When Taylor Swift was 14 years old, she convinced her parents to move the family from suburban Pennsylvania to Nashville so that she could pursue a career in music. By her late teens, she had nailed down a signature sound, a set of scathingly smart pop songs that stood up to boisterous, Music Row-indebted production on her first three albums. The country world feigned surprise when she formally embraced pop on 2012’s RED, but it should have been no surprise at all: Any girl capable of persuading her parents to pack up and move to the city for the sake of pursuing a dream had ambition to burn. Swift executed her transformation into a pop force to be reckoned with with both grace and savvy, proving that she can be as adept at making the big decisions as she is at playing the game of celebrity by its rules.
The romance of her early hits redoubled on 2019’s Lover, but it was 2020’s folklore and its sister album evermore that showcased the new Taylor—an established grownup momentarily reliving the rushing passions of her youth. Recorded in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ruminative records were Swift’s most introspective and restrained yet and also showcased her ability to master genre switches. Swift collaborated with a diverse roster of musicians, including Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Jack Antonoff, and infused her songs with religious imagery and nods to private tragedies we’ll likely never know about.
Whether she’s recounting a night that ended in disaster or pleading for her ex to come back and take her again, Swift’s evocative lyrics and melodies make it impossible not to feel every single emotion she describes. She may not be the best singer of her generation, but no one is better at channeling a girl’s rawest emotions into an artfully constructed song.
In addition to a series of blockbuster albums, the Grammy winner has starred as Bombalurina in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats and received multiple Golden Globe and Grammy nominations, and she also stars in the documentary ‘Miss Americana’ which chronicles her life through the years. She’s also a fashion designer with her own line of ready-to-wear and accessories, a beauty queen who has won many awards and honors over the years, and she recently hosted the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards. Despite her massive success, the superstar still remains grounded and unfailingly humble. Here are some of her most memorable quotes about life, love, and her philanthropic work.
