
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. She spent her early years at Pine Ridge Farm in nearby Cumru Township and in Wyomissing before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to become a country singer. In the early 2010s, she transitioned from country to pop music. She is the first artist to win four Album of the Year awards and the first to simultaneously hold all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea and Scott Swift. Her mother worked at an advertising agency and her father at Merrill Lynch. She lived at Pine Ridge Farm, an 11-acre Christmas tree farm in nearby Cumru Township, with her younger brother, Austin. In a 2014 interview with Esquire Magazine, she recalled, "[A Christmas tree farm] was such a weird place to grow up. But it has cemented in me this unnatural level of excitement about ... the holiday season." Released in 2019, her song "Christmas Tree Farm" reminiscences about her time at Pine Ridge and its music video includes home videos of her celebrating the holidays there. Her family later moved to Wyomissing. She attended the Alvernia Montessori School (now the Wake Forest Montessori Preschool) in Wyomissing, the Wyndcroft School in Pottstown, and the Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.
From a young age, Swift was drawn to music. In a 2008 interview with County Music Televison News, she said, "Music was always subliminally the thing that drew my attention." She started performing with the Berks Youth Theatre Academy in Reading. At the age of nine, while attending a Reading Fightin Phils game with the theater, she unexpectedly sang the national anthem after the scheduled singer did not show. She performed the national anthem again later that season and the following year. In 2007, the team’s front office helped sponsor her first solo headlining concert at the Santander Performing Arts Center.
During her early performances, Swift noticed her singing sounded country. After watching biographies about Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks, and LeAnn Rimes, she decided to go to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a record deal. She visited the city at the age of 11 to hand out her demo but returned home without a contract. She used the experience to become a more self-sufficient artist, including learning the guitar and writing her own lyrics.
When Swift was 14, her family relocated to Hendersonville, a suburb of Nashville, to focus on her career. During a showcase at The Bluebird Café in 2004, she was noticed by Scott Borchetta, an executive from the newly formed indie label Big Machine Records. She signed with them. In 2006, her first album, Taylor Swift (2006), was released and rose to No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. She won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award (now the New Artist of the Year Award) the next year. Her second release, Fearless (2008), was her first No. 1 album and earned Swift her first Grammy Awards: Best Country Album and Album of the Year.
In Jody Rosen’s review of Fearless (2008) for Rolling Stone Magazine, he identified what made Swift stand apart from other country artists: "At a time when Nashville [was] dominated by Stetson-wearing male singers in their 30s and 40s, the 18-year-old emerged as country’s newest superstar with a repertoire full of girly songs aimed at teens." While her catchy music attracted listeners, her music’s relatability drew in fans. Both her lyrics and the emotions underlying them touched on themes and experiences common to many.
In a 2023 interview with TIME Magazine, Swift recalled the late 2000s and early 2010s as a period of transition. She felt she needed to change because record labels were actively trying to replace her. As a result, she began writing solo, incorporated more diverse sounds, and added more clues about her personal life for fans to decode. Swift’s transition to pop also began during this time with her fourth album, Red (2012), but she did not fully embrace her new genre until her fifth album, 1989 (2014). In 2019, Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz noted this was part of a greater trend in the 2010s, where country and folk artists easily transitioned to new sounds. Maya Georgi, writing for Rolling Stone Magazine, praised Swift’s 1989 (2014) as playing "... a significant role in shaping the diaristic, synth-heavy Top 40 landscape of the mid-2010s, catapulting Swift to superstardom." 1989 (2014) won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.
Since Swift’s arrival in the pop music scene, she has continued to experiment with other genres. She recorded two folk and indie–rock albums, folklore (2020) and evermore (2020), during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his review of folklore (2020) for New York Magazine, Craig Jenkins wrote, "The 'folk' in folklore isn’t so much a statement of purpose with ... genre as it is a signal that this is her storytelling album." Both albums also feature songs referencing her home state of Pennsylvania. "Seven" from folklore (2020) reminiscences about her childhood, particularly nature, "But I, I was high in the sky / With Pennsylvania under me." "Gold Rush" from evermore (2020) references the Philadelphia Eagles. With folklore (2020), Swift won her third Grammy for Album of the Year as well as her second Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.
One way Swift has continued to appeal to audiences is through her ability to inspire others, particularly by showing fans they can overcome obstacles. For example, in 2019, Swift lost the rights to her first six albums after they, and her old label, were sold to Scooter Braun. Undiscouraged, she regained ownership of her early discography through re-recording. These new albums, tagged as "(Taylor’s Version)," included the same arrangements as the originals but featured updated vocals and instrumentals as well as unreleased and extended tracks. Her first four (Taylor’s version) albums have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
While working on her re-releases, she recorded Midnights (2022) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024). With both albums, she simultaneously held all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. She was the first artist to do so. She also won her fourth Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Midnights (2022), making her the first artist to win four Grammy Awards for Album of the Year. The 2022 album also launched her widely successful 2023-2024 Eras Tour. With nearly 150 shows on five continents, she played music from all her albums, honoring each one as an "era" of her life.
Swift’s success, however, is only part of a larger cultural phenomenon, the "Taylor Effect." She has significantly influenced fashion, voting, and even professional football viewership. According to Marcus Collins, the "Taylor Effect" works through community mobilization. Her preferences impact her fans, who then influence individuals outside of the fandom.
Although Swift left Pennsylvania in her early teens, she retained an attachment to the Keystone State. During her Eras Tour in 2023, she played three nights in Philadelphia, which she noted as "The most magical 3 hometown shows a girl could hope for" (Brandt). Pennsylvania also has a soft spot for Swift. In 2023, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Resolution 282, recognizing 2023 as the "Taylor Swift Era." The bill celebrated her selection as TIME Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year and acknowledged her economic, political, and cultural impact on the state.
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- Pennsylvania, House of Representatives. “Regular Session 2023-2024: House Resolution 282.” Bill Information, Pennsylvania General Assembly, 13 Dec. 2023, www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=R&bn=282. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
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