Taylor Swift was named TIME Person of the Year on December 6, 2023. This is the second time the singer has appeared on the front cover of TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year issue as she was featured in 2017’s issue as one of the “Silence Breakers,” a group of female celebrities who spoke out against sexual misconduct. Swift has become the first entertainer to be featured as TIME Person of the Year.
Between her global three-hour-long tour, “The Eras Tour,” the success of her re-recorded albums, and “Taylor Swift Effect” on the economy bringing the return of pre-pandemic tourism levels to cities she visits on her tour, Swift seems to be on top of the world, breaking new records every day.
“It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33,” she said in her interview with Sam Lanskey of TIME Magazine.
This was definitely evident to me when I attended her hit tour in May 2023. From the moment she came on stage, I was engulfed in the swarm of fans. Spanning various age groups, we were all screaming her name and the lyrics to her songs as if we had written them ourselves. Her ability to capture her audience and perform for three straight hours is far more than admirable; it’s almost supernatural.
Throughout her discussion with Lanskey, Swift alluded to the many integral moments of her nearly 18-year long career that led her to this moment, including the consequences media scrutiny has had on her mental health. In her documentary Miss Americana, the songwriter discussed the consequences of cancel-culture on her self image in 2016, but this interview seemed to dive deeper into that year she seemingly disappeared. “I moved to a foreign country,” she told Lanskey when discussing the ways in which her life came to a halt, “I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore.”
Yet there seemed to be a shift in Swift’s mindset in 2023, placing her on the global stage, both metaphorically and literally. She’s managed to take the insults that are hurled at her from all angles and turn them into something positive. Her song “Mastermind” shifts the narrative around the so-called calculated nature of the singer. According to Swift, “it’s something that’s been thrown at me like a dagger, but now I take it as a compliment.”
As a fan, I have always found this quality particularly remarkable. She chooses to grow from experiences that are life-altering rather than letting them define her life. She instead channels her emotion into her art, and her art influences the world. Her lyricism has the power to transport the listener into an entirely different universe, giving it a sense of timelessness that is rare to find anywhere else in today’s music industry.
In fact, Taylor Swift has built one of the most successful careers in the music industry in nearly two decades. It seems that every week she is breaking historic records, including the ones she herself previously held. She prides herself in writing all her songs herself, conceptualizing the very lyrics fans feel connected to. She has revived the sale of vinyl records and CDs in an industry that believed they would never return. Swift’s impact reaches far beyond the bounds of the music industry too, with accomplishments in the films she has acted in and her recent registration of nearly 35,000 voters in September. Her influence is unmatched on the global stage.
Whether you love her or hate her, you cannot deny the message her presence sends. She is living proof that things work out in the end, even if it seems like your life may be over. You can walk through the world in stilettos and successfully establish your presence—you are allowed to take up space.
In the span of one year, Taylor Swift seemingly took over the world. As Lanskey put it, “She became the main character of the world.”
