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Born on December 13th, 1989 in West Reading Pennsylvania, Taylor Alison Swift is a world-renowned American singer-songwriter.
Known for her narrative songwriting that often draws from her personal life, she began her career in country music as a teenager before successfully transitioning into mainstream pop.
She has a large fan base who refer to themselves as “Swifties”, and has broken records for her tour and most listened to female artists.
Legacy
With numerous Grammy Awards, record-breaking albums, and a massive global fanbase (known as ‘Swifties’), Swift is widely regarded as one of the most influential and successful artists of the 21st century.
Swift is the recipient of 14 Grammy Awards from 52 nominations and is the only artist to win Album of the Year four times, for Fearless (2010), 1989 (2016), Folklore (2021) and Midnights (2024). She also holds the record for the most Song of the Year nominations, with eight to date.
In 2023 she was chosen as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, with the magazine highlighting her as the first to be recognized for their “achievement in the arts”.
Swift also holds the title for highest grossing tour of all time, for her 2022-2023 Era’s Tour, which grossed over $2 billion.
She featured in Illuminated’s Top 10 favourite live artists. For more, click here:
Early Life
Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas Tree farm with parents Andrea and Scott, and her younger brother Austin.
She started taking vocal lessons at age nine, which began her journey into country music. When she was around 12-years-old, she was taught to play guitar by Ronnie Cremer, a computer repairman and local musician. The led her to write her first song ever, ‘Lucky You’.
She began working with talent manager Dan Dymtrow who got her the opportunity to model for Abercrombie and Fitch and had one of her original songs used on a compilation album for Maybelline.
After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift was given an artist development deal and began to travel regularly to Nashville with her mother.
When she was 14 her family relocated to Nashville, in order to boost her chances of breaking into country music.
Albums
Taylor Swift has 11 original studio albums and four re-recordings. These are:
Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), Midnights (2022), The Tortures Poet’s Department (2024).
Her “Taylor’s Version” albums include:
Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Record Label
Taylor Swift first signed with the record label Big Machine in 2005, where she recorded six albums, before leaving the company in 2018.
In 2019, Big Machine Records was sold to Music Industry talent manager Scooter Braun, who acquired the rights to the master recordings of Taylor Swift’s first six albums as part of the deal.
Swift revealed that she had been approached by Big Machine Records to acquire her masters, providing she signed a new deal to record a further six albums with the label.
In a tumblr post, she said:
“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in”
“I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.”
Swift has accused Braun of preventing her from performing her older songs at the American Music Awards in 2019 and using older material for her 2020 documentary Miss Americana.
A year later, Swift was offered the chance to purchase her masters, providing she signed a strict non-disclosure agreement that would prevent her from speaking publicly about Braun ever again.
She refused, and Braun proceeded to sell the record label in 2020, along with her album masters, to Shamrock Holdings for $420 million.
Buying back her masters
Following the dispute, Swift made the decision to start re-recording her old albums and releasing them with the label (Taylor’s version).
With new ‘from the vault’ unreleased tracks supplementing the original songs. The albums were a success as fans began to boycott the original versions in favour of the newer releases that were solely owned by Swift.
Under her new record deal with Universal Music Group, she now owns the masters to everything she produces.
On May 30, 2025 Taylor Swift posted a handwritten note to her website revealing that she had secured ownership of her old masters from Shamrock Holdings.
She later posted a photo of her surrounded by her old album covers, with the caption, “You belong with me”.
For more on her buying back her masters click here:
https://illuminatedmag.co.uk/2025/05/30/taylor-swift-now-owns-all-her-music/
Touring
Taylor Swift has had six tours; Fearless Tour (2009-2010), Speak Now World Tour (2011-2012), The Red Tour (2013-2014), The 1989 World Tour (2015), Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) and the Era’s Tour (2023-2024).
The Era’s tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time, making over $2 billion in ticket sales. It was made up of 149 shows across five continents. The Eras tour film is also the highest grossing concert movie, making over $260 million at the global box office.
Her three hour set-lists, multiple outfit changes and iconic moments have allowed her tours to become record-breaking. During 83 of her shows she gave away her “22” hat to lucky fans.
Swifties also started making friendship bracelets to specifically trade with other fans during the concerts. This led to people making, collecting and trading hundreds of bracelets.
This trend can also be seen at other concerts, where fans of other artists have started to trade bracelets at their shows as well.
For more on Taylor’s Fashion influence click here:
Era’s outfits also became popular, as fans wanted to dress in theme with Taylor Swift.
For more on Taylor Swift concert outfits click here:
Awards
The first award Taylor Swift won was Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards.
In 2008 and 2010, she won Favourite Country Female Artists at the American Music Awards.
In 2009 Taylor Swift won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video.
In 2010 she won her first Grammy for Album of the Year and Best Country Album for ‘fearless’, as well as Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for ‘White Horse’.
In 2011 she won Artist of the Year, Favorite Country Female Artist, Favorite Country Album for ‘Speak Now’ at the American Music Awards. Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Country Artist, Top Country Album for ‘Speak Now’ at the Billboard Music Awards.
She also won Woman of the Year at Billboard Women in Music and Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.
In total the singer has won 14 Grammy Awards from 52 nominations.
Fans thought she was going to appear at the 2025 American Music Awards and release her Reputation Taylor’s Version. With 40 wins, she is the most awarded artist in AMA history.
For more on the AMA’s click here:
https://illuminatedmag.co.uk/2025/05/28/the-2025-amas-drama-chaos-controversy/
Feud with Kanye West
During Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video acceptance speech for ‘You Belong With Me’ at the 2009 VMAs, Kanye West drunkenly stormed the stage and took the microphone from her. He made the statement that “Beyonce had one of the greatest music videos of all time”, dropped the mic, shrugged his shoulders and left. Leaving viewers shocked and Swift embarrassed on-stage with the rapper implying that Taylor had won the award undeservedly.
The infamous televised moment led to a public outcry against West, who was characterised as an egomaniac that had been completely insensitive to Swift’s feelings. He later apologised but went on to mention her on his 2016 album ‘The Life of Pablo’ with the line “I made that bitch famous”.
Offended by the line, Swift alluded to West at the 2016 Grammys, saying “There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success, take credit for your accomplishments or your fame”.
Following the Grammys, Kim Kardashian released an edited video of West on a phone call with Swift, who seemed to grant her consent to use the line. Later, when the full video was leaked, it was revealed that while Swift did agree to have her name be in the song, she never consented to being called a bitch.
Disney
Taylor Swift has a history of collaboration with Disney.
She appeared on the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie, for which she contributed the original song “Crazier”.
As well as this, she guest-starred in Take Two with Phinneas and Ferb and Where a World of Adventure Awaits.
She has released two documentaries with Disney+ as the exclusive streaming partner, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023).
High profile friendships
Taylor Swift is often pictured with a number of high profile friends. Often referred to as her ‘squad’, the group has included Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Karlie Kloss, and Martha Hunt, as well as fellow musicians Selena Gomez and the Haim sisters.
In recent years she has been seen with Blake Lively, and even received a court summons to testify in the actress’s civil dispute with Justin Baldoni. The subpoena was contested by Swift’s legal team and was later dismissed.
Her oldest celebrity friendship with Selena Gomez. The two met in 2008, whilst each dating a Jonas Brother.
They have remained friends since then and are often spotted together, with the two going out for dinner the day after the news that Swift bought back her Masters.
Love life
As a frequent subject matter for her songwriting, Taylor Swift is known for her love life and dating history. Despite never confirming any individual reference, many Swifites enjoy speculating on who many of her songs are about.
She has been romantically linked to a number of high profile celebrities, such as Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhal, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston.
In 2017, she began a six year relationship with English actor Joe Alwyn, with the two announcing their separation in April 2023.
Taylor Swift is currently in a relationship with Travis Kelce, an NFL player for the Kansas City Chiefs. She has become a frequent supporter of the Chiefs and Kelce, attending many of his games alongside his family.
Acting Career
Alongside her music career, Taylor Swift has also appeared in a few films and TV shows.
She made her film debut in the 2010 comedy Valentine’s Day, playing Felicia Miller, the girlfriend of Willy Harrington who was played by Taylor Lautner.
She voice acted the character of Audrey in the 2012 film The Lorax and guest starred on Fox’s New Girl in 2013. Later that year, she played Rosemary in the movie The Giver.
One of her most well known roles was in the 2019 movie musical Cats, where she played Bombalurina.
In 2022, Taylor played Liz Meekins, as a supporting role in the film Amsterdam.
She has also had many of her songs featured in films and TV shows such as The Summer I Turned Pretty and The Hunger Games.
For more on Taylor and The Summer I Turned Pretty click here:
Easter Eggs
As a way to share news and build excitement with fans, Swift has a long history of giving clues on upcoming releases and leaving easter eggs in outfit designs and social media posts.
Recently fans have been speculating about a possible release date for Reputation (Taylors version). Swifties have been quick to highlight black outfits and uses of snake imagery, the iconography associated with the original 2017 album. However, in May 2025, Swift revealed she hadn’t “even re-recorded a quarter of it”.
In recent months fans have also been quick to point out Taylor’s repeated use of the number 12, hinting at a potential upcoming 12th studio album.
Frequent collaborators
Since first collaborating for her 2016 album 1989, she has worked with Producer Jack Antonoff for every one of her musical projects.
For more on her work with Jack Antonoff click here:
https://illuminatedmag.co.uk/2025/06/04/this-is-how-you-know-jack-antonoff/
For More
For more stories on Taylor Swift click here:
https://illuminatedmag.co.uk/taylor-swift/
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