TIME magazine made the right decision by naming Taylor Swift the 2023 Person of the Year. Here’s why.
On the surface, people will assume that Swift earned this title from her recent record-breaking tour and music re-releases, but there is so much more to the story than that. In TIME magazine, Swift goes back in time to tell never-before-heard stories about what got her to where she is today. The journey has not been easy for her. “I’ve been given a tiara, then had it taken away,” said Swift. Critics, fans, and everyone in between can agree that this year Swift has had a breakthrough in her career. “For the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that,” said Swift.
To start with, Swift has had an extraordinary amount of accomplishments, that there is no need to even keep track. Swift has not only set the standard for what it means to be a popstar and songwriter but also for what it means to be a powerful businesswoman.
This year, the topic of Swift has become its own language. If you want to argue against the fact that Swift has become the most popular person in, arguably, the world, then think about how many times you’ve talked about her, seen her on your social media, screamed along to her music, read an article about her, watched a theory video on Tiktok, watched her tour live streams, or even bought a ticket to her tour (even after she crashed Ticketmaster). As said in TIME magazine, Swift has become “the main character of the world.”
Swift’s The Eras Tour is on its way to becoming the biggest tour of all time, and the first to gross over a billion dollars. Not only did Swift sell out almost every seat in every stadium, but her fans also filled almost every street outside of every stadium. Along with that, she was also having streets, signs, and towns renamed in honor of her. The economy literally boomed everywhere she went. It can’t get more impressive than that. But, wait, it does. Swift’s Eras Tour movie did more than what anyone expected. The film was the highest-grossing concert film in history, making $123.5 million in just its three-day debut. It broke endless amounts of records and did something that no artist has ever been able to do. We also have to remember that professional colleges, including Harvard, are creating and offering classes dedicated to Swift. Another small fact is how craft store sales have gone up by over 500% as a result of friendship bracelet making. Swift has been able to make some of the most popular things, like football for example, even more popular. When asked about her year, Swift said “This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been.”
In the interview, Swift explained that the effort she put into planning the Eras Tour was unlike any other tour she’s done. With the concert being over three hours long with over 40 songs, as Swift said, “This tour was harder than anything I’d ever done before by a long shot.” To prepare for the show, Swift spent three months doing dance training to perfect and internally memorize her choreography, and she explained how she would run on the treadmill every day and sing her entire setlist to build endurance. Imagine doing that. Everyday. Swift will do anything for her fans. She shared how “if someone buys a ticket to my show, I’m going to play it unless we have some sort of force majeure.”
A part of Swift’s life that no one will forget is when she “disappeared”. She explains that the two reasons for this were one, “getting canceled within an inch of my life and sanity,” and two, “having my life’s work taken away from me by someone who hates me.” The first thing mentioned is about the infamous moment between Swift and Kanye West onstage at the 2009 VMAs while Swift was accepting her award. Right before making her speech about winning the award for Best Female Video, West jumped on the stage and told Swift and the rest of the world, “Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” This was the moment that sent these two artists into a decade of rumors and drama that would severely impact both of their lives.
The moment that sent Swift downhill was when a recording of a phone call between her and West was released, where it sounded like she consented to some horrible things he asked to say about her in his song. This was after Swift had denied giving consent to it, so the world immediately turned against her. The call was later proved to be edited, but by then, it was too late. She was being called a snake, and she felt as if it was “a career death”. Swift revealed that this time in her life “took [her] down psychologically to a place [she’d] never been before. She went to extreme measures and moved to a foreign country for a year. “I went down really, really hard,” said Swift. These newly shared details are moments from Swift’s life that have never been revealed, and hopefully, they show how strong and resilient Swift has really been.
The second thing mentioned above refers to when all of Swift’s music was sold without her consent or knowledge to Scooter Braun. This meant that all the profit from Swift’s first six albums would go to Braun. This was truly the moment when Swift felt she was over and she didn’t know what to do. Later she was able to sign a new record deal with Republic Records, where she released her seventh album, Lover. This album was extremely successful, but soon after its release the world shut down, and Swift felt that she had fallen again. During this time, Swift released two new albums, folklore and evermore. Although they didn’t peak as much as some of her other albums, that wasn’t her main focus anymore. At this time she also started considering re-recording her stolen albums to take back her work. This was a huge risk, as re-recording is not common and not normally successful. Either way, Swift did it, and she did it well. She took back her music with a bang! So far she has re-recorded and released her albums Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989, making them (Taylor’s Version), and adding new songs called vault tracks. Swift explained how writing and re-recording her songs is a coping mechanism, and it’s how she deals with loss.
When writing an article about Taylor Swift, it is sadly inevitable that her love life will come up. Swift has recently been in the news once again for her new relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce. This had come as a surprise to some fans, considering their relationship became public shortly after Swift’s break up with her long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn was revealed. In an interview, Swift spoke about how she and Kelce started hanging out right after he mentioned her in his podcast, and by the time she showed up to her first NFL game they were a couple. At the end of the day, despite everything she is put through, Swift has learned how to still enjoy her life, especially her love life.
Even when amid so much public attention, Swift has always kept her cool and stayed relaxed. Considering how much attention she attracts, that is not easy. Swift has learned and grown as a person, and she now knows that locking herself away will do nothing. She is a celebrity, if not the most famous celebrity, and when you have that much fame, the only way to deal with it is to embrace it. That’s exactly what Swift does. She doesn’t care if she will attract crowds and paparazzi if she’s seen heading to dinner. She just wants to live her life.
So with all of that being said, was TIME right by naming Swift Person of the Year? Well, has anyone else had an earthquake start because of the cheering at their show, or gotten something projected on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil in honor of them, or had the top ten songs on the Hot 100 be all their own for the first time ever? Who else has won Album of the Year the most for women, or had the whole world clowning about when their next re-recorded album will come out? Only Taylor Swift. And oh yeah, she also got an honorary doctorate degree.