She has 11 Grammys, nine major-label albums, university courses studying her work, and an unstoppable fandom.
“Haters Gonna Hate…” but Taylor Swift’s influence on pop is undeniable. From her stunning back catalog to mastering the public release of her recordings, the Grammy Award-winning US artist has achieved an extraordinary level of success at the age of 32. Her songs have been compared to the work of respected artists such as Beyoncé, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan. She’s gearing up for the release of her tenth studio album, Midnights, but it seems her songwriting skills haven’t peaked yet.
How does she do that? Since the start of her career, she has proven her ability to balance the universal with the hyper-specific. , composer and poet Rebekah Harkness, or a thinly veiled reference to the famous farewell phone call from her ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas. Deaf, Forever, and Always.” Swift has an amazing talent for reflecting on the world’s emotional turmoil through her lens.
As she evolved as an artist, Swift revisited her favorite themes of love and heartbreak with a new sense of nuance. I crystallized the innocent innocence. Later, as Swift matured on her record (Red, 1989, Reputation), she gained confidence in asserting both her sound and story. Not afraid to shake her status quo and critics, she played the villain, especially on her cool and confident sixth studio album Reputation. Their latest three albums, Lover, Folklore, and Evermore, once again redefine expectations. Her alt-pop experiments incorporate lines from literary greats (Charlotte Brontë in “Invisible Strings” and Emily Dickinson in “Ivy”) interlaced with subtle references to her private life, and the far-fetched It evoked a closed soundscape.
But the world-building didn’t end here.
Swift also released a short film to accompany the song, starring Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien. “I immediately start thinking,” she explained at the Toronto International Film Festival. “If I made a music video for this, what would it look like?” Swift’s apparent joy highlights her dedication as a songwriter. She was busy honing her signature writing style long before her celebrity profile exploded, and her breakthrough came with her debut single, “Tim McGraw.” A country-tinged tale of summer love sprinkled with Swift’s early country twang. Taken from her 2006 self-titled debut album, the album marked Swift’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and showcased her burgeoning talent as a songwriter. Since then, many of her biggest hits, including “Love Story” and “Fearless,” from her 2008 album Fearless, and “Cardigan,” which showcases Swift’s literary connections, have been a mixture of expansive romance and ephemeral, charging. has demonstrated her skill in capturing dynamic interactions. Surprise 2020 The trope reappears on her lead single from her album Folklore.
Swift’s ability to publicly address criticism while staying on top of her artistic game serves as a unique cultural litmus test:
Can you start to respect the art of famous women, especially when it deals with love stories and femininity? By then, her signature songwriting and diary-like talents had anchored countless artists in the pop world, from Olivia Rodrigo to Phoebe Bridgers. Influenced by it, she attended the Swiftian School of Songwriting with her pride. Last year, American singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams told Teen Vogue how she sees the musician’s frankly sentimental style as inspiration for her poetry. “It’s one of my blueprints for vulnerability,” she said. “I respect her in everything she does. As a fan of hers, I have been very inspired at every stage of my life. ”
Given her unique brand of intricate songwriting, it’s no surprise that Swift has managed to transcend the typical career span of her pop artist. As revealed in her acceptance speech after she won the NSAI Songwriter Artist of the Decade Award, her writing skills span three previously “secret” genres. summarized in Calling them her “feather lyrics,” “pen lyrics,” and “glitter gel pen lyrics,” she displayed a playful confidence that rivaled her keen literary sensibility. In a nod to this complexity and her ability, Swift’s work is now being adopted by academia. Earlier this year, New York University’s Clive Davis Institute introduced Taylor’s first course on Swift. The University of Texas offers its songwriting course, where students can learn Swift alongside William Shakespeare and the classics of American literature.
“We use Swift’s songs to see that some basic literary tropes and paradigms work (tropes, tropes, works of free indirect discourse),” says Elizabeth Professor Scala says of her. “She tells great stories, uses vivid imagery, and has beautiful twists and phrasing. I think their creativity is contagious. Scholars tend to love books, movies, and music that make us think.” there is. Taylor Swift made me think, and when that light bulb went out, the course was born. Swift is currently working on the latest projects with over 15 years of experience. With Midnights just days away, she gave us a glimpse of the themes running through her landmark tenth album.
