By Toyin Owoseje, CNN
Updated 4:55 PM EDT, Sat October 22, 2022
Taylor Swift performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in 2015.
Swift was born in 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and grew up on a Christmas tree farm her father bought. She is seen here with her parents, Scott and Andrea Swift.
On her birthday in 2019, Swift shared this photo of herself as a child.
A 13-year-old Swift sings the National Anthem before an NBA game in Philadelphia in 2002.
Swift greets singer Tim McGraw after performing her debut single, titled "Tim McGraw," during the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.
Swift sings the National Anthem before Game 3 of the 2008 World Series in Philadelphia.
Swift performs during a sold-out show at New York's Madison Square Garden in 2009. She released her second album, "Fearless," in 2008.
Swift takes pictures with fans on NBC's "Today" show at New York's Rockefeller Center in 2009.
Swift prepares backstage at Madison Square Garden in 2009.
Swift poses for a photo with Miley Cyrus and Lucas Till during filming for "Hannah Montana: The Movie" in 2009. In addition to her musical career, Swift has appeared in a handful of movies through the years.
Swift sings with the Jonas Brothers during a concert in 2009.
Kanye West interrupts Swift as she accepts the award for best female video during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in New York. "Taylor, I'm really happy for you," West said after grabbing the microphone from a clearly stunned Swift. "I'll let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"
Swift drops one of her four Grammys at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in 2010. That year she won album of the year, best country album, best female country vocal performance and best country song.
Swift sits backstage in Auburn Hills, Michigan, during her Fearless tour in 2010.
Swift performs in Newark, New Jersey, during her Speak Now tour in 2011.
Swift sings for a sold-out crowd in her home state of Pennsylvania in 2011.
Swift performs with James Taylor at Madison Square Garden in 2011. She had two sold-out shows at the venue. Before this performance, Swift told the audience she's named after James Taylor. She also mentions Taylor in her song "Begin Again."
Swift accepts the award for artist of the year at the 2011 American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
Swift crowd surfs at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.
Swift performs during the 2012 MTV EMA's in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2012.
Host Jimmy Fallon appears in a skit with Swift during an episode of "The Tonight Show" in 2014.
Swift and Karlie Kloss walk down the runway during the Victoria's Secret fashion show in London in 2014.
Swift, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian speak during the 2015 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Swift and West appeared to make amends six years after he snatched the mic from her at the 2009 VMAs.
Swift appears in a Saturday Night Live skit with Laraine Newman, Bill Hader, Taran Killam, Kristen Wiig, Keenan Thompson, Fred Armisen, Kerry Washington, Betty White and Bradley Cooper in 2015.
Swift accepts the Milestone Award for Youngest ACM Entertainer of the Year from her mother, Andrea, during the Academy of Country Music Awards in Arlington, Texas, in 2015.
Swift performs onstage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles during her 1989 tour in 2015.
Fans react as Swift performs in Tampa in 2015.
Selena Gomez and Swift attend the 2016 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
Swift attends the "Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology" gala at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2016.
Swift performs onstage during the 2018 Reputation tour in Chicago.
Executive producer and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber works with Swift on the set of the 2019 film "Cats," based on Webber's stage musical. Swift played Bombalurina in the movie.
Brandon Urie and Taylor Swift perform at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. As Swift sang her new single "ME!," some on social media pointed out that it looked a lot like Beyonce's iconic show at Coachella in 2018.
Katy Perry and Swift don costumes for Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video in 2019.
Jack Antonoff, Swift and Aaron Dessner perform onstage at 2021 Grammy Awards. The three artists collaborated for Swift's "Folklore" and "Evermore" records.
Swift poses with her album of the year award for "Folklore" at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Swift performs on Saturday Night Live in November 2021, the day after she released the re-recording of her album "Red."
Swift delivers a commencement speech at New York University in May 2022. She received an honorary doctorate from the university.
Swift accepts the video of the year award for "All Too Well" at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. She wrote and directed the music video.
In pictures: Taylor Swift's journey from country icon to pop superstar
CNN —
Taylor Swift is endorsing late nights with her first original album in two years.
The 11-time Grammy Award winner unveiled her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” on Friday, following a surprise announcement at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
Swift, who is currently in the midst of revisiting her early albums in a bid to regain ownership of the work she released under her former label Big Machine Records, has pivoted from the folk-rock sound of 2020’s “Folklore” and “Evermore” to something more mainstream.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during NSAI 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee on September 20, 2022.
“Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows,” she told fans on social media following the release. “Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights. Which is out now.”
As “Swifties” rushed to Spotify to listen to the record at midnight, the streaming giant experienced overwhelming traffic and users reported outages worldwide.
But despite the initial tech issues, the 13-track album, almost entirely written, produced and performed with Swift’s long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, is already a hit with fans.
“Can’t stop listening Midnights. This entire Album is amazing! You’re so genius, @taylorswift13!” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Another said: “Taylor Swift mothered so hard with Midnights no one will ever come close to her level of prodigiousness. This woman is not just a talented writer but also a clever musician. I never doubted her.”
Music critics were just as enthusiastic about the album, though some noted its subdued tone.
Awarding “Midnights” a five-star rating, the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis describes the sound as “pop rich with self-loathing and stereotype-smashing” and “misty, atmospheric and tastefully subdued.”
He adds that: “Midnights delivers her firmly from what she called the ‘folklorian woods’ of her last two albums back to electronic pop.”
Look back at Taylor Swift's most influential moments
01:49 - Source: CNN
Petridis also noted that Swift’s much talked about Lana Del Rey collaboration, “Snow on the Beach,” is “beautifully done – a perfect gene-splice between their two musical styles with a gorgeous melody – but it’s a long way from a grandstanding summit between two pop icons: there’s a striking lightness of touch about it, a restrained melding of their voices.”
According to Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos, Swift’s new album “picks up where the pure pop triptych of 1989, Reputation, and Lover left off, a dazzling bath of synths complementing lyrics caught between a love story and a revenge plot.”
For LA Times pop critic Mikael Wood, the song-writing and vocal performances in “Midnights” carry the album.
“She’s playing with cadence and emphasizing the grain of her voice like never before … eventually you stop caring what’s drawn directly from Swift’s real life and what’s not,” he writes.
Giving “Midnights” 8 out of 10, website Clash Music’s Matthew Neale writes that the album “feels both voyeuristic in its exposition and brash in its execution.”
“Defined by dark nights of the soul and cast in the same bluish-purple hues, ‘Midnights’ offers little of revelatory purpose to those who have yet to succumb to Swift’s charms,” he explained. “For those already swayed by her craft, however, it may reasonably go on to be recognized as her best album to date.”
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