Taylor Swift from A to Z

Considered America’s true sweetheart -as much as Julia Roberts dislikes it-, Taylor Swift returns to the musical arena in 2022 just one year after debuting behind the scenes with the short film ‘All Too Well’. ‘Midnights’, which is the name of her comeback album, is the umpteenth display of a talent as precocious as it is prolific and overflowing. We take the opportunity to review the essential alphabet of an always shining star, capable of leaving behind controversies, overcoming disputes and even surviving a legal battle in the jungle of the music industry.

Swift’s uniqueness as a global pop star can also be seen in details such as the management of her releases: for an album as long-awaited as Midnights to have remained a mystery until midnight on October 21, its official release day, is a success. in itself. And also the reason why, without time to delve into the details of the album, we bet on these pages for a review of 16 years of artistic career without signs of exhaustion.

A for FRIENDSHIP

Friend of her friends, Taylor even had her own squad, or squad, that accompanied her wherever she went. Among such great company we usually found Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne, the Haim sisters, Hailee Steinfeld or Lena Dunham, although her BFF was always top Karlie Kloss, joint Vogue cover included.

B for BOLI

Recently, the composer revealed the secret when it comes to writing her own songs: always think about whether to approach writing with a pen, a fountain pen or a glitter gel pen. As examples, in the first option would be Ivy, in the second case All Too Well and in the third, of course, Shake It Off.

C for CINEMA

From October 28 we can see it in Amsterdam, the new David O. Russell. But before that we already enjoyed her in a musical as bizarre as Cats (2019), in the failed futuristic dystopia The Giver (2014), giving voice to the lively and colorful The Lorax (2012), or as another lover of the goofy star system of Valentine’s Stories (2010).

D for DEDICATIONS

Although Jake Gyllenhaal himself claims that he was talking about his fans in the song, All Too Well is all about a reckoning with his ex. It is not the only dedication that the singer has made in her repertoire: in Back To December she remembers Taylor Lautner, in Enchanted by Adam Young and in I Knew You Were Trouble by Harry Styles. It is not so clear where in the songbook to look for Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Zac Efron, Calvin Harris, Tom Hiddleston, the long-awaited Cory Monteith or a whole member of Yankee royalty like Conor Kennedy, grandson of Robert F. All of them, at one point, they occupied Taylor’s heart.

E for EVERMORE

In 2020, with the pandemic upon us, Swift released two albums, Folklore and Evermore, which, without reaching the huge sales figures of previous works, brought her closer to a new audience. They were two intimate works, with open-hearted lyrics, that she composed with the help of her trusted producer, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner (The National).

F for FEARLESS

This is the title of his second LP, which swept singles such as Love Story or You Belong To Me, becoming the best-selling album in 2009 in the US -it is estimated that more than 13 million copies of the album have been sold-. In addition, Fearless took home four Grammy Awards, making it the most awarded album in country music history.

G for GARRABRANT

Beth Garrabrant has been, for some time now, Taylor’s trusted photographer, and also to a large extent responsible for the turn that has given her image from that pop queen of yesteryear to a sort of romantic figure, much more in keeping with his current flirtations with the cinema. His of her are the iconic photos of Folklore, Evermore, the reworks of Red and Fearless and the recently released Midnights.

H for HANNAH MONTANA

Few remember that Taylor Swift’s debut on a screen was thanks to her then friend Miley Cyrus, who gave her the opportunity in Hannah Montana: The Movie. She not only scored a cameo of her singing Crazier, but she also left her signature on one of the star songs of the franchise: You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home.

I of INFLUENCES

A songwriter endowed with a pop sensibility beyond her country roots, Taylor Swift has never hidden her passion for the Beatles, especially Paul McCartney, with whom she posed on the cover of Rolling Stone. Fab Four apart from her, her particular oracle is full of women: from Shania Twain to Patsy Cline, through Emmylou Harris, Madonna or Joni Mitchell.

J for JOE

Swift seems to have found her true love story in British actor Joe Alwyn. Together since May 2017, they have not only captured the spotlight of the paparazzi, they also composed one of the singer’s most inspired albums, Folklore, and they signed a half song from the recent Midnights.

K for KANYE

Kanye West is kind of like your Moriarty. Since that MTV Video Music Awards ceremony in 2009 in which the rapper interrupted Swift’s thank you speech to vindicate the injustice of not giving it to Beyoncé, everything between them has been rowdy and rowdy. “I made that bitch famous”, he came to blurt out about her on the subject of her Famous de ella.

L for WOOL

In 2019 Swift proclaimed to the rooftops that Lana del Rey was “the most influential artist in pop.” The more she has been stylistically approaching the first to the second, the more fans of one and the other have daydreamed about a collaboration between the two. Snow On The Beach, the fourth song from her new album, has finally worked the miracle.

M for MIDNIGHTS

Midnights is precisely the title of this LP, the tenth in his already bulging and acclaimed discography. An album in which he once again has his faithful collaborator Jack Antonoff, also producer of other works for artists such as Carli Rae Jepsen, St. Vincent, Lorde, Florence and the Machine… and, yes, also Lana del Rey.

N of NASHVILLE

Swift moved to Nashville – the cradle of the genre, as well immortalized by Robert Altman – at just 14 years old with the dream of becoming a country star. It would not take long for her to sign for the independent label Big Machine Records and make a self-titled debut that would immediately place her in the stardom of hats, jeans and boots.

Or from OBAMA

In 2008, he did not hesitate to support his campaign, and after his election, he confessed: “I have never seen this country so happy with a political decision.” Later, in June 2020, he charged against Donald Trump in a visceral tweet, which ended lapidary: “We will kick you out in November.” America’s good girl had a fresh face…and spunk.

P for AWARDS

Taylor Swift shouldn’t win for bookshelves. About to turn 33, the one from Reading, Pennsylvania, has won more awards than Real Madrid: 11 Grammy Awards, 1 Emmy, 25 Billboard Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards… and also 2 Golden Globe nominations.

Q of COMPLAINT

In 2020 Taylor Swift was engaged in a legal battle against Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, representatives of artists such as Ariana Grande or Justin Bieber, after the purchase of Big Machine, the record company in which the singer published her first six albums. The reason? The rights to her songs, which passed into the hands of the couple.

R for RECORDINGS

The solution to the lawsuit against Braun & Borchetta could not have been more curious: to re-record their records. The contract that a then-teenage Taylor Swift signed with Big Machine said nothing about doing new versions. So carte blanche on the matter: so far, and in just two years, she’s neither short nor lazy, she’s already remade two of those early albums, Red and Fearless.

S for SHAKE IT OFF

First single from her fifth album, 1989, here is the song with which our heroine shook off the hay of country music and entered the pop world fully. Goodbye plaid shirt, hello tracksuit! In the video clip, a complete success that currently has more than 3 billion views, he even twerks.

T for TAYLOR SWIFT

Thus, without further ado, her debut album was called, released on October 24, 2006. Eleven songs that raised a newcomer to the Olympus of country music. The teenager already showed signs of her talent, getting Nathan Chapman accepted as a producer despite having only made demos until then.

U for UNIVERSAL

In February 2020, at the age of 31 and after having worked with the publisher Sony since she was 14, Taylor Swift signed an exclusive global agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. Swift thus fulfilled the dream of working side by side with Jody Gerson, the first woman to direct one of the largest record labels in the world.

V for VIDEO CLIPS

With 44 video clips behind her, the star of pieces as celebrated as Blank Space, partially inspired by A Clockwork Orange, can boast six MTV Video Music Awards. She also shared plans with figures like Kendrick Lamar and Ed Sheeran or was directed by names like Terry Richardson or Mark Romanek.

W for WATCH HILL

In 2013 Swift bought Holiday House, a manor house built in the 1930s on the Rhode Island coast by the all-powerful Snowden family and which has become her usual retreat. There she composed, in honor of another of her distinguished owners, the controversial Rebekah Harkness, her acclaimed song The Last Great American Dynasty.

x of x

“X” is the letter used in the Anglo-Saxon world to link the collaboration between two artists. Throughout his career, Taylor has been especially prone to joining forces with other musicians: he has signed songs with Kendrick Lamar, Bon Iver, Ed Sheeran, Haim, Phoebe Bridgers, Lana del Rey, The National, and a very long list of artists. .

and from YAHOO

Swift is a well-known strategist when it comes to promoting her records, as can be seen in her use of TikTok in promoting her new album, Midnights. Or in the campaign for her fifth LP, 1989, performed live on Yahoo and for which she came to write in the sky of New York City TAYLORSWIFTYAHOO4DAY.

Z by Zendaya

Although the successful protagonist of Euphoria became an active part of the Swift Squad, even making an appearance in that melting pot of stars that was the Bad Blood video, some likes in 2016 to some tweets from Kanye West, Taylor’s archenemy, cooled the relationship so far. Little euphoria.

TEXT: Tali Carreto