Album by album, Swift has conquered the music industry.
Taylor Swift could rule the world if she wanted to.
In 2009, the country-pop icon began her debut tour for her second studio album, Fearless. An instant superstar in the country world, Swift’s press coverage focused on her good-girl attitude, youthful glow and teenage innocence. It is a challenge to find someone who doesn’t know the words to her greatest hits by heart. Rarely do you meet someone who hasn’t seen her across social media dropping her easter eggs and vague hints of music developments and projects.
Thirteen years later, Swift has released her tenth album, Midnights, on Oct. 13 to share her experience through 13 sleepless nights filled with dreams and disasters. She’s come a long way since she left Pennsylvania and moved to Nashville to pursue music. Swift was 13 at the time. On Dec. 13, she will turn 33.
Swift is a pioneer. She has rebranded the music business for young girls wishing to pursue their dreams and overcome the adversity within a male-dominated world. Whatever box you find yourself placed in at the age of 13, there is always a chance to break free.
You don’t have to be a Swiftie to know that regardless of what style, brand or theme she conjures up for a new album release, it will catch everyone’s attention.
If you’re just now joining her journey, or you’re simply interested in a recap, here is a breakdown of Taylor Swift’s evolution through five distinct eras:
1. Today Was A Fairytale: Self-titled, Fearless, Speak Now (albums 1, 2, 3)
During interviews, red carpet extravaganzas and award shows, Swift molded herself into a perfect popstar image. She wore all the right clothes, said all the right things and made all the best choices. Swift was the ideal role model that all young girls and teenagers looked up to. Her songs told age-old stories of heartbreak and woe that everyone could relate to. Audiences gravitated toward Swift’s honest writing because they saw themselves reflected in her lyrics. “Love Story,” “Untouchable” and “Speak Now” are a few songs fit for a garden wedding; she painted love as a fairytale. Swift’s first three albums transported fans to a time and place where all aspects of love (i.e., the heartbreak, the loss, the risks, the memories) were romanticized into a plot fit for the cinema.
2. All Too Well: Red, 1989 (albums 4, 5)
After developing a loyal fanbase and building a name for herself in the music industry, Swift became more mature and outspoken in her adult years. With Red, she became more personal in her songwriting with “All Too Well” and “The Moment I Knew,” which describe a short-lived relationship that lingers in her memories forever. She opted for brutal honesty over fairytales.
Red encompasses the forced loss off childhood innocence. Life is not a fairytale, after all. In Red’s 2021 re-release with previously undisclosed songs, “Babe” takes a twist on an endearing term; “Better Man” accepts that sometimes people never change; “Nothing New” admits that teenagers don’t know everything.
Then, Swift finally took advantage of the growing sensationalized rumors the media spread about her in 1989. Her music video for “Blank Space” satirizes how female artists are poorly perceived when — God forbid — they date people. Swift couldn’t control the press and paparazzi, but through Red and 1989, she regained her power by looking adversity in the eye and showing no fear.
3. Call It What You Want: Reputation (album 6)
Swift went silent for a year following a publicized feud with Kanye West and the Kardashians. When she returned in 2017, she returned with full force. Reputation made heads turn and spurred conversations! What is she doing? Why is she wearing that? Why is she being so petty? Swift was happiest at the peak of her Reputation tour. She broke free from her previously established musical path and rebranded herself. “Call It What You Want” embraces those who love her and turns a blind eye to antagonists’ ill wishes. Watching the music video to “Delicate” will elicit so much bliss that even Taylor Swift naysayers will forget they dislike her music. Some of Swift’s happiest moments as a person and as an artist are reflected in her Reputation era.
4. You Need to Calm Down: Lover (album 7)
Lover proves that as an artist, Swift is constantly evolving and exploring her musical abilities. While Lover is reminiscent of butterflies, rainbows and fairy lights, she also becomes more confident in making social commentary. “You Need to Calm Down” was written and produced as a source of allyship, and its music video featured some of the LGBTQ+ community’s greatest icons. “The Man” addresses the double standards women face in the workforce. While Lover took people by surprise as an abrupt transition from Reputation’s darker aesthetic, it retains the same commentary of life’s harsh reality. She combines somber, reminiscent songs with peppy, upbeat storylines such as “Paper Rings” and “I Forgot That You Existed.” Her 2020 documentary Miss Americana borrows its title from her song “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” and elaborates on how despite a shift in album aesthetic and themes, she will no longer deny how she feels and what she wants.
5. champagne problems: folklore, evermore (albums 8, 9)
Her sister albums, folklore and evermore were written while Swift was in quarantine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her most thought-provoking and authentic writing came from these albums, which were unexpectedly released less than five months apart. There were no announcements nor advertisements leading up to their releases. In folklore, Swift refers to her home in Pennsylvania in “seven,” and she crafts a love triangle across three songs — “betty,” “cardigan” and “august” — and manages to connect the storylines perfectly through three different narrations. Her writing reached a new level of maturity. In evermore, her song, “marjorie,” is an ode to her late grandmother. Swift’s collaboration with HAIM received publicity for the song “no body, no crime.” The plot describes a wife being killed after exposing her cheating husband. The song’s predecessor, “tolerate it,” discusses the issue of mistreatment and neglect in marriage. In her 30s, Swift addresses broader issues involving abuse, death and isolation. folklore and evermore are honest and real and invite listeners to think about their past and envision a better future.
To be continued with “Midnights”…
No one could have predicted the person Taylor Swift would become when she signed her first record deal with Big Machine Records 22 years ago. She has fallen, climbed back up, fallen again and then stood back up to fight. Through it all, she continues to surprise and amaze the world with her mesmerizing, beautiful stories.