Taylor Swift is a 22 year old country music singer from Pennsylvania. At age 14 she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a country music career, after having lived much of her life on a Christmas tree farm. Taylor Swift is one of the most successful country music singers today, though she is criticized for having a 'pop' sound and many attribute her success to her good looks. Though Taylor Swift began being recognized for her talent early in her career, her music has only been in the mainstream for around four years, making her a relatively new artist. Taylor describes herself as being originally influenced by female country artists from the 90s such as Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks, and Faith Hill. Later she explored arists such as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley. Swift also admires alt-country artists such as Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Lori McKenna and Bon Iver. Taylor has also said she was very influenced by many pop artists including the backstreet boys and Ashlee Simpson as well as "emo" bands like Fall Out Boy. Music has always played an important role in her life.
Taylor Swift is well known even amongst those who do not typically listen to country music. She recieved a great deal of attention during the VMAs when Kanye West interrupted her award speech. Her songs are commonly played on Top 40 radio stations as many of her songs have made it to the top of the billboard charts. Much of her music qualifies as country music though she typically leans into the pop genre and sometimes completely crosses over. Much of her music is about the life of a teenager and problems relating to relationships etc.. Rolling Stone has described her as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture" (1) and that, "she might get played on the country station, but she's one of the few genuine rock stars we've got these days" (2).
Taylor Swift has embraced the mainsteam. She does commercials, frequently visits talk shows and other media, and has been featured on a number of other movies and shows. She self describes herself as a country music artist though her music is generally classified as pop country. Many question her authenticity as her parents are both successful business executives, her mother worked specifically in marketing. Though she did spend much of her life living on a Christmas tree farm she grew up in what would likely be classified as a suburb in the Northeast. Her parents took her to voice lessons in New York City, and she has only more recently lived in Nashville. Much of her music is about relationships and teenage life, very little of it is about deeper topics country music listeners are accustomed to.
Taylor Swifts most recent success, We Are Never Getting Back Together has over 35 million views on Youtube and has been at the top of Billboard charts for weeks, though it barely qualifies as country music, if at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4iX5D9Z64
Other songs by Taylor have even more views, such as Teardrops from my Guitar which has 41 million views, and can be described as country music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCek6_dB0M
1. Jody Rosen. Rolling Stone. Fearless; November 13, 2008
2. Rolling Stone. Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of all Time: 'Speak Now'
Your post is very informational, but lacks detail. You had good information on her early years but not much on her musical career. You talked about how she has become very successful in the last four years but did not explain what made her successful. You contradicted yourself in the first and third paragraph, by saying that she lived on a Christmas tree farm in the first, but in the third, you said she lived in a suburb. You did not put any pictures in your post either. I did like that you had links to some of her song though, and labeled if they were more country or pop. I liked how you included the people that influenced her music. I was wondering what award she was accepting when Kanye West interrupted her. I also think that it jumps around a lot, you should have the second and third paragraph switched.
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