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+ "page_name": "Taylor Swift (album) - Wikipedia",
+ "page_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift_(album)",
+ "page_snippet": "Five singles supported Taylor Swift, including the Hot Country Songs number-ones "Our Song" and "Should've Said No", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, "Teardrops on My Guitar". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She ...Five singles supported Taylor Swift, including the Hot Country Songs number-ones \"Our Song\" and \"Should've Said No\", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, \"Teardrops on My Guitar\". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006 and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006 and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. Critics praised the album's mainstream sensibility and Swift's songwriting at a young age for earnestly depicting adolescent sentiments. Taylor Swift was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift wrote Taylor Swift from her personal life experiences as a teenager. While she adhered to the confessional songwriting associated with country music, she did not write about stereotypical themes such as \"tractors and hay bales because that's not really the way I grew up\". Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records. Swift was involved in the album packaging, designing doodle graphics herself. She included hidden messages with hints at the subjects of her songs in the lyrics printed in the liner notes, inspired by the Beatles' hiding secret messages in their records. In the Chicago Tribune, Chrissie Dickinson described Taylor Swift as \"a slick package, pleasant enough but devoid of anything resembling gritty traction\". In a mixed review for PopMatters, Roger Holland complimented the production quality of certain tracks, but deemed the album overall a misstep for Swift's true appeal: \"It's to be hoped that when she finds both her place and her full grown voice, she's able to find an accommodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities.\"",
+ "page_result": "\n\n\n\nTaylor Swift (album) - Wikipedia\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJump to content\n
Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Under Big Machine Records, it was released in North America on October 24, 2006, and elsewhere on March 18, 2008. Swift had signed with Sony/ATV Tree publishing house in 2004, at age 14, to pursue a career as a country musician. Her contract with Big Machine Records in 2005 enabled her to work on the album during her second year of high school.\n
Swift is credited as a writer on all 11 of the album's tracks, three of which solely; Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, Angelo Petraglia, and Liz Rose have co-writing credits. Drawing on her personal life, the songs reflect Swift's outlook on life as a teenager, dealing with romantic relationships, friendships, and insecurity. Produced by Orrall and Nathan Chapman, Taylor Swift is a country record with pop and pop rock elements, incorporating acoustic instruments such as guitars, banjos, and fiddles.\n
Five singles supported Taylor Swift, including the Hot Country Songs number-ones \"Our Song\" and \"Should've Said No\", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, \"Teardrops on My Guitar\". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006 and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. Critics praised the album's mainstream sensibility and Swift's songwriting at a young age for earnestly depicting adolescent sentiments. Taylor Swift was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards.\n
The album spent 24 weeks at number one on Top Country Albums and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, where it became the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade. Certified seven times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it made Swift the first solo female country artist to write or co-write every song on a platinum debut album. Journalists attributed Taylor Swift's success to Swift's online marketing via Myspace, which ushered in a younger demographic in-country audiences who had mainly consisted of middle-aged listeners. The album's crossover appeal shaped the country pop style of Swift's next two albums, and its autobiographical narratives about love and heartbreak inspired a subsequent generation of singer-songwriters.\n
\n\n
Background
\n
Swift developed an early interest in the performing arts.[1][2] After watching a documentary about country singer Faith Hill, Swift felt sure she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee\u2014widely regarded as the home of country music[3][4]\u2014to pursue a career as a country singer.[5] At age eleven, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to pitch demo tapes of karaoke covers to record labels for a contract.[6][7] She was rejected because record labels believed country music's middle-aged demographic would not listen to music by a teenage girl, which Swift firmly disbelieved.[8][9]\n
Returning to her hometown in Pennsylvania, Swift realized she had to distinguish herself from other aspiring country singers.[8] To this end, at age 12, she started writing songs herself and learned to play the guitar with the help of a computer repairman who had fixed her family's computer on one occasion.[9] Swift's love for country music alienated her from her peers.[10] Her performance of \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" at the 2003 US Open caught the attention of music manager Dan Dymtrow, who helped 13-year-old Swift get an artist development deal with RCA Records in Nashville.[11] To assist Swift's artistic endeavors, her father transferred his job to Nashville, and her family relocated to Hendersonville, a city close to Nashville, in 2004.[12][13]\n
\n
Development and production
\n
Among Swift's inspirations were 1990s female country musicians\u2014Shania Twain, the Chicks, Faith Hill, and LeAnn Rimes.[14] She signed with the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house at age 14 to become a professional songwriter, the youngest signee in its history.[15] After the signing, Swift commuted from Hendersonville to Nashville every afternoon to practice with experienced Music Row songwriters.[16]Liz Rose became an important collaborator and formed a lasting working relationship with Swift in her future career.[17] Swift had productive sessions with Rose because she respected Swift's vision and did not want to put her in the \"Nashville cookie-cutter songwriting mold\".[18] Rose spoke highly of Swift's songwriting abilities: \"Basically, I was just her editor...She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks.\"[19]\n
After one year on RCA's development deal, Swift was held off an official record deal; she felt the label was not confident in her self-written material.[20][21] Swift parted ways with RCA: \"I figured if they didn't believe in me then, they weren't ever going to believe in me.\"[11] She recalled in 2009 in The Daily Telegraph: \"I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through.\"[22] At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Caf\u00e9 in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She had first met Borchetta in 2004.[23] Swift became one of Big Machine's first signings, and her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company.[24]\n
Of the standard edition's eleven songs, Swift is the sole writer of three and a co-writer of eight. Rose shares the writing credit on seven. Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia co-wrote \"A Place in This World\", and Brian Maher co-wrote \"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)\".[25] After experimenting with different producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to recruit Nathan Chapman, who had produced her demo album in a \"little shed\" behind the Sony/ATV offices.[7][26] Big Machine was skeptical about hiring Chapman because he had never produced a commercially released studio album, but ultimately agreed because Swift felt they had the \"right chemistry\".[7] Before approaching Chapman, Swift conceptualized how her songs should sound: \"I know exactly where I want the hook to be and ... what instruments I want to use.\"[27] Chapman was confident in Swift's abilities, saying that she \"knows what she wants to say with her music\".[27] He has sole production credits on all songs but one, \"The Outside\", on which he is credited as an additional producer, and Orrall as the main producer.[7] Recording took place for four months near the end of 2005.[7] When the recording and production wrapped, Swift had finished her first high school year.[28]\n
\n
Composition
\n
Lyrics
\n
Swift wrote Taylor Swift from her personal life experiences as a teenager. While she adhered to the confessional songwriting associated with country music, she did not write about stereotypical themes such as \"tractors and hay bales because that's not really the way I grew up\".[29] She instead wrote about her observations and reflections on matters from romantic relationships to friendships, striving to convey her teenage perspectives as honestly and personally as possible.[30] Because her inspirations came from immediate feelings and emotions, Swift wrote songs anytime and anywhere, from studio sessions to school breaks.[17] This practice resulted in straightforward lyrics, which The Daily Telegraph noted were \"brimming with an earnest naivet\u00e9\".[31]\n
The songs on Taylor Swift are from the perspectives of a girl in an American small town, within the bounds from high school hallways to rural backroads; Billboard noted that Swift's personal thoughts within a small confinement fostered a contemplative nature.[32] Most songs on the album are about romantic relationships, some of which were based on Swift's observations rather than real experiences.[7][16] The lead single and first track, \"Tim McGraw\", was inspired by Swift's relationship with a senior boyfriend during her first year of high school. The song is about Swift's hope that the boyfriend, after ending the relationship and leaving for college, would reminisce about her every time he hears their mutual favorite Tim McGraw song;[33] according to Swift, \"Tim McGraw\" was inspired by McGraw's 2004 song \"Can't Tell Me Nothin'\".[34] Swift wrote \"Our Song\" for her high school talent show.[35] She talked about the inspiration: \"I wrote it about this guy I was dating, and how we didn't have a song. So I went ahead and wrote us one.\"[36]\n
The songs \"Picture to Burn\" and \"Should've Said No\" depict a vengeful attitude toward those who do not reciprocate the protagonist's feelings;[39] on \"Picture to Burn\", Swift sings about burning photographic evidence of an ex-boyfriend's existence.[40] The original version included the lyrics, \"Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay.\"[38] On the radio edit and subsequent versions, Swift modified the lyric to \"That's fine; You won't mind if I say.\"[41] Heartbreak is another aspect Swift explored\u2014\"Teardrops on My Guitar\" was about her experience with a classmate whom she had feelings for, but this classmate was in love with someone else.[40] On \"Cold as You\", Swift laments a fruitless relationship: \"I've never been anywhere cold as you.\" She said it was her favorite song lyrically on the album: \"I love a line in a song where afterward you're just like... burn.\"[38]\n
In other songs, Swift sings about insecurity and self-consciousness. \"The Outside\", which Swift wrote at age 12, describes the loneliness she felt when her love of country music alienated her from her peers.[42] In a similar sentiment, \"A Place in This World\" expresses Swift's uncertainty about where she truly belongs.[32] Swift wrote \"Tied Together with a Smile\" the day she learned one of her best friends had an eating disorder.[43] The lyrics describe a girl hiding her inner turbulence; Swift commented, \"I always thought that one of the biggest overlooked problems American girls face is insecurity.\"[43]\n
Elements of crossover pop are apparent on many songs.[47] In retrospective articles, critics disagreed on to what extent the Taylor Swift songs are fully country. Jon Caramanica from The New York Times called it a \"pop-minded country\" album,[48] while Rolling Stone critic Chuck Eddy observed that Taylor Swift blended \"pop-rock and Dixie Chicks-style twang\".[49] Another album review on Rolling Stone, meanwhile, felt the songs were inflected with rock.[50] Grady Smith from the same magazine listed the singles \"Tim McGraw\", \"Teardrops on My Guitar\", \"Our Song\", and \"Picture to Burn\" among Swift's \"countriest songs\", which evoke \"classic country\" in terms of instrumentation, themes, and song structure.[51] J. Freedom du Lac from The Washington Post noted that the \"rhythmic, rap-influenced phrasing\" on \"Our Song\" was atypical to country music.[52]\n
James E. Perone, an academic in music, cited \"Tim McGraw\" as an example of Swift's crossover appeal. \"Tim McGraw\" follows the I-vi-IV-Vchord progression, which is typically found in late-1950s and early-1960s rock and roll. The refrain consists of repeated motifs built within a small pitch range, which gives the song a catchy tune. Additionally, the refrain\u2014and to a lesser degree, the verses\u2014makes heavy use of syncopation at the sixteenth-note level, which brings about a production reminiscent to non-country genres such as alternative rock and hip hop. Perone argued that these melodic qualities laid the groundwork to Swift's pop radio-friendly discography enjoyed by both pop and country audiences.[44]\n
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Release and promotion
\nSwift opening for Brad Paisley in 2007. To promote her first album, Swift opened tours for other country musicians in 2007\u20132008.[53]\n
Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records.[54] Swift was involved in the album packaging, designing doodle graphics herself.[25] She included hidden messages with hints at the subjects of her songs in the lyrics printed in the liner notes, inspired by the Beatles' hiding secret messages in their records.[55] She executed the same technique on her subsequent albums.[31][56] Swift said the messages could be interpreted by tracking the capital letters in the order they appear in the lyrics printed in the liner notes.[7] In addition to the eleven-track standard edition, a 15-track deluxe edition contains three new original songs\u2014\"I'm Only Me When I'm with You\", \"Invisible\", and \"A Perfectly Good Heart\", and an alternate version of \"Teardrops on My Guitar\".[57] An \"enhanced version\", which includes the music videos for \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" and \"Tim McGraw\", was released on March 18, 2008.[58]\n
In addition to traditional radio promotion, Swift extensively used her Myspace profile to communicate with her audiences, sharing her daily blogs and song information. Her online marketing strategy boosted the album's popularity among teenagers and young adults.[21] Swift and Big Machine decided to release \"Our Song\" as a single because of the positive feedback it received on Myspace.[21] Throughout 2007 and 2008, four more singles supported Taylor Swift: \"Teardrops on My Guitar\", \"Our Song\", \"Picture to Burn\", and \"Should've Said No\", all of which peaked within the top forty of the Hot 100 and the top ten of the Hot Country Songs chart.[71] \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" peaked at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart and had a crossover release to pop radio; it peaked at number seven on the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, and number 13 on the Hot 100.[72][73] \"Our Song\" and \"Should've Said No\" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart.[71] With \"Our Song\", Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a Hot Country Songs number one.[74] All singles were certified platinum or more by the RIAA, with \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" (3\u00d7 Platinum) and \"Our Song\" (4\u00d7 Platinum) selling over three million copies each.[62][75]\n
Taylor Swift received generally positive reviews from critics.[86] Though some deemed the lyrical themes unsophisticated and lacking depth, most critics praised Swift's songwriting for using familiar techniques in ways that sounded original and novel.[87] On Metacritic, which assigns an aggregated score out of 100 to reviews from publications, the album earned a score of 67, based on five reviews.[80]\n
In a review for Country Weekly, Chris Neal deemed Swift a success compared to previous aspiring teenage country singers because of her \"honesty, intelligence and idealism\".[83] Reviewers were impressed by Swift's maturity while retaining a sense of youthful innocence in her lyrics, including Ken Rosenbaum of The Toledo Blade,[88] Nick Cristiano of The Philadelphia Inquirer,[84]Jeff Tamarkin of AllMusic,[81] and Rolling Stone.[50] In a review for The Palm Beach Post, James Fontaine felt Swift's honest depiction of her teenage experience made the album compelling, and lauded the \"musical maturity\" for effectively communicating the sentiments.[45]The Morning Call's Keith Groller said that the album was not groundbreaking but could appeal to a wide-ranging audience with its adolescent earnestness.[89]\n
Critics commented on the album's pop sensibility\u2014Neal and Rolling Stone found it appealing to a mainstream audience.[50][83] Tamarkin commented that Swift's \"considerably strong voice\" straddled the precarious boundary between country and pop, and criticized producer Chapman for applying \"a gloss that not all [songs] really require\".[81] In the Chicago Tribune, Chrissie Dickinson described Taylor Swift as \"a slick package, pleasant enough but devoid of anything resembling gritty traction\".[46] In a mixed review for PopMatters, Roger Holland complimented the production quality of certain tracks, but deemed the album overall a misstep for Swift's true appeal: \"It's to be hoped that when she finds both her place and her full grown voice, she's able to find an accommodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities.\"[85]Robert Christgau rated the album a \"cut\" score (), and selected \"Tim McGraw\" and \"Picture to Burn\" as highlights.[82][note 2]\n
Retrospective reviews have remained favorable toward Swift's early songwriting. Maura Johnston from Pitchfork described the album as an honest record about teenage perspectives, which set Swift apart from the manufactured albums that \"weighed down former teen sensations\".[37] Jonathan Bradley from Billboard lauded how Swift captured immediate emotions and feelings with \"details... so sharp at so small a scale\".[32] In July 2022, Rolling Stone ranked Taylor Swift at number 32 on its list of the \"100 Best Debut Albums of All Time\".[93]\n
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Commercial performance
\n
Taylor Swift was a sleeper success in the United States.[16][94] It debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 chart dated November 11, 2006, with first-week sales of 40,000 copies.[95] Because albums often drop in sales after their initial release, Swift did not expect her album to remain long on the chart: \"I would be incredibly lucky to see this album certified Gold.\"[16] Contrary to her expectations, Taylor Swift kept selling at a fairly consistent pace.[16] By November 2007, the album had sold over a million copies.[96] It reached its highest sales week on the Billboard 200 chart dated January 5, 2008, when it sold 187,000 copies and charted at number eight.[97]\n
The album reached its peak at number five on the chart dated January 19, 2008, in its 63rd week of charting.[98] Spending 157 weeks on the Billboard 200 by October 2009, Taylor Swift marked the longest stay on the chart by any album released in the 2000s decade.[99] It has spent a total of 280 weeks on the chart as of August 2023.[100] On Top Country Albums, Taylor Swift peaked at number one for 24 non-consecutive weeks.[101] By January 2024, the album had sold 5.871 million pure copies in the United States.[102] It had been certified seven times Platinum by the RIAA for earning over seven million album-equivalent units in the nation.[103]\n
Ms. Swift ... has quickly established herself as the most remarkable country music breakthrough artist of the decade. In part that's because ... [her] career has been noteworthy for what happens once the songs are finished. She has aggressively used online social networks to stay connected with her young audience in a way that ... is proving to be revolutionary in country music, ... helping country reach a new audience.\n
Taylor Swift was released in a time when female country artists were gaining momentum in popularity.[37][50] Nashville industry experts nonetheless disapproved of Swift's debut as a teenager[12][18] because they considered the album's adolescent themes inappropriate for country music's middle-aged key demographic.[71][115]Jim Malec of American Songwriter observed that contrary to industry expectations,Taylor Swift's success on country radio, particularly with the track \"Our Song\", established Swift as one of the few teenage female artists to be equally successful with male counterparts in a format dominated by men.[71]\n
Though critics questioned the album's country-music categorization,[116]Rolling Stone remarked that following the Dixie Chicks' 2003 controversy, which left \"a huge space opened up in the heart of the country audience\", Swift \"has completely filled it ... with a sound that's not just rock-informed but teen-poppy too\".[50]Jon Caramanica of The New York Times observed that, although the country-pop crossover sound was facilitated by previous successful singers, Swift was the first country artist to embrace the status of a pop star.[72]Taylor Swift made her the first female solo artist in country music to write or co-write every song on a platinum-certified debut album.[74][117] Its production laid the groundwork to Swift's subsequent country-pop discography, whose chart success straddled the perceived boundary between the two genres.[116][118][119]\n
Music journalists attributed the album's success to Swift's songwriting and online marketing strategy.[12] While online promotion was familiar to pop and hip hop artists, she was the first country artist to promote her songs on social media services like Myspace;[71][72] she also relied on social media to promote her subsequent releases, which brought her a loyal fan base.[115][120] Her social media presence ushered in a younger audience consisted of mostly teenage girls who listened to country music\u2014a previously unheard demographic.[12] The autobiographical narratives on Taylor Swift defined Swift's songwriting over the next decade,[31][32] which Billboard noted to inspire a new generation of aspiring singer-songwriters.[115]Consequence stated Taylor Swift was the blueprint for songs focused on unrequited love and suffering, paving the way for \"future teenie boppers\" such as Conan Gray's \"Heather\" (2020) and Olivia Rodrigo's \"Drivers License\" (2021).[121]Rolling Stone opined, \"if Taylor Swift retired right after dropping her debut album, she'd still be remembered as a legend today [...] Taylor debuted with complete mastery of a genre she was also completely transforming.\"[93] According to Entertainment Weekly, the commercial success of her debut helped the infant Big Machine go on to sign Garth Brooks and Jewel.[122]\n
\n
Track listing
\n
All tracks are produced by Nathan Chapman except where noted.\n
Upon its release, a special enhanced CD version of the album was released, featuring the \"Tim McGraw\" music video and performance at the Grand Ole Opry.[127]
\n
In addition to the bonus tracks, the deluxe edition also contains the single versions of \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" and \"Our Song\", replacing the original versions. It was released with the bonus DVD disc, featuring more than an hour of video content. A special deluxe edition, released at Target, contains an extended DVD content.[124]
\n
The 2008 edition replaced the original editions after being released, and was the first and only edition to be released in many countries. In addition to the new versions of \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" and \"Our Song\", which had initially replaced their original counterparts on the deluxe edition, the 2008 edition also replaces \"Picture to Burn\" with the radio edit.[128] In the United States, the new edition contains enhanced content, featuring the music videos of \"Tim McGraw\" and \"Teardrops on My Guitar\".[129]
\n
Personnel
\n
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[25]\n
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. \u2021 Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.\n
\n\n\n\n",
+ "page_last_modified": " Sat, 16 Mar 2024 01:31:13 GMT"
+ },
+ {
+ "page_name": "Taylor Swift - Biography - IMDb",
+ "page_url": "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2357847/bio/",
+ "page_snippet": "Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music ...Taylor Swift. Self: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the Entertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many other accolades. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the Entertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many other accolades. As of this writing, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. As of this writing, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. Her ancestry includes German and English, as well as some Scottish, Irish, Welsh and 1/16th Italian.",
+ "page_result": "Taylor Swift - Biography - IMDb
Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter\nwho, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in\nhistory to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift\nwas named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been\nnamed the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the\nEntertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the\nAcademy of Country Music, among many other accolades. As of this\nwriting, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history.
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and\nScott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. Her ancestry includes German and English, as well as some Scottish, Irish, Welsh and 1/16th Italian. She was named after\nJames Taylor, and her mother\nbelieved that if she had a gender neutral name it would help her forge a\nbusiness career. Taylor spent most of her childhood on an 11-acre\nChristmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. When she was\nnine years old the family moved to Wyomissing, PA, where she\nattended West Reading Elementary Center and Wyomissing Area\nJunior/Senior High School. Taylor spent her summers at her parents'\nvacation home at the Jersey shore. Her first hobby was English\nhorse riding. Her mother put her in a saddle when she was nine months\nold and Swift later competed in horse shows. At the age of nine she\nturned her attention to musical theatre and performed in Berks Youth\nTheatre Academy productions of "Grease", "Annie", "Bye Bye Birdie" and "The\nSound of Music". She traveled regularly to New York City for vocal\nand acting lessons. However, after a few years of auditioning in New\nYork and not getting anything, she became interested in country music.\nAt age 11, after many attempts, Taylor won a local talent\ncompetition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes' "Big Deal", and was\ngiven the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels\nat a Strausstown amphitheater. This interest in country music isolated\nSwift from her middle school peers.
At age 12 she was shown by a computer repairman how to\nplay three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song,\n"Lucky You". She had previously won a national poetry contest with a\npoem entitled "Monster in My Closet", but now began to focus on\nsongwriting. She moved to Nashville at age 14, having\nsecured an artist development deal with RCA Records. She left RCA\nRecords when she was 15--the label wanted her to record the work\nof other songwriters and wait until she was 18 to release an\nalbum, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.\nAt an industry showcase at Nashville's The Bluebird Caf\u00e9 in 2005, Swift\ncaught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a Dreamworks Records executive\nwho was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine\nRecords. Taylor was one of the new label's first signings.
Taylor released her debut album, "Taylor Swift", in October of 2006 and\nreceived generally positive reviews from music critics. The New York\nTimes described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both\nwide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading\nvoice". Her single "Our Song" made her the youngest solo writer and\nsinger of a #1 country song. The album sold 39,000 copies\nduring its first week. In 2008 she released her second studio album, "Fearless". The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released\nin September 2008 and became the second best-selling country single of\nall time, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Four\nmore singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse",\n"You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me"\nwas the album's highest-charting single, peaking at #2 on the\nBillboard Hot 100. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200\nAlbum Chart. It was the top-selling album of 2009 and brought Swift\nmuch crossover success.
In September 2009 she became the first country music artist to win\nan MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best\nFemale Video. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Ye, who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents.\nWest declared Beyonc\u00e9's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)",\nnominated in the same category, to be "one of the best videos of all\ntime". When Beyonc\u00e9 later won the award for Video of the Year, she\ninvited Taylor onstage to finish her speech. In November 2009 Taylor Swift\nbecame the youngest ever artist, and one of only six women, to be named\nEntertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.
She released her third studio album in October 2010, "Speak Now", and wrote all the songs herself. She originally intended to call the album\n"Enchanted" but Scott Borchetta, her record label's CEO, felt the title\ndid not reflect the album's more adult themes. Swift toured throughout\n2011 and early 2012 in support of "Speak Now". As part of the\n13-month, 111-date world tour, Swift played seven shows in Asia,\n12 in Europe, 80 in North America and 12 in\nAustralasia (three dates on the US tour were rescheduled after she\nfell ill with bronchitis). The stage show was inspired by Broadway\nmusical theatre, with choreographed routines, elaborate set-pieces,\npyrotechnics and numerous costume changes. Swift invited many musicians\nto join her for one-off duets during the North American tour.\nAppearances were made by James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shawn Colvin, Johnny Rzeznik, Andy Grammer, Tal Bachman, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Nicki Minaj, Nelly, B.o.B., Usher, Flo Rida, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, Jon Foreman, Jim Adkins,\nHayley Williams, Hot Chelle Rae, Ronnie Dunn, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. In May 2012 Taylor featured in B.o.B's song "Both of\nUs".
Swift's fourth studio album, "Red", was released on October 22, 2012. She\nwrote nine of the album's 16 songs alone; the remaining seven were\nco-written with Max Martin, Liz Rose, Dan Wilson, Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody. Nathan Chapman served as the album's lead producer but Jeff Bhasker, Butch Walker, Jacknife Lee, Dann Huff and Shellback (aka Shellback) also\nproduced individual tracks. Chapman has said he encouraged Swift "to\nbranch out and to test herself in other situations". She has described\nthe collaborative process as "an apprenticeship" that taught her to\n"paint with different colors". "Red" examines Swift's attraction to\ndrama-filled relationships; she believes that, since writing the\nrecord, such relationships no longer appeal to her. Musically, while\nthere is some experimentation with "slick, electronic beats", the pop\nsheen is limited to a handful of tracks sprinkled among more\nrecognizably Swiftian fare. "Rolling Stone" enjoyed "watching Swift find\nher pony-footing on Great Songwriter Mountain. She often succeeds in\njoining the Joni/Carole King tradition of stark-relief emotional\nmapping . . . Her self-discovery project is one of the best stories in\npop." The Guardian described Swift as a "Br\u00fcnnhilde of a rock star" and\ncharacterized "Red" as "another chapter in one of the finest fantasies\npop music has ever constructed". "USA Today" felt that the "engaging"\nrecord saw Swift "write ever-more convincingly--and wittily and\npainfully--about the messy emotions of a young twenty something\nnearing the end of her transition from girl to woman". The "Los Angeles\nTimes" noted the exploration of "more nuanced relationship issues" on\n"an unapologetically big pop record that opens new sonic vistas for\nher".
As part of the "Red" promotional campaign, representatives from 72\nworldwide radio stations were flown to Nashville during release week\nfor individual interviews with Swift. She made television appearances\non The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003), Good Morning America (1975), The View (1997), Late Show with David Letterman (1993), ABC News Nightline (1980) and All Access Nashville with Katie Couric (2012). She performed at Los Angeles' MTV VMAs and London's\nTeen Awards, and will also perform at Nashville's CMA Awards,\nFrankfurt's MTV Europe Music Awards, Los Angeles' AMA Awards and\nSydney's ARIA Music Awards. Swift offered exclusive album promotions\nthrough Target, Papa John's and Walgreens. She became a spokesmodel for\nKeds sneakers, released her sophomore Elizabeth Arden fragrance and\ncontinued her partnerships with Cover Girl, Sony Electronics and\nAmerican Greetings, as well as her unofficial brand tie-ins with Ralph\nLauren and Shellys. The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting\nBack Together", was released in August 2012. The song became Swift's\nfirst #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, recording the\nhighest ever one-week sales figures for a female artist. Two further\nsingles have since been released: "Begin Again" (country radio) and "I\nKnew You Were Trouble" (pop and international radio).In her career, as\nof May 2012, Swift has sold over 23 million albums and 54.5 million\ndigital tracks worldwide.
Taylor Swift is only beginning to emerge as an acting talent, having voiced\nthe role of Audrey in the animated feature\nThe Lorax (2012). She also made\nappearances in the theatrical release\nValentine's Day (2010) and in\nan episode of\nCSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000). She contributed two original songs to\nThe Hunger Games (2012)\nsoundtrack: "Safe & Sound featuring The Civil Wars" and "Eyes Open".\nTaylor released her fifth album, titled "1989", on October 27, 2014. This album is when she finally made the complete transition from country to pop. She says that she will not be going to any Country Music Award shows. The album is named after the year she was born, and is a sort of '80s-sounding album, in the sense that it's more electronic.
In March 2015 she began dating Scottish Disc Jockey Calvin Harris after having met at the Brit Awards in February. They were together for thirteen months.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous and Aman Jaitly (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
For songs that are owned by herself and for which she gets full revenues, she always adds "Taylor's Version" as a subtitle (for example, "Breathe (Taylor's Version)").
Named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2023, becoming the first entertainer to be named as an individual. She was also named among 2017's Persons of the Year, "The Silence Breakers", as people who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment.
She loves being barefoot, and is frequently seen without shoes in her music videos and photo shoots.
Has three cats: Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button.
[on the Britney Spears perfume she wore] The coolest girl in school wore Britney Spears' Fantasy, and I had to copy her.
People haven't always been there for me, but music always has.
I never want to change so much that people can't recognize me.
When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair.
There's more to life than dating the boy on the football team.
Please enable browser cookies to use this feature.\u00a0Learn more.
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+ "page_name": "Taylor Swift (album) - Wikipedia",
+ "page_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift_(album)",
+ "page_snippet": "Five singles supported Taylor Swift, including the Hot Country Songs number-ones "Our Song" and "Should've Said No", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, "Teardrops on My Guitar". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She ...Five singles supported Taylor Swift, including the Hot Country Songs number-ones \"Our Song\" and \"Should've Said No\", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, \"Teardrops on My Guitar\". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006 and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006 and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. Critics praised the album's mainstream sensibility and Swift's songwriting at a young age for earnestly depicting adolescent sentiments. Taylor Swift was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift wrote Taylor Swift from her personal life experiences as a teenager. While she adhered to the confessional songwriting associated with country music, she did not write about stereotypical themes such as \"tractors and hay bales because that's not really the way I grew up\". Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records. Swift was involved in the album packaging, designing doodle graphics herself. She included hidden messages with hints at the subjects of her songs in the lyrics printed in the liner notes, inspired by the Beatles' hiding secret messages in their records. In the Chicago Tribune, Chrissie Dickinson described Taylor Swift as \"a slick package, pleasant enough but devoid of anything resembling gritty traction\". In a mixed review for PopMatters, Roger Holland complimented the production quality of certain tracks, but deemed the album overall a misstep for Swift's true appeal: \"It's to be hoped that when she finds both her place and her full grown voice, she's able to find an accommodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities.\"",
+ "page_result": "\n\n\n\nTaylor Swift (album) - Wikipedia\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJump to content\n
Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Under Big Machine Records, it was released in North America on October 24, 2006, and elsewhere on March 18, 2008. Swift had signed with Sony/ATV Tree publishing house in 2004, at age 14, to pursue a career as a country musician. Her contract with Big Machine Records in 2005 enabled her to work on the album during her second year of high school.\n
Swift is credited as a writer on all 11 of the album's tracks, three of which solely; Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, Angelo Petraglia, and Liz Rose have co-writing credits. Drawing on her personal life, the songs reflect Swift's outlook on life as a teenager, dealing with romantic relationships, friendships, and insecurity. Produced by Orrall and Nathan Chapman, Taylor Swift is a country record with pop and pop rock elements, incorporating acoustic instruments such as guitars, banjos, and fiddles.\n
Five singles supported Taylor Swift, including the Hot Country Songs number-ones \"Our Song\" and \"Should've Said No\", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, \"Teardrops on My Guitar\". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006 and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. Critics praised the album's mainstream sensibility and Swift's songwriting at a young age for earnestly depicting adolescent sentiments. Taylor Swift was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards.\n
The album spent 24 weeks at number one on Top Country Albums and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, where it became the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade. Certified seven times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it made Swift the first solo female country artist to write or co-write every song on a platinum debut album. Journalists attributed Taylor Swift's success to Swift's online marketing via Myspace, which ushered in a younger demographic in-country audiences who had mainly consisted of middle-aged listeners. The album's crossover appeal shaped the country pop style of Swift's next two albums, and its autobiographical narratives about love and heartbreak inspired a subsequent generation of singer-songwriters.\n
\n\n
Background
\n
Swift developed an early interest in the performing arts.[1][2] After watching a documentary about country singer Faith Hill, Swift felt sure she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee\u2014widely regarded as the home of country music[3][4]\u2014to pursue a career as a country singer.[5] At age eleven, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to pitch demo tapes of karaoke covers to record labels for a contract.[6][7] She was rejected because record labels believed country music's middle-aged demographic would not listen to music by a teenage girl, which Swift firmly disbelieved.[8][9]\n
Returning to her hometown in Pennsylvania, Swift realized she had to distinguish herself from other aspiring country singers.[8] To this end, at age 12, she started writing songs herself and learned to play the guitar with the help of a computer repairman who had fixed her family's computer on one occasion.[9] Swift's love for country music alienated her from her peers.[10] Her performance of \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" at the 2003 US Open caught the attention of music manager Dan Dymtrow, who helped 13-year-old Swift get an artist development deal with RCA Records in Nashville.[11] To assist Swift's artistic endeavors, her father transferred his job to Nashville, and her family relocated to Hendersonville, a city close to Nashville, in 2004.[12][13]\n
\n
Development and production
\n
Among Swift's inspirations were 1990s female country musicians\u2014Shania Twain, the Chicks, Faith Hill, and LeAnn Rimes.[14] She signed with the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house at age 14 to become a professional songwriter, the youngest signee in its history.[15] After the signing, Swift commuted from Hendersonville to Nashville every afternoon to practice with experienced Music Row songwriters.[16]Liz Rose became an important collaborator and formed a lasting working relationship with Swift in her future career.[17] Swift had productive sessions with Rose because she respected Swift's vision and did not want to put her in the \"Nashville cookie-cutter songwriting mold\".[18] Rose spoke highly of Swift's songwriting abilities: \"Basically, I was just her editor...She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks.\"[19]\n
After one year on RCA's development deal, Swift was held off an official record deal; she felt the label was not confident in her self-written material.[20][21] Swift parted ways with RCA: \"I figured if they didn't believe in me then, they weren't ever going to believe in me.\"[11] She recalled in 2009 in The Daily Telegraph: \"I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through.\"[22] At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Caf\u00e9 in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She had first met Borchetta in 2004.[23] Swift became one of Big Machine's first signings, and her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company.[24]\n
Of the standard edition's eleven songs, Swift is the sole writer of three and a co-writer of eight. Rose shares the writing credit on seven. Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia co-wrote \"A Place in This World\", and Brian Maher co-wrote \"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)\".[25] After experimenting with different producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to recruit Nathan Chapman, who had produced her demo album in a \"little shed\" behind the Sony/ATV offices.[7][26] Big Machine was skeptical about hiring Chapman because he had never produced a commercially released studio album, but ultimately agreed because Swift felt they had the \"right chemistry\".[7] Before approaching Chapman, Swift conceptualized how her songs should sound: \"I know exactly where I want the hook to be and ... what instruments I want to use.\"[27] Chapman was confident in Swift's abilities, saying that she \"knows what she wants to say with her music\".[27] He has sole production credits on all songs but one, \"The Outside\", on which he is credited as an additional producer, and Orrall as the main producer.[7] Recording took place for four months near the end of 2005.[7] When the recording and production wrapped, Swift had finished her first high school year.[28]\n
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Composition
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Lyrics
\n
Swift wrote Taylor Swift from her personal life experiences as a teenager. While she adhered to the confessional songwriting associated with country music, she did not write about stereotypical themes such as \"tractors and hay bales because that's not really the way I grew up\".[29] She instead wrote about her observations and reflections on matters from romantic relationships to friendships, striving to convey her teenage perspectives as honestly and personally as possible.[30] Because her inspirations came from immediate feelings and emotions, Swift wrote songs anytime and anywhere, from studio sessions to school breaks.[17] This practice resulted in straightforward lyrics, which The Daily Telegraph noted were \"brimming with an earnest naivet\u00e9\".[31]\n
The songs on Taylor Swift are from the perspectives of a girl in an American small town, within the bounds from high school hallways to rural backroads; Billboard noted that Swift's personal thoughts within a small confinement fostered a contemplative nature.[32] Most songs on the album are about romantic relationships, some of which were based on Swift's observations rather than real experiences.[7][16] The lead single and first track, \"Tim McGraw\", was inspired by Swift's relationship with a senior boyfriend during her first year of high school. The song is about Swift's hope that the boyfriend, after ending the relationship and leaving for college, would reminisce about her every time he hears their mutual favorite Tim McGraw song;[33] according to Swift, \"Tim McGraw\" was inspired by McGraw's 2004 song \"Can't Tell Me Nothin'\".[34] Swift wrote \"Our Song\" for her high school talent show.[35] She talked about the inspiration: \"I wrote it about this guy I was dating, and how we didn't have a song. So I went ahead and wrote us one.\"[36]\n
The songs \"Picture to Burn\" and \"Should've Said No\" depict a vengeful attitude toward those who do not reciprocate the protagonist's feelings;[39] on \"Picture to Burn\", Swift sings about burning photographic evidence of an ex-boyfriend's existence.[40] The original version included the lyrics, \"Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay.\"[38] On the radio edit and subsequent versions, Swift modified the lyric to \"That's fine; You won't mind if I say.\"[41] Heartbreak is another aspect Swift explored\u2014\"Teardrops on My Guitar\" was about her experience with a classmate whom she had feelings for, but this classmate was in love with someone else.[40] On \"Cold as You\", Swift laments a fruitless relationship: \"I've never been anywhere cold as you.\" She said it was her favorite song lyrically on the album: \"I love a line in a song where afterward you're just like... burn.\"[38]\n
In other songs, Swift sings about insecurity and self-consciousness. \"The Outside\", which Swift wrote at age 12, describes the loneliness she felt when her love of country music alienated her from her peers.[42] In a similar sentiment, \"A Place in This World\" expresses Swift's uncertainty about where she truly belongs.[32] Swift wrote \"Tied Together with a Smile\" the day she learned one of her best friends had an eating disorder.[43] The lyrics describe a girl hiding her inner turbulence; Swift commented, \"I always thought that one of the biggest overlooked problems American girls face is insecurity.\"[43]\n
Elements of crossover pop are apparent on many songs.[47] In retrospective articles, critics disagreed on to what extent the Taylor Swift songs are fully country. Jon Caramanica from The New York Times called it a \"pop-minded country\" album,[48] while Rolling Stone critic Chuck Eddy observed that Taylor Swift blended \"pop-rock and Dixie Chicks-style twang\".[49] Another album review on Rolling Stone, meanwhile, felt the songs were inflected with rock.[50] Grady Smith from the same magazine listed the singles \"Tim McGraw\", \"Teardrops on My Guitar\", \"Our Song\", and \"Picture to Burn\" among Swift's \"countriest songs\", which evoke \"classic country\" in terms of instrumentation, themes, and song structure.[51] J. Freedom du Lac from The Washington Post noted that the \"rhythmic, rap-influenced phrasing\" on \"Our Song\" was atypical to country music.[52]\n
James E. Perone, an academic in music, cited \"Tim McGraw\" as an example of Swift's crossover appeal. \"Tim McGraw\" follows the I-vi-IV-Vchord progression, which is typically found in late-1950s and early-1960s rock and roll. The refrain consists of repeated motifs built within a small pitch range, which gives the song a catchy tune. Additionally, the refrain\u2014and to a lesser degree, the verses\u2014makes heavy use of syncopation at the sixteenth-note level, which brings about a production reminiscent to non-country genres such as alternative rock and hip hop. Perone argued that these melodic qualities laid the groundwork to Swift's pop radio-friendly discography enjoyed by both pop and country audiences.[44]\n
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Release and promotion
\nSwift opening for Brad Paisley in 2007. To promote her first album, Swift opened tours for other country musicians in 2007\u20132008.[53]\n
Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records.[54] Swift was involved in the album packaging, designing doodle graphics herself.[25] She included hidden messages with hints at the subjects of her songs in the lyrics printed in the liner notes, inspired by the Beatles' hiding secret messages in their records.[55] She executed the same technique on her subsequent albums.[31][56] Swift said the messages could be interpreted by tracking the capital letters in the order they appear in the lyrics printed in the liner notes.[7] In addition to the eleven-track standard edition, a 15-track deluxe edition contains three new original songs\u2014\"I'm Only Me When I'm with You\", \"Invisible\", and \"A Perfectly Good Heart\", and an alternate version of \"Teardrops on My Guitar\".[57] An \"enhanced version\", which includes the music videos for \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" and \"Tim McGraw\", was released on March 18, 2008.[58]\n
In addition to traditional radio promotion, Swift extensively used her Myspace profile to communicate with her audiences, sharing her daily blogs and song information. Her online marketing strategy boosted the album's popularity among teenagers and young adults.[21] Swift and Big Machine decided to release \"Our Song\" as a single because of the positive feedback it received on Myspace.[21] Throughout 2007 and 2008, four more singles supported Taylor Swift: \"Teardrops on My Guitar\", \"Our Song\", \"Picture to Burn\", and \"Should've Said No\", all of which peaked within the top forty of the Hot 100 and the top ten of the Hot Country Songs chart.[71] \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" peaked at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart and had a crossover release to pop radio; it peaked at number seven on the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, and number 13 on the Hot 100.[72][73] \"Our Song\" and \"Should've Said No\" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart.[71] With \"Our Song\", Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a Hot Country Songs number one.[74] All singles were certified platinum or more by the RIAA, with \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" (3\u00d7 Platinum) and \"Our Song\" (4\u00d7 Platinum) selling over three million copies each.[62][75]\n
Taylor Swift received generally positive reviews from critics.[86] Though some deemed the lyrical themes unsophisticated and lacking depth, most critics praised Swift's songwriting for using familiar techniques in ways that sounded original and novel.[87] On Metacritic, which assigns an aggregated score out of 100 to reviews from publications, the album earned a score of 67, based on five reviews.[80]\n
In a review for Country Weekly, Chris Neal deemed Swift a success compared to previous aspiring teenage country singers because of her \"honesty, intelligence and idealism\".[83] Reviewers were impressed by Swift's maturity while retaining a sense of youthful innocence in her lyrics, including Ken Rosenbaum of The Toledo Blade,[88] Nick Cristiano of The Philadelphia Inquirer,[84]Jeff Tamarkin of AllMusic,[81] and Rolling Stone.[50] In a review for The Palm Beach Post, James Fontaine felt Swift's honest depiction of her teenage experience made the album compelling, and lauded the \"musical maturity\" for effectively communicating the sentiments.[45]The Morning Call's Keith Groller said that the album was not groundbreaking but could appeal to a wide-ranging audience with its adolescent earnestness.[89]\n
Critics commented on the album's pop sensibility\u2014Neal and Rolling Stone found it appealing to a mainstream audience.[50][83] Tamarkin commented that Swift's \"considerably strong voice\" straddled the precarious boundary between country and pop, and criticized producer Chapman for applying \"a gloss that not all [songs] really require\".[81] In the Chicago Tribune, Chrissie Dickinson described Taylor Swift as \"a slick package, pleasant enough but devoid of anything resembling gritty traction\".[46] In a mixed review for PopMatters, Roger Holland complimented the production quality of certain tracks, but deemed the album overall a misstep for Swift's true appeal: \"It's to be hoped that when she finds both her place and her full grown voice, she's able to find an accommodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities.\"[85]Robert Christgau rated the album a \"cut\" score (), and selected \"Tim McGraw\" and \"Picture to Burn\" as highlights.[82][note 2]\n
Retrospective reviews have remained favorable toward Swift's early songwriting. Maura Johnston from Pitchfork described the album as an honest record about teenage perspectives, which set Swift apart from the manufactured albums that \"weighed down former teen sensations\".[37] Jonathan Bradley from Billboard lauded how Swift captured immediate emotions and feelings with \"details... so sharp at so small a scale\".[32] In July 2022, Rolling Stone ranked Taylor Swift at number 32 on its list of the \"100 Best Debut Albums of All Time\".[93]\n
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Commercial performance
\n
Taylor Swift was a sleeper success in the United States.[16][94] It debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 chart dated November 11, 2006, with first-week sales of 40,000 copies.[95] Because albums often drop in sales after their initial release, Swift did not expect her album to remain long on the chart: \"I would be incredibly lucky to see this album certified Gold.\"[16] Contrary to her expectations, Taylor Swift kept selling at a fairly consistent pace.[16] By November 2007, the album had sold over a million copies.[96] It reached its highest sales week on the Billboard 200 chart dated January 5, 2008, when it sold 187,000 copies and charted at number eight.[97]\n
The album reached its peak at number five on the chart dated January 19, 2008, in its 63rd week of charting.[98] Spending 157 weeks on the Billboard 200 by October 2009, Taylor Swift marked the longest stay on the chart by any album released in the 2000s decade.[99] It has spent a total of 280 weeks on the chart as of August 2023.[100] On Top Country Albums, Taylor Swift peaked at number one for 24 non-consecutive weeks.[101] By January 2024, the album had sold 5.871 million pure copies in the United States.[102] It had been certified seven times Platinum by the RIAA for earning over seven million album-equivalent units in the nation.[103]\n
Ms. Swift ... has quickly established herself as the most remarkable country music breakthrough artist of the decade. In part that's because ... [her] career has been noteworthy for what happens once the songs are finished. She has aggressively used online social networks to stay connected with her young audience in a way that ... is proving to be revolutionary in country music, ... helping country reach a new audience.\n
Taylor Swift was released in a time when female country artists were gaining momentum in popularity.[37][50] Nashville industry experts nonetheless disapproved of Swift's debut as a teenager[12][18] because they considered the album's adolescent themes inappropriate for country music's middle-aged key demographic.[71][115]Jim Malec of American Songwriter observed that contrary to industry expectations,Taylor Swift's success on country radio, particularly with the track \"Our Song\", established Swift as one of the few teenage female artists to be equally successful with male counterparts in a format dominated by men.[71]\n
Though critics questioned the album's country-music categorization,[116]Rolling Stone remarked that following the Dixie Chicks' 2003 controversy, which left \"a huge space opened up in the heart of the country audience\", Swift \"has completely filled it ... with a sound that's not just rock-informed but teen-poppy too\".[50]Jon Caramanica of The New York Times observed that, although the country-pop crossover sound was facilitated by previous successful singers, Swift was the first country artist to embrace the status of a pop star.[72]Taylor Swift made her the first female solo artist in country music to write or co-write every song on a platinum-certified debut album.[74][117] Its production laid the groundwork to Swift's subsequent country-pop discography, whose chart success straddled the perceived boundary between the two genres.[116][118][119]\n
Music journalists attributed the album's success to Swift's songwriting and online marketing strategy.[12] While online promotion was familiar to pop and hip hop artists, she was the first country artist to promote her songs on social media services like Myspace;[71][72] she also relied on social media to promote her subsequent releases, which brought her a loyal fan base.[115][120] Her social media presence ushered in a younger audience consisted of mostly teenage girls who listened to country music\u2014a previously unheard demographic.[12] The autobiographical narratives on Taylor Swift defined Swift's songwriting over the next decade,[31][32] which Billboard noted to inspire a new generation of aspiring singer-songwriters.[115]Consequence stated Taylor Swift was the blueprint for songs focused on unrequited love and suffering, paving the way for \"future teenie boppers\" such as Conan Gray's \"Heather\" (2020) and Olivia Rodrigo's \"Drivers License\" (2021).[121]Rolling Stone opined, \"if Taylor Swift retired right after dropping her debut album, she'd still be remembered as a legend today [...] Taylor debuted with complete mastery of a genre she was also completely transforming.\"[93] According to Entertainment Weekly, the commercial success of her debut helped the infant Big Machine go on to sign Garth Brooks and Jewel.[122]\n
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Track listing
\n
All tracks are produced by Nathan Chapman except where noted.\n
Upon its release, a special enhanced CD version of the album was released, featuring the \"Tim McGraw\" music video and performance at the Grand Ole Opry.[127]
\n
In addition to the bonus tracks, the deluxe edition also contains the single versions of \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" and \"Our Song\", replacing the original versions. It was released with the bonus DVD disc, featuring more than an hour of video content. A special deluxe edition, released at Target, contains an extended DVD content.[124]
\n
The 2008 edition replaced the original editions after being released, and was the first and only edition to be released in many countries. In addition to the new versions of \"Teardrops on My Guitar\" and \"Our Song\", which had initially replaced their original counterparts on the deluxe edition, the 2008 edition also replaces \"Picture to Burn\" with the radio edit.[128] In the United States, the new edition contains enhanced content, featuring the music videos of \"Tim McGraw\" and \"Teardrops on My Guitar\".[129]
\n
Personnel
\n
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[25]\n
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. \u2021 Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.\n
\n\n\n\n",
+ "page_last_modified": " Sat, 16 Mar 2024 01:31:13 GMT"
+ },
+ {
+ "page_name": "Taylor Swift | Biography, Albums, Songs, Grammys, & Facts | Britannica",
+ "page_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Taylor-Swift",
+ "page_snippet": "In 2004, at age 14, Taylor Swift signed a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV, thereby becoming the youngest signing in the company\u2019s history. In 2006 Swift signed with Big Machine Records and scored her first Top 40 hit with \u201cTim McGraw.\u201d She then released four more singles and a self-titled ...Taylor Swift has been one of the most influential artists in contemporary music since she was named the best new artist by the Country Music Association in 2007. In 2023 she was named Spotify\u2019s most-played artist, and in 2024 she became the only person ever to win the Grammy Award for album of the year four times. Taylor Swift was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania. When she was 13, her parents sold their family farm in Pennsylvania and moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee, so she could pursue a career in country music in nearby Nashville. In 2004, at age 14, Taylor Swift signed a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV, thereby becoming the youngest signing in the company\u2019s history. In 2006 Swift signed with Big Machine Records and scored her first Top 40 hit with \u201cTim McGraw.\u201d She then released four more singles and a self-titled album that quickly sold more than one million copies. Taylor Swift (born December 13, 1989, West Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is a multitalented singer-songwriter and global superstar who has captivated audiences with her heartfelt lyrics and catchy melodies, solidifying herself as one of the most influential artists in contemporary music. In 2024 she made history when she won the Grammy Award for album of the year for Midnights (2022), becoming the first artist to win in that category four times.",
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What are some of Taylor Swift\u2019s accomplishments?
Taylor Swift has been one of the most influential artists in contemporary music since she was named the best new artist by the Country Music Association in 2007. In 2023 she was named Spotify\u2019s most-played artist, and in 2024 she became the only person ever to win the Grammy Award for album of the year four times.
Where is Taylor Swift from?
Taylor Swift was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania. When she was 13, her parents sold their family farm in Pennsylvania and moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee, so she could pursue a career in country music in nearby Nashville.
How did Taylor Swift become famous?
In 2004, at age 14, Taylor Swift signed a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV, thereby becoming the youngest signing in the company\u2019s history. In 2006 Swift signed with Big Machine Records and scored her first Top 40 hit with \u201cTim McGraw.\u201d She then released four more singles and a self-titled album that quickly sold more than one million copies. In 2007 she was named best new artist by the Country Music Association.
Taylor Swift (born December 13, 1989, West Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is a multitalented singer-songwriter and global superstar who has captivated audiences with her heartfelt lyrics and catchy melodies, solidifying herself as one of the most influential artists in contemporary music. In 2024 she made history when she won the Grammy Award for album of the year for Midnights (2022), becoming the first artist to win in that category four times.
Early life
Swift showed an interest in music at an early age, and she progressed quickly from roles in children\u2019s theater to her first appearance before a crowd of thousands. She was age 11 when she sang \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d before a Philadelphia 76ersbasketball game, and the following year she picked up the guitar and began to write songs. Taking her inspiration from country music artists such as Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks (now the Chicks), Swift crafted original material that reflected her experiences of tween alienation. When she was 13, Swift\u2019s parents sold their farm in Pennsylvania to move to Hendersonville, Tennessee, so she could devote more of her time to courting country labels in nearby Nashville.
A development deal with RCA Records allowed Swift to make the acquaintance of recording-industry veterans, and in 2004, at age 14, she signed with Sony/ATV as a songwriter. At venues in the Nashville area, she performed many of the songs she had written, and it was at one such performance that she was noticed by record executive Scott Borchetta. Borchetta signed Swift to his fledgling Big Machine label, and her first single, \u201cTim McGraw\u201d (inspired by and prominently referencing a song by Swift\u2019s favorite country artist), was released in the summer of 2006.
Taylor Swift, 2009, posing for promotional content. That year Kanye West would interrupt her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The song was an immediate success, spending eight months on the Billboard country singles chart. Now age 16, Swift followed with a self-titled debut album, and she went on tour, opening for Rascal Flatts. Taylor Swift was certified platinum in 2007, having sold more than one million copies in the United States, and Swift continued a rigorous touring schedule, opening for artists such as George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill. That November Swift received the Horizon Award for best new artist from the Country Music Association (CMA), capping the year in which she emerged as country music\u2019s most-visible young star.
On Swift\u2019s second album, Fearless (2008), she demonstrated a refined pop sensibility, managing to court the mainstream pop audience without losing sight of her country roots. With sales of more than half a million copies in its first week, Fearless opened at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It ultimately spent more time atop that chart than any other album released that decade. Singles such as \u201cYou Belong with Me\u201d and \u201cLove Story\u201d were popular in the digital market as well, the latter accounting for more than four million paid downloads.
Taylor Swift attending Time's \u201c100 Most Influential People in the World\u201d gala, May 4, 2010.
In 2009 Swift embarked on her first tour as a headliner, playing to sold-out venues across North America. That year also saw Swift dominate the industry award circuit. Fearless was recognized as album of the year by the Academy of Country Music in April, and she topped the best female video category for \u201cYou Belong with Me\u201d at the MTVVideo Music Awards (VMAs) in September. During her VMA acceptance speech, Swift was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, who protested that the award should have gone to Beyonc\u00e9 for what he called \u201cone of the best videos of all time.\u201d Later in the program, when Beyonc\u00e9 was accepting the award for video of the year, she invited Swift onstage to conclude her speech, a move that drew a standing ovation for both performers. At the CMA Awards that November, Swift won all four categories in which she was nominated. Her recognition as CMA entertainer of the year made her the youngest-ever winner of that award, as well as the first female solo artist to win since 1999. She began 2010 with an impressive showing at the Grammy Awards, where she collected four honors, including best country song, best country album, and the top prize of album of the year.
Later that year Swift made her feature-film debut in the romantic comedy Valentine\u2019s Day and was named the new spokesperson for CoverGirl cosmetics. Although Swift avoided discussing her personal life in interviews, she was surprisingly frank in her music. Her third album, Speak Now (2010), was littered with allusions to romantic relationships with John Mayer, Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, and Twilight series actor Taylor Lautner. Swift reclaimed the CMA entertainer of the year award in 2011, and the following year she won Grammys for best country solo performance and best country song for \u201cMean,\u201d a single from Speak Now.
Taylor Swift posing at the Guess Portrait Studio during the Toronto International Film Festival, September 9, 2013. She provided her vocals for the British film One Chance.
Swift continued her acting career with a voice role in the animated Dr. Seuss\u2019 The Lorax (2012) before releasing her next collection of songs, Red (2012). While she remained focused on the vagaries of young love, her songwriting reflected a deepened perspective on the subject, and much of the album embraced a bold pop-rock sound. In its first week on sale in the United States, Red sold 1.2 million copies\u2014the highest one-week total in 10 years. In addition, its lead single, the gleeful \u201cWe Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,\u201d gave Swift her first number-one hit on the Billboard pop singles chart.
In 2014 Swift released 1989, an album titled after the year of her birth and reportedly inspired by the music of that era. Although Swift had already been steadily moving away from the traditional country signifiers that marked her early work\u2014\u201cI Knew You Were Trouble,\u201d the second single from Red, even flirted with electronic dance music\u2014she called 1989 her first \u201cofficial pop album.\u201d On the strength of the upbeat \u201cShake It Off,\u201d the album proved to be another blockbuster for Swift, its first-week sales surpassing those of Red. It went on to sell more than five million copies in the United States and earned Swift her second Grammy for album of the year. In 2014 Swift also appeared in a supporting role in The Giver, a filmadaptation of Lois Lowry\u2019s dystopian novel for young readers.
Taylor Swift arriving at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, where she was nominated for record of the year, song of the year, and best pop solo performance, February 8, 2015.
In 2016 Swift\u2019s feud with Kanye West resumed after he released the single \u201cFamous.\u201d The song included a lyric in which Swift was referred to as a \u201cbitch,\u201d and she alleged that it was misogynistic. The public spat escalated after West\u2019s wife, Kim Kardashian, released a recording of a phone call in which Swift gave her approval for the line, though West made no mention of calling her a bitch. Swift\u2019s controversies continued as she took part in a widely publicized civil trial in August 2017, after former radio host David Mueller sued the singer, her mother, and a promoter, claiming that Swift had falsely accused him of sexually groping her in 2013 during the taking of a photograph and thus destroyed his career. She countersued, maintaining that the assault had taken place. At the trial, Swift was removed from Mueller\u2019s suit and the other two defendants were found not liable as the jury found in favor of Swift\u2019s countersuit. Shortly thereafter Swift released the hit song \u201cLook What You Made Me Do,\u201d and her album Reputation became the top-selling American LP of 2017.
In 2018 Swift left Big Machine and signed with Republic Records and Universal Music Group. The following year her former label, which owned the master recordings of her six albums, was sold to Scooter Braun, a talent manager whose clients had included Kanye West. Swift publicly spoke out against the deal, claiming that Borchetta had rejected her attempts to acquire the master tapes and that Braun had bullied her over the years. She subsequently tried to negotiate a deal with Braun, but he sold her back catalog to a private investment firm in 2020. Against this backdrop, Swift began rerecording her early material in an effort to gain control of it\u2014the hope being that her remade songs and not the originals would be sought out for licensing deals\u2014and in 2021 Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version) and Red (Taylor\u2019s Version) appeared. They were remakes of earlier albums with several previously unreleased tracks. In July 2023 Swift released Speak Now (Taylor\u2019s Version), followed by 1989 (Taylor\u2019s Version) in October that same year.
Taylor Swift performing at iHeartRadio's Z100 Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden, New York City, December 13, 2019.
In 2019 Swift released her seventh album, Lover, which she described as \u201ca love letter to love itself.\u201d That year she also appeared in the musical Cats, a film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s hugely successful stage production. Miss Americana (2020) is a documentary about her life and career. With little advance notice, she released Folklore in 2020. A departure from her previous pop-inspired work, Swift\u2019s eighth studio album drew praise for its introspection and restraint, and it won the Grammy for album of the year. The \u201csister record,\u201d Evermore, appeared later in 2020. Swift adopted a synth-pop sound for the candidMidnights (2022), which she described as \u201cthe story of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.\u201d The album received six Grammy nominations, scoring wins for album of the year and best pop vocal album.
March 2023 marked the start of Swift\u2019s first concert tour since 2018, her sixth tour overall. When sales for tickets opened on Ticketmaster in November 2022, many fans were disappointed by technical issues and waits that lasted up to multiple days. After two rounds of presales, general sales were canceled due to unprecedented demand. Swift expressed disappointment about the situation but did not mention Ticketmaster in her response.
\n
In December 2023, Swift was honored as Time magazine\u2019s \u201cPerson of the Year.\u201d Finalists also included Barbie, Vladimir Putin, and Sam Altman. The honor came shortly after the music streaming platform Spotify deemed her its most-played artist. According to a Bloomberg analysis, Swift is now a billionaire, with a net worth of around $1.1 billion. On a Forbes list of the most powerful women of 2023, Swift placed fifth. She has been dating American football player Travis Kelce since October 2023. In February 2024, while accepting one of her awards during the Grammy Awards telecast, Swift announced that she would be releasing her next studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April.
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+ "page_snippet": "Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music ...Taylor Swift. Self: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the Entertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many other accolades. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the Entertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many other accolades. As of this writing, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. As of this writing, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. Her ancestry includes German and English, as well as some Scottish, Irish, Welsh and 1/16th Italian.",
+ "page_result": "Taylor Swift - Biography - IMDb
Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter\nwho, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in\nhistory to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift\nwas named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been\nnamed the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the\nEntertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the\nAcademy of Country Music, among many other accolades. As of this\nwriting, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history.
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and\nScott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. Her ancestry includes German and English, as well as some Scottish, Irish, Welsh and 1/16th Italian. She was named after\nJames Taylor, and her mother\nbelieved that if she had a gender neutral name it would help her forge a\nbusiness career. Taylor spent most of her childhood on an 11-acre\nChristmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. When she was\nnine years old the family moved to Wyomissing, PA, where she\nattended West Reading Elementary Center and Wyomissing Area\nJunior/Senior High School. Taylor spent her summers at her parents'\nvacation home at the Jersey shore. Her first hobby was English\nhorse riding. Her mother put her in a saddle when she was nine months\nold and Swift later competed in horse shows. At the age of nine she\nturned her attention to musical theatre and performed in Berks Youth\nTheatre Academy productions of "Grease", "Annie", "Bye Bye Birdie" and "The\nSound of Music". She traveled regularly to New York City for vocal\nand acting lessons. However, after a few years of auditioning in New\nYork and not getting anything, she became interested in country music.\nAt age 11, after many attempts, Taylor won a local talent\ncompetition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes' "Big Deal", and was\ngiven the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels\nat a Strausstown amphitheater. This interest in country music isolated\nSwift from her middle school peers.
At age 12 she was shown by a computer repairman how to\nplay three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song,\n"Lucky You". She had previously won a national poetry contest with a\npoem entitled "Monster in My Closet", but now began to focus on\nsongwriting. She moved to Nashville at age 14, having\nsecured an artist development deal with RCA Records. She left RCA\nRecords when she was 15--the label wanted her to record the work\nof other songwriters and wait until she was 18 to release an\nalbum, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.\nAt an industry showcase at Nashville's The Bluebird Caf\u00e9 in 2005, Swift\ncaught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a Dreamworks Records executive\nwho was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine\nRecords. Taylor was one of the new label's first signings.
Taylor released her debut album, "Taylor Swift", in October of 2006 and\nreceived generally positive reviews from music critics. The New York\nTimes described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both\nwide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading\nvoice". Her single "Our Song" made her the youngest solo writer and\nsinger of a #1 country song. The album sold 39,000 copies\nduring its first week. In 2008 she released her second studio album, "Fearless". The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released\nin September 2008 and became the second best-selling country single of\nall time, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Four\nmore singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse",\n"You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me"\nwas the album's highest-charting single, peaking at #2 on the\nBillboard Hot 100. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200\nAlbum Chart. It was the top-selling album of 2009 and brought Swift\nmuch crossover success.
In September 2009 she became the first country music artist to win\nan MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best\nFemale Video. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Ye, who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents.\nWest declared Beyonc\u00e9's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)",\nnominated in the same category, to be "one of the best videos of all\ntime". When Beyonc\u00e9 later won the award for Video of the Year, she\ninvited Taylor onstage to finish her speech. In November 2009 Taylor Swift\nbecame the youngest ever artist, and one of only six women, to be named\nEntertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.
She released her third studio album in October 2010, "Speak Now", and wrote all the songs herself. She originally intended to call the album\n"Enchanted" but Scott Borchetta, her record label's CEO, felt the title\ndid not reflect the album's more adult themes. Swift toured throughout\n2011 and early 2012 in support of "Speak Now". As part of the\n13-month, 111-date world tour, Swift played seven shows in Asia,\n12 in Europe, 80 in North America and 12 in\nAustralasia (three dates on the US tour were rescheduled after she\nfell ill with bronchitis). The stage show was inspired by Broadway\nmusical theatre, with choreographed routines, elaborate set-pieces,\npyrotechnics and numerous costume changes. Swift invited many musicians\nto join her for one-off duets during the North American tour.\nAppearances were made by James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shawn Colvin, Johnny Rzeznik, Andy Grammer, Tal Bachman, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Nicki Minaj, Nelly, B.o.B., Usher, Flo Rida, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, Jon Foreman, Jim Adkins,\nHayley Williams, Hot Chelle Rae, Ronnie Dunn, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. In May 2012 Taylor featured in B.o.B's song "Both of\nUs".
Swift's fourth studio album, "Red", was released on October 22, 2012. She\nwrote nine of the album's 16 songs alone; the remaining seven were\nco-written with Max Martin, Liz Rose, Dan Wilson, Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody. Nathan Chapman served as the album's lead producer but Jeff Bhasker, Butch Walker, Jacknife Lee, Dann Huff and Shellback (aka Shellback) also\nproduced individual tracks. Chapman has said he encouraged Swift "to\nbranch out and to test herself in other situations". She has described\nthe collaborative process as "an apprenticeship" that taught her to\n"paint with different colors". "Red" examines Swift's attraction to\ndrama-filled relationships; she believes that, since writing the\nrecord, such relationships no longer appeal to her. Musically, while\nthere is some experimentation with "slick, electronic beats", the pop\nsheen is limited to a handful of tracks sprinkled among more\nrecognizably Swiftian fare. "Rolling Stone" enjoyed "watching Swift find\nher pony-footing on Great Songwriter Mountain. She often succeeds in\njoining the Joni/Carole King tradition of stark-relief emotional\nmapping . . . Her self-discovery project is one of the best stories in\npop." The Guardian described Swift as a "Br\u00fcnnhilde of a rock star" and\ncharacterized "Red" as "another chapter in one of the finest fantasies\npop music has ever constructed". "USA Today" felt that the "engaging"\nrecord saw Swift "write ever-more convincingly--and wittily and\npainfully--about the messy emotions of a young twenty something\nnearing the end of her transition from girl to woman". The "Los Angeles\nTimes" noted the exploration of "more nuanced relationship issues" on\n"an unapologetically big pop record that opens new sonic vistas for\nher".
As part of the "Red" promotional campaign, representatives from 72\nworldwide radio stations were flown to Nashville during release week\nfor individual interviews with Swift. She made television appearances\non The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003), Good Morning America (1975), The View (1997), Late Show with David Letterman (1993), ABC News Nightline (1980) and All Access Nashville with Katie Couric (2012). She performed at Los Angeles' MTV VMAs and London's\nTeen Awards, and will also perform at Nashville's CMA Awards,\nFrankfurt's MTV Europe Music Awards, Los Angeles' AMA Awards and\nSydney's ARIA Music Awards. Swift offered exclusive album promotions\nthrough Target, Papa John's and Walgreens. She became a spokesmodel for\nKeds sneakers, released her sophomore Elizabeth Arden fragrance and\ncontinued her partnerships with Cover Girl, Sony Electronics and\nAmerican Greetings, as well as her unofficial brand tie-ins with Ralph\nLauren and Shellys. The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting\nBack Together", was released in August 2012. The song became Swift's\nfirst #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, recording the\nhighest ever one-week sales figures for a female artist. Two further\nsingles have since been released: "Begin Again" (country radio) and "I\nKnew You Were Trouble" (pop and international radio).In her career, as\nof May 2012, Swift has sold over 23 million albums and 54.5 million\ndigital tracks worldwide.
Taylor Swift is only beginning to emerge as an acting talent, having voiced\nthe role of Audrey in the animated feature\nThe Lorax (2012). She also made\nappearances in the theatrical release\nValentine's Day (2010) and in\nan episode of\nCSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000). She contributed two original songs to\nThe Hunger Games (2012)\nsoundtrack: "Safe & Sound featuring The Civil Wars" and "Eyes Open".\nTaylor released her fifth album, titled "1989", on October 27, 2014. This album is when she finally made the complete transition from country to pop. She says that she will not be going to any Country Music Award shows. The album is named after the year she was born, and is a sort of '80s-sounding album, in the sense that it's more electronic.
In March 2015 she began dating Scottish Disc Jockey Calvin Harris after having met at the Brit Awards in February. They were together for thirteen months.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous and Aman Jaitly (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
For songs that are owned by herself and for which she gets full revenues, she always adds "Taylor's Version" as a subtitle (for example, "Breathe (Taylor's Version)").
Named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2023, becoming the first entertainer to be named as an individual. She was also named among 2017's Persons of the Year, "The Silence Breakers", as people who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment.
She loves being barefoot, and is frequently seen without shoes in her music videos and photo shoots.
Has three cats: Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button.
[on the Britney Spears perfume she wore] The coolest girl in school wore Britney Spears' Fantasy, and I had to copy her.
People haven't always been there for me, but music always has.
I never want to change so much that people can't recognize me.
When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair.
There's more to life than dating the boy on the football team.
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