It has been quite a twelve months for the American sweetheart in her twenty fifth year. There has been a flawless fifth album, 1989 which came with a well oiled campaign trail which couldn't have been any more successful but it is the person behind the star we all fell for in 2014. Most artists, especially ones as high-profile as Taylor Swift take some time off to rest and refresh but it was only a matter of months from her wrapping the Red tour to announcing the next stage in her career. The transformation was her biggest to date but it was seamless and natural.
February, the Red tour finally arrived in London. Having already spent months around the States, its five night residency at the O2 didn't feel tired, the star, her band and dancers performed like it was the very first time, these songs, in this order with this eye-catching production. It was a two hour show that boasted great pop songs, a fair amount of talking from Miss Swift to her loyal fan base whilst different themes brought the music to life. I've seen most of the biggest stars perform but this was something quite special.
As the European leg concluded the first transformation began when she put a photograph on Instagram with the caption 'short hair, care', showcasing her new bob before catching a flight out of London. It might seem insignificant but this was the beginning of the end for her country roots, the innocent long locks were no more. That Nashville girl with an acoustic guitar was gone, it was time for Taylor to become the megastar she had been growing into.
With just one more stint for the Red campaign left, a trip to Asia briefly interrupted her new New York lifestyle. From the beginning of her teens Taylor has been settled in Nashville, the home of country music so moving to New York played a huge role in what was to come next, she had gained a new bunch of famous friends (Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, Lorde), whilst daily trips to the gym were documented by paparazzi's showing her figure visibly become more toned. She was clearly planning something energetic but it was all hush hush.
In April she took the relationship between star and fan to the next level as she turned up, unannounced to a bridal shower with gifts, she documented the whole thing.
In July she wrote this brilliant article of the Wall Street Journal standing up for the art in music, putting the value back into the album, making people take notice of this smart cookie with a business brain. During the same month Taylor did some more fan-bonding, this time with Instagram dishing out some sweet advice on unrequited love.
The good deeds continued over the summer with visits to hospitals, singing to poorly children in between finishing off her forthcoming project and stalking fans on social media for some surprise treats.
She made her big screen debut in The Giver in August.
And baked with Lorde.
Late August came an announcement for an announcement. It was all hush hush. A date, a time and a place was set. That was the 18th August, 5pm (American time) over on Yahoo for the very first Livesteam. I remember this night well. I planned on having an early night and catching up on what went down the following morning, but I couldn't sleep so I tuned in.
It was like Taylor had been given her own show, about herself as she stood amongst New York's iconic skyline, welcoming her viewers in to the studio full of fans. This was half an hour of Taylor time.
Dressed all in white and her new trademark crop-top/skirt combo, the giddy star got amongst her excitable crowd as she played Shake It Off for the very first time. From that moment you knew the song, co-written by Max Martin was a hit, then she played the video which couldn't have worked any better with the song where she mocks the critics and confirms that she has well and truly left country in Nashville. Those trips to the gym were clearly preparing her for this dance-centric video.
Then the livestream concluded with another announcement, a fifth album, named after the year of her birth, 1989, inspired by her new hometown. Calling it her first 'pop' album the only insight Taylor gave about the next installment was the album cover, where she made the polaroid relevant again.
It was over two months until 1989 landed. With 27th October as the release date Taylor had a busy couple of months to create the buzz, she didn't need to but its these personal touches that seperates her from her peers. There was the 1989 Secret Sessions where her internet stalking came in handy as she invited 89 fans to each of her homes in New York, Nashville and LA plus a place in London without telling them why. Not only did she let them into her actual houses but she baked for them and played them the album in full, weeks before the release. Imagine being on those fans.
The 1989 campaign got it's first live outing in September at the iHeartRadio Festival in Vegas where she appeared with her new signature look, this time in pink, performing a hit-packed set with Shake It Off the only song from the forthcoming album. That month she finally joined Tumblr, no idea why it took her so long, it seems like the perfect world for the social media obsessed singer who excels in posting cute pics.
As 1989 day approached a couple of tracks were released, showing diversity, first up it was Out Of The Woods, co-written by Jack Antonoff, Taylor's friend, frontman of Bleachers, guitarist in Fun. The track documents the end of Haylor, sounding very different to Shake It Off and any of her back catalog.
A couple of weeks later came 1989's opener, Welcome To New York, again another completely different sound, a little cheesy on its own but in the context of the album it fits in perfectly. This ode to her new home town was written with One Republic's Ryan Tedder and topped iTunes charts worldwide including Canada where it was incidently released with eight seconds of nothing. She was crowned an official Ambassador for the city.
The fanfare of 1989 was highly deserved, it couldn't have been any more perfect and the sales showed. 2014 hadn't seen an album sell more than a million copies in almost elevan months, this album did it in less than a week, double the amount that was predicted. The singer thanked her fans with some help from Kendrick Lamar. I have always been one to discover new bands before they go big, I might not have found Taylor whilst she was a nobody but I'm glad people have started noticing her as somebody with real talent, not a pop puppet.
Kendrick responded.
Not got time to listen to the full album? These guys are here to help...
The night after 1989 was finally released Taylor appeared amongst New York's iconic skyline again, this time performing, that is already quite special but this moment was given another touch as the Empire State Building lit up in time with her music.
It was what came next turned her into a hero amongst the industry. What did she do so revolutionary? Stood up to online streaming. I don't like the idea of Spotify, I don't agree with its ethics, it encourages listeners that not paying for music is ok and the creators don't get a fair return in terms of money yet nobody has stood up to them. 1989 wasn't available to listen to on Spotify, she removed her whole back-catalog from the service without notice. Word got around, rumours of the reasons were guessed, was she being greedy? No, standing up for the creatives, the writers, composers in music, like she referred to in her Wall Street Journal article, putting the value back in music. It was a strong statement which gained momentum on daily basis with support from some of the biggest names in music, and backlash from those who didn't understand. In December she used her Billboard Woman of the Year acceptance speech to reitirate the message, empowering others to make a change for the future. This was on the eve of her twenty fifth birthday in front of a room of some of the most important people in media, she could have used the time to talk about the amazing year she has had but she did an Obama and pleaded for change.
Days before her birthday a photo circulated of Taylor kissing model and BFF Karlie Kloss, not something uncommon for gal pals, the story was reported as if they were dating, I'd like to think that journalist are stupid rather than clever when they come up with this kind of 'news'/'gossip' and she was well with in her rights to tweet this.
Bad Blood, the Katy Perry diss track on 1989 brought their fued out in the public, more fuel for the press to write headlines about but who needs KP on their team with they get to celebrate turning twenty five dancing with Beyonce. Following the Billboard Woman of the Year Awards Jay Z joined Justin Timberlake for a show and this happened.
She did another kind of dancing with her pal Lena Dunham.
She also managed to find some time to hang with a bunch of models, looking like one herself on the Victoria's Secret runway in London.
Whilst Shake It Off was still topping the single charts worldwide Taylor released the dramatically brilliant, amazingly shot video for Blank Space, the second single from 1989.
There has been many more good deeds Taylor has done since the release of the album. In November she headed to Connecticut to visit a long-term fan, spending a couple of hours with the family and gave her son a kiddie-sized Mercedes. She also sent Christmas presents to other fans she'd found through Tumblr.
Taylor showed up to surprise a little fan today! pic.twitter.com/bS7WCrUnji
— Taylor Swift NYC (@SwiftNYC) November 13, 2014Taylor will be saying goodbye to this nuts year, ringing in 2015 with a show at Time Square, the same place she had on lockdown to launch 1989 with this show! 2014 has been intense, next year looks equally busy with the 1989 World Tour.
She might have sold a daft amount of records but it is the other bits that make her an endearing star unafraid to stand up for herself, her beliefs and others.
