This year’s TIME Person of the Year is none other than the unstoppable Taylor Swift.
Swift broke many records with her ‘Eras Tour’ film becoming the biggest concert movie of all time, taking $249 million at the global box office, and being the first living artist to have five albums in the US Top 10 simultaneously with her albums ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’, ‘Midnights’, ‘folklore’, ‘Lover’, and ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).’
Swift also broke the record for the most number-one albums by a woman in US chart history, with 13 in total, becoming the first songwriter to score seven Grammy nominations for song of the year, and was named the most-streamed female artist in the history of Spotify and Apple Music.
With Swift winning Person of the Year, she shared with TIME how this year has been one of her personal best:
“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been.”
TIME discussed the Eras Tour concert opening night and how successful it was from the start. “When Eras kicked off in Glendale, Arizona, she generated more revenue for its businesses than the 2023 Super Bowl, which was held in the same stadium.”
Swift discussed to TIME her performing shows multiple nights no matter how she is feeling:
“I know I’m going on that stage whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable, or stressed, that’s part of my identity as a human being now. If someone buys a ticket to my show, I’m going to play it unless we have some sort of force majeure.”
Director of “Barbie”, Greta Gerwig, shared her thoughts on Swift as a songwriter:
“Her work as a songwriter is what speaks most clearly to me, to write music that is from the deepest part of herself and have it directly speak into the souls of other people.”
Singer, Stevie Nicks, additionally spoke to TIME about Swift:
“I don’t give Taylor advice about being famous. She doesn’t need it.”
TIME continued to discuss the impact that Swift has had on society as a celebrity.
“As a celebrity—who by dint of being a woman is scrutinized for everything from whom she dates to what she wears—she has long commanded constant attention and knows how to use it.”
