By Elliott West
“I think fearless is having fears but jumping anyway”.
Taylor Swift
Introduction
Empowered women always bring joy to my heart. In a world where successful women are on the rise, I love to hear about those who have defied the odds and shown that with hard work and determination, anything is possible. You may or may not like her brand of music but Taylor Swift is one of those gutsy females who have gone from being ordinary to a globally recognised star in her 34 years of life. A gifted songwriter who began writing songs at the tender age of 14, she has gone on to record eleven albums with her record label Big Machine Records and then Republic Records. A country-pop singer who has become one of the world’s best-selling digital artists and sold over 200 million records worldwide. Now one of the people on Forbes World’s Billionaires List, her wealth is estimated at a staggering $1.1 billion following her record-breaking Eras tour and concert film.
The Swift Factor
Taylor Swift is an artist who packs out music venues and parents accompany their children in their droves to watch, secretly liking the music themselves. Yet there is a burning question you must ask yourselves, where has this overnight sensation come from? I suppose you could say Taylor is the Britney Spears of her era. Yet it wasn’t always that way. Swift was born in 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Her parents Scott and Andrea both worked in the financial sector. Her younger brother Austin is an actor and her grandmother Marjorie Finlay was an opera singer. A lady who shaped her future singing career when she used to go and watch her singing in church. Taylor has a mix of German, Scottish, English and Italian blood thanks to her parents, performing at Berks Youth Theatre Academy and singing in her local coffee shop. Raised on a Pennsylvanian farm, she would regularly travel to New York for acting and singing lessons.
Swift used to perform at local festivals, gaining much of her musical influence from artists like Shania Twain, Patsy Cline, LeeAnn Rimes and the Dixie Chicks. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she decided to pursue a career as a country music singer in Nashville. At the age of 11, Taylor travelled there and submitted several demo tracks of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks numbers but was rejected by all the record labels. She started to learn to play the guitar at the age of 12 and with the help of a computer repair man, Ronnie Cremer, wrote her first original song. Teamed up with the talent manager Dan Dymtrow, Swift would go on to model for Abercrombie & Fitch and had a song included on a Maybelline compilation CD. She would go on to seal an artist development deal with RCA Records at the age of 13 and would combine touring and homeschooling through Aaron Academy.
Nashville
Working with experienced Music Row songwriters like Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Mac McAnally and the Warren Brothers and a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose, Taylor would meet them for two-hour writing sessions after school every Tuesday. Her style was impressive, combining recent life experiences with hooks. She wanted to put these experiences down on paper, freshly after they happened, so they were relevant and represented what she was going through.
Catching the eye of Scott Borchetta at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift was quickly signed to his new independent record label Big Machine Records. One of his first signings, her father Scott bought a three percent stake in the company, an estimated $120,000 and Swift started working on her first album with Nathan Chapman. An album that was released in October 2006, reaching number 5 in the US charts and spending 157 weeks in the charts, the longest stay in the charts by any release in the US in the 2000s decade. An album that became platinum certificated. An album entitled “Taylor Swift”.
The Taylor Vision
Taylor Swift bases her music on female empowerment and is an advocate of artists’ rights. It’s a powerful ethos and vision that has led to the massive success of her follow-up albums Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department. She has also appeared in a number of films including Valentine’s Day, The Lorax, The Giver, Cats, All Too Well and Amsterdam and several documentaries and concert films. Her spectacular concert tours speak for themselves, spanning from the Fearless Tour in 2009-2010 to the Speak Now World Tour, The Red Tour, The 1989 World Tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour to The Eras Tour.
Currently dating Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs American Football star, the pair went public in September 2023. Travis has vowed to join his girlfriend on the European leg of her Eras tour and has previously travelled to Argentina, Australia and Singapore to watch Taylor perform despite his busy sports schedule. The tour will zig-zag across Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland and Austria over the next three months. A welcome break for Travis who doesn’t start his NFL training camps until July. A European tour that kicks off in May 2024.
The artist who penned the smash hit Shake It Off, is currently on the last of her tour dates in the USA which will conclude with concerts in Austin, Texas and Agoura Hills, California before moving on to Nanterre, France on the 9th of May. The music icon who appeared on American Idol multiple times with electrifying performances, famously appeared at the recent Super Bowl where she witnessed her boyfriend’s Kansas City Chiefs achieve a nail-biting victory over the San Francisco 49ers and she sealed with a passionate kiss with Travis on camera.
