TAYLOR SWIFT

As she hits our shores in February, music writer Cameron Adams charts the unbelievable career of the world’s biggest music artist, from her Nashville country music roots to her record-smashing Eras tour

After the public and media beating Taylor Swift endured when rapper Kanye West and his then-wife, reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, levelled an attack on her character, Swift emerged from a year in hiding to release her sixth studio album, Reputation, in late 2017. Like everything the pop star releases, it was a commercial success, but the critics were mixed.

When Tree Paine, Swift’s publicist, told the singer she didn’t receive a Grammy nomination for the album, Swift was visibly devastated, with the moment filmed for Swift’s 2020 documentary film Miss Americana. She attempted to shake it off, resolving that her next album, Lover, would be better. But the snub stung and she began to wonder if her days as a global sensation were numbered.

“This is probably one of my last opportunities, as an artist, to grasp onto that kind of success,” she said wistfully to the camera in 2019. “As I’m reaching 30, I want to work really hard while society is still tolerating me being successful.”

That was four years and four Grammy-award-nominated albums ago. As someone who felt her shelf life as a pop star was coming to an end, she could not have foreseen the level of success she is experiencing today. Right now we are watching history being made. Swift is on track to become the most successful musical artist of her generation – if not of all time – during our lifetimes.

The story goes that Swift, famously born in 1989, grew up in Pennsylvania listening to singer-songwriter Shania Twain. When she was 14 her family – ever supportive – moved to Nashville so she could really compete in the country music capital.