Dear all you T-Swift nay-sayers: it’s time to let the negativity go. That is, unless you want to look like a liar… and pathetic…and alone in life… and mean.
Currently, Taylor Alison Swift is officially ruling the music industry, and quite possibly even the world. There is no reason to continue this unnecessary hatred, and we should all take this opportunity to get educated about her reign rather than continuously (and to no avail) try to knock her down from her throne.
This past Sunday, miss Swift left the iHeart Radio awards with the most awarded album in music history (1989), a cumulative total of 258 awards and 553 nominations to her name, and the gorgeous and very Scottish Adam Wiles on her arm (don’t worry, that’s just Calvin Harris’s real name). She strutted the runway in yet another all black ensemble, resembling her character Catastrophe from her star-studded “Bad Blood” music video.
It comes as no surprise that she closed out the 1989 era a very decorated woman. She has worked hard to get where she is, and is insanely smart about how she goes about her profession. Her marketing skills are unmatchable – everything she posts on social media has a meaning, a very meticulous point, and reaches millions at a time. She knows how to give fans just enough to keep them with her, while still always wanting more. She’s a philanthropist, a feminist, and an all around 21st century basic white girl, but you gotta love her for what she’s worth.
She knows what she believes, and she stands for it. Everyone is familiar with the Apple Music open letter Swift published to her Tumblr last fall when the mega-music corporation announced a streaming service that wasn’t going to pay their artists for the free three-month trail period. Swift took a stand, and not for her current self and paycheck, but for those up-and-coming stars she saw her 2006 curly-haired novice self in. She has been advocating for artists to receive the pay they deserve since she controversially took all of her music off of Spotify back in 2014. However, she stuck by her decisions when Apple Music came around, her letter was addressed by Apple and responded to positively, and now the two have an incomparable partnership that is taking the music world by storm and gives us commercial gold, better known as Taylor vs. Treadmill.
She genuinely cares about her fans. Many people are quick to assume that her adoration and time donated to her fans is all a publicity stunt; however, there are multiple stories of Taylor’s philanthropy that the general public never hears about. A while ago, Swift donated $2,000 dollars to a fan living on the streets after being kicked out of his home by his parents for his sexual orientation. She donated this money under her cat’s initials (lol) and never once spoke out about it to the media. She is a genuine human being who goes out of her way to help whoever she can.
If you can’t appreciate her for the quirky cat loving giraffe she is, then look at the stats. The girl has destroyed the charts with her infamous fifth album, she currently has 5 Guinness World Records in the books and has seamlessly crossed over from the Country genre to the Pop scene, only gaining fan base along the way. This transition from Country to Pop is something many big-name artists, such as Country superstar Garth Brooks, have tried (and failed at) many times over the years. The music video for her Fearless single “You Belong With Me” is still number 12 on the iTunes Country music video charts, and that’s been out since 2009! And to top it all off, 1989 remained no. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart for a consecutive 10 weeks.
If all of that is not enough, on Tuesday morning, Billboard announced that Taylor will be the first recipient of the Taylor Swift award presented by Billboard Music Incorporated (BMI). She is one of two individuals to receive a Billboard award given in someone’s name, second only to Michael Jackson in 1990.
“Taylor Swift has transformed pop culture through her songs, artistry and indomitable spirit,” said Barbara Cane, BMI Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations, in a press release earlier Tuesday morning. “She has had a profound impact, not only musically, but also through her personal conviction and commitment to create a standard that values and respects music for everyone. We felt it appropriate to award Taylor with an honor that is as unique and special as she is.”
When all is said and done, Taylor Swift is one in a million. Her accomplishments to date are unheard of, and she’s still only 26 years old. The impact she has left on the music industry in just 10 years of producing music will shape the way music looks, and sounds, from here on out. Taylor is taking a well-deserved break from the music scene for a bit, announcing that “this is probably my last award show for a while” after accepting her Album of the Year award on Sunday. But even though she’s taking a hiatus, Taylor Swift is here to stay. So the haters are gonna hate, but long live Taylor Swift and all the magic she’s made. She will be remembered.