Can’t shake it off
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is a master at crafting infectious tunes.
TAYLOR Swift said it best herself. “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now,” the 27-year-old pop sensation says to an imaginary caller in her recent Look What You Made Me Do music video. She continues: “Why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead!”
Those few words, so catchy it’s now a meme, aptly encapsulates Swift’s music career so far – one that is based on the renewal and rebirth of one’s self.
At only 11, Swift, made her first visit to Nashville, Tennessee, after learning her idol Faith Hill had moved to the country music capital to kickstart her career. Young Swift’s persistence landed her an artiste development deal at 13, where she devoted herself to songwriting sessions after school.
She released her self-titled debut album at 17 and it didn’t take long for her to become country music’s darling. Her brand of catchy country-pop tunes about teen crushes and heartbreaks inspired by her own experiences was so warmlyreceived, 19-year-old Swift became the youngest person ever to win Country Music Association Awards’ most prestigious title, Entertainer Of The Year.
When her sophomore album Fearless rolled around, it was clear the frizzy-haired singer-songwriter was slowly switching lanes, veering closer to pop territory.
Its lead single Love Story ,a fairy tale romance number, marked the first time Swift got her big break in pop music, catapulting the Pennyslvania-native to international stardom.
Swift’s next two albums Speak Now and Red became talking points, not just for its infectious tunes but the various celebrity exes the songs seemed to hint about.
Dear John was apparently about John Mayer, Back To December about Taylor Lautner and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together about Jake Gyllenhaal.
And let’s not forget, Speak Now’s Innocent, which saw Swift forgiving Kanye West for interrupting her during her MTV VMAs acceptance speech in 2009.
In her fifth album, 1989, Swift officially put to death her country stylings along with her wholesome, frizzy-haired persona and brought to life a heavy dance-pop influence and don’tmess-with-me air.
She won’t apologise for being who she is in Shake It Off, and if you step on her toes, keep an ear out for a diss track the next time you turn on the radio; Bad Blood is rumoured to be about her famous feud with Katy Perry.
1989 was critically and commercially celebrated, earning her a second Album Of The Year Grammy (after Fearless won in 2010) and became the top-selling album of 2014.
Swift’s new album, Reputation,
dropped just last week. In the months leading up to its release, she wiped out her Instagram posts and started anew by posting a video of a snake. The slithery creature also makes an appearance on her Reputation
merchandises.
Last year, many took to social media with snake emojis and the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsASnake when the singer hit out at Kanye West for a line on his song, Famous, which contained “a misogynistic message”.
However, West had apparently called Swift and gotten her seal of approval for the lyrics prior to its release. A Snapchat video later shared by West’s wife Kim Kardashian, which documented West and Swift’s phone conversation, seemed to show Swift giving him the green light on the song.
So are the snake insignias her cryptic way of owning up to what happened? Or is she just making fun of herself? Maybe she’s reinventing a new persona? Who knows.
What we do know, aside from all the drama and the controversy, is her ability to churn out one infectious tune after another (check out our Top 10 on this page), no matter the genre, which has always formed a big part of her reputation.