Taylor Alison Swift is a singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 2006 with her debut single "Tim McGraw." Since then, she's become one of the most successful artists in music history. She has received more than 200 awards and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. What makes Taylor so popular? Why are people drawn to her work? This blog post will explore some of the reasons behind her celebrity status by looking at three aspects of her artistry: songwriting, visual identity, and performative identity.
Life and career:
The most famous American singer-songwriter was born on December 13, 1989, at the Reading Hospital in West Reading. She is the eldest of five children. Her father, Scott Kingsley She is the daughter of Andrea Finlay and Scott Kingsley Swift, who worked as a financial advisor. Her maternal grandfather was named Ed Burke, while her uncle made partner at age 28 at J P Morgan Chase & Co., which has been ranked "the most respected bank" by Forbes magazine.
At the age of nine, Taylor wrote to Garth Brooks asking him for an autographed picture. She took guitar lessons, sang in the choir, and performed at karaoke contests just like any other girl growing up in Pennsylvania..
Taylor Swift made her first musical appearance on a Disney Channel soundtrack when she recorded "Tim McGraw". Her self-titled debut album was released in 2006 with mostly country songs. The album debuted at No. 19 on the "Billboard" 200 charts and sold more than 40,000 copies during its first week of release.. It went on to sell over five million copies worldwide and The album became one of the bestselling albums that year.
Early life and education :
She is the daughter of Scott Kingsley Swift, a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and Andrea Gardner-Swift who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. The singer's father is a descendant of Mayflower passenger William Brewster, while her mother has Scottish ancestry. She also has English and Irish roots on her mother's side; one of Swift's maternal great-great-grandfathers was born in Bristol, United Kingdom.
Swift received early exposure to music through country artists like Garth Brooks, George Strait, and Reba McEntire. She was also exposed to Swift's rockier side through her father's classic-rock collection. Her parents' musical interests influenced Taylor at an early age: "My mom brought home 'Dixie Chicks,' Faith Hill , Shania Twain; my dad would play the Eagles, James Taylor ."
Swift spent most of her childhood on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and learned to play guitar. She spent her weekends singing at local festivals and fairs or walking to a nearby karaoke bar.
She performed in concerts as early as nine years old, but she did not embark on tour until 13 years later when The Fearless Tour (2009) launched throughout the United States and continued for two months beyond it.
Career beginnings and debut album:
In Nashville, Swift worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges and Brett to craft meaningful lyrics that are relatable for her audience. Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and the Warren Brothers, and formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose.. In a story for The Tennessean, Swift described how she met her producer Nathan Chapman: "He walked in with his red hair and I knew he was the guy. It's like kismet."
Swift also went on to work closely with Dan Huff (who later produced American Idol winner Scotty McCreery), Ronnie Dunn, and The Warren Brothers.
Swift wrote or co-wrote every track of the album by herself, but was not credited because she had been advised to hide her songwriting from former record companies. In an interview with Radio.com, Swift explained that during a telephone call with Liz Rose: "I said something about being unable to find one of my dresses the other day, which is very unlike me because everything I have fits in one suitcase. When she asked why that was strange, I told her it was because every time I go into a recording session there are about 20 different people working on 40 songs."
Fearless and acting:
Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008. Five singles were released in 2008-2009: "Love Story", "White Horse", You Belong With Me, Fifteen and Fearless. Love story peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 while White horse reached ten place up under its campaigning with Australia too! But not only that; this album also has other successful songs like “Fifth Harmony” which was used for advertising PepsiCo beverages such as Mountain dew or Gatorade."
Swift also promoted her debut album by performing as an opening act for several country artists' concert tours: George Strait's 2008–2009 tour (her first tour), Brad Paisley's 2008 Tour (in the United Kingdom), Lyle Lovett's 2008 tour, Kenny Chesney's 2009 Flip-Flop Summer Tour, and Tim McGraw's Southern Voice Tour.
She also performed her own concerts at several venues to support of Fearless in February through June 2009.
In August 2010, Swift contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album: "Safe & Sound", co-written and recorded with the Civil Wars, and a solo version of "Eyes Open". She later performed on the opening night of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
Swift's third studio album Speak Now was released in October 2010. Three singles were released from it—"Mine" (2010), " Back to December" (2010), and "Mean" (2011)—all of which reached the top 20 in Canada, Australia, or the United States.
Her fourth studio album Red was released on October 22, 2012; its first single, " We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", topped digital charts in 60 countries. The album's second single, "I Knew You Were Trouble" (2012), was released to radio in the United States on December 13. It became her first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and opened at #13 with 84,000 downloads sold according to Nielsen SoundScan which is the biggest opening sales week for a new female artist in five years.
The album's third and fourth singles, "22" (2013) and "Everything Has Changed" (featuring Ed Sheeran), reached the top 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart after it was released as a single. The fifth single from Red, "Stay Stay Stay", is part of a duet with English singer-songwriter Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and it was released as a single in November 2013.
Reputation:
In August 2017, Swift successfully sued David Mueller, a former morning show personality for Denver's KYGO-FM, for allegedly groping her in 2013. The jury sided with Swift and awarded her $0 in damages, leading Mueller to lose his job and the case to become a precedent in how assault cases are handled.
In November 2017, Swift released " Look What You Made Me Do" as the lead single from her sixth album Reputation (2017). The following month, Swift released the album's second single titled " ...Ready for It?"; it reached number four on Billboard Hot 100.
In December 2017, she released Reputation as the third and final single from her sixth album which was then available to pre-order with two promotional singles: "... Ready For It?", and "Gorgeous".
In January 2018, Swift released "End Game" as a promotional single from the album. Reputation is scheduled to be released on November 15, 2017, through Big Machine Records and it will include fifteen tracks with collaborations from Ed Sheeran, Future, Camila Cabello, and others. The album cover was shot in London by Scottish photographer Greg Williams.
Swift appeared on the episode of "Saturday Night Live" hosted by Tina Fey with a sketch that aired in October 2017 where she joked about her reputation, saying: "I'm sorry for lying to you about this but I need you to clean your room and buy my album Reputation." The character appears again during an Easter egg at the end of the episode hosted by Chance The Rapper in March 2018. Swift is set to embark on a North American tour called Reputation Stadium Tour from May to November 2018, with Camila Cabello and Charli XCX as opening acts.
Swift performed "...Ready for It?" Queen of Pop, Ariana Grande was at Jingle Ball 2017 where also she answered "Kills" to Does it feel good?" when asked about the song's lyrics.
Swift is set to open as a special guest for Harry Styles' first solo tour in North America from May to July 2018. She will also be performing at Capital Fm's Summertime Ball alongside Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth, David Guetta, Jason Derulo, and Liam Payne.
In June 2018, Swift released a video of her performing an acoustic version of " ...Ready for It?". The song is currently being used as the official theme song for NBC's Olympic Games coverage in its television promos.
Conclusion:
Taylor Swift is an international superstar. She has won multiple Grammy Awards, sold millions of records and albums, been named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine, had a record-breaking year on Apple Music with her album “1989” being streamed over 250 million times globally, and she's even inspired countless memes! But what about before all that? The story behind how this singer/songwriter from Pennsylvania became who she is today just begs for another chapter to be written. What have you learned about celebrity culture after reading our blog post? Do you think more research should be done into celebrities like Taylor Swift or are they simply public figures that we can't learn anything new from studying them? Will we see more honest lyrics about what really happened between Tayor and Kim Kardashian or will another hit record emerge from one of America’s favorite celebrities?