Once just a small-town girl from Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift is worth $250 million dollars as of 2016. Swift has come a long way since the debut of her first album, "Taylor Swift," 10 years ago today.
Swift began her journey performing in fairs and contests and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a 76ers game when she was 11. After that, she started learning guitar and writing songs seriously. Her dedication prompted her family to move to Nashville after repeated trips there in hopes of scoring her a record deal.
Her real career started at age 16 in The Bluebird Café in Nashville, when Scott Botchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, signed her on as his first artist. The talent he saw in her then would only grow with her, as she rose to fame quickly within the next few months.
Her first single “Tim McGraw” came out in 2006, and it landed a slot in the top 10 country hits. Her debut album “Taylor Swift” came out that same year, and it sold upwards of 2.5 million copies. Her latest album, “1989,” was released in 2014 and sold more than 5 million copies, nearly a quarter of that within the first week.
Since then she has come out with four more albums, scored five No.1 songs on billboard.com, has been in three movies and has won 10 Grammys, all while gaining an Instagram fan base of around 4.5 million that call themselves “Swifties.” These are just a few of the things Swift has been up to the last decade.
Saying that Swift changed drastically over the last 10 years would be an understatement. Although one can understand how the culture around her has changed, the curly haired, shy little girl who sang “Teardrops on My Guitar” is hard to see in the current red-lipped, bleach-blonde hottie that the media can’t get enough of.
One of the turning points in Swift’s career was her criticism of Apple and refusal to be on Spotify in late 2014 because of their policies not to pay artists during any user’s free trial. Apple listened to her open-letter and took into account her voice for the artistic community everywhere. Spotify simply chose not to include her music on their platform.
Another recent fiasco actually started in 2009, when Kanye West jumped on stage during Taylor’s MTV win and defended Beyoncé, who had also been nominated for the award. This feud was on again and off again for years, even after West apologized. The most recent development between these two was a vulgar lyric about Swift in Kanye’s song “Famous," and a figure of Swift later appeared as a naked wax model in the “Famous” music video.
This greatly upset Swift and her widespread fan base. West simply replied that it was a statement of fame. Even so, Swift stayed calm and collected and continued to present her calm exterior the world.
Being the most-followed celebrity on Instagram, Swift achieved a fan base bigger than runner-up Kim Kardashian, all while being modest and staying true to who she is. Many critique Swift for wearing revealing clothing or changing her 16-year-old demeanor that fans originally fell in love with. In reality, Swift is one of the only authentic artists out there who has kept her music kid-friendly while growing up to be a lovely young woman even in the face of society and its pressures.
Swift has grown up in the limelight of cameras and live tours, and has still grown into someone that parents are glad their sons and daughters listen to. A truly fearless 26-year-old.
Swift performed her first live concert for 2016 on Oct. 22 in Austin, Texas. In the performance, she brought out the well-known fearless woman her crowds have grown to love. She also sang “This Is What You Came For,” which she co-wrote for Rihanna.
Although there have been many rumors on what is next for Swift, including a possible secret sixth album release, she told Vogue Magazine earlier this year that “This is the first time in 10 years that I haven’t known [what’s next], I decided I was going to live my life a little bit without the pressure on myself to create something.”
Over the last 10 years, Swift has created an image for herself and continues to stick to it, no matter what relationship she’s in or any rumors that circulate. Whenever she comes out with #TS6, she will no doubt sing from her heart about love and struggles. Swift’s love and talent for music has put her on top and will continue to do so as she continues her career.