styles on her next albums, Speak Now (2010) and Red (2012), respectively, with the latter featuring her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". Swift recalibrated her image from country to pop with 1989 (2014), a synth-pop album containing the chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-influenced Reputation (2017) and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do".
After signing with Republic Records in 2018, Swift released the eclectic pop album Lover (2019) and the autobiographical documentary Miss Americana (2020). She explored indie folk styles on the 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, subdued electropop on Midnights (2022), and re-recorded four albums subtitled Taylor's Version[a] after a dispute with Big Machine. These albums spawned the number-one songs "Cruel Summer", "Cardigan", "Willow", "Anti-Hero", "All Too Well", and "Is It Over Now?". Her Eras Tour (2023–2024) and its accompanying concert film became the highest-grossing tour and concert film of all time, respectively. Her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024), was released as a double album. Swift has directed videos and films such as Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) and All Too Well: The Short Film (2021), and has also acted in films.
Swift is one of the world's best-selling artists, with 200 million records sold worldwide as of 2019. She is the most-streamed artist on Spotify, the highest-grossing female touring act, and the first billionaire with music as the main source of income. Six of her albums have opened with over one million sales in a week. The 2023 Time Person of the Year, Swift has appeared on lists such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists, and Forbes' World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, and 23 MTV Video Music Awards; she has won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, and the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year a record four times each.
Life and career
Early life
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania.[1] She is named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor.[2] Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch; her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), worked for a time as a mutual fund marketing executive.[3] Her younger brother, Austin, is an actor.[4] Swift's maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer,[5] whose singing in church became one of Swift's earliest memories of music that shaped her career.[3] Swift's mother is of Scottish and German descent, and her father is of Scottish and English descent with distant Italian ancestry.[6][7]
Swift spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania that her father had purchased from one of his clients,[8] and she spent her summers at her family's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, where she occasionally performed acoustic songs at a local coffee shop.[9] She was raised Christian[10] and attended preschool and kindergarten at a Montessori school run by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis before transferring to the Wyndcroft School.[11][12] When her family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.[13][14] As a child, she performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions[15] and traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons.[16] Her early love for country music was influenced by Shania Twain, Patsy Cline, LeAnn Rimes, and the Dixie Chicks,[12] and she spent weekends performing at local festivals and events.[17][18] After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she became determined to pursue a country-music career in Nashville, Tennessee.[19]
At 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to visit record labels and submit demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers.[20] She was rejected by all the labels, which led her to focus on songwriting.[21] She started learning the guitar at 12 with the help of Ronnie Cremer, a computer repairman and local musician who also assisted Swift with writing an original song.[22] In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with the talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch and had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD.[23] After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, 13-year-old Swift was given an artist development deal and began to travel regularly to Nashville with her mother.[24][25] 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.[26][27] Swift attended Hendersonville High School[28] before transferring to Aaron Academy after two years, which better accommodated her touring schedule through homeschooling. She graduated one year early.[29][30]
2004–2008: Career beginnings and first album
In Nashville, Swift worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and the Warren Brothers[31][32] and formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose.[33] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.[34] 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,[35] 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[25][18] 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."[36]
Artistry
Genres
Swift has reinvented her musical identity with each album release,[237] earning descriptions as a musical "chameleon" from Time and the BBC.[238][239] In her early career, her musical influences were 1990s female country musicians such as Shania Twain, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, and the Dixie Chicks,[240] and the country crossover music of Keith Urban, which incorporated rock, pop, and blues.[241] She self-identified as a country musician and achieved prominence as a country pop singer with her first four studio albums, from Taylor Swift (2006) to Red (2012).[242][243] The albums featured country signifiers such as banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and a slight vocal twang, but music critics noted their pop melodies and rock influences;[244][245] for example, Speak Now (2010) drew on rock styles such as pop rock, pop-punk, and 1980s arena rock.[93][246][247] Swift's country-music identity received contrarian commentary; critics argued that country was an indicator of her narrative songwriting rather than musical direction[248][249] and accused her of causing mainstream country music to stray from its roots.[250][251] The music journalist Jody Rosen commented that by originating her career in Nashville, Swift made a "bait-and-switch maneuver, planting roots in loamy country soil, then pivoting to pop".[252]
After the critical debate around Red's eclectic pop, rock, and electronic styles, Swift chose 1980s synth-pop as a defining sound of her recalibrated pop artistry and image, inspired by the music of Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna.[253][254] 1989 (2014) was the first album in this direction, incorporating dense synthesizers and electronic arrangements.[255] Swift expanded on the electronic production on Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), and Midnights (2022), incorporating other pop styles such as pop rock, electropop, and dream pop.[198][256] On each album, she also experimented with other genres: Reputation consisted of hip hop, R&B, and EDM influences;[156] Lover featured a 1980s-influenced synth-driven production;[172] and Midnights was characterized by a minimalist, subdued sound.[257] When Swift embraced a pop identity, rockist critics regarded her move as an erosion of her country music songwriting authenticity.[258] Others regarded it as necessary for Swift's artistic evolution and defended her as a pioneer of poptimism.[259][260] The music critic Ann Powers opined that Swift has created her own genre "by blending country's sturdy song structures with R&B's vibes, rap's cadences and pop's glitz".[261]
Her 2020 pandemic albums Folklore and Evermore explored alternative and indie styles of rock and folk, which resulted in a subtle, stripped-back soundscape with orchestration, synthesizers, and drum pads.[262][263] The latter further experimented with varied song structures, time signatures, and instruments.[264] Critics deemed the indie styles a mature representation of Swift's artistry as a singer-songwriter.[263]
Voice
Swift possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range,[269] and a generally soft but versatile timbre.[270][271] As a country singer, her vocals were criticized by some as weak and strained compared to those of her contemporaries.[272] Swift admitted her vocal ability often concerned her in her early career and has worked hard to improve.[273] Reviews of her vocals remained mixed after she transitioned to pop music with 1989; critics complained that she lacked proper technique but appreciated her usage of her voice to communicate her feelings to the audience, prioritizing "intimacy over power and nuance".[274] They also praised her for refraining from correcting her pitch with Auto-Tune.[275]
The Los Angeles Times remarked that Swift's defining vocal feature is her attention to detail to convey an exact feeling—"the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow".[276] With Reputation, critics noted she was "learning how to use her voice as a percussion instrument of its own",[277] swapping her "signature" expressive vocals for "cool, conversational, detached" cadences and rhythms similar to hip hop and R&B styles.[278][156][279] Alternative Press stated that her "evocative" vocal stylings are more reminiscent of pop-punk and emo genres.[280]
Reviews of Swift's later albums and performances were more appreciative of her vocals, finding them less nasal, richer, more resonant, and more powerful.[245][281][282] With Folklore and Evermore, Swift received praise for her sharp and agile yet translucent and controlled voice.[283][284][285] Pitchfork described it as "versatile and expressive".[286] With her 2021 re-recorded albums, critics began to praise the mature, deeper and "fuller" tone of her voice.[287][288][289] An i review said Swift's voice is "leagues better now".[290] The Guardian highlighted "yo-yoing vocal yelps" and passionate climaxes as the trademarks of Swift's voice,[291] and that her country twang faded away.[292] Midnights received acclaim for Swift's nuanced vocal delivery.[293] She ranked 102nd on the 2023 Rolling Stone list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[271] In a review of the Eras Tour, The New Yorker critic Amanda Petrusich praised the clarity and tone of Swift's live vocals.[294] The musicologist Alyssa Barna said that Swift's timbre is "breathy and bright" in her upper register and "full and dark" in the lower.[295]
Songwriting
Swift's fascination with songwriting began in her childhood. She credited her mother with igniting confidence and early songwriting interests by helping her prepare for class presentations.[296][297] She enjoyed Disney film soundtracks and would make up lyrics once she had run out of words singing them.[298] Her lyrical influences include female country songwriters such as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton;[17][102] 1990s songwriters such as Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette;[299] Joni Mitchell;[300] and Fall Out Boy.[301] She listed Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson as career role models, citing their both evolving and consistent songwriting outputs.[26][302] Her literary influences included the authors William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, F. Scott Fitzgerald,[303] and the poets William Wordsworth, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson;[304] the lattermost of whom was a distant cousin of Swift.[305]
In The New Yorker in 2011, Swift said she identifies as a songwriter first: "I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across".[26] Her personal experiences were a common inspiration for her early songs, which helped her navigate life.[306][307] Her "diaristic" technique began with identifying an emotion, followed by a corresponding melody.[308][309] On her first three studio albums, love, heartbreak, and insecurities, from an adolescent perspective, were dominant themes.[93][310] She delved into the tumult of toxic relationships on Red,[311] and embraced nostalgia and post-romance positivity on 1989.[253] Reputation was inspired by the downsides of Swift's fame,[312] and Lover detailed her realization of the "full spectrum of love".[313] Other themes in Swift's music include family dynamics, friendship,[314][315] alienation, self-awareness, and tackling vitriol, especially sexism.[297][316]
Her confessional lyrics received positive reviews from critics,[317][26][318] who highlighted their vivid details and emotional engagement, which they found uncommon in pop music.[319][320][321] Critics also praised her melodic compositions; Rolling Stone described Swift as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture".[322][323] NPR dubbed Swift "a master of the vernacular in her lyrics",[156] remarking that her songs offer emotional engagement because "the wit and clarity of her arrangements turn them from standard fare to heartfelt disclosures".[323] Despite the positive reception, The New Yorker stated she was generally portrayed "more as a skilled technician than as a Dylanesque visionary".[26] Tabloid media often speculated and linked the subjects of her songs with her ex-lovers, a practice reviewers and Swift herself criticized as sexist.[324][325][326] Aside from clues in album liner notes, Swift avoided talking about the subjects of her songs.[327]
On her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, Swift was inspired by escapism and romanticism to explore fictional narratives.[328] She imposed emotions onto imagined characters and story arcs, which liberated her from tabloid attention and suggested new paths for her artistry.[308] Swift explained that she welcomed the new songwriting direction after she stopped worrying about commercial success.[328] According to Spin, she explored complex emotions with "precision and devastation" on Evermore.[329] Consequence stated her 2020 albums convinced skeptics of her songwriting prowess, noting her transformation from "teenage wunderkind to a confident and careful adult".[330]
Swift divides her writing into three types: "quill lyrics", songs rooted in antiquated poeticism; "fountain pen lyrics", based on modern and vivid storylines; and "glitter gel pen lyrics", which are lively and frivolous.[331] Critics note the fifth track of every Swift album as the most "emotionally vulnerable" of the album.[332] Awarding her with the Songwriter Icon Award in 2021, the National Music Publishers' Association remarked that "no one is more influential when it comes to writing music today".[333] The Week deemed her the foremost female songwriter of modern times,[334] and the Nashville Songwriters Association International named her Songwriter-Artist of the Decade in 2022.[201] Swift has also published two original poems: "Why She Disappeared" and "If You're Anything Like Me".[335]
Swift has been referred to as one of the greatest songwriters ever by several publications.[336][337][338] Literature scholars like Jonathan Bate and Stephanie Burt have noted that her literary and melodic sensibility and writing style are rare among her peers.[339][340] Swift's bridges are often noted as one of the best aspects of her songs,[341][330] earning her the title "Queen of Bridges" from Time.[342] Mojo described her as "a sharp narrator with a gift for the extended metaphor".[343]
