Book Description

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Recognized for her songwriting, musical versatility, artistic reinventions, and influence on the music industry, she is a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century. Swift began professional songwriting at age 14 and signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country singer. Under Big Machine, she released six studio albums, four of them to country radio, starting with her self-titled album in 2006. Her next, Fearless (2008), explored country pop, and its singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" catapulted her to prominence. Speak Now (2010) incorporated rock influences, while Red (2012) experimented with electronic elements and featured Swift's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". She forwent her country image with 1989 (2014), a synth-pop album supported by the chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-flavored Reputation (2017) and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do". After signing a new contract with Republic Records in 2018, Swift released the pop album Lover (2019) and autobiographical documentary Miss Americana (2020). She embraced indie folk and alternative rock on her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, explored chill-out styles on Midnights (2022), and re-recorded four of her first six albums as "Taylor's Versions" following a dispute with Big Machine. The albums and their number-one songs "Cardigan", "Willow", "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", and "Anti-Hero" broke various records. In 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, her most expansive concert tour. She has also directed music videos and films such as All Too Well: The Short Film (2021). Having sold over 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians, the most-streamed female artist on Spotify, and the only act to have five albums with first-week sales of over one million copies in the US. She has been featured in listicles such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's "Greatest of All Time Artists", the Time 100, and Forbes Celebrity 100. Among her accolades are 12 Grammy Awards, including three Album of the Year wins, a Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards; 29 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards, three IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year awards, and 101 Guinness World Records. Honored with titles such as Artist of the Decade and Woman of the Decade, Swift is an advocate for artists' rights and women's empowerment.