Taylor Swift turns 32: milestones and controversies of a successful pop girl

This monday birthday Taylor Swift, one of the most famous women in the world of music. More than a generation grew up with her and her songs. Music and art have accompanied her from a very young age: in her almost 20-year career, the singer recorded 9 albums and is currently re-recording her first 6 albums.

Success made his life an excuse for any scoop. Whether it was for her music or her love life, Taylor was on numerous occasions the cover of magazines and tabloids that did not let a moment pass to criticize her. She also had to start a crusade to “get her music back,” another song that made her headlines.

Despite the reputation that the media created around his figure, Taylor continues to be successful and many fans, over the years, have shown their support and continue to do so actively in each of his projects. Not for nothing is she today one of the most powerful women in the world according to Forbes magazine.

The little blonde who loves the arts

The singer born under the name Taylor Alison Swift came into the world on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Taylor grew up in a small family consisting of her father Scott Swift, her mother Andrea Gardner Finlay, and her brother Austin, two years her junior.

Their home was located on a Christmas tree farm, where Taylor worked for a couple of years. He made sure that each of the trees that were sold were free of insects. During the summer the family moved to a beach house in Stone Harbor. According to the singer, it is the place where she harvested all the memories of her childhood.

From a very young age, Taylor demonstrated an interest and talent for writing and poetry. It even appeared in school competitions. At the age of 9, she began to be fascinated by musical theater, which led her to take classes in singing, acting, and participating in various productions at the Berks Youth Theater Academy.

One of the reasons why the artist was very close to the country genre is her admiration for the singer Shania Twain. With that inspiration, at the age of 12 he began to sing at local festivals and fairs. It was at one of her presentations in a cafe that she was discovered by music producer Scott Borchetta, with whom she would end up signing her first contract for Big Records Machine.

Its beginnings, between country and pop

When Taylor was 14 years old, her family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she finally signed her first deal with the independent label Big Machine Records. Two years later, in 2006, she released her first studio album, “Taylor Swift.” All the songs were written by Taylor herself, who composed an album that combined country and pop.

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The singer’s success began to grow with the arrival of her second album, “Fearless”, which after its release in 2008, settled in the first position of the Billboard 200 list. Among her songs, the single stands out. “Love Story”. Already at age 20, the singer demonstrated an undeniable talent that led her to the prestigious Grammy Award. It was a record: Taylor became the second youngest person to receive that distinction in the Best Album category for his album “Speak Now” (2010).

In 2012, Taylor released the album “Red”, with a style much closer to pop. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “22”, “Begin Again” and “All too well” are some of the songs on the album. In 2014 his fifth album was released, “1989”, which contains successful hits such as “Shake it off” and “Blank Space”. Finally, in 2017 the singer released her latest album with the Big Machine Records label. “Reputation”, an album that was already classified as pop but this time with lyrics that went beyond love relationships. The album has songs that speak of Taylor’s reputation and his attitude contrary to the opinions of the press.

In 2019, Taylor decides to change record labels and begins working on her album “Lover”, produced by Republic Records. This moment will be one of the key episodes in the life and career of the artist, since this change of label brought her serious consequences that led her to lose the rights to her first 6 studio albums.

During the covid pandemic, Taylor gave herself completely to songwriting and production and in the same year released two albums that she likes to call “brothers.” They are “Folklore” and “Evermore”, born of stories that the singer imagined and created in the period of isolation.

The fight to get their songs back

In 2019, Taylor was embroiled in one of the biggest conflicts in the music industry. The maelstrom began when Swift decided to change firms and her former music production company, Big Machine Records, took all the rights to the master copies of her songs. Soon after, this firm became part of the Ithaca Holdings company, owned by Scooter Braun (SB Projects), manager of artists such as Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande or Justin Bieber.

Braun sold all rights to the songs to a private equity company, leaving Taylor unable to claim the copyright to all of his works. In other words, he couldn’t buy his own songs. After trying several times, he ended up accusing Braun of a “relentless and manipulative stalker.” Fortunately, the singer owned the rights to the lyrics of the songs, which allowed her to make a key decision that would turn it around.

Taylor began to re-record all the discs that had remained in the hands of the private company under the title of “Taylor’s Version” finally regaining control over the earnings and use of his works. In this way, during 2021 the artist began the re-launch of her albums. So far Taylor has re-recorded his album “Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and” Red (Taylor’s Version) “.

Boyfriends and breakups under the magnifying glass

In her own words, Taylor has based her career on songwriting about relationships and breakups. One of his great sources of inspiration has undoubtedly been his own life. The truth is that the singer leaves very clear references to all her partners in her lyrics, making it easy for her fans to identify who each song is about.

Taylor was dating singer Joe Jonas for a brief period, which runs from August to October 2008. The relationship with his colleague had a definitively long-remembered end, as Jonas ended the relationship with a short phone call. The singer was subsequently involved with actor Taylor Lautner in 2009, but from late 2009 to 2010, she had a relationship with musician John Mayer.

Between October and December 2010, Taylor began another relationship with renowned actor Jake Gyllenhaal, with whom she lived another of her controversial breakups that inspired one of her albums, “Red.” Two years later, the singer would be seen with the politician Conor Kennedy, until she began dating the singer Harry Styles, again a source of inspiration for a song that even earned her an award.

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In May 2015, Taylor moved in with DJ and record producer Calvin Harris, whom she had met three months earlier at a BRIT Awards. Briefly in 2016, she introduced her new partner, actor Tom Hiddleston.

In December 2017, she was seen, for the first time, by the hand of her new boyfriend Joe Alwyn, a 26-year-old British model, and it seems that the singer finally found love stability with whom she continues to share her life today. Alwyn has also been an inspiration, however, this time it would be different: Taylor composed songs inspired by the feelings that the relationship awakens in him, creating what is “Lover”, an album far from breaks and deceit, which highlights the best qualities of your partner.

From song to fiction

In 2010, Taylor played Felicia Miller, a character who was paired with the character played by Taylor Lautner in the movie “Valentine’s Day.” Two years later, the singer voiced one of the characters in the animated film “The Lorax” named “Audrey.” In 2014 she got a supporting role, that of Rosemary, in the feature film “The giver”, and in 2019 she returned in the animated version of “Cats”, as Bombalurina.

In early 2020, Netflix released its documentary titled “Miss Americana”, which recounts the private details of the singer’s life and the problems she had to deal with during her career, including criticism from the press and the downsides of being a young woman in the music industry.

Conflicts with your colleagues

The success achieved year after year led the singer to controversial episodes with her colleagues. One of the most memorable happened during the MTV Video Music Awards award ceremony. On this occasion, Taylor won the award for best music video for “You Belong With Me”, but his acceptance speech was interrupted by singer Kanye West, who took the award to present it to Beyoncé, whom he considered the just winner of the category and left a young Taylor just beginning her career in complete humiliation.

Again, Taylor came under fire for receiving an award when rapper Nicki Minaj lost in the Best Song category at the Video Music Awards. On that occasion, Nicki said: “If your video celebrates hyper-skinny women you will be nominated for video of the year”, although she later explained that the criticism was not directed towards Taylor but towards the industry.

Finally, Kanye West starred in another controversial event, this time alongside his wife Kim Kardashian. On this occasion, the rapper wrote a song called “Famous” in which he names Taylor with an insult. His wife, Kim, published a video on their social networks in which you can see a phone call between colleagues, where Kanye asks for their permission to mention her in one of his songs, without knowing that the mention would be accompanied again by humiliation .