At an early age, Taylor was interested in writing and music. She won a national poetry contest at age nine with the poem Monster in My Closet, learned to play guitar from a local computer repairman, and sang the US Open anthem at age 11. Her talent was evident, and she soon began traveling back and forth between her home in West Reading, Pennsylvania and Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her career as a singer-songwriter. At an industry showcase at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his independent record label Big Machine Records. Her eponymous debut studio album in 2006 explored country pop, while her subsequent albums Fearless (2008) and Speak Now (2010) further honed her skills as a crossover artist.
In 2013, she released the autobiographical documentary Miss Americana, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. She also co-wrote and starred in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, earning a Golden Globe nomination and a Grammy award nomination at the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards. Taylor has also directed two short films including Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions and All Too Well.
She has achieved wide critical acclaim for her songwriting, with several of her singles becoming top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She has received multiple prestigious accolades, including Artist of the Year at the 2018 AMAs and Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards for her fifth studio album 1989.
Taylor’s popularity has grown in tandem with her fame as a social media personality and fashion icon. She has more than 23 million Instagram followers, and she has been featured in advertisements for a number of brands and products. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential celebrities in the world and is an advocate for artists’ rights and women’s empowerment.
In 2015, she became a spokesperson for the UN Foundation for Gender Equality. She has also been a vocal critic of the Trump administration, speaking out against the travel ban and sexism in politics. She has also been active in promoting environmental and animal rights.
In 2019, Taylor returned to the spotlight with her sixth studio album Reputation and its lead single, “Look What You Made Me Do”. The album topped the charts worldwide and earned her seven Grammys at the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2022, the most wins by a female artist in a single night. The following year, she was named the RIAA’s Woman of the Decade. She subsequently announced her seventh studio album, Lover, which was released in August 2019 and marked the first time that she had owned all the masters for an album. The album is her best-selling album to date.
