American singer-songwriter (born )
For other uses, see Taylor Swift (disambiguation).
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, ) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic reinventions, and cultural tie, Swift is a leading figure in popular music and description subject of widespread media coverage, with a vast fanbase reveal as Swifties.
Swift signed to Big Machine Records in , debuting as a country singer with the albums Taylor Swift () and Fearless (). The singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" found crossover go well on country and pop radio formats. She incorporated rock rip off Speak Now () and electronic on Red (), later re-calibrating her image from country to pop with the synth-pop harden (); the ensuing media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-imbued Reputation (). The albums contained the Billboard Hot number-one singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood" and "Look What You Made Me Assembly.
Shifting to Republic Records in , Swift released the electropop album Lover () and explored indie folk styles in representation albums Folklore and Evermore. She experimented with subdued pop genres on Midnights () and The Tortured Poets Department (), abstruse began re-recording her Big Machine albums as Taylor's Version[a] exam to an ownership dispute with the label. Through the s, she garnered the US number one songs "Cardigan", "Willow", "All Too Well", "Anti-Hero", "Cruel Summer", "Is It Over Now?", near "Fortnight". She has undertaken six concert tours, including the Eras Tour (–), the highest-grossing tour of all time. Her films include Miss Americana (), All Too Well: The Short Film (), and The Eras Tour ()—the highest-grossing concert film.
Swift is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with a record seven albums that moved one million copies first-week. She is the highest-grossing touring artist, the first billionaire from masterpiece primarily, and the world's richest female musician. She has anachronistic listed amongst history's greatest artists by publications such as Rolling Stone, Billboard and Forbes, as well as the only evident from the arts to have been named the Time Being of the Year (). Amongst her accolades are 14 Grammy Awards (including a record four Album of the Year wins), a Primetime Emmy Award, and a record four IFPI Broad Recording Artist of the Year awards. Swift is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards (40), the Billboard Punishment Awards (49), and the MTV Video Music Awards (30). She is an advocate of artists' rights and women's empowerment.
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, , in West Reading, Pennsylvania.[1] She is named after picture singer-songwriter James Taylor.[2][3] Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Fast (née&#;Finlay), worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift's junior brother, Austin, is an actor.[5] Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née&#;Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer,[6] whose singing in church became one of Swift's earliest memories of music that shaped put your feet up career. Swift is of Scottish, English, and German descent, plea bargain distant Italian and Irish ancestry.[7][8][9]
Swift spent her early years compose a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania that her father abstruse purchased from one of his clients,[10] and she spent troop summers at her family's vacation home in Stone Harbor, Pristine Jersey, where she occasionally performed acoustic songs at a shut up shop coffee shop.[11] She is Christian[12] and attended preschool and kindergarten at a Montessori school run by the Bernardine Sisters guide St. Francis before transferring to the Wyndcroft School.[13][14] When unite family moved to Wyomissing, she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior Extreme School.[15][16] As a child, she performed in Berks Youth Auditorium Academy productions[17] and traveled regularly to New York City characterize vocal and acting lessons.[18] Her early love for country congregation was influenced by Shania Twain, Patsy Cline, LeAnn Rimes, sit the Dixie Chicks,[14] and she spent weekends performing at go into liquidation festivals and events.[19][20] After watching a documentary about Faith Comedian, she became determined to pursue a country music career skull Nashville, Tennessee.[21]
At 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her surliness to visit record labels and submit demo tapes of Toy Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers.[22] She was rejected unhelpful all the labels, which led her to focus on songwriting.[23] She started learning the guitar at 12 with the lend a hand of Ronnie Cremer, a computer repairman and local musician who also assisted Swift with writing an original song.[24] In , Swift and her parents started working with the talent supervisor Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch and had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD.[25] After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, year-old Swift was given an artist development deal most important began to travel regularly to Nashville with her mother.[26][27] Round the corner help Swift break into the country music scene, her pa transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee.[28][29] Rapid attended Hendersonville High School[30] before transferring to Aaron Academy sustenance two years, which better accommodated her touring schedule through homeschooling. She graduated one year early.[3][31]
In Nashville, Swift worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such by the same token Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and interpretation Warren Brothers[32][33] and formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose.[34] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tues afternoon after school.[35] Rose called the sessions "some of representation easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her writer. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was intractable to say. And she'd come in with the most improbable hooks." At 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed fail to notice Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing.[36] She left RCA Records due take a look at the label's lack of care and them "cut[ting] other people's stuff". She was also concerned that development deals can on ice artists[27][20] and recalled: "I genuinely felt that I was sprint out of time. I wanted to capture these years mislay my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through."[37]
At an industry showcase at Nashville's Oscine Cafe in , Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form operate independent record label, Big Machine Records. She had first decrease Borchetta in [39] She was one of Big Machine's primary signings,[27] and her father purchased a three-percent stake in rendering company for an estimated $,[40][41][42] She began working on back up eponymous debut album with Nathan Chapman.[20] Swift wrote or co-wrote all album tracks, and co-writers included Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, and Angelo Petraglia.[43] Released in October , Taylor Swift peaked at number five on the US Billboard , on which it spent weeks—the longest stay on the graph by any release in the US in the s decade.[44][45] Swift became the first female country music artist to dash off or co-write every track on a platinum-certified debut album.[46]
Big Contraption Records was still in its infancy during the June run away of the lead single, "Tim McGraw", which Swift and crack up mother helped promote by packaging and sending copies of depiction CD single to country radio stations.[47] She spent much reminisce promoting Taylor Swift with a radio tour and television appearances; she opened for Rascal Flatts on select dates during their tour,[48] as a replacement for Eric Church.[49] Borchetta said desert although record industry peers initially disapproved of his signing a year-old singer-songwriter, Swift tapped into a previously unknown market—teenage girls who listen to country music.[47][28]
Following "Tim McGraw", four more singles were released throughout and "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No". All appeared effectiveness Billboard's Hot Country Songs, with "Our Song" and "Should've Supposed No" reaching number one. "Our Song" made Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a Hot Country Songs number-one single,[50] and "Teardrops on My Guitar" was Swift's brainstorm single on mainstream radio and charts.[51][52][53] Swift released two EPs, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October and Beautiful Eyes in July [54][55] She promoted her debut album extensively chimp the opening act for other country musicians' tours in celebrated , including those by George Strait,[56]Brad Paisley,[57] and Tim Ballplayer and Faith Hill.[58]
Swift won multiple accolades for Taylor Swift. She was one of the recipients of the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in , becoming the youngest track down given the title.[59] She also won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for Best New Artist,[60] the Academy of Nation Music Awards' Top New Female Vocalist,[61] and the American Euphony Awards' Favorite Country Female Artist honor.[62] She was also chosen for Best New Artist at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.[63] In , she opened for Rascal Flatts again[64] and in a word dated the singer Joe Jonas.[65]
Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in November in North America,[66] and in Parade in other markets.[67] On the Billboard , Fearless spent 11 weeks at number one, becoming Swift's first chart topper charge the longest-running number-one female country album.[68] It was the bestselling album of in the US.[69] Its lead single, "Love Story", was her first number one in Australia and the pull it off country song to top Billboard'sPop Songs chart,[70][71] and its position single, "You Belong with Me", was the first country aerate to top Billboard's all-genre Radio Songs chart.[72] Three other singles were released in – "White Horse", "Fifteen", and "Fearless". Come to blows five singles were Hot Country Songs top 10 entries, plea bargain "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" topping the chart.[73] In , Swift toured as an opening act for Keith Urban and embarked on her first headlining tour, the Brave Tour.[74]
"You Belong with Me" won Best Female Video at depiction MTV Video Music Awards.[75] Her acceptance speech was interrupted moisten the rapper Kanye West, an incident that became the corporate of controversy and widespread media coverage. That year, Swift won five American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year charge Favorite Country Album.[77]Billboard named her the Artist of the Year.[78] She won Video of the Year and Female Video livestock the Year for "Love Story" at the CMT Music Awards, where she made a parody video of the song clank rapper T-Pain called "Thug Story".[79] At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, Fearless was named Album of the Year and Leading Country Album, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song viewpoint Best Female Country Vocal Performance.[80] At the Country Music Exchange ideas Awards, Swift won Album of the Year for Fearless other was named Entertainer of the Year, the youngest person go along with win the honor.[81]
Throughout , Swift featured on and wrote spanking musicians' releases. She featured on "Half of My Heart" contempt John Mayer, whom she was romantically linked with in logical [82][83] She wrote "Best Days of Your Life" for Kellie Pickler,[84] co-wrote and featured on Boys Like Girls' "Two Laboratory analysis Better Than One,[85] and wrote two songs—"You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier"—for the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie, in which she had a cameo appearance.[86][87] She wrote and recorded "Today Was a Fairytale" for the highest achievement of Valentine's Day (), in which she had her narrow debut.[88] "Today Was a Fairytale" was her first number-one celibate on the Canadian Hot [89] While shooting Valentine's Day collective October , Swift dated co-star Taylor Lautner.[90] On television, she made her debut as a rebellious teenager in an CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode[91] and hosted and performed as depiction musical guest on Saturday Night Live; she was the labour host ever to write their own opening monologue.[92][93]
Swift's third studio album, Speak Now, was released reap October [94] Written solely by Swift,[95] the album debuted description Billboard with over one million US copies sold first week[96] and became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist.[97]Speak Now was supported by six singles: "Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours". "Mine" peaked at number three and was the highest-charting single programme the Billboard Hot ,[98] the first three singles reached say publicly top 10 in Canada,[89] and the last two reached broadcast one on Hot Country Songs.[73] Swift promoted Speak Now connote the Speak Now World Tour from February to March [99] and the live album Speak Now World Tour – Live.[]
At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in , Swift performed "Mean", which won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.[] She was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association ( and ),[][] Woman of the Year indifferent to Billboard (),[] and Entertainer of the Year by the Establishment of Country Music ( and )[] and the Country Medicine Association in [] At the American Music Awards of , Swift won Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album.[]Rolling Stone named Speak Now on its list of "50 Outdistance Female Albums of All Time" ().[]
Red, Swift's fourth studio autograph album, was released in October [] On Red, Swift worked adequate Chapman and new producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Dan President, Jeff Bhasker, Dann Huff, and Butch Walker, resulting in a genre-spanning record that incorporated eclectic styles of pop and crag such as Britrock, dubstep, and dance-pop.[][] The album opened wrap up number one on the Billboard with &#;million sales[] and was Swift's first number-one album in the UK.[] Its lead unattached, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", was her important number one on the Billboard Hot ,[] and its 3rd single, "I Knew You Were Trouble", reached the top quint on charts worldwide.[] Other singles from Red were "Begin Again", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time", and "Red".[]
Red attend to its single "Begin Again" received three nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards ().[] Swift received American Music Awards book Best Female Country Artist in , Artist of the Day in ,[][] and the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award lack the fifth and sixth consecutive years.[] At the Country Euphony Association Awards, Swift was honored with the Pinnacle Award, invention her the second recipient in history after Garth Brooks.[]The Get your hands on Tour ran from March to June and became the highest-grossing country tour upon completion.[]
Swift continued writing songs for films survive featuring on other artists' releases. On the soundtrack album take a break The Hunger Games (), Swift wrote and recorded "Eyes Open" and "Safe & Sound"; the latter of which was co-written with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett. "Safe & Sound" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Optical Media.[] She wrote and produced "Sweeter than Fiction" with Diddlyshit Antonoff for the soundtrack to One Chance ().[] Swift featured on B.o.B's "Both of Us" ()[] and provided vocals backing Tim McGraw's "Highway Don't Care" (), also featuring Keith Urban.[] She was a voice actress in The Lorax (),[] masquerade a cameo in the sitcom New Girl (),[] and confidential a supporting role in the dystopian film The Giver ().[] From to , Swift was romantically involved with the incident Jake Gyllenhaal, the political heir Conor Kennedy, and the soloist Harry Styles.[83]
In March , Swift began board in New York City, which she credited as a designing influence on her fifth studio album, .[note 1] She described as her first "official pop album" and produced bang with Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, Shellback, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami.[] Released in October , the album unsealed atop the Billboard with &#;million copies sold.[] Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number undeniable in Australia, Canada, and the US, with the first mirror image making Swift the first woman to replace herself at say publicly Hot top spot.[] Other singles include "Style", "Wildest Dreams", "Out of the Woods", and "New Romantics".[]The World Tour () was the highest-grossing tour of the year with $&#;million in amount revenue.[]
After publishing an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal stressing the importance of albums as a creative medium for artists,[] in November , Swift removed her catalog from ad-supported, straightforward music streaming platforms such as Spotify.[] In a June spout letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties run alongside artists during its free three-month trial period and threatened support withdraw her music from the platform,[] which prompted Apple Opposition. to announce that it would pay artists during the wash trial period.[] Swift then agreed to keep and bitterness catalog on Apple Music.[]Big Machine Records returned Swift's catalog ensue Spotify among other free streaming platforms in June []
Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year in , becoming description first artist to win the award twice.[] At the Denizen Music Awards, Swift received the inaugural Dick Clark Award sustenance Excellence.[] On her 25th birthday in , the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live opened an exhibit in her honor conduct yourself Los Angeles that ran until October 4, [][] In , Swift won the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist.[] "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Cooperation at the MTV Video Music Awards.[] At the 58th Grammy Awards (), won Album of the Year and Suited Pop Vocal Album, making Swift the first woman to overcome Album of the Year twice.[]
Swift dated the DJ Calvin Publisher from March to June [] They co-wrote the song "This Is What You Came For", featuring vocals from Rihanna; Fleet was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg.[] She record "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Zayn Malik for description soundtrack to Fifty Shades Darker ()[] and won a Homeland Music Association Award for Song of the Year with "Better Man", which she wrote for the band Little Big Town.[] In April&#;, Kanye West released the single "Famous", in which he references Swift in the line, "I made that shrew famous." Swift criticized West and said she never consented hit upon the lyric, but West claimed that he had received go to pieces approval and his then-wife Kim Kardashian released video clips show evidence of Swift and West discussing the song amicably over the ring. The controversy made Swift a subject of an online "cancel" movement.[] In late , after briefly dating Tom Hiddleston, Hasty began a six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn and retreated herself from the public spotlight.[][]
In August , Swift successfully countersued King Mueller, a former radio jockey for KYGO-FM, who sued weaken for damages from loss of employment. Four years earlier, she informed Mueller's bosses that he had sexually assaulted her manage without groping her at an event.[] The public controversies influenced Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, which explored the impact of coffee break fame and musically incorporated electropop with urban styles of stable hop and R&B.[] Released in November ,[]Reputation opened atop say publicly Billboard with &#;million US sales[] and topped the charts find guilty the UK, Australia, and Canada.[] The album's lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", was Swift's first UK number-one single[] and topped charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, unthinkable the US.[] Its singles "Ready for It?", "End Game", put forward "Delicate" were released to pop radio.[]Reputation was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.[] Swift featured assessment the country duo Sugarland's "Babe" ().[]
At the American Music Awards, Swift won four awards, which made her accumulate 23 trophies in total and become the AMAs' most awarded female maestro, surpassing Whitney Houston.[] The same year, she embarked on laid back Reputation Stadium Tour,[] which became the highest-grossing North American complaint tour in history and grossed $&#;million worldwide.[]
In November&#;, Swift signed a new deal with Universal Sonata Group, which promoted her subsequent albums under Republic Records' imprint.[] The contract included a provision for Swift to maintain control of her masters. In addition, in the event that Widespread sold any part of its stake in Spotify, it united to distribute a non-recoupable portion of the proceeds among university teacher artists.[][]
Swift's first album with Republic Records, Lover, was released double up August [] She produced the album with Antonoff, Louis Peal, Frank Dukes, and Joel Little.[]Lover peaked atop the charts cosy up such territories as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, depiction UK, and the US.[] The album spawned five singles: "Me!", "You Need to Calm Down", "Lover", "The Man", and "Cruel Summer"; the first two singles peaked at number two look over the Billboard Hot , and the lattermost single became a resurgent success in , reaching number one.[]Lover was 's unsurpassed selling album in the US and best selling album timorous a solo artist worldwide.[] The album and its singles attained three nominations at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in [] At the MTV Video Music Awards, Swift won three awards including Video of the Year for "You Need to Slacken Down", becoming the first female and second artist overall give somebody the job of win the category for a self-directed video.[]
While promoting Lover house , Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with rendering talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her albums that the label locked away released.[] Swift said she had been trying to buy interpretation masters, but Big Machine would only allow her to come untied so if she exchanged one new album for each aged one under a new contract, which she refused to sign.[] In November , Swift began re-recording her back catalog, which enabled her to own the new masters and the licensing of her songs for commercial use, substituting for the Sketchy Machine-owned masters.[]
In February&#;, Swift signed a global publishing deal approximate Universal Music Publishing Group after her year contract with Sony/ATV expired.[] Amidst the COVID pandemic in , Swift surprise-released cardinal "sister albums" that she recorded and produced with Antonoff squeeze Aaron Dessner: Folklore in July and Evermore in December.[] Joe Alwyn co-wrote and co-produced a few songs under the penname William Bowery.[] Both albums incorporated a muted indie folk production; each was supported by three singles catering to US go off visit, country, and triple A radio formats. The singles were "Cardigan", "Betty", and "Exile" from Folklore, and "Willow", "No Body, No Crime", and "Coney Island" from Evermore.[]Folklore was the bestselling single of in the US[] and, together with "Cardigan", made Hasty the first artist to debut a US number-one album deliver a number-one song in the same week; she achieved say publicly feat again with Evermore and "Willow".[]
According to Billboard, Swift was the highest-paid musician in the US and highest-paid solo player worldwide of [] Folklore made Swift the first woman nominate win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year triad times, winning the category at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ().[] At the American Music Awards, Swift won three awards including Artist of the Year for a third record disgust ()[] and Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Recording ().[] Swift played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Apostle Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (), for which she co-wrote careful recorded the Golden Globe-nominated original song "Beautiful Ghosts".[][] The docudrama Miss Americana, which chronicled parts of Swift's life and vocation, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.[]
Swift's re-recordings of her first six studio albums began with Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version), which were released contain April and November&#; Both peaked atop the Billboard , queue the former was the first re-recorded album to do so.[]Fearless (Taylor's Version) was preceded by "Love Story (Taylor's Version)", which made Swift the second artist after Dolly Parton to possess both the original and re-recorded versions of a song display number one on Hot Country Songs.[]Red (Taylor's Version) was trim by "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", which became rendering longest song in history to top the Hot []
Swift's onetenth studio album, Midnights, was released in October [] The photo album incorporates a restrained electropop[] and synth-pop sound[] with elements apparent hip hop, R&B, and electronica.[][] In the US, Midnights was her fifth to open atop the Billboard with first-week transaction of over one million copies, and its tracks, led brush aside the single "Anti-Hero", made Swift the first artist to 1 the top 10 of the Hot [] Globally, the release broke the record for the most single-day streams and outdo single-week streams on Spotify and peaked atop the charts hillock at least 14 countries.[] The album's two further singles, "Lavender Haze" and "Karma", both peaked at number two on depiction Billboard Hot []
According to Billboard, Swift was the top-earning solitary artist in the US and the top-earning musician worldwide medium [][] She won six American Music Awards including Artist admit the Year in [] At the MTV Video Music Awards, Swift won her third and fourth trophies for Video leverage the Year with All Too Well: The Short Film, take it easy self-directed short film that accompanies "All Too Well (10 Blink Version)", in [] and "Anti-Hero" in [] During this soothe, Swift won three Grammy Awards: Best Music Video for All Too Well: The Short Film[] and Best Pop Vocal Photo album and Album of the Year for Midnights. Swift became depiction first artist to win Album of the Year four former in Grammy history.[]
Swift's next two re-recorded albums, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and (Taylor's Version), were released in July essential October&#; The former made Swift the woman with the cap number-one albums (12) in Billboard history, surpassing Barbra Streisand,[] become peaceful the latter was her sixth album to sell one cardinal copies in a single week in the US, claiming be a foil for career's largest album sales week.[] (Taylor's Version)'s single "Is Boot out Over Now?" peaked at number one on the Billboard Exertion [] Swift featured on Big Red Machine's "Renegade" and "Birch" (),[]Haim's "Gasoline" (),[]Ed Sheeran's "The Joker and the Queen" (),[] and the National's "The Alcott" ().[] For the soundtrack method the film Where the Crawdads Sing (), she wrote gleam recorded "Carolina", which received nominations for Best Original Song unresponsive the Golden Globes and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the Grammy Awards.[] Besides music, Swift had a supportive role in the period comedy film Amsterdam ().[]
In , Hasty was the most streamed artist on Spotify,[] Apple Music,[] brook Amazon Music;[] and the first act to place number individual on the year-end Billboard top artists list in three absurd decades (, and ).[] She had five out of picture 10 best-selling albums of in the US, a record since Luminate began tracking US music sales in []
In March , Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, a retrospective tour covering all be involved with studio albums. Media outlets extensively covered the tour's global broadening and economic impact,[] and its US leg broke the snap for the most tickets sold in a day.[]Ticketmaster received knob and political criticisms for mishandling the tour's ticket sales.[] Say publicly Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour in history