Music

Although she was born in Pennsylvania - a long way from Nashville - in 1989, little Taylor quickly developed a passion for country music, a veritable institution in the USA.

At the age of 9, she made regular trips to Broadway to take singing and acting lessons. By the age of 10, she was writing her first songs, and by 12 she was teaching herself to play the guitar with just three chords. Taylor Swift's story is above all that of a little girl's determination to believe in her dreams. Her teacher said: “She was a little shy, but not too shy, and always loved to sing. When she focused on something, she was very determined.”

  Her unfailing determination soon paid off, as she released her first single at the age of 13 (her lucky number), produced by Big Machine, a young record label that rightly followed her intuition. The young teenager sent her demos to radio stations, replied personally to each of her first fans, baked cookies for those who helped her set up her first tour, and it all paid off. Not only is the young singer gifted, but she also has the kindness and smile of the girl next door. 

Her first hit, “Tim McGraw”, was inspired by a break-up, and her first album, “Taylor Swift”, was a runaway success. By the end of 2006, the world had entered the Taylor Swift era. 

Her second album, “Fearless”, confirmed her supremacy. Her third album, “Speak Now”, was another success story. There's no stopping Taylor Swift. 
 
In 2014, her fifth album, “1989”, was more pop-oriented, and the track “Shake It Off” stayed on the charts for weeks. In 2017, the track “Look What You Made Me Do” became the most viewed video on YouTube in 24 hours, with no less than 43.2 million views, while “Shake It Off” now boasts over 3 billion views on the same platform. These are staggering figures, and demonstrate the power of the woman who was named “Personality of the Year” in 2023 by Time magazine.

In 2017, “Reputation” followed two years later by “Lover”, the albums followed one another, even during the pandemic, as the star released two opuses in 2020. That same year, she became the first female artist to win three Grammy Awards for Best Album. Yet another record for a woman who seems to succeed at everything. In 2021, the American announces the release of her album “Red”. “Midnights” followed at the end of 2022. 185 million streams on Spotify in one day!

The star then embarked on her “Eras Tour”, which would take her around the world to meet her fans for two years. A 3-hour show, 44 songs, numerous marriage proposals in the audience and several “Easter Eggs”, hidden messages that Swifties, her most loyal fans, are on the lookout for. In parallel with this tour, the singer re-recorded her first six albums, having lost the rights to them when her first record company was bought out.

A textbook case, sometimes criticized, sometimes scrutinized, but often admired, Taylor Swift is the little girl who believes in her dreams, a teenager who expereinces her first love affairs, the young woman who sometimes stumbles, a free and liberated woman. She's us, she's the girl next door, she's the star we draw inspiration from, and that makes her profoundly human, despite her immeasurable success. 

(CMa - Picture : Swift performing on her Reputation Stadium Tour in May 2018 - Pic  by UltimateWarrior13 via Wikicommons under license Creative commons CC-BY-SA-4.0)