Velocity girl: the authentic Taylor Swift.
Getty, Paul Hoeffler/Redferns
EVEN IN THE context of a career studded with brilliant putdowns of terrible people, Taylor Swift hits particularly hard on 2012’s We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Mocking an ex-boyfriend, she describes the aftermath of their fights: “You would hide away and find your peace of mind/With some indie record that’s much cooler than mine.” If the laugh in her voice isn’t crushing enough, then the fact that Swift would actually make her own ‘indie’ records with The National’s Aaron Dessner in 2020 must have added insult to hipster injury.
In 2012, Swift explained the backstory. “This guy was the kind of dude that would say, ‘Oh, I just once saw this basement concert and there were only four people there, but they’re starting to blow up now, so I’m really over it’… I started to feel like, Should I have less people at my concerts? I don’t want to have less people at my concerts.” It’s fair to say she got over it: the 2023 leg of her Eras Tour was the first single tour to gross over $1 billion, with 4.3 million tickets sold.
Born on December 13, 1989, in Pennsylvania, Swift was first inspired by Shania Twain, Faith Hill and Patsy Cline, handing in covers tapes to Nashville record labels by the time she was 11. Her self-titled debut was released in 2006; already commercially thriving under country’s banner, she started to pull away into pop with her second album, Fearless. Yet from the start, key characteristics were in place: an eye for unusual images; a conversational, confiding tone; a heightened sense of romance, especially doomed; and an ability to create the feeling – illusory or otherwise – of radical honesty. “Is that a bad thing to say in a song?” she jokes on 2024 LP The Tortured Poets Department, gleefully aware that horse has bolted.
“An ability to create the feeling, illusory or otherwise, of radical honesty.”
Even high court judges could probably outline her feud with Kanye West, or her relationship history, but beyond the parasocial dazzle lies Swift’s questing commitment to her songwriting, finding space for reinvention, taking her fans along with her. That’s not the only way she has pushed forwards. In 2021, after a dispute over the ownership of her masters with her first label Big Machine, Swift announced she was re-recording four albums – Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989 – as “Taylor’s Version”. This How To Buy has included the original albums for historical accuracy, but those concerned with artists’ rights and music industry ethics – or just curious about the “From The Vaults” additions – should seek out Taylor’s Versions.
On The Tortured Poets Department’s Clara Bow, Swift evokes the 1920s It Girl to explore the entertainment industry’s next-please! fickleness. “You look like Taylor Swift/In this light we’re loving it,” she sings bitterly. “You’ve got edge, she never did.” For once, though, it doesn’t ring quite true.
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Taylor Swift
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BIG MACHINE, 2014
You Say: “A perfect fusion of ’80s soft rock and Taylor’s impeccable pop nous. The ultimate pop star of this century.” @drshaunie, via X