Tabla de contenidos para PEOPLE Taylor Swift en People

TAYLOR SWIFT: FEARLESS SUPERSTAR

As Taylor Swift herself would put it: She’s got a lot going on at the moment. She started 2023 with a 12th Grammy win, this one for directing the short film for “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).” The award was a change of pace after previously earning three Album of the Year honors—a first among female artists. Then her Eras tour began playing to sold-out stadiums across America; it will visit four more continents starting later this year. At each stop she powers through three-hour shows that trace her evolving musical moods. “It’s not just a tour; I just sort of feel like my life finally feels like it makes sense,” Swift said of the journey. This special edition of People, all about Taylor Swift, travels a similar path,…

2 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Wildest Dreams

BORN DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN 1989, Taylor Swift was named after her mother’s favorite singer, James Taylor. Parents Scott and Andrea, whose careers in finance made them a comfortable living, raised Taylor and her younger brother Austin (born in 1992) in West Reading, Pa., on a Christmas tree farm purchased from a client. When young Taylor wasn’t picking praying-mantis pods out of the trees for pocket money, she was horseback riding or dreaming up fairy tales. “I had the most magical childhood,” she told Rolling Stone in 2009, “running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head.” The Swifts assumed their daughter would follow them into the business world, but instead she fell under the spell of her grandmother Marjorie, an opera singer who had hosted a music…

6 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Begin Again

WITH HER NEXT ALBUM, 2012’S Red, Taylor Swift aimed, she said, to go outside her comfort zone, collaborating with new people (Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody) and exploring new sounds. That meant leaving behind some of her old sound, and the effort alienated parts of the country music establishment, which had twice named her Country Entertainer of the Year. The first single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” coproduced by Max Martin and Shellback (then best known for working with Britney Spears), had a modest debut at No. 13 on the country chart, based on radio play. “Country radio has been a little taken aback,” admitted Scott Borchetta, head of Swift’s then label, Big Machine. Only after Billboard started including streaming sales did the song soar to…

6 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Pet Projects

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1 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Masthead

PEOPLE President Leah Wyar Editor Wendy Naugle VP/Group General Manager, Digital Zoe Ruderman Creative Director Andrea Dunham Director of Photography Ilana Schweber Director of Editorial Operations Alexandra Brez PEOPLE BOOKS Editor Allison Adato Art Director Greg Monfries Contributing Art Director Lisa Kennedy Senior Photo Editor C. Tiffany Lee Contributing Photo Editor Louis Pearlman Writers Melody Chiu, Jessica Derschowitz, Dave Karger, Jordan Runtagh Reporters Mary Hart, Daniel S. Levy Copy Desk Joanann Scali (Chief), James Bradley (Deputy), Gabrielle Danchick, Rich Donnelly, Shakthi Jothianandan, Dan Morrissey, Matt Weingarden (Copy Editors) Production Designer Lori Cervone Premedia Trafficking Supervisor Taylor Thomas Premedia Imaging Specialist Paige E. King Color Quality Analyst John Santucci PEOPLE Public Relations Marnie Perez DOTDASH MEREDITH PREMIUM PUBLISHING Vice President & General Manager Jeremy Biloon Vice President, Group Editorial Director…

1 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Cool Summer: An Eras Tour Photo Album

‘I SEE ME PADDING CROSS YOUR WOODEN FLOORS, WITH MY EAGLES T-SHIRT HANGING FROM THE DOOR’—FROM ‘GOLD RUSH,’ 2020 ‘I FEEL THE LAVENDER HAZE CREEPIN’ UP ON ME/ SURREAL, I’M DAMNED IF I DO GIVE A DAMN WHAT PEOPLE SAY’—FROM ‘LAVENDER HAZE,’ 2022 ‘THANKS FOR THE DUETS AND THE DRESSING ROOM HEART-TO-HEARTS’—TAYLOR SWIFT TO PHOEBE BRIDGERS AFTER THEIR FINAL ERAS APPEARANCE, VIA INSTAGRAM ‘IT’S OKAY, BABY, YOU AIN’T GOTTA WORRY, KARMA NEVER GETS LAZY …’—‘KARMA,’ 2022, TAYLOR SWIFT, FEAT. ICE SPICE…

2 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Ready for It?

“NOBODY IN COUNTRY MUSIC ‘made it’ the same way,” 17-year-old Taylor Swift told CMT in 2007, just a year after the release of her debut album. “There’s no blueprint for success, and sometimes you just have to work at it.” Taylor herself had been working at it since she was a child, and it was finally paying off. As newly anointed Nashville royalty, she went from singing about Tim McGraw to serenading him at award shows. Reba McEntire sent her a postcard, which she proudly displayed in her bedroom. Brad Paisley personally selected Taylor to open for him on his tour, joining a lengthy list of legends she’d supported, including Rascal Flatts, George Strait, McGraw and Faith Hill. Taylor spent much of that year on the road—“I’m home two or…

6 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Doing It Her Way

As anyone who has ever listened to a Taylor Swift album can tell you: Intense relationships that end rarely end well. At just 15, Swift landed her first record deal with Scott Borchetta, who had recently started his own Nashville-based label, Big Machine. The young talent invited him to hear her play at a local coffeehouse and became his label’s first act, and together they released a string of six wildly successful albums. In an arrangement typical for new artists, Swift entered into a contract giving Big Machine ownership of those albums’ original recordings, called “masters.” When the contract expired in 2018, Swift, by then a 28-year-old superstar, struck a landmark deal with a new label, Universal Music Group, that would let her own her future masters and guaranteed that…

4 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

How Well Do You Know Taylor?

1 Which of these is not one of Taylor’s cats’ names? ❏ A. Olivia Benson ❏ B. Olivia Pope ❏ C. Benjamin Button ❏ D. Meredith Grey 2 In the video for “22,” Taylor is wearing a T-shirt that says: ❏ A. “Junior Jewels” ❏ B. “No It’s Becky” ❏ C. “Not a Lot Going on at the Moment” ❏ D. “22” 3 What was the original title of Taylor’s 2010 album Speak Now? ❏ A. Story of Us ❏ B. Mine ❏ C. Enchanted ❏ D. Better ThanRevenge 4 WHAT WAS TAYLOR’S JOB ON HER PARENTS’ CHRISTMAS TREE FARM? ❏ A. Singing carols to customers ❏ B. Picking praying-mantis pods off the trees ❏ C. Tying red ribbons to wreaths ❏ D. Mixing marshmallows into hot cocoa 5 Who was Taylor named after?…

2 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Today (Taylor’s Version)

I counted days, I counted milesTo see you there, to see you thereIt’s been a long time coming, butIt’s you and me, that’s my whole world THE LINES ARE FROM “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” the song Taylor Swift played to kick off each night of her Eras tour. They acknowledge to sold-out audiences that it was, indeed, a long time coming both for the star and for her fans, many of whom had waited five years, since 2018’s Reputation tour, to see her play live. (A planned 2020 outing was canceled because of the pandemic.) In the ensuing years Swift released four new albums and rerecorded three earlier ones and evolved beyond mere pop icon into one who stood for artists’ rights, for women and girls claiming their…

5 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Almost Fearless

When Taylor Swift was named an Entertainer of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, she spoke with People’s sister publication. Following are excerpts from that December 2010 story. You know you’re a pop culture force when you straighten your hair and it makes national headlines. “I thought it was so amusing,” Taylor Swift marvels about the attention placed on her non-wavy tresses at Nov. 21’s American Music Awards. “Nobody knew it was me.” And so 2010 will go down in history as the year we all saw Taylor Swift differently. The 20-year-old kicked things off with a No. 2 single debut (“Today Was a Fairytale”), a hit movie (Valentine’s Day) and four Grammy wins, including Album of the Year for her 2008 album Fearless. But there was one achievement—the Oct. 25…

5 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Taylor Talks

Just as she was turning 30 at the end of 2019, Taylor Swift made history by beating Michael Jackson’s record of 24 wins at the American Music Awards, where she was honored as Artist of the Decade. She spoke with People ahead of the release of her seventh album, Lover. “This is the first time I’ve been able to put out music that I feel is connecting with people yet look back on everything I’ve made and feel a quiet sense of pride,” she said then. “I’m proud of the things I’ve withstood, and I’ve been able to carve out a life for myself.” ‘WITH EVERY GUITAR STRING SCAR ON MY HAND, I TAKE THIS MAGNETIC FORCE OF A MAN TO BE MY LOVER’—‘LOVER,’ 2019 You’ve had a lot of…

5 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Speak Now

“A CELEBRATION OF LOVE in all its complexity, coziness and chaos” is how Taylor Swift described her seventh album, Lover. It was also, she added, “the first album of mine that I’ve ever owned.” Turning 30 that year and releasing music under her current deal with UMG’s Republic Records marked the start of a new stage for the singer-songwriter. More mature, yes, but there was also a lightness and joy, evident after the darker, drama-filled songs of Reputation. Where that 2017 album was wrapped in somber black-and-white gothic type and snake motifs, Lover is bright pastels and looping script. From the levity of songs like lead single “ME!” to the vulnerability that comes with falling in love (“Cornelia Street”) and letting love go (“Cruel Summer”), Swift reflected on love in…

6 min.

People|PEOPLE Taylor Swift

Credits

FRONT COVER Casey Flanigan/imageSPACE/ MediaPunch/Alamy TITLE PAGE Lisa Lake/TAS23/Getty Images TABLE OF CONTENTS (from left) courtesy Roberto Cavalli/MEGA(3); Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty Images COOL SUMMER: AN ERAS TOUR PHOTO ALBUM 4-5 (from left) Natasha Moustache/TAS23/Getty Images; 6-7 (clockwise from left) Lisa Lake/TAS23/Getty Images; John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images; Taylor Hill/TAS23/Getty Images; 10-11 (clockwise from top left) Terence Rushin/TAS23/Getty Images; Ethan Miller/TAS23/Getty Images; Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/The New York Times/Redux; Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/Zuma; Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty Images; Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/Zuma; 12-13 John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images(3); 14-15 (clockwise from left: Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty Images; Casey Flanigan/imageSPACE/Shutterstock; Natasha Moustache/TAS23/Getty Images; John Medina/Getty Images; Bob Levey/TAS23/Getty Images; 16-17 John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images TODAY (TAYLOR’S VERSION) 18-19 Christopher Polk/Variety/Getty Images; 20-21 (clockwise from right) Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Johnny Nunez/Getty Images; John Shearer/Getty Images; Francis Specker/CBS/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; 22-23 Backgrid USA;…

3 min.