Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her narrative lyricism, which often takes inspiration from her personal life, has received widespread critical praise and media coverage.
Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2004 to pursue a career in country music. She broke into the country music scene with her eponymous debut studio album in 2006, which included the singles "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song". Swift rose to mainstream prominence with her second studio album, "Fearless" (2008), a country pop record with crossover appeal. Aided by the top-five singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", "Fearless" was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Swift's third studio album, "Speak Now" (2010), blended country pop with elements of rock and featured the top-ten singles "Mine" and "Back to December".
Drawing inspiration from various pop, rock, and electronic genres, Swift's fourth studio album "Red" (2012) saw her transcending her country roots. She completely moved to pop with her synth-pop fifth studio album, "1989" (2014), and expanded the electropop sound on her next two studio albums, "Reputation" (2017) and "Lover" (2019), which respectively embraced urban and retro styles. The four albums spawned a string of international top-five singles, including "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", "Look What You Made Me Do", "Me!", and "You Need to Calm Down". Swift experimented with folk and alternative rock on her eighth and ninth studio albums, "Folklore" and "Evermore" (both 2020), whose lead singles "Cardigan" and "Willow" topped charts around the world. She also released the critically acclaimed documentaries "Miss Americana" and "" that year.
With sales of over 200 million records worldwide, Swift is one of the best-selling music artists. Her accolades include 11 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins), an Emmy Award, two Brit Awards, 11 MTV Video Music Awards (including two Video of the Year wins), 12 Country Music Association Awards, 23 "Billboard" Music Awards (the most wins by a woman), 32 Guinness World Records, and 32 American Music Awards (the most wins by an artist). She ranked eighth on "Billboard"s Greatest of All Time Artists Chart (2019) and was listed on "Rolling Stone"s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015). Swift has been included in various power rankings, such as "Time"s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world (2010, 2015 and 2019) and "Forbes" Celebrity 100 (placing first in 2016 and 2019). She was named Woman of the Decade (2010s) by "Billboard" and Artist of the Decade (2010s) by the American Music Awards.
Life and career.
1989–2003: Early life.
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch; her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift ("née" Finlay), is a former homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift has Scottish heritage and was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor. Her younger brother, Austin Kingsley Swift, is an actor. Swift's great-great-grandfather on her father's side was an Italian immigrant entrepreneur and community leader who opened a slew of businesses in Philadelphia in the 1800s. She spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm that her father purchased from one of his clients. Swift identifies as Christian. She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia Montessori School, run by the Bernadine Franciscan sisters, before transferring to The Wyndcroft School. The family moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.
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 sure she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music. She traveled with her mother at age eleven to visit Nashville record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and The 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."
When Swift was around 12 years old, computer repairman and local musician Ronnie Cremer taught her to play guitar. He helped with her first efforts as a songwriter, leading her to write "Lucky You". 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 attended meetings with major record labels. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother.
To help Swift break into country music, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to a lakefront house in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School but transferred to the Aaron Academy after two years, which could better accommodate her touring schedule through homeschooling; she graduated a year early.
2004–2008: Career beginnings and "Taylor Swift".
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 thought the sessions were "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 the Sony-owned RCA Records at the age of 14. She 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."
At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She had first met Borchetta in 2004. Swift became one of Big Machine's first signings, and her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company for an estimated $120,000. She began working on her eponymous debut album shortly after. Swift persuaded Big Machine to hire her demo producer Nathan Chapman, with whom she felt she had the right "chemistry". She wrote three of the album's songs alone, and co-wrote the remaining eight with Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, and Angelo Petraglia. "Taylor Swift" was released on October 24, 2006. Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both wide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading voice." "Taylor Swift" peaked at number five on the U.S. "Billboard" 200, where it spent 157 weeks—the longest stay on the chart by any release in the U.S. in the 2000s decade.
Big Machine Records was still in its infancy during the June 2006 release of the lead single, "Tim McGraw". Swift and her mother helped "stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio." She spent much of 2006 promoting "Taylor Swift" with a radio tour, television appearances, and opening for Rascal Flatts on select dates during their 2006 tour after they fired their previous opening act, Eric Church, for playing longer than his allotted time. Church jokingly told Swift she should give him her first gold record as thanks for getting fired. She sent him her first gold record with a note that said, "Thanks for playing too long and too loud on the Flatts tour. I sincerely appreciate it. Taylor."
Borchetta said that although record industry peers initially disapproved of his signing a 16-year-old singer-songwriter, Swift tapped into a previously unknown market—teenage girls who listen to country music. Following "Tim McGraw", four more singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All appeared on "Billboard"s Hot Country Songs, with "Our Song", and "Should've Said No" reaching number one. With "Our Song", Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one song on the chart. "Teardrops on My Guitar" reached number thirteen on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100. Swift also released the holiday album "" in October 2007 and the EP "Beautiful Eyes" in July 2008. She promoted her debut album extensively as the opening act for other country musicians' tours throughout 2006 and 2007, including George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
Swift won accolades for "Taylor Swift". She was one of the recipients of the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007, becoming the youngest person to be honored with the title. She also won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for Best New Artist, the Academy of Country Music Awards' Top New Female Vocalist, and the American Music Awards' Favorite Country Female Artist honor. She was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. She opened for the Rascal Flatts on their 2008 summer and fall tour. In July of that year, Swift began a romance with singer Joe Jonas that ended three months later.
2008–2010: "Fearless" and acting.
Swift's second studio album, "Fearless", was released on November 11, 2008. Five singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "Love Story", "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen", and "Fearless". "Love Story", the lead single, peaked at number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one in Australia. "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single on the "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number two. All five singles were "Billboard" Hot Country Songs top-10 entries, with "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" peaking at number one. "Fearless" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 and was the top-selling album of 2009 in the U.S. The Fearless Tour, Swift's first headlining concert tour, grossed over $63 million. "", a three-part documentary miniseries, was aired on television and later released on DVD and Blu-ray. Swift also performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban's Escape Together World Tour in 2009.
In 2009, the music video for "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video at the 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 many Internet memes. James Montgomery of MTV argued that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity". 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. The album ranked number 99 on NPR's 2017 list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women. She won Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for "Love Story" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards, where she made a parody video of the song with rapper T-Pain called "Thug Story".
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, "Fearless" was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and "White Horse" was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Swift was the youngest artist to win Album of the Year. During the ceremony, Swift sang "You Belong with Me" and "Rhiannon" with Stevie Nicks, a performance that received negative reviews and caused media backlash. Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub". At the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, Swift won Album of the Year for "Fearless" and was named Entertainer of the Year, the youngest person to win the honor.
Swift featured on John Mayer's single "Half of My Heart" and Boys Like Girls' single "Two Is Better Than One", both of which she co-wrote. She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kellie Pickler, and co-wrote two songs for the —"You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier". She contributed two songs to the "Valentine's Day" soundtrack, including the single "Today Was a Fairytale", which was her first number one on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. While filming her cinematic debut "Valentine's Day" in October 2009, Swift began a romantic relationship with co-star Taylor Lautner; they broke up later that year. "Valentine's Day" saw her play the ditzy girlfriend of a high school jock, a role which received mixed reviews. Swift made her TV acting debut in a 2009 episode of CBS's "", playing a rebellious teenager. Later that year, Swift hosted and performed as the musical guest on an episode of "Saturday Night Live"; she was the first host to write their own opening monologue.
2010–2012: "Speak Now".
In August 2010, Swift released "Mine", the lead single from her third studio album, "Speak Now." It entered the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 at number three. Swift wrote the album alone and co-produced every track. "Speak Now", released on October 25, 2010, debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of one million copies. It became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist, with 278,000 downloads in a week, earning Swift an entry in the 2010 "Guinness World Records". The songs "Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours" were released as singles. All except "The Story of Us" were "Billboard" Hot Country Songs top-three entries, with "Sparks Fly" and "Ours" reaching number one. "Back to December" and "Mean" peaked in the top ten in Canada. Later in 2010, she briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
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. Media publications noted the performance as an improvement from her much criticized 2010 Grammy performance, which served as a testament to her abilities as a musician. 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. At the American Music Awards of 2011, Swift won Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album. "Rolling Stone" placed "Speak Now at" number 45 in its 2012 list of the "50 Best Female Albums of All Time", writing: "She might get played on the country station, but she's one of the few genuine rock stars we've got these days, with a flawless ear for what makes a song click."
The Speak Now World Tour ran from February 2011 to March 2012 and grossed over $123 million. In November 2011, Swift released a live album, "". She contributed two original songs to : "Safe & Sound", co-written and recorded with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, and "Eyes Open". "Safe & Sound" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Swift featured on B.o.B's single "Both of Us", released in May 2012. From July to September 2012, Swift dated political heir Conor Kennedy.
2012–2014: "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 reached the top slot on iTunes' digital song sales chart 50 minutes after its release, earning the Fastest Selling Single in Digital History Guinness World Record. Other singles released from the album include "Begin Again", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time", and "Red". "I Knew You Were Trouble" peaked within the top five on charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. Three singles — "Begin Again", "22", and "Red" — reached the top 20 in the U.S.
"Red" was released on October 22, 2012. On "Red", Swift worked with new producers besides longtime collaborators Nathan Chapman and Liz Rose: Max Martin, Shellback, Dann Huff, Jeff Bhasker, Butch Walker, Dan Wilson, and Jacknife Lee. The album incorporates new genres for Swift, such as heartland rock, dubstep and dance-pop. The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies. This made Swift the first female to have two million-selling album openings, a record recognized by the "Guinness World Records". It was Swift's first number-one album in the U.K. The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and grossed over $150 million, becoming the highest-grossing country tour when it completed.
"Red" had sold eight million copies by 2014. The album earned several accolades, including four nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014. Its single "I Knew You Were Trouble" won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift received American Music Awards for Best Female Country Artist in 2012, and Artist of the Year in 2013. She received the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award for the fifth and sixth consecutive years in 2012 and 2013. Swift was honored by the Association with a special Pinnacle Award, making her the second recipient of the accolade after Garth Brooks. During this time, she had a short-term relationship with English singer Harry Styles.
In 2013, Swift recorded "Sweeter than Fiction", a song she wrote and produced with Jack Antonoff for the "One Chance" film soundtrack. The song received a Best Original Song nomination at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. She provided guest vocals for Tim McGraw's song "Highway Don't Care", featuring guitar work by Keith Urban. Swift performed "As Tears Go By" with the Rolling Stones in Chicago, Illinois as part of the band's 50 & Counting tour. She joined Florida Georgia Line on stage during their set at the 2013 Country Radio Seminar to sing "Cruise". Swift voiced Audrey, a tree lover, in the animated film "The Lorax" (2012), made a cameo in the sitcom "New Girl" (2013), and had a supporting role in the film adaptation of "The Giver" (2014).
2014–2017: "1989".
In March 2014, Swift lived in New York City. Around this time, she was working on her fifth studio album, "1989", with producers Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, Shellback, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. She promoted the album through various campaigns, including inviting fans to secret album-listening sessions. Influenced by 1980s synth-pop, Swift severed ties with the country sound of her previous albums, and marketed "1989" as her "first documented, official pop album". The album was released on October 27, 2014.
"1989" sold 1.28 million copies in the U.S. during the first week of release and debuted atop the "Billboard" 200. This made Swift the first act to have three albums sell more than one million copies in their opening week, for which she earned a Guinness World Record. By June 2017, "1989" had sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Three of its singles — "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar — reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. The singles "Style" and "Wildest Dreams" reached the top 10 in the U.S. Other singles were "Out of the Woods" and "New Romantics". The 1989 World Tour ran from May to December 2015 and was the highest-grossing tour of the year with $250 million in total revenue.
Prior to "1989"s release, Swift stressed the importance of albums to artists and fans. In November 2014, she removed her entire catalog from Spotify, arguing that the streaming company's ad-supported, free service undermined the premium service, which provides higher royalties for songwriters. In a June 2015 open letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during the streaming service's free three-month trial period and stated that she would pull "1989" from the catalog. The following day, Apple announced that it would pay artists during the free trial period, and Swift agreed to stream "1989" on the streaming service. Swift's intellectual property rights management and holding company, TAS Rights Management, filed for 73 trademarks related to Swift and the "1989" era memes. She re-added her entire catalog plus "1989" to Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Play and other digital streaming platforms in June 2017.
Swift was named "Billboard"s Woman of the Year in 2014, becoming the first artist to win the award twice. At the 2014 American Music Awards, Swift received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence. In 2015, Swift won the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist. The video for "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift was one of eight artists to receive a 50th Anniversary Milestone Award at the 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards. At the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016, "1989" won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Blood" won Best Music Video. Swift was the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice as a lead artist.
Swift dated Scottish DJ and record producer Calvin Harris from March 2015 to June 2016. Prior to their breakup, they co-wrote the song "This Is What You Came For", which features vocals from Barbadian singer Rihanna; Swift was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. She subsequently dated English actor Tom Hiddleston for a few months. She began dating English actor Joe Alwyn in September 2016. Swift wrote the song "Better Man" for Little Big Town's seventh album, "The Breaker", which was released in November. The song earned Swift an award for Song of the Year at the 51st CMA Awards. Swift and English singer Zayn Malik released a single together, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", for the of the film "Fifty Shades Darker" (2017). The song reached number two in the U.S and won Best Collaboration at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.
2017–2018: "Reputation".
In August 2017, Swift successfully sued David Mueller, a former morning show personality for Denver's KYGO-FM. Four years earlier, Swift had informed Mueller's bosses that he had sexually assaulted her by groping her at an event. After being fired, Mueller accused Swift of lying and sued her for damages from his loss of employment. Shortly after, Swift counter-sued for sexual assault for nominal damages of only a dollar. The jury rejected Mueller's claims and ruled in favor of Swift. Swift thereafter cleared her social media accounts and released "Look What You Made Me Do" as the lead single from her sixth album, "Reputation". The single was Swift's first number-one U.K. single. It topped charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the U.S.
"Reputation" was released on November 10, 2017. The album incorporates a heavy electropop sound, with hip hop, R&B and EDM influences. It debuted atop the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies. With this achievement, Swift became the first act to have four albums sell one million copies within one week in the U.S. The album topped the charts in the UK, Australia, and Canada. First-week worldwide sales amounted to two million copies. The album had sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. It spawned three other international singles, including the U.S. top-five entry "...Ready for It?", and two U.S. top-20 singles — "End Game" (featuring Ed Sheeran and rapper Future) and "Delicate". Other singles include "New Year's Day", which was exclusively released to U.S. country radio, and "Getaway Car", which was released in Australia only.
In April 2018, Swift featured on Sugarland's "Babe" from their album "Bigger". In support of "Reputation", she embarked on her Reputation Stadium Tour, which ran from May to November 2018. In the U.S., the tour grossed $266.1 million in box office and sold over two million tickets, breaking Swift's own record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour by a woman, which was previously held by her 1989 World Tour in 2015 ($181.5 million). It also broke the record for the highest-grossing North American concert tour in history. Worldwide, the tour grossed $345.7 million, making it the second highest-grossing concert tour of the year. In late November, Big Machine Records released a Reputation Stadium Tour playlist for streaming services. The playlist includes every song performed on B-stages during the Reputation Stadium Tour. On December 31, Swift released her Reputation Stadium Tour's accompanying concert film on Netflix.
"Reputation" was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019. At the American Music Awards of 2018, Swift won four awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. After the 2018 AMAs, Swift garnered a total of 23 awards, becoming the most awarded female musician in AMA history, a record previously held by Whitney Houston.
2018–2020: "Lover" and masters dispute.
"Reputation" was Swift's last album under her 12-year contract with Big Machine Records. In November 2018, she signed a new multi-album deal with Big Machine's distributor Universal Music Group; in the U.S. Her subsequent releases were promoted under the Republic Records imprint. Swift said the contract included a provision for her to maintain ownership of her master recordings. In addition, in the event that Universal sells any part of its stake in Spotify, Spotify agreed to distribute a non-recoupable portion of the proceeds among their artists.
Swift released her seventh studio album, "Lover", on August 23, 2019. Besides longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, Swift worked with new producers Louis Bell, Frank Dukes, and Joel Little. "Lover" was Swift's sixth consecutive album to sell more than 500,000 copies in one week in the U.S., making Swift the first female artist to do so. All 18 songs from the album charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 the same week, setting a record for the most simultaneous entries by a woman. The lead single, "Me!", debuted at number 100 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and rose to number two a week later, scoring the biggest single-week jump in chart history. Other singles from "Lover" were the U.S. top-10 singles "You Need to Calm Down" and "Lover", and U.S. top-40 single "The Man".
"Lover" was the world's best-selling studio album of 2019, selling 3.2 million copies. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) honored Swift as the global best-selling artist of 2019. This made Swift the first woman to win the honor twice; she had previously won in 2014. The album earned accolades, including three nominations at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020. At the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, "Me!" won Best Visual Effects, and "You Need to Calm Down" won Video of the Year and Video for Good. Swift was the first female and second artist overall to win Video of the Year for a video that they directed. Swift won six awards at the 2019 American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Artist of the Decade.
Swift played Bombalurina in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats" (2019). She recorded an original song called "Beautiful Ghosts", which she wrote with Webber for the film's soundtrack. Although critics reviewed the film negatively, Swift's role received positive feedback. The documentary "Miss Americana", which chronicles part of Swift's life and career, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix on January 31, 2020. "Miss Americana" features the song "Only the Young", which Swift wrote after the 2018 United States elections. In February 2020, Swift signed an exclusive global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group, after her 16-year-old contract with Sony/ATV Music Publishing expired.
During promotion for "Lover" in 2019, Swift became embroiled in a publicized dispute with talent manager Scooter Braun and her former label Big Machine, regarding the acquisition of the masters of her back catalog. Swift stated she had been trying to buy the masters for years, but Big Machine only allowed her to do so if she exchanged a new album for an older one under another contract, which she chose not to. In April 2020, Big Machine released "Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008", a live album of Swift's performances at a 2008 radio show, which Swift did not authorize. In October, Braun sold Swift's masters, videos and artworks, to Shamrock Holdings for a reported $300 million. Swift began re-recording her back catalog in November 2020.
2020–present: "Folklore", "Evermore" and re-recordings.
In 2020, Swift released two surprise albums with little promotion. The first, her eighth studio album "Folklore", was released on July 24. The second, her ninth studio album "Evermore", was released on December 11. Swift wrote and recorded the albums while in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, working with producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner from the National. Both albums feature collaborations with Bon Iver, and "Evermore" features collaborations with the National and Haim. Swift co-wrote some songs with her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, under the pseudonym William Bowery. Described by Swift and Dessner as "sister records", both albums embrace an indie folk and alternative rock production, a departure from the previous upbeat pop releases.
In the U.S., "Folklore" and "Evermore" were each supported by three singles — one to mainstream radio, one to country radio, and one to triple A radio. The singles in that order were "Cardigan", "Betty", "Exile" (featuring Bon Iver); and "Willow", "No Body, No Crime" (featuring Haim), "Coney Island" (featuring the National); respectively. In Germany, "Folklore" was supported by another single, "The 1". The lead singles from each album, "Cardigan" and "Willow", debuted atop the "Billboard" Hot 100 the same week their parent albums debuted atop the "Billboard" 200, making Swift the first artist to debut atop both the U.S. singles and albums charts simultaneously. Both albums sold over one million units worldwide in its first week, with "Folklore" selling two million. "Folklore" broke the record for first-day album streams by a female artist on streaming platform Spotify, a record registered in the "Guinness World Records". It was the best-selling album of 2020 in the U.S., having sold 1.2 million copies by January 2021.
On November 25, Swift released the self-directed concert film "", documenting the making of "Folklore", on Disney+. At the 2020 American Music Awards, she won three awards, including Artist of the Year for a record third consecutive time. Swift received six nominations at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, winning Album of the Year. She is the first woman in history to win the award three times.
In February 2021, Swift was featured on Haim's single "Gasoline" from the expanded edition of Haim's 2020 album "Women in Music Pt. III". The re-recorded issue of Swift's 2008 album "Fearless", titled "Fearless (Taylor's Version)", was released on April 9, 2021, and subsequently debuted at number one in the US. It was preceded by "Love Story (Taylor's Version)", the re-recorded version of her original 2008 rendition, and two new tracks, "You All Over Me" with Maren Morris and "Mr. Perfectly Fine".
Artistry.
Influences.
One of Swift's earliest musical memories is listening to her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, sing in church. As a child, she enjoyed Disney film soundtracks: "My parents noticed that, once I had run out of words, I would just make up my own". Swift has said she owes her confidence to her mother, who helped her prepare for class presentations as a child. She also attributes her "fascination with writing and storytelling" to her mother. Swift was drawn to the storytelling aspect of country music, and was introduced to the genre listening to "the great female country artists of the '90s"—Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and the Dixie Chicks." Twain, both as a songwriter and performer, was her biggest musical influence. Hill was Swift's childhood role model: "Everything she said, did, wore, I tried to copy it". She admired the Dixie Chicks' defiant attitude and their ability to play their own instruments. The band's "Cowboy Take Me Away" was the first song Swift learned to play on the guitar. Swift also explored the music of older country stars, including Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. She believes Parton is "an amazing example to every female songwriter out there". Alt-country artists like Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna have also inspired Swift.
Swift has also been influenced by various pop and rock artists. She lists Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, and Carly Simon as her career role models. Discussing McCartney and Harris, Swift has said, "They've taken chances, but they've also been the same artist for their entire careers". McCartney, both as a Beatle and a solo artist, makes Swift feel "as if I've been let into his heart and his mind [...] He's out there continuing to make his fans so happy. Any musician could only dream of a legacy like that." She likes Springsteen for being "so musically relevant after such a long period of time". She aspires to be like Harris as she grows older because of prioritizing music over fame. Swift says of Kristofferson that he "shines in songwriting", and admires Simon for being "an emotional" but "a strong person". Her synth-pop album "1989" was influenced by some of her favorite 1980s pop acts, including Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Phil Collins and Madonna. As a songwriter, Swift was influenced by Joni Mitchell for her autobiographical lyrics conveying the deepest emotions: "She wrote it about her deepest pains and most haunting demons ... I think ["Blue"] is my favorite because it explores somebody's soul so deeply."
Musical style and voice.
Swift's music consists primarily of elements of pop, synth-pop, country, country pop, rock, alternative rock, indie and folk. Her works also incorporate R&B, EDM, hip hop and trap. Musical instruments that she plays include guitar, piano, banjo and ukulele. Swift described herself as a country artist until the release of "1989" (2014), which she characterized as her first "sonically cohesive pop album". "Rolling Stone" wrote, "[Swift] might get played on the country station, but she's one of the few genuine rock stars we've got these days." According to "The New York Times", "There isn't much in Ms. Swift's music to indicate country—a few banjo strums, a pair of cowboy boots worn onstage, a bedazzled guitar—but there's something in her winsome, vulnerable delivery that's unique to Nashville." "The Guardian" wrote that Swift "cranks melodies out with the pitiless efficiency of a Scandinavian pop factory."
Swift possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Her singing voice was described by Sophie Schillaci of "The Hollywood Reporter" as "sweet, but soft" and "Pitchfork"'s Sam Sodomsky as "versatile and expressive". The "Los Angeles Times" identified Swift's "defining" vocal gesture in studio recordings as "the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow, giving her beloved girl-time hits their air of easy intimacy". "Rolling Stone", in a "Speak Now" review, wrote: "Swift's voice is unaffected enough to mask how masterful she has become as a singer; she lowers her voice for the payoff lines in the classic mode of a shy girl trying to talk tough." In another review of "Speak Now", "The Village Voice" wrote that her phrasing was previously "bland and muddled, but that's changed. She can still sound strained and thin, and often strays into a pitch that drives some people crazy; but she's learned how to make words sound like what they mean." NPR Music described her singing as personal and conversational thanks to her "exceptional gift for inflection", but also suffers from a "wobbly pitch and tight, nasal delivery". "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that her live vocals are "fine", but they do not match those of her peers. Swift has been credited for refusing to correct her pitch with Auto-Tune.
A writer for "The Tennessean" conceded in 2010 that Swift was "not the best technical singer", but described her as the "best communicator that we've got". Her vocal ability is something that has often concerned Swift and she has "put a lot of work" into improving it. It was reported in 2010 that she continues to receive vocal coaching. She has said she only feels nervous performing live "if I'm not sure what the audience thinks of me, like at award shows". In 2021, critics from "The New York Times" noted that her voice became stronger, more controlled, and deeper over time, discarding the nasal tone of her early vocals. A "Clash" critic opined that Swift's vocals have evolved "into her own unique blend of country, pop and indie".
Songwriting.
In an interview with "The New Yorker", Swift characterized herself primarily as a songwriter: "I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across." In her early songs, Swift's life experiences were a common inspiration. Employing a "diaristic" approach, Swift began writing a song by identifying an emotion before proceeding with the melody. She described songwriting as a way to help her "get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up". Recurring themes were love and romance. Her debut album depicts infatuation from the perspective of a high school teenage girl, a theme that continued on "Fearless", which features fairy tale imagery to explore the disconnect between fantasy and reality. On "Speak Now", Swift explored negative emotions ensuing from lost romance. She delved into the tumult of toxic relationships on "Red" and embraced nostalgia and positivity after failed relationships on "1989". "Reputation" was inspired by the media scrutiny surrounding Swift, and "Lover" detailed her realization of the "full spectrum of love". Besides romance, other themes addressed in Swift's music include parent-child relationships, friendships, alienation, and self-awareness.
Swift's confessional narratives received critical praise. Discussing Swift's first three albums, "New York" magazine remarked that many singer-songwriters have made great records as teens, but "none made great records so explicitly about their teens". "Rolling Stone" described Swift as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture". Although reviews of Swift are "almost uniformly positive", "The New Yorker" stated she was generally portrayed "more as a skilled technician than as a Dylanesque visionary". "The Village Voice" argued that Swift's "iceberg songs" were "not confessional, but dramatic", and commended Swift for creating "characters and situationssome from lifeand [finding] potent ways to describe them".
Tabloid media often speculated and linked the subjects of the songs with ex-lovers of Swift, a practice which "New York" considered "sexist, inasmuch as it's not asked of her male peers". Aside from clues provided in album liner notes, Swift tried not to talk about song subjects specifically "because these are real people. You try to give insight as to where you were coming from as a writer without completely throwing somebody under the bus". In a 2013 interview with "Vanity Fair", Swift responded to criticism on her songwriting: "For a female to write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that's taking something that potentially should be celebrateda woman writing about her feelings in a confessional waythat's taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist."
On her 2020 albums "Folklore" and "Evermore", Swift was inspired by escapism and romanticism to explore fictional narratives. Without referencing her personal life, she imposed her emotions onto imagined characters and story arcs, which liberated her from the mental stress caused by tabloid attention and suggested new paths for her artistry. In a feature for "Rolling Stone", Swift explained that she welcomed the new songwriting direction after she stopped worrying about commercial success: "I always thought, 'That'll never track on pop radio,' but when I was making "Folklore", I thought, 'If you take away all the parameters, what do you make?" With the release of "Evermore", "Spin" found Swift exploring "exceedingly complex human emotions with precision and devastation".
Music videos.
Swift has collaborated with many different directors to produce her music videos, and over time she has become more involved with writing and directing. She has her own production house, Taylor Swift Productions, Inc., which is credited with producing music videos for singles such as "Me!", and is known for hiding elaborate clues and easter eggs in most of her work. In 2010, Swift co-directed the music video for "Mine" with Roman White. In 2011, she continued to collaborate with White on the music videos for "Mean" and "Ours". Swift developed the concept and treatment for "Mean". In an interview, White elaborated that Swift "was keenly involved in writing the treatment, casting and wardrobe. And she stayed for both the 15-hour shooting days, even when she wasn't in the scenes." Swift wrote the concept for the "Ours" music video and then brought in White to direct, describing her vision of both videos as being "storylines".
From 2014 to 2018, Swift collaborated with director Joseph Kahn on eight music videos—four each from her albums "1989" and "Reputation". Kahn has praised Swift's involvement in the craft. In 2016, Swift worked with American Express for her "Blank Space" music video (which Kahn directed), and released the interactive app "AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience". Swift received starring and executive producer credit, and in 2015 won a Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interactive Program category for the app. She received producing credit in her music video for "Bad Blood". Swift developed the concept, wrote the treatment for, and starred in the music video for the Sugarland song "Babe" (2018). She has emerged as a music video director, co-directing the music videos for three "Lover" singles: "Me!" with Dave Meyers, and "You Need to Calm Down" and "Lover" with Drew Kirsch. She co-executive produced the second of them with Todrick Hall. She was the sole director of the videos for "The Man", for which Swift won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction in 2020; "Cardigan"; and "Willow".
Public image.
Swift's personal life is the subject of widespread media attention. In 2013, Abercrombie & Fitch first marketed, then withdrew after fan backlash, a T-shirt with the slut-shaming slogan "more boyfriends than t.s.". "The New York Times" asserted in 2013 that her "dating history has begun to stir what feels like the beginning of a backlash". They questioned whether Swift was in the midst of a "quarter-life crisis". Swift is unwilling to publicly discuss her personal life; she believes that talking about it can be "a career weakness". In the "1989" single "Blank Space", Swift parodies her media own perception of "a girl who's crazy but seductive but glamorous but nuts but manipulative" surrounding her relationships.
"Rolling Stone" remarked upon her polite manner: "If this is Swift's game face, it must be tattooed on because it never drops", and noted her "ease with glad-handing". "The Hollywood Reporter" described Swift as "the Best People Person since Bill Clinton". While presenting Swift with an award for her humanitarian endeavors in 2012, Michelle Obama described her as an artist who "has rocketed to the top of the music industry but still keeps her feet on the ground, someone who has shattered every expectation of what a 22-year-old can accomplish". Swift considers Obama to be a role model. According to "The New York Times" and marketing executive Matt B. Britton, Swift's business savvy has helped her "excel as an authentic personality who establishes direct connections with her audience", "touch as many people as possible", and "generate a kind of advocacy and excitement that no level of advertising could".
Swift is one of the most-followed people on social media; as of April 2021, she has approximately 153 million followers on Instagram, 88.6 million followers on Twitter and 42.1 million subscribers on YouTube. She is known for her frequent and friendly online interactions with her fans. She has visited fans in hospitals and delivered holiday gifts to them by mail and in person, an event dubbed "Swiftmas", and considers it her "responsibility" to be conscious of her influence on young fans. She has called her relationship with her fans "the longest and best" she has ever had. Often labeled by the media as "America's Sweetheart", a sobriquet based on her down-to-earth personality and girl-next-door image, Swift insists she does not "live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free". She refused to take part in overtly sexualized photo shoots, although "Bloomberg" views her as a sex symbol. She has been recognized as a fashion icon; "Vogue" named her an Icon of American Style in 2011. In 2014, she topped "People"s annual best-dressed list. In 2015, she was named Woman of the Year at the "Elle" Style Awards and ranked first on "Maxim"s Hot 100 list. "Vogue" regards Swift as one of the world's most influential figures in sustainable fashion.
Impact.
Swift's early career as a country singer-songwriter plays an important role in shaping the modern country music scene. "New York" journalist Jody Rosen asserts that Swift is the first country artist whose fame reaches the world beyond the U.S. Following Swift's rise to fame, country labels have become more interested in signing young singers who write their own music. With her autobiographical narratives revolving around romance and heartbreak, Swift introduces the genre to a younger generation that could relate to her personal struggles. "Rolling Stone" listed Swift's country music as one of the biggest influences on 2010s pop music, and ranked her 80th in the list of 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time. "Quartz" considered Swift as the most important artist of the millennial era. Her onstage performance with guitars contributed to the "Taylor Swift factor", a phenomenon to which media outlets attribute the rise in guitar sales to women, a previously ignored demographic.
Publications consider Swift's million-selling albums in the 2010s an anomaly in the streaming-dominated music industry, following the decline of the album era. She is the only artist to have four albums sell over a million copies within one week since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales for the "Billboard" 200 in 1991. For "New York" magazine, Swift's million sales figures prove that she is "the one bending the music industry to her will". According to "Rolling Stone", Swift's opposition to low-royalty streaming services and efforts to claim ownership to her masters were two of the defining moments for the music industry in the 2010s decade. Her actions have fostered debate over reforms to on-demand music streaming and prompted awareness of intellectual property rights among younger musicians.
Swift was named Woman of the Decade of the 2010s by "Billboard" and became the first woman to earn the title Artist of the Decade (2010s) at the American Music Awards. She won the BRIT Global Icon award "in recognition of her immense impact on music across the world". Swift and her work have influenced various recording artists, including Ruth B., Shamir Bailey, Kelsea Ballerini, Priscilla Block, Bailey Bryan, Camila Cabello, Sabrina Carpenter, Sofia Carson, The Chainsmokers, Daya, Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding, Conan Gray, Griff, Halsey, Niall Horan, Little Mix, Shawn Mendes, Soccer Mommy, Maren Morris, Nina Nesbitt, Niki, Finneas O'Connell, Maisie Peters, Girl in Red, Freya Ridings, Olivia Rodrigo, Tegan and Sara, Troye Sivan, Hayley Williams, The Vamps, and Zahara.
Awards and achievements.
Swift has won 11 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins—the most for a female artist), an Emmy Award, 32 American Music Awards (most wins by an artist), 23 "Billboard" Music Awards (most wins by a female artist), 32 Guinness World Records, 12 Country Music Association Awards (including the Pinnacle Award), eight Academy of Country Music Awards, and two Brit Awards. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and was the youngest person included on "Rolling Stone" list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015. At the 64th BMI Awards in 2016, Swift was the first woman to be honored with an award named after its recipient. Her albums "Red" and "1989" featured on "Rolling Stone"'s 2020 revision of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Swift has sold over 50 million albums, including 37.3 million in the U.S., and 150 million singles worldwide. She has amassed more than 114 million units in global album consumption, which includes 78 billion streams, as of May 2021. In 2019, "Billboard" placed her eighth on its Greatest of All Time Artists Chart. Swift is the longest-reigning act of "Billboard" Artist 100 with 44 weeks at number one on the chart, the woman with the most cumulative weeks (50) atop the "Billboard" 200, the woman with the most "Billboard" Hot 100 entries in history (129), and the artist with the most number-one singles on Digital Songs chart (22). She is the second-highest-certified female digital singles artist (and third overall) in the U.S., with 134 million total units certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the first female artist to have both an album ("Fearless") and a song ("Shake It Off") certified Diamond. Swift broke the record for the highest-grossing North American tour of all time with her Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), and is the world's highest-grossing female touring act of the 2010s decade. She has the millennium's most number one albums in Ireland and the United Kingdom for a female artist.
Swift has appeared in various power listings. "Time" included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010, 2015, and 2019. She was one of the "Silence Breakers" who spoke up about sexual assault, and were honored as "Time" Person of the Year in 2017. From 2011 to 2020, she appeared in the top three on the "Forbes" Top-Earning Women in Music list, topping the list in 2016 and 2019. She also topped the magazine's list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities in 2016 with $170 million—a feat recognized by the "Guinness World Records"—and again in 2019 with $185 million. In 2014, she was named to "Forbes"' 30 Under 30 list in the music category and again in 2017 in its "All-Star Alumni" category. In 2015, Swift became the youngest woman to be included on "Forbes" list of the 100 most powerful women, ranked at number 64. In June 2019, "Forbes" estimated Swift's net worth at $360 million. Swift was the most googled female music artist of 2019 and the highest-paid female musician of the 2010s with earnings of $825 million.
Other ventures.
Philanthropy.
Swift's philanthropic efforts have been recognized by the Do Something Awards and the Tennessee Disaster Services. She has received The Big Help Award for her "dedication to helping others" and "inspiring others through action" and the Ripple of Hope Award for her "dedication to advocacy at such a young age". In 2008, she donated $100,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Iowa flood. Swift has performed at charity relief events including Sydney's Sound Relief concert. She also recorded a song for the "Hope for Haiti Now" album. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a telethon hosted by WSMV. In 2011, Swift used a dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour as a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the U.S., raising more than $750,000. In 2016, she donated $1 million to Louisiana flood relief efforts and $100,000 to the Dolly Parton Fire Fund. Swift donated to the Houston Food Bank after Hurricane Harvey struck the city in 2017. In 2020, she donated $1 million for Tennessee tornado relief.
Swift is a supporter of the arts. She is a benefactor of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and, in 2010, donated $75,000 to Nashville's Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium. In 2012, she pledged $4 million to fund the building of a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. That year, she also partnered with textbook rental company Chegg to donate $60,000 to the music departments of six US colleges. In 2013, Swift donated $100,000 to the Nashville Symphony. Swift also promotes children's literacy; in 2009, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country to improve education. She also donated thousands of books to the Reading Public Library in Pennsylvania, the Nashville Public Library in Tennessee, and New York City schools.
In 2007, Swift partnered with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. In 2009, Swift recorded a Sound Matters public service announcement (PSA) to raise awareness for the importance of listening "responsibly" to prevent hearing impairment. She has donated items to several charities for auction, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the UNICEF Tap Project, MusiCares, and Feeding America. As recipient of the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. In 2012, Swift participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, performing "Ronan", a song she wrote in memory of a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma. The song was made available for digital download with all proceeds donated to cancer-related charities. She has also worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. In 2014, she donated $100,000 to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and $50,000 to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Swift has encouraged young people to volunteer in their local communities as part of Global Youth Service Day.
Swift donated to American singer-songwriter Kesha to help with her legal battles against Dr. Luke and to actress Mariska Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation organization. In 2019, she donated $113,000 to the LGBT organization Tennessee Equality Project, as well as to the media advocacy organization GLAAD in support of Pride Month. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift donated to the World Health Organization and Feeding America and offered one of her signed guitars as part of an auction to raise money for the National Health Service. Swift performed "Soon You'll Get Better" during "One World: Together At Home" television special, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga for Global Citizen to raise funds for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. In June 2020, she donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in light of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement and urged fans to do the same. In 2021, Swift donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. As well as charitable causes, she has made donations to many of her fans.
Politics and activism.
Swift identifies as a feminist and pro-choice. She has been recognized as a feminist icon by numerous media outlets. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Swift promoted the Every Woman Counts campaign, aimed at engaging women in the political process. She was one of many country stars to record a PSA for the Vote (For Your) Country campaign. During her acceptance speech at the "Billboard" Women in Music summit in 2019, she spoke out against sexism and misogyny. She was one of the founding signatories of the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment. Swift has also spoken out against LGBT discrimination. Following the 2008 murder of openly gay teenager Larry King, she recorded a GLSEN PSA aimed at combating hate crimes. The music video for Swift's anti-bullying song "Mean" deals in part with homophobia in high schools; it was nominated for an MTV VMA social activism award in 2011. After the Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016, Swift penned a letter to honor the victims. She encouraged support for the Equality Act in a letter addressed to Senator Lamar Alexander and a petition on Change.org, which accumulated over 800,000 signatures and responses from the White House and various Democratic legislators. Swift called on the Trump administration to pass the Equality Act at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards and during Pride Live's 2020 Stonewall Day livestream event, where she criticized the 2020 U.S. Census for excluding transgender and non-binary people.
Swift avoided discussing politics in her early career, but she has become politically active since the 2018 United States elections. She has supported the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the U.S. She endorsed candidates for public office for the first time ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, declaring her support for Democrats Jim Cooper and Phil Bredesen to represent Tennessee in the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. In her endorsement, Swift expressed her desire for greater LGBT rights and gender and racial equality, condemned systemic racism, and encouraged her fans to vote according to their personal values. In August 2020, Swift urged her fans to check their voter registration ahead of elections. Vote.org reported that 65,000 people had registered to vote within 24 hours of Swift's post, an unprecedented surge even accounting for usual registration increases as deadlines approach. She endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 United States presidential election and was found to be one of the most influential celebrities in the polls. She lent her song "Only the Young" for use in an advertisement to increase voter turnout.
Swift is a vocal critic of white supremacy, systemic racism, and police brutality in the U.S. In May 2020, she called for justice in the deaths of African-American men Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. Swift shared resources to support the Black Lives Matter movement and an essay written by former President Barack Obama on policy change in the wake of the George Floyd protests, advocating for mail-in voting for the 2020 U.S. elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. She called for the removal of racist Confederate monuments in Tennessee and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.
Product endorsements.
While promoting her debut album, Swift appeared as the face of Verizon Wireless' Mobile Music campaign. In the "Fearless" era, she launched a l.e.i. sundress range at Walmart, and designed American Greetings cards and Jakks Pacific dolls. She became a spokesperson for the National Hockey League's (NHL) Nashville Predators and Sony Cyber-shot digital cameras. She released a special edition of her album "Speak Now" through Target. Swift became a CoverGirl spokesmodel and launched two Elizabeth Arden fragrances—Wonderstruck and Wonderstruck Enchanted.
While promoting her fourth album, "Red", Swift offered exclusive album promotions through Target, Papa John's Pizza, and Walgreens. She became a spokesmodel for Diet Coke, and Keds sneakers, released her third Elizabeth Arden fragrance, named Taylor by Taylor Swift, and continued her partnerships with Sony Electronics and American Greetings. Swift released her fourth fragrance, Taylor by Taylor Swift: Made of Starlight, and partnered with the companies AirAsia and Qantas during the Red Tour. The companies acted as the official airlines for the Australian and Asian legs; Cornetto sponsored the Asian leg of the tour. While promoting "1989", Swift had tie-ins with Subway, Keds, Target, Xfinity, and Diet Coke. In 2014, Swift released her fifth fragrance, Incredible Things. In 2016, she worked with Apple Music to release a series of three commercials.
Swift signed a multi-year deal with AT&T in 2016. She later headlined DirecTV's "Super Saturday Night" event on the eve of the 2017 Super Bowl. While promoting "Reputation", Swift released a series of behind-the-scenes videos showing the album recording process through DirecTV. In 2018, Swift released two commercials for AT&T. The same year, Swift partnered with UPS as an official delivery partner for "Reputation" and Fujifilm on a special-edition autographed Instax camera, which includes a selfie-mode and double exposure. The cameras showed massive growth in sales after partnership with Swift. In 2019, Swift signed a multi-year partnership with Capital One, and released a sustainable clothing line with Stella McCartney.
Discography.
Studio albums