Grammy Awards
54th Grammy Awards
The Grammy awards are named for the trophy: a small, gilded gramophone statuette.
Awarded for	Outstanding achievements in the music industry
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Country	United States
First awarded	1959
Official website	grammy.com
Television coverage
Network	NBC (1959–1970) ABC (1971–1972) CBS (1973–present)

A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award) – or Grammy – is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a widely viewed televised ceremony. It is the music equivalent to the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for stage performances, and the Academy Awards for motion pictures.

The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, and it was set up to honor musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. Following the 2011 ceremony, NARAS overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 54th Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

History[link]

The Grammy Awards had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s.^[1][2] As the recording executives chosen for the Walk of Fame (Tabinda Walk) committee worked at compiling a list of important recording industry people who might qualify for a Walk of Fame star, they realized there were many more people who were leaders in their business who would never earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating an award given by their industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. After it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it; one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of Edison's invention, the gramophone, for the awards, which were first given for the year 1958.^[3][4][5]

Gramophone trophy[link]

The gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, and making the trophy bigger and grander.^[6] The trophies with the recipient's name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements, so "stunt" trophies are re-used each year for the broadcast.^[7]

As of February 2009, 7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded.^[8]

Categories[link]

Bonnie Raitt holding the Grammys she won at the 1990 Grammy Awards.

The "General Field" are four awards which are not restricted by genre.

• Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the production team of a full album.
• Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the production team of a single song.
• Song of the Year is awarded to the writer(s)/composer(s) of a single song.
• Best New Artist is awarded to a performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist (which is not necessarily their first proper release).

Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other contributions such as artwork and video. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry.

Because of the large number of award categories (78 in 2012), and the desire to feature several performances by various artists, only the ones with the most popular interest are presented directly at the televised award ceremony.

2012 category restructuring[link]

On April 6, 2011, The Recording Academy announced a drastic overhaul of many Grammy Award categories for 2012.^[9] The number of categories were diminished from 109 to 78. The most important change is the elimination of the distinction between male and female soloists and between collaborations and duo/groups in various genre fields (pop, rock, R&B, country, and rap). Also, several categories for instrumental soloists were discontinued. Recordings in these categories now fall under the general categories for best solo performances.

In the rock field, the separate categories for hard rock and metal albums have been combined and the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category were be eliminated due to a waning number of entries.

In R&B, the distinction between best contemporary R&B album and other R&B albums has been eliminated. They now feature in one, general Best R&B Album category.

In rap, the categories for best rap soloist and best rap duo or group have been merged into the new Best Rap Performance category.

The most eliminations occurred in the roots category. Up to and including 2011, there were separate categories for various regional American music forms, such as Hawaiian music, Native American music and Zydeco/Cajun music. Due to the consistently low number of entries for these categories, The Recording Academy decided to combine all these music variations into the new Best Regional Roots Music Album, including polka, which lost its own separate category in 2009.

In the same genre field, the traditional and contemporary blues categories and the traditional and contemporary folk categories each were consolidated into one per genre, due to the number of entries and given the challenges in distinguishing between contemporary folk and Americana, and contemporary and traditional blues. In the world music genre field, the traditional and contemporary categories have also been merged.

In the classical genre field, its main category Best Classical Album has been discontinued because most recipients in this category had also won in one of the other classical categories for the same album. Classical recordings are now eligible for the main Album of the Year category.

There are also a few minor name changes to better reflect the nature of the separate categories. It was determined by the Recording Academy that the word "gospel" in the gospel genre field tends to conjure up the images and sounds of traditional soul gospel and leaves out the current contemporary Christian music (CCM). Therefore the genre field and some categories have been renamed as Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music.

Nomination process[link]

Record companies and individuals may submit recordings to be nominated. Nominations are made online and a physical copy of the work is sent to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Once a work is entered, reviewing sessions are held, by more than 150 experts from the recording industry, to determine whether the work is eligible and entered in the correct category for official nomination.

The resulting list is circulated to all NARAS members, each of whom may vote to nominate in the general field (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) and in no more than nine out of 30 other fields on their ballots. The five recordings that earn the most votes in each category become the nominees. There may be more than five nominees if there is a tie in the nomination process.

Whereas members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are generally invited to screenings or are sent DVDs of movies nominated for Oscars, NARAS members do not receive nominated recordings.

After nominees have been determined, final voting ballots are sent to Recording Academy members, who may then vote in the general fields and in no more than eight of the 30 fields. NARAS members are encouraged, but not required, to vote only in their fields of expertise. Ballots are tabulated secretly by the major independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.^[10] Following the tabulation of votes the winners are announced at the Grammy Awards. The recording with the most votes in a category wins and it is possible to have a tie. Winners are presented with the Grammy Award and those who do not win are given a medal for their nomination.

In both voting rounds, Academy members are required to vote based upon quality alone, and not to be influenced by sales, chart performance, personal friendships, regional preferences or company loyalty. The acceptance of gifts is prohibited. Members are urged to vote in a manner that preserves the integrity of the academy.

The eligibility period for the 2012 Grammy Awards was October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011.

Venue[link]

Prior to 1971, the Grammy Award ceremonies were held in different locations on the same day. Originally New York City and Los Angeles were the host cities. Chicago joined being a host city in 1962, and then Nashville became the fourth location in 1965.

The 1971 ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, was the first to take place in one location. The ceremony was then moved to Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum in New York City, and then Nashville's Tennessee Theatre in the following two years. Then from 1974 to 2003, the Grammys were held in various venues in New York City and Los Angeles. Notable locations included New York City's Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall; and Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, the Staples Center and the Hollywood Palladium.

In 2004, the Staples Center became the permanent home of the award ceremonies. The Grammy Museum was built across the street from Staples Center in LA Live to preserve the history of the Grammy Awards. Embedded on the sidewalks at the museum streets are bronze disks, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring each year's top winners, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.

Leading winners[link]

With 31 Grammy Awards, Sir Georg Solti is the artist with the most Grammy wins.^[11] Alison Krauss is the biggest winner among female artists with 27 awards.^[12] U2, with 22 Grammy Awards, holds the record for most awards won by a group.

Criticism[link]

The Grammy Awards has received criticism from various recording artists and music journalists.

When his band Pearl Jam won a Grammy in the category Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996, singer Eddie Vedder commented on stage: "I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything."^[13] Glen Hansard, leader of the Irish rock group The Frames, stated in 2008 that the Grammys represent something outside of the real world of music "that's fully industry based." He said he wasn't that interested in attending that year's ceremony, even though he had been nominated for two different awards.^[13] Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of metal band Tool, did not attend the Grammy Awards ceremony to receive one of their awards. He explained his reasons:

It has also been criticized for generally awarding or nominating more commercially successful albums rather than critically successful albums.^[15][16] In a 2011 article, Los Angeles Times writer Randall Roberts was critical of the nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards, particularly for the Album of the Year category, noting the exclusion of Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, "the most critically acclaimed album of the year, a career-defining record", as a snub in favor of nominating less substantial albums.^[17] Roberts went on to criticize the Grammy Awards for being "mired in the past" and out of touch with "new media" and trends amongs music listeners such as music sharing, stating:

In an article for Time, journalist Touré also responded to the snub and expressed his general displeasure with the awards, stating "I don’t pretend to understand the Grammys. I have never been able to discern a consistent logic around who gets nominated or who gets statues. I comprehend the particular logic of the Oscars, but not the big awards for music. My normal state of confusion around what drives Grammy decisions was exponentialized this week when, to the shock of many, Kanye’s masterpiece My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was not nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year."^[18] He went on to compare understanding the Grammy Awards to Kremlinology and commented on The Recording Academy's exclusion of more "mature" hip hop albums as Album of the Year nominees, noting that it occasionally opts to nominate "pop-friendly" hip hop albums instead.^[18]

In a 2011 profile for The New York Times following the 53rd Grammy Awards, frontman Justin Vernon of indie band Bon Iver was asked his opinion of the Grammys and how he would react to a nomination for his group, to which he responded, "You know I was thinking about that a couple of months ago, someone asked me that, and I was like 'I would go and I would' – and I don’t think the Bon Iver record is the kind of record that would get nominated for a Grammy – 'I would get up there and be like, ‘This is for my parents, because they supported me,’' because I know they would think it would be stupid of me not to go up there. But I kinda felt like going up there and being like: 'Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending that this is important.' That’s what I would say."^[19] He reaffirmed this sentiment and felt the Grammys are held in too, saying:

98 percent of the people in that room, their art is compromised by the fact that they’re thinking that, and that they’re hoping to get that award. And who is that award given by? It’s like they think it’s literally handed down by the musical-history gods. And I don’t know who the voters are. Like, I have a friend who’s a voter who was like, “I had to be a voter because I don’t trust the other voters.” And I was like, “Me either!” And it’s just not important and people spend too much time thinking about it.^[19]

—Justin Vernon

Bon Iver subsequently received four nominations in November for the 54th Grammy Awards.^[19] After winning the award, Vernon said in his acceptance, "It's really hard to accept this award. There's so much talent out here [...] and there's a lot of talent that's not here tonight. It's also hard to accept because you know, when I started to make songs I did it for the inherent reward of making songs, so I'm a little bit uncomfortable up here."^[20]

In his article "Everything Is Praised Again", Jon Caramanica of The New York Times criticized Grammy voters for being "conservative" and disregarding more "forward-looking" music, and wrote in response to the 54th Grammy Awards, "for the umpteenth time, the Grammys went with familiarity over risk, bestowing album of the year honors (and several more) on an album that reinforced the values of an older generation suspicious of change."^[21] He cited the Grammy successes of Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation (1999), Norah Jones' Come Away with Me (2003), and Adele's 21 (2011) as examples of "the Grammys dropp[ing] a boatload of awards on a young female singer-songwriter and her breakthrough album." Of Kanye West's absence from the ceremony, Caramanica stated, "He didn’t even bother to show up for the broadcast, which was well enough, because hip-hop was almost completely marginalized".^[21]

In an article for The Huffington Post, music executive and author Steve Stoute criticized the Recording Academy and the Grammy Awards for having "lost touch with contemporary popular culture" and noted "two key sources" for it: "(1) over-zealousness to produce a popular show that is at odds with its own system of voting and (2) fundamental disrespect of cultural shifts as being viable and artistic."^[22] Stoute accused them of snubbing artists with more cultural impact, citing respective loses by the critical and commercial successes in Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and Kanye West's Graduation (2007) in the Album of the Year category, and stated:

As an institution that celebrates artistic works of musicians, singers, songwriters, producers and technical specialists, we have come to expect that the Grammys upholds all of the values that reflect the very best in music that is born from our culture. Unfortunately, the awards show has become a series of hypocrisies and contradictions, leaving me to question why any contemporary popular artist would even participate. [...] While there is no doubt in my mind of the artistic talents of Steely Dan or Herbie Hancock, we must acknowledge the massive cultural impact of Eminem and Kanye West and how their music is shaping, influencing and defining the voice of a generation. It is this same cultural impact that acknowledged the commercial and critical success of Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1984.^[22]

—Steve Stoute

TV broadcasts and ratings[link]

Prior to the first live Grammys telecast in 1971 on American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a series of taped annual specials in the 1960s called The Best on Record were broadcast on National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The first Grammy Award telecast took place on the night of November 29, 1959, as an episode of the NBC anthology series Sunday Showcase, which was normally devoted to plays, original TV dramas, and variety shows. Until 1971, awards ceremonies were held in both New York and Los Angeles, with winners accepting at one of the two. Pierre Cossette bought the rights to broadcast the ceremony from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and organized the first live telecast.^[23] CBS Broadcasting bought the rights in 1973 after moving the ceremony to Nashville, Tennessee; the American Music Awards were created for ABC (by Dick Clark) as a result.

The Recording Academy announced on June 21, 2011 that it had reached a new deal with CBS to keep the awards show on the network for another 10 years. CBS also broadcasted the annual nominations concert special on November 30, 2011 from Los Angeles. The Grammys aired on February 12, 2012. The 2011 Grammy Award show had 26.6 million viewers.

See also[link]

• National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
• Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
• Latin Grammy Awards
• Grammy Museum

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Look up Grammy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Official website
• Grammy Awards winners at Grammy.com (searchable database)

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Taylor Swift
Swift performing during the Australian leg of her Speak Now Tour in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Born	(1989-12-13) December 13, 1989 (age 22) Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Country-pop, pop, country, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, banjo, ukulele, piano
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Big Machine
Website	TaylorSwift.com

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen to pursue a career in country music. She signed to the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one song on the country chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 50th Grammy Awards.

Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in late 2008. Buoyed by the chart success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless attracted a crossover audience and became the top-selling album of 2009. The record won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Fearless also received Album of the Year plaudits at the American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards, making it the most awarded album in country music history. In 2010, Swift released her third album, Speak Now, which sold over one million copies in its first week. She then embarked on the 111-date Speak Now World Tour, which was attended by over 1.6 million fans and has become one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Swift is currently recording her fourth studio album, due for release in the fall of 2012.

Swift's work has earned her numerous accolades, including six Grammy Awards, ten AMAs, seven CMAs, six ACMs and 13 BMI Awards. She has sold over 22 million albums and 50 million song downloads worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Swift has endorsement deals with Target, CoverGirl, Sony, Elizabeth Arden, Walmart and American Greetings. As a philanthropist, Swift has placed particular emphasis on arts education, children's literacy and natural disaster relief funds. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2009), the romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010) and the animated film The Lorax (2012).

Early life[link]

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania.^[1] She is the daughter of Scott Swift, a Merrill Lynch financial adviser,^[2][3] and Andrea (née Gardner), a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive.^[1][4] Swift was named after singer James Taylor; her mother believed a gender-neutral name would help her forge a successful business career.^[5][6] She has a younger brother, Austin, who attends Vanderbilt University.^[7] She spent the early years of her life on an eleven-acre Christmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and was educated at the fee-paying Wyndcroft School.^[8] When Swift was nine years old, the family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania,^[9][10] where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.^[11] Swift spent her summers at her parent's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey^[12] and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed".^[10]

Swift's first hobby was English horse riding. Her mother Andrea put her in a saddle when Swift was nine months old and she later competed in horse shows.^[13][14] Her family owned several Quarter horses and a Shetland pony.^[14] At the age of nine, Swift turned her attention to musical theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of Grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music.^[15][8] She travelled regularly to Broadway, New York for vocal and acting lessons. However, "after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything”, Swift became interested in country music.^[16] She was inspired by LeAnn Rimes's Blue^[17] and her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, an opera singer.^[8] When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet".^[18] At the age of eleven, after many attempts,^[19] Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes’s “Big Deal”, and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater.^[15] She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs and Boy Scout meetings.^[20][4] This interest in country music isolated Swift from her middle school peers.^[21][22]

After watching a Behind the Music episode about Faith Hill,^[23] Swift recorded a demo of karaoke covers, and travelled with her mother to Nashville, Tennessee for spring break to leave a copy of the demo with record labels along Music Row. She received label rejections and realized that "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different".^[23] Swift began performing the "The Star Spangled Banner" at many sporting events, hoping she would be offered a recording contract. On one occasion, an eleven-year-old Swift high-fived Jay-Z after singing the national anthem at a 76ers game in Philadelphia.^[24] At the age of twelve, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You".^[25][26] She then recorded a second demo of original songs.^[15] In 2003, Swift and her parents began working with music manager Dan Dymtrow, after he spotted her singing at the US Open.^[27] Swift's second demo then caught the attention of RCA Records, who offered the eight-grader an artist development deal. In 2004, Swift modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign and had an original song included in a Maybelline Cosmetics compilation CD.^[28]

When Swift was fourteen, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lake-shore house in Hendersonville, Tennessee.^[1] Swift has said her parents "presented it as a move to a nice community" rather than as her chance to become a star.^[29] Her mother has said, "We've always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true."^[30] In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore years.^[31] Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services, and earned her high school diploma in 2008.^[32]

Music career[link]

[edit] 2004–08: Nashville songwriting sessions and Taylor Swift release

Swift moved to Nashville at the age of fourteen, having secured an artist development deal with RCA Records. Her musical influences included the Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill,^[29] Tom Petty,^[33] Sheryl Crow,^[34] Melissa Etheridge, Pat Benatar,^[35] Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks,^[36] Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.^[37] Swift had writing sessions with experienced songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally and the Warren Brothers,^[38][39] but eventually formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose.^[40] Swift saw Rose performing at an RCA songwriter event and suggested that they write together.^[41] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.^[42] Rose has said that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks".^[43][42] Swift also began recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman.^[41] After performing at a BMI Songwriter's Circle showcase at The Bitter End, New York,^[39] Swift became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.^[44]

Swift performing at the Maverick Saloon & Grill in Santa Maria, California in 2006

Swift left RCA Records when she was fifteeen; the company wanted her to record the work of other songwriters and wait until she was eighteen to release an album, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.^[45][19] She also parted ways with manager Dan Dymtrow, who later took legal action against Swift and her parents.^[28] At an industry showcase at Nashville's The Bluebird Café in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a Dreamworks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records.^[40] Swift was one of the new label's first signings.^[40] As an introduction to the country music business, Borchetta arranged for Swift to intern at the CMA Music Festival; she acted as the artist escort for Darryl Worley.^[46][47]

Swift began working on her self-titled debut album shortly after signing her record deal. After experimenting with veteran Nashville producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to hire her demo producer Nathan Chapman.^[19] It was his first time to record a studio album but Swift felt they had the right "chemistry".^[19] In the end, Chapman produced all but one of the tracks on Taylor Swift.^[19] She has described the album as the "diary" of her early teens^[48] and most songs were written during her freshman year of high school.^[19] As a result, the songs describe coming of age experiences such as insecurity, young love, and teenage angst.^[19] She has said that, although "it sounds like I've had 500 boyfriends", a lot of the songs are observational.^[19] Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining eight with writers such as Liz Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia.^[49] Musically, the album has been described as "a mix of trad-country instruments and spry rock guitars".^[50]

Taylor Swift was released in October 2006 and received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[51] PopMatters hoped Swift would be "able to find an accomodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities, because Taylor Swift suggests she has much to offer".^[52] The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones described Swift as a "prodigy". She noted that "Our Song" "stop[ed] me in my tracks" and praised the lyrics: “He’s got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart".^[53] Country Weekly felt Swift demonstrated "an honesty, intelligence and idealism with which listeners of any age will be able to connect" and noted that "the more thoughtful material suggests a talent poised to last well past high school".^[54] AllMusic stated that, while listening to the album, it was "never in doubt" that "Swift is a talent to be reckoned with".^[55] Rolling Stone described Swift as "bright-eyed but remarkably seasoned", and admired "Our Song"'s "insanely hooky sing-song melody that's as Britney as it is Patsy".^[50]

Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale, California in 2007

Big Machine Records was still in its infancy upon the release of the lead single "Tim McGraw" in June 2006, and Swift and her mother helped "stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio".^[30] She spent much of 2006 promoting Taylor Swift in a radio tour and later commented, "Radio tours for most artists last six weeks. Mine lasted six months."^[19] Swift painted canvases (inspired by Jackson Pollock) to gift to radio station managers who played her music.^[56] She took part in "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series designed to introduce her to country music fans.^[57][58] She also made television appearances on Good Morning America,^[59] The Megan Mullally Show,^[59] America's Got Talent,^[60] and TRL.^[61] Swift, a self-described "kid of the internet",^[62] used MySpace to build a fanbase. She wrote her own blog posts, left comments on her fans' accounts and personally respond to the messages that were sent to her.^[63] This was, at the time, "revolutionary in country music".^[64][57] Borchetta has said that his decision to sign a sixteen year old singer-songwriter initially raised eyebrows among his record industry peers^[57] but Swift tapped into a previously unknown market: teenage girls who listen to country music.^[1][57]

Following "Tim McGraw", four further singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All were highly successful on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" both reaching number one. "Our Song" made Swift the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one country song.^[65] "Teardrops on My Guitar" became a minor pop hit; it reached number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100.^[66][67] The album sold 39,000 copies during its first week^[68] and, as of March 2011, has sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide.^[69] Swift also released a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, in October 2007 and an EP, Beautiful Eyes, in July 2008.^[70][71]

Swift toured extensively in support of Taylor Swift. In addition to festival and theater dates, Swift performed as an opening act for several country artists' concert tours. She opened for Rascal Flatts on several dates in late 2006.^[59][72] In 2007, she served as the opening act on twenty dates for George Strait's 2007 United States tour,^[73] several dates on Kenny Chesney's tour^[74] and selected dates on Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour.^[75][76] Also in 2007, Swift appeared as the opening act on several dates for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's joint Soul2Soul II Tour.^[77] Swift again opened for Flatts for their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008.^[78] In addition to performing her own material, Swift played covers of songs by Beyoncé and Rihanna.^[79] She conducted meet-and-greet sessions with fans before and after her concerts; these lasted for up to four hours.^[80][81]

In 2007, Swift and Alan Jackson were jointly named the Nashville Songwriters Association's "Songwriter/Artists of the Year". Swift was the youngest person ever to be honored with the title.^[82] She also won the Country Music Association’s Horizon Award for Best New Artist.^[83] In 2008, she won Top New Female Vocalist at the Academy of Country Music Awards^[84] and Favorite Country Female Artist at the American Music Awards.^[85] She won seven BMI Awards for songs featured on Taylor Swift.^[86] Swift was also nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse.^[87]

[edit] 2008–10: Fearless release, MTV VMA incident and media backlash

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in November 2008.^[88] She wrote seven of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining six with songwriters Liz Rose, John Rich, Colbie Caillat and Hillary Lindsey.^[49] While Swift wrote many of the songs on tour, she made a conscious effort not to include "road songs": "As a 16-year-old girl, I could never relate to those songs about playing a different city every night. I want to write about feelings and love and the lack of love".^[89] She has said that the album title "means you’re afraid of a lot of things, but you jump anyway".^[90] She co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman.^[49] Musically, the record is characterized by "loud, lean guitars and rousing choruses", with the occasional "bit of fiddle and banjo tucked into the mix".^[91]

Swift performing at the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Canada

Fearless received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[92] The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".^[93] The Village Voice felt she displayed "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness", "masterfully avoiding the typical diarist's pitfalls of trite banality and pseudo-profound bullshit".^[94] Rolling Stone described her as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture" whose "squirmingly intimate and true" songs seemed to be "literally ripped from a suburban girl's diary".^[95] USA Today found it "a pleasure to hear a gifted teenager who sounds like a gifted teenager, rather than a mouthpiece for a bunch of older pros' collective notion of adolescent yearning."^[96] The New Yorker described it as an album "without a bad track", adding that "the album’s finest effort, "Fifteen", will feature in yearbook quotes for years".^[97] Entertainment Weekly noted that the album would appeal mainly to young girls – "she sounds like a real teen, not some manufactured vixen-Lolita" – but predicted it would be "exciting to watch her precocious talent grow".^[98] Music critic Robert Christgau described Swift as "an uncommonly-to-impossibly strong and gifted teenage girl".^[99]

Swift promoted Fearless heavily upon its release. An episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show was dedicated to the album launch^[57] and Swift appeared on many other chat shows.^[100] She communicated with fans using social media platforms such as twitter and personal video blogs.^[57] In October 2008, she appeared at the CMT Giants: Alan Jackson event, performing a cover of Jackson's "Drive (For Daddy Gene)".^[101] In November 2008, Swift took part in a joint, televised concert with rock band Def Leppard in Nashville.^[102][103] She performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards in February 2009.^[104] In April 2009, she performed a cover of George Strait's "Run" at a televised ACM event honoring Strait as Artist of the Decade.^[105] Swift hosted and appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in November 2009.^[106] The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released in September 2008 and became the second best-selling country single of all time, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[67][107] Four more singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.^[108] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with sales of 592,304 and has since sold over 8.6 million copies worldwide.^[109][110] It was the top-selling album of 2009 and brought Swift much crossover success.^[111]

Swift carried out her first headlining tour from April 2009 to June 2010. As part of the 105-date Fearless Tour, Swift played 90 dates in North America, six dates in Europe, eight dates in Australia and one date in Asia.^[112] The stage show included multiple costume changes, dancers and a fairy-tale castle set.^[113] She sang a cover of Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around" nightly, intertwined with her own "You're Not Sorry".^[114] Swift invited John Mayer, Faith Hill and Katy Perry to perform one-off duets with her at various dates during the North American tour.^{[115][116][117]} Justin Bieber, Kelly Pickler and Gloriana were the support acts.^[118] The tour was attended by more than 1.1 million fans and has grossed over $63 million.^[119] Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless, a concert film, was aired on television and later released on DVD and Blu-ray.^[120] Also in 2009, Swift performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban.^[121]

In September 2009, Swift became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video.^[122] Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents.^[123] West declared Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated in the same category, to be "one of the best videos of all time." Many audience members booed West,^[124][125] prompting him to flip off the crowd.^[126][124] He then handed the microphone back to a speechless Swift.^[124][127] Backstage, Swift was seen "hysterically crying".^[124] According to Rolling Stone, when Swift's mother confronted West, he gave "a half-hearted apology in which he added he still thought Beyoncé's video was superior".^[128] West was removed from the event.^{[124][126][129]} When Beyoncé later won the award for Video of the Year, she invited Swift onstage to finish her speech.^[124][130] In the event's press room, Swift, who in 2008 had expressed a desire to sing a hook on a Kanye West rap song,^[131] was asked if she had "any hard feelings" towards West: "I don’t know him, and I’ve never met him, so... I don’t want to start anything because I had a great night tonight."^[128][132]

The incident received much media attention and inspired many Internet memes.^[133] President Barack Obama, in an "off the record" comment, called West a "jackass".^[134] Former US President Jimmy Carter said West's interruption was "completely uncalled for".^[135] West's behavior was criticized by celebrities, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Lady Gaga.^{[126][136][137][128]} The following day, West apologized for his verbal outburst both in a blog entry and during an appearance on The Jay Leno Show.^[124][125] He maintained that, while Swift was "very talented", "Beyoncé's video was the best of this decade!!!! ... I gave my awards to Outkast when they deserved it over me ... I'm not crazy y'all, I'm just real."^[138] Two days after the VMAs, Swift told an interviewer that West had not spoken to her since the ceremony.^[139] West then contacted her to offer a personal apology, which Swift accepted: "Kanye did call me, and he was very sincere in his apology."^[122][139] It has been said that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity".^[140]

Swift released a cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl", exclusively through Rhapsody in June 2009^[141] and continues to make her stage entrance to Petty's recording of the song.^[142] Swift contributed backing vocals to John Mayer's "Half of My Heart", featured on his fourth album, in November 2009.^[143] Mayer wrote the song as a tribute to Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac: "I thought, 'Well, if this is going to be my love letter to that style of music, who's going to be the Stevie Nicks in this equation?' And I thought, 'This Taylor Swift girl is going to be around for a long time."^[144] The song received positive reviews from music critics.^{[145][146][147]} Swift and Mayer performed the song live at Madison Square Garden, New York in December 2009.^[148] It was released as the album's third single in June 2010 and peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[149] Swift collaborated with a number of other artists in 2008 and 2009. She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kelly Pickler.^[150] She co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack – "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" – with Martin Johnson and Robert Ellis Orrall, respectively.^[151] Swift also provided vocals for Boys Like Girls's "Two Is Better Than One", written by Martin Johnson.^{[152][153][154][155]} In January 2010, Swift contributed two songs – including "Today Was a Fairytale" – to the Valentine's Day soundtrack^[156] and recorded a cover of Better Than Ezra's "Breathless" for the Hope for Haiti Now album.^[157]

Swift at the 2010 Time 100 Gala, where she was honored

In November 2009, Swift became the youngest ever artist, and one of only six women, to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.^[158] Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.^[158] The album won many other accolades and has become the most awarded album in country music history.^[159] Swift was the youngest ever artist to win the Academy of Country Music's Album of the Year honor.^[160] The American Music Awards honored Swift with Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album plaudits.^[161] She was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame^[162] and was named Songwriter/Artists of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association.^[163] She won four BMI Awards.^[164] Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.^[165] Swift was included in Time's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2010.^[166]

In January 2010, Swift won four Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Country Album, Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song, from a total of eight nominations.^[167][168] She was the youngest ever artist to win Album of the Year.^[169] During the ceremony, Swift sang "Rhiannon" and "You Belong with Me" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and sparked a widespread media backlash.^[140][170] Her vocals were described variously as "badly off-key", "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched".^[171][172] While The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years",^[169] music critic Bob Lefsetz predicted that her career would end "overnight".^[173][174] In April 2010, Stevie Nicks, writing in Time, defended the singer: "Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John ... The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business."^[166]

[edit] 2010–12: Speak Now release, 13-month world tour and collaborations

Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, in October 2010.^[175] She wrote all twelve songs alone: "I'd get my best ideas at 3 a.m. in Arkansas and I didn't have a co-writer around."^[176] Album recording sessions took place in California, Tennessee and Kentucky over a two year period.^[177][178] Swift, who co-produced the record with longtime collaborator Nathan Chapman,^[179] has described it as "a collection of confessions—things I wish I had said when I was in the moment".^[180] She originally intended to call the album Enchanted but Scott Borchetta, her record label's CEO, felt the title did not reflect the album's more adult themes: "She had played me a bunch of the new songs. I looked at her and I'm like, 'Taylor, this record isn't about fairy tales and high school anymore. That's not where you're at'".^[181] Musically, it has been said that the album "expands beyond country-pop to border both alternative rock and dirty bubblegum pop".^[182]

Speak Now received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[183] USA Today felt that Swift's songwriting skills would remind listeners "what all the fuss was about in the first place", with the album capturing "the sweet ache of becoming an adult".^[184] The Los Angeles Times praised her ability as a songwriter to "hit on common experiences that feel unique".^[182] The New York Times described the album as savage, musically diverse and "excellent too, possibly her best".^[179] The Village Voice found that the album demanded "a true appreciation of Swift's talent, which is not confessional, but dramatic: Like a procession of country songwriters before her, she creates characters and situations—some from life—and finds potent ways to describe them."^[185] Entertainment Weekly noted that while love may confound her, "the art of expert songcraft clearly doesn't".^[186] Music critic John Christgau found the album's songs "overlong and overworked" but remarked that "they evince an effort that bears a remarkable resemblance to care—that is, to caring in the best, broadest, and most emotional sense".^[99] Rolling Stone described Swift as one of the best songwriters in "pop, rock or country": "Swift might be a clever Nashville pro who knows all the hitmaking tricks, but she's also a high-strung, hyper-romantic gal with a melodramatic streak the size of the Atchafalaya Swamp".^[187]

Swift performing during the Speak Now World Tour in July 2011

Swift carried out an extensive promotional campaign prior to Speak Now's release.^[188] She appeared on various talk shows and morning shows, and gave free mini-concerts in unusual locations, including an open-decker bus on Hollywood Boulevard and a departure lounge at JFK airport.^[189][190] She took part in a "guitar pull" alongside Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill and Lionel Ritchie at LA's Club Nokia; the musicians shared the stage and took turns introducing and playing acoutic versions of their songs to raise money for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.^[191][192] The album's lead single, "Mine", was released in August 2010 and five further singles were released throughout 2010 and 2011: "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly" and "Ours".^[193] Speak Now was a major commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Its sales of 1,047,000 copies made it the sixteenth album in United States history to sell one million copies in a single week.^[194] As of February 2012, Speak Now has sold over four million copies in the US^[195] and over 5.7 million copies worldwide.^[196][197] In her career, as of May 2012, Swift has sold over 22 million albums^[198] and 50 million digital tracks worldwide.^[199]

In September 2010, Kanye West's 2009 VMA interruption once again became newsworthy when West used his twitter account to apologize to Swift, referring to her as "just a lil girl with dreams like the rest of us": ""I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that's so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won't take it then I'll perform it for her." Later that month, both artists performed at the 2010 VMAs. Swift sang "Innocent", a song widely believed to be about West, which The Washington Post has described as "a small masterpiece of passive aggressiveness, a vivisection dressed up as a peace offering".^[200] Music critics found Swift's performance overly serious and "petty".^[201][202] Speaking in November 2010, West said he failed to see what was "so arrogant about that moment" and described his actions as "selfless". He added that "if it was the other way around" and Swift were an established artist who had "made the video of her career, do you think she would have lost to a brand new artist? Hell no!"^[203][204] Also that month, he claimed that, "If I wasn't drunk, I would have been on stage longer ... Taylor never came to my defense at any interview. And rode the waves and rode it and rode it".^[205][206] At the Costume Institute Gala in May 2011, Swift and West came face-to-face on the red carpet. West was observed to hold "a hand out, and the two exchanged a studiedly casual, “down low” high five".^[1]

Swift toured throughout 2011 and early 2012 in support of Speak Now. As part of the thirteen-month, 111-date world tour, Swift played seven shows in Asia, twelve shows in Europe, 80 shows in North America and twelve shows in Australasia.^[207] Three dates on the US tour were rescheduled after Swift fell ill with bronchitis.^[208] The stage show was inspired by Broadway musical theatre, with choreographed routines, elaborate set-pieces, pyrotechnics and numerous costume changes.^[209][210] Swift invited many musicians to join her for one-off duets during the North American tour. Appearances 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, T.I., Jon Foreman, Jim Adkins, Hayley Williams, Hot Chelle Rae, Ronnie Dunn, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.^[211][212] The tour was attended by over 1.6 million fans and has grossed over $123 million, becoming one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time.^[207] Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of the tour, was released in November 2011.^[213]

Swift speaking during a Youtube interview in September 2011

During the North American and Australasian tour legs, Swift wrote different song lyrics on her left arm for each performance. She has said that the lyrics should be viewed as a nightly "mood ring"^[214] and The New Yorker has cited the practice as an example of Swift's "keen understanding of what fuels fan obsession in the first place: a desire for intimacy between singer and listener".^[1] Artists quoted include Tom Petty, Carole King, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Band of Horses, Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab For Cutie, Alanis Morrissette, Rachael Yamagata, Erin McCarley, Mindy Smith and Martina McBride.^[215][216] Swift also performed many acoustic cover versions during her North American tour. In each city, she paid tribute to a homegrown artist.^[217] She has said the cover versions allowed her to be "spontaneous" in an otherwise well-rehearsed show: "You'll have a lot of people who will come to more than one show, and I want them to get a different experience every time."^[218] Artists covered include Justin Timberlake, Tori Amos, TLC, Pink, Fall Out Boy, Dave Matthews Band, Michelle Branch, Jordin Sparks, Maroon 5, Train, John Mellencamp, Kim Carnes, Avril Lavigne, The Jackson 5, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Gwen Stefani, All American Rejects, Britney Spears and Eminem.^[219]

At the 54th Grammy Awards in February 2012, Swift's song "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.^[220] She also performed "Mean" during the ceremony. The song is believed to be a rebuttal to Bob Lefsetz, one of the most vocal critics of her 2010 Grammy performance.^[174] Lefsetz had previously been a supporter of the singer's career,^[221] and Swift and Lefsetz had corresponded occasionally by email and telephone.^[174] Time felt she "delivered her comeback on-key and with a vengeance"^[222] while USA Today remarked that the criticism in 2010 seemed to have "made her a better songwriter and live performer".^[223]

Swift was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association in both 2010 and 2011. During the 2011 ceremony, she played an acoustic version of "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" in honor of Alan Jackson, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee,^[224] who later thanked Swift in his speech for "the prettiest version I've ever heard".^[225] Swift won various other awards for Speak Now. She was named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music in both 2011 and 2012^[226] and was named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association in 2011.^[227] Swift was the American Music Awards's Artist of the Year in 2011, and Speak Now was named Favorite Country Album.^[228] She was also the recipient of two BMI Awards.^[229] Billboard named Swift 2011's Woman of the Year.^[230] Also that year, Billboard ranked her at number 15 in a list of the Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters 2000–2011; she was the second highest ranking woman.^[231] Swift was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade.^[232]

Swift contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album in March 2012. "Safe & Sound" was co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett.^[233] John Paul White has said working with Swift was "a revelation. She had some great ideas. We had complete freedom. It truly was a collaboration. We brought the melancholy and the darker angle. Taylor was bringing the melody and the chords."^[234] Rolling Stone described the song as "Swift's prettiest ballad" and wondered whether the alt-country folk song was "a one-off novelty, a trial balloon cred-move, or the stirrings of a "grown-up" style".^[235] Swift and The Civil Wars debuted a live version of the song at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville in January 2012.^[236] It was released as the album's lead single and, as of April 2012, has sold 970,000 copies in the United States.^[237] Swift's second contribution to the album, "Eyes Open", was written solely by the singer and produced by Nathan Chapman.^[238] In May 2012, Swift contributed vocals to "Both of Us", a Dr. Luke-produced song on B.o.B's second album Strange Clouds.^{[239][240][241][242]}

2012–present: Untitled fourth studio album[link]

Swift is currently working on her fourth album with producer Nathan Chapman.^[243][244] It is scheduled for release in the fall of 2012.^[245] Swift intends to keep writing and recording throughout 2012 "because I'm having so much fun".^[246] After writing her third album alone, Swift is now collaborating with people "from all different places in music",^[246] including songwriters Lori McKenna,^[247][248] Butch Walker,^[249][250] Ed Sheeran,^[251] and Dan Wilson.^[252] The album will detail "the rise and fall of a relationship",^[253] as well as the resulting "absolute crash-and-burn heartbreak".^[254] She has described the album's mood as "sad, if I'm being honest."^[255]

Artistry[link]

Songwriting style[link]

Swift has said she writes songs as an "open letter".^[256] She has said songwriting is "is a way of verbalizing those things that I feel that I can’t say".^[47] Swift has said she is "very interested in any writing from a child's perspective" and has cited To Kill a Mockingbird as one of her favorite books.^[257] Neil Young has described Swift as "a great writer" and follows her career.^[258][259] Kris Kristofferson has said that "she blows me away. It's amazing to me that someone so young is writing such great songs. She's got a great career ahead of her".^[260][261] Dolly Parton has said her songs are "great" and that she has "the qualities that could last a long time".^[262] Stevie Nicks has said Swift writes "songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John".^[166]

Vocal abilities[link]

In studio recordings, the Los Angeles Times identifies Swift's "defining" vocal gesture as "the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow, giving her beloved girl-time hits their air of easy intimacy".^[182] In a review of Speak Now, The Village Voice noted that her phrasing was previously "bland and muddled, but that's changed. She can still sound strained and thin, and often strays into a pitch that drives some people crazy; but she's learned how to make words sound like what they mean".^[185] Slate, reviewing Speak Now, described Swift as "a technically poor singer": "Though she does vary her phrasing in ways that attempt to mask her limited voice (the way she sneers, "She looks at me like I'm a trend/And she's so over it," on "Better Than Revenge" is especially effective), Swift is still noticeably off-pitch at least once on every song on the album".^[263]

In an interview with The New Yorker, Swift characterized herself primarily as a songwriter: “I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across”.^[1] "I'm not trying to go out there and do vocal acrobatics. I'm just trying to write good songs".^[264] However, her vocal presence is something that concerns her and she has "put a lot of work" into improving it.^[265] She has said that she only feels nervous performing "if I'm not sure what the audience thinks of me, like at award shows".^[266]

Public image[link]

Swift has been described as "America's sweetheart" and "a role model".^[267][268] The singer considers it her "responsibility" to be conscious of her influence on young fans.^[269] However, she insists that "I don't live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free".^[270] Swift does not drink alcohol because she worries that "I might come off in a way that I can't control. Maybe I should just lighten up!" "It's not like I judge people who [drink] or that I don't hang out with people who drink".^[270] She refuses to take part in overly sexualised photo-shoots.^[9] The lyrical content of her songs is regarded as appropriate for young audiences. A New Yorker journalist who attended a Swift concert recounted watching "sixteen-year-old girls holding hands and swaying, and a girl in a hijab sobbing as she sang the words. It was hard not to be a little moved, and not to feel relieved that the words being sung were, more or less, safe ... One can attend a concert by Katy Perry and listen to a stadium full of thirteen-year-olds chant along with the song “Peacock” which goes, “I want to see your peacock-cock-cock! Your peacock-cock!"^[1]

A Rolling Stone journalist who profiled Swift in 2009 remarked upon her polite manners: "If this is Swift's game face, it must be tattooed on because it never drops".^[271] A 2012 Vogue cover story described Swift as "clever and funny and occasionally downright bawdy" in person, but noted that she "asks if her cursing can be off the record".^[272] Grantland.com describes Swift as "talkative and openly neurotic in a way you'd never see from a blonde country princess like Faith Hill or Carrie Underwood. She is more like Diane Keaton in Annie Hall: overly gracious and eager to please but full of a nonstop, nervous, fluttering energy".^[273]

There has been much media commentary about Swift's reactions when she is recognized at award ceremonies.^[274] In 2011, The Hollywood Reporter remarked that she "seems to be consistently shocked and wonderstruck by each awards win, despite racking up an ever-growing collection of Grammys, CMAs, MTV Moonmen and AMAs".^[275] Kristen Wiig parodied Swift's surprised facial expressions during a Saturday Night Live sketch in February 2012.^[276] Swift later said she had seen the sketch: “I was laughing the entire time and then I realized that, as I was watching it, I was making the face she was making”.^[277] At the Academy of Country Music Awards in April 2012, the ceremony's host Blake Shelton joked in his opening monologue that Swift should release a perfume called "I can't believe I smell this good". When Swift later presented Shelton with the Academy's Best Male Vocalist award, "the two faced off, showing each other their ultra-surprised looks".^[278][279]

Feminist discussion[link]

Swift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie, April 2009

The merits of Swift as a feminist have been widely discussed.^[280] She has been described by Jezebel as "a feminist's nightmare": "Her image of being good and pure plays right into how much the patriarchy fetishizes virginity, loves purity, and celebrates women who know their place as delicate flowers".^[281] However, a Village Voice music critic dismissed this criticism as "shallow and gross, in that special way that things get gross when you cram shaded and living work through an ideological sieve like you're mechanically separating chicken".^[282] He continued: "Criticisms include: She's a conformist stooge of the patriarchy (she's now had two hits about defying fathers); she idolizes chastity (she's coy about sex, but only the willful could miss the fucking in the new "Sparks Fly," which includes the line "Gimme something that'll haunt me when you're not around"); and she sells girls corrupt and shallow fairy-tale notions of romance (one of the two fairy-tale songs on Fearless mocked a guy for trying to white-knight her, and the only mention of such things on Speak Now is "I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you"—note the tense)."^[282]

The song Fifteen has been the subject of particular scrutiny. It has been said that the song contains a "feminist message" in the lyrics "Back then I swore I was gonna marry him some day, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine” and "In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team".^[283] Feminist critics claim the use of the word "everything" in the lyric "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy, who changed his mind, and we both cried" is a reference to virginity: "Songs like "Fifteen" dig up the ancient Puritan ideal that girls can only access power by confidently and heterosexually denying access to their pants."^[284] However, others interpret "everything" as trust: "Abigail trusted and opened up to a boy for the first time, only to be let down. Maybe that includes sex, maybe it doesn’t."^[283]

When asked by The New York Times in 2010 whether she considered herself a feminist, Swift replied, "I have never really thought about that".^[285] In December 2011, Billboard's Tom Roland asked Swift whether the marginalization of women in country music, prevalent in the 1950s, was still an issue: "I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn't feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you've got to work as hard as them. I was always playing just as many shows as they were and playing on the same shows as they were. I was willing to pay my dues as an opening act, playing in clubs and bars and playing in tiny venues. The new male artists were doing the same thing, so I never saw an issue there."^[286]

Philanthropy[link]

Arts education[link]

In September 2010, Swift donated $75,000 to Nashville's Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium's sound and lighting systems.^[287] In May 2012, she pledged $4 million to fund a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. The two-storey, 7,500-square foot space will have its own exterior entrance and museum officials have decided to name it The Taylor Swift Education Center.^[288] It will feature three classrooms and a children's exhibit gallery, and will house interactive activities such as a musical petting zoo and a “wet” classroom space to make concert posters and other art projects. New programs and workshops for teenagers and senior citizens will also be accommodated within the space. The Center is scheduled to open in early 2014 and Swift will be involved in an advisory capacity.^[289]

Children's literacy[link]

In December 2009, Swift donated $250,000 to various schools around the country that she had either attended or had other associations with. The money was used to buy books, fund educational programs and pay teachers' salaries.^[290] In October 2010, she took part in a live webcast, Read Now! with Taylor Swift, broadcast exclusively in US schools to celebrate Scholastic's Read Every Day campaign.^[291][292] In October 2011, Swift donated 6,000 Scholastic books to Reading Public Library, Pennsylvania^[293] and, in February 2012, she donated 14,000 books to Nashville Public Library, Tennessee.^[294] Most of the books were placed in circulation; the rest were gifted to children from low-income families, preschools and daycare centers.^[294] In March 2012, she co-chaired the National Education Association's Read Across America campaign and recorded a PSA encouraging children to read.^[295][296]

Natural disaster funds[link]

In June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to the Red Cross's disaster relief fund.^[297] Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.^[298] Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,^[299] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.^[300]

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.^[301] In August 2010, she donated $100,000 to help rebuild a playground in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which was damaged by floodwater.^[302] In May 2011, Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region, raising more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show.^[303] The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards.^[304] In July 2011, Swift further aided the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.^[305] In April 2012, Swift donated $1,500 to a fund to help a man left permanently paralyzed by the tornado to make his house wheelchair-accessible.^[306]

Other charitable endeavors[link]

In September 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police.^[307] In January 2008, Swift donated a pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the Victory Junction Gang Camp.^[308] Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly".^[309] Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund.^[310] She appeared in a Got Milk campaign in July 2010.^[311]

Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.^[312] In November 2009, after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night, she donated $20,000 to the cause.^[313] Swift donated a pair of her shoes to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer. In June 2011, as the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. This figure was matched by the Academy.^[314]

Other work[link]

Acting[link]

Swift made her acting debut in a 2009 episode of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing a rebellious teenager.^[315] The New York Times noted that the character allowed Swift to be "a little bit naughty, and credibly so".^[316] Rolling Stone felt she "held her own" and "does a good job with the script"^[317] while the Chicago Tribune said she "acquits herself well".^[318] Later that year, Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for an episode of Saturday Night Live.^[319] Entertainment Weekly described her as "this season’s best Saturday Night Live host so far", noting that she "was always up for the challenge, seemed to be having fun, and helped the rest of the cast nail the punchlines". Proving "admirably resilient in a wide variety of sketch roles", "Swift inspired more of a female, girly-in-the-best-sense sensibility in SNL than it’s shown since the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler days".^[320]

In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day and won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout.^[321] In 2012, she voiced the character of Audrey in the animated film The Lorax.^[322] Swift is in talks to star as Joni Mitchell in the film adaptation of Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, which follows the careers of Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King.^[323]

Product endorsements[link]

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.^[324] Swift was the face of L.E.I. jeans in 2008.^[325] In 2007, Swift launched a line of sundresses at Wal-Mart.^[326][327] In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson and appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.^[328] In 2011, Swift partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, "Wonderstruck".^[329] Swift works with American Greetings, Inc.^[330] She also has endorsement deals with companies including Target, CoverGirl and Sony.^[331]

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest.^[332] Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.^{[333][334][335]}

Personal life[link]

Swift's main residence is a duplex penthouse in Midtown Nashville, Tennessee.^[336][1] She also owns a house in Beverly Hills, California.^[337][338] According to Forbes, Swift earned $18 million in 2009,^[339] $45 million in 2010,^[340] $45 million in 2011^[341] and $57 million so far in 2012.^[342]

Relationships[link]

Swift writes autobiographical songs and has said that, "I've never been shy or secretive with the fact that if you walk into my life, you may be walking onto a record".^[343] Listening to music as a child, Swift felt confused "when I knew something was going on in someone’s personal life and they didn’t address it in their music".^[344]

Swift dated singer Joe Jonas from July to October 2008.^[345][346] She dated actor Taylor Lautner from October to December 2009.^[347][348] She was romantically linked to musician John Mayer from late 2009 until June 2010.^[349][350] They first met in 2008 and recorded a duet, "Half of My Heart", in late 2009.^[351][352] Swift dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal from October 2010 to December 2010.^{[353][354][355][356][357]} On December 9, 2011, Gyllenhaal called the LAPD for assistance, after a large number of photographers followed the couple's car in Los Angeles.^[358] Following their break-up, they were seen together in January and February 2011.^[359][360]

Politics[link]

On her eighteenth birthday, "the first thing" Swift did was register to vote.^[361][362] After casting her vote in the 2008 US presidential election, Swift declined to inform journalists which candidate she had supported.^[363] However, following Barack Obama's inauguration, she told Rolling Stone: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive. I'm so glad this was my first election."^[364] In 2009, after Swift's MTV VMA acceptance speech was interrupted by Kanye West, President Obama described West's behaviour as "really inappropriate. The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What is he doing up there? He’s a jackass."^[365] Former US President Jimmy Carter said West's interruption was "completely uncalled for".^[366]

In 2010, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush attended the taping of a Swift television special in Kennebunkport, Maine,^[367] and later described Swift as "unspoiled" and "very nice".^[368] In 2012, Swift was presented with a Kids' Choice Award in recognition of her charitable work by Michelle Obama, who praised her as someone who "has rocketed to the top of the music industry but still keeps her feet on the ground, someone who has shattered every expectation of what a 22-year old can accomplish".^[369] Swift later described the First Lady as "a role model".^[370]

Swift is an admirer of the Kennedy family and has spent time with Rory, Caroline and, particularly, Ethel Kennedy.^[371] When asked about her friendship with Swift, Ethel replied, "Oh, she is amazing! Such good company."^[372] Rory has said, "There is a mutual admiration society between my mother and Taylor Swift and I just love it! I think it says so much about Taylor – she has that ability to connect and cross generations ... She's terrific and such a great role model for young girls, as well as for all women, really. ... She's just so curious and interested".^[372] In January 2012, Swift travelled to Utah to attend the Sundance premiere of the HBO documentary Ethel.^[373]

In a 2012 interview, Swift remarked that she was "very cautious" about using her public profile to address political issues, adding that she hoped to "gradually" become more outspoken: "I don't feel that I am in a place to sing about politics or anything like that. I don't know enough at this point".^[374]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

• Taylor Swift (2006)
• Fearless (2008)
• Speak Now (2010)
• Untitled Fourth Studio Album (Fall 2012)

Tours[link]

• Fearless Tour (2009–10)
• Speak Now World Tour (2011–12)

Awards and nominations[link]

Swift has won 109 awards from a total of 162 nominations. She has been the recipient of ten American Music Awards, six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, six Academy of Country Music Awards and 13 BMI Awards.

References[link]