Taylor

Taylor Swift has become a rare pop phenomenon: A superstar who crossed over completely from traditional music into pop culture and became the pop icon of the future that will endure forever, and sweeping over all of the world. Swift removed her roots in the country like they were a second skin to reveal that she was arguably the smartest populist singer/songwriter of her generation someone who was able to harness the current zeitgeist and make it personal and equally impressively do the reverse. The first songs she released including the neotribute to Tim McGraw were a testament of her ability. However, her second album Fearless from 2008 showed a songwriter finding her voice as well as a broader public. The album was able to have significant appeal not just in the U.S. where it racked the record with six platinum singles, on the strength of the Top Ten hits Love Story and You Belong with Me but throughout the world, with a particular success with the U.K. Canada and Australia. Speak Now delivered almost two years later consolidated that popularity and pushed Swift into the stratosphere of superstardom. The next three albums she released, Red (2012) 1989 (2004) and Reputation (2017), Swift's popularity grew and she became part of a world of pop music with a clear sense of where she deserved to be. While she reduced her work with folklore and Evermore released in 2020, she was nevertheless in the forefront of pop music.