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Honors Theses - Providence Campus College of Arts & Sciences

2022

Long Live All the Magic She's Made: How Taylor Swift Became
One of the Most Successful Artists of Her Time
Hayley Viebrock
Johnson & Wales University - Providence, hviebrock01@wildcats.jwu.edu

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Viebrock, Hayley, "Long Live All the Magic She's Made: How Taylor Swift Became One of the Most
Successful Artists of Her Time" (2022). Honors Theses - Providence Campus. 62.
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Long Live All the Magic She’s Made: How

Taylor Swift Became One of The Most

Successful Artists of Her Time

Hayley Viebrock

Fall 2022

Professor Westgate
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Abstract

Taylor Swift is one of the most celebrated and well-known artists of this generation and one

of the media’s favorite celebrities to talk about. Swift’s strategic marketing techniques and her

dedication to the relationship she has with her fans have helped shape the success of her career.

Existing literature highlights marketing techniques of the music industry, such as fan engagement

strategies and social media presence. Additionally, the literature focuses on the growing cultural

obsession with celebrities and the fixation on their private lives. However, there are gaps in the

literature regarding many of the artists who have shaped the music industry into what it is today

and what strategies they used to be successful. I have analyzed Taylor Swift’s career to determine

what strategies she has implemented to find success, and if they have worked well enough to

classify her as one of the most successful artists of her time. Swift’s calculated marketing

campaigns, connection to her fanbase, and dedication to developing as an artist are some of the

strategies she used to become one of the most successful artists of her generation. Through textual

and discourse analysis, I studied Swift’s lyrics, her media presence/public image, marketing

campaigns, fan engagement, and various metrics of success such as physical and digital sales,

streaming statistics, touring profitability, and her award recognition. This study raises the question

of what makes an artist successful and the implications of celebrity status. It also sheds light on

wider topics, such as issues over privacy, ownership, and public scrutiny.
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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Westgate for jumping head-first, fearless

into this project with me. When Professor Westgate shared with me that he watched Miss

Americana to learn more and to be able to offer more assistance, that was the moment I knew that I

was the lucky one that he agreed to advise me on this project. Thank you for all of your guidance

and support throughout this entire process.

I would also like to extend my thanks to the soccer program for getting me to Johnson &

Wales in the first place. While the story of us might have come to a close as I put on my jersey for

the last time this past fall, I cannot put into words how much the support of my teammates and

coaches has meant to me. There was a single thread of gold tying me to you for my whole career,

and thank you for giving me the collegiate soccer experience of my wildest dreams.

It’s nice to have a friend, and I have many. To Maddie and Kiley, for giving me a soon

enough you’re best friends experience at our first soccer practices when I was seven years old. To

Madison and Emmy, it always leads to you two in our hometown. Thank you for your constant

support and steady presence in my life; I’m only me when I’m with you two. The invisible string

that tied me to the JWU soccer program led me to the best teammates and friends, who know all

too well how much happiness they bring me. I’ve had the time of my life with you.

To my younger siblings, who proved to me that the best people in life are free. Our

untouchable bond means everything to me, the three of you are the best thing that’s ever been

mine. To my parents, thank you for helping me find my place in this world, for your constant
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support, and for making sure I knew I was never on my own. I’m shining just for you!

Lastly, thank you to the superstar herself, Taylor Swift. Thank you for being a summer sun

forever, and for validating every feeling I’ve ever felt. Long live all the magic you’ve made!

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..……5

Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………….6

Business Strategy………………………………………………………………………….6

Celebrity Status……………………………………………………………………...…….8

Fandom……………………………………………………………………………………9

Politics…………………………………………………………………………………...11

Literature Review Findings………………………………………………………………………12

Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………..13

Career Overview…………………………………………………………………………………14

Celebrity & Convergence Culture……………………………………………………………….19

Social Media Strategies…………………..……………………………………………………... 22

The Media’s Portrayal of Swift ………………………………………………………………….26

Lyrical References……………………………………………………………………………….28

Connection With Her Fans ………………………………………………………………………32

Swifties in the Media ……………………………………………………………………………34

The Re-Recordings ……………………………………………………………………………...37

Measurements of Success ……………………………………………………………………….40

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………45
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Works Cited …………………………………………………………………………….……….49

Introduction

Who will be remembered as the most successful artist of our time? In a few decades from

now, who will be considered the Elvis Presley or the Madonna of our generation? Will anyone

reach the level of prestige and success attained by The Beatles? Music has changed significantly

throughout the past few decades, and the industry around it has adapted as well. Gone are the days

of racing to purchase a CD to hear the new music your favorite artist puts out and burning a new

mix CD afterwards. Now, new music gets dropped at midnight on its release date onto streaming

platforms, and you can make your own playlists in the same app. Some of the music streaming

platforms even make customized playlists for you, full of your favorite songs, artists, and maybe

some new music you haven’t yet discovered. With the current relevance of social media, up and

coming music artists have the ability to spend a few minutes recording themselves making their

music before they can upload their content and potentially reach an audience of thousands of

people. However, before social media changed the way the music industry discovered new artists,

artists would drop off their demo CDs to record labels in the hopes of landing a record deal. Many

artists had their career launched by their demo CD, including one of the most successful and

influential artists of our generation.

Record labels weren’t normally greeted by 11-year-olds dropping off their demo CDs and

asking for a record label, but Taylor Swift has proven time and time again that she is determined to
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achieve her goals, even if it means going above and beyond standard practices. It took her a few

years, but Swift managed to secure a record deal after becoming the youngest artist to ever sign as

a songwriter with Sony-owned RCA Records. Swift signed with Big Machine Records, a label

with which she would go on to make her first six albums. Throughout her career, Swift has

released ten studio albums and two re-recorded albums and shows no signs of slowing down. Her

success so far can be linked to many factors, but her strategic planning has allowed her to excel in

the music industry. From her efficient marketing techniques to the maintenance of her relationship

with her fans, Swift’s ownership and treatment of her career as a business entity is what has set her

above other artists in her generation. Along with her celebrated songwriting skills and her ability to

produce top album after top album, Swift has set herself up to be remembered as one of the best

artists of all time. Her willingness to take a stand for industry injustices and her commitment to

leaving the music industry better than she found it, paired with her celebrated songwriting skills

and her ability to continue producing number one albums, are a few reasons why she will go down

as one of the best and most influential artists of all time. When one considers the awards Swift has

won, the records she has set, and the high-volume of sales she has continued to generate, it is easy

to understand why she is one of the most successful artists of her generation. Significant research

has been done regarding the music industry, and some research has even been done on Swift

herself.

Literature Review

Business Strategy

As a whole, the music industry implements a range of business strategies in order for

individual songs and the artists to be successful. There are various marketing techniques used to
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showcase an artist in a positive light, strategies to increase song/album streams, and practices to

engage the audience and existing fans. Fans of Swift’s are commonly referred to as “Swifties” and

are frequently the target of marketing campaigns created by her team. In the current day and age,

the use of social media is crucial as a marketing technique, especially in a fan-driven industry like

music. In their study “The Use of Social Media for Artist Marketing: Music Industry Perspectives

and Consumer Motivations,” Jaro Sali et al. analyze the various marketing strategies used on a

range of social media platforms. The study states, “Record labels and independent artists upload

artists’ music videos and other audiovisual content to YouTube and share content links in other

communities such as Facebook and artists’ websites. The advantage is communication with fans on

a short-term frequency” (Sali 32). Particularly for independent artists, taking advantage of social

media platforms can be crucial for gaining exposure. Many artists have been discovered from

videos that have blown up on various social media platforms, with the prevalent one today being

TikTok. What gets posted or uploaded onto various social media platforms also shapes an artist’s

image and potentially how connected their fans feel to them. In the case of Taylor Swift, her image

has shifted several times throughout her career, with the most noticeable shift following her genre

change from country to pop. Following the change in genre, she backed it up with a reinvention of

her image and brand. She moved from Nashville to New York. Her music videos no longer

featured her running through grass fields in the South, but were now extravagant productions that

reflected her pop sounds. Her commitment to reinventing her image and her dedication to creating

a new brand that still felt authentic to her fanbase, but reflected her new sounds, allowed the

transition to be so successful (Sloan 14; Wilkinson 442). Throughout the transition, Swift’s fans

still felt connected to her because what she was sharing still felt authentic to her brand, even if the
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content had changed. The ability to communicate with fans is crucial. For a musician or band, their

marketing cycles go in waves, depending on if they’re in a promotional cycle or not. When an

artist is promoting a song, a high volume of communication will be seen, but it will be on a short-

term frequency since a song is not always being promoted. By using social media platforms, artists

and their labels are able to promote their music and engage with fans in order to have successful

releases. As artists gain success in the industry by establishing a solid fanbase and promoting their

work, society gains an interest in their personal lives and their celebrity status.

Celebrity Status

The existing scholarly literature on Swift ranges in topics including her recent success with

rerecording her albums and her frequent shifting of personae upon the release of a new album.

Most of the literature points to her success largely being due to her continued growth as an artist,

her established connection with her fanbase, and her willingness to use her celebrity platform to

address larger issues in the music industry. In the article “Are you Ready For It? Re-Evaluating

Taylor Swift”, Swift’s ability to represent herself as the focal point of each of her works is

addressed.

Fogarty and Arnold write:

“A telling insight into Taylor Swift’s personas is found at the Grammy Museum in 2015,

where she performs ‘Blank Space’ dressed in a black turtleneck, like a serious 1960s

woman poet. Although not her first attempt to distance herself from a tween persona, there

is a moment, when she introduces the song while holding her acoustic guitar, that

profoundly shows her crafting of personas. She explains that she took the media’s

personification of the dumb blond, boy-crazy, gorgeous/desperate ‘Taylor Swift’ and turned
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it on its head for the song’s source material” (Fogarty and Arnold 5).

Fogarty and Arnold’s description of a single Swift performance showcases an example of how she

has been able to maintain such a high level of success throughout her lengthy career. The

performer had been labeled as boy crazy and the media painted her as the crazy ex-girlfriend, and

she took that image of herself and spun it, which resulted in arguably one of her greatest hits:

“Blank Space.”

As invested as society is in Swift’s music, it is equally, if not more, interested in her

personal life. Her dating life, friend group, and other celebrity feuds have been constant media

headlines throughout the duration of her career. The hyper-fixation society has on celebrities is not

a new topic, but it is one that is constantly developing, particularly the focus on celebrities' personal

lives. As the interest spikes, celebrities must adjust and treat each day like a performance that will

be witnessed by millions, because in 2022, it will be. Celebrities are photographed, followed, and

analyzed every time they’re in the public view. Swift has always had a constant media presence,

largely because there is such a spike in the interest around her personal life. Since every public

outing will be scrutinized, each one can become a performance of its own. Barry King writes, “But

whereas the display of the self in everyday life is a broad sociological process, the self-display of

an actor or performer is a highly focused, scripted, and rehearsed activity that is functional (i.e.,

exchangeable) within a specific and singular performance environment” (King 11). Every

appearance of Swift’s can be analyzed as a performance. She chooses with whom she is seen,

where she is seen, what she is wearing, and other details that can affect her public “performance”

on any given day. Part of why she has managed to stay so successful throughout her career is

because she has maintained such a pristine public image by controlling how she’s seen. By
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preserving her image throughout her career and by remaining out of scandals to the best of her

ability, she’s been able to not only maintain her fanbase, but managed to grow it.

Fandom

Swift has accumulated a massive base of Swifties on an international level and has used

this relationship to her advantage. She stays connected to her fans through social media and has

even gone as far as to have private listening parties known as secret sessions where she invites

some of her most dedicated fans to her houses to listen to a new album prior to its release. She uses

this established connection and the support her fans give her to fight some of the legal battles she

faces. In the article “Love and Business: Taylor Swift as Celebrity, Businesswoman, and

Advocate”, an example is given of how Taylor Swift mobilizes the dedication of her fanbase in

order to help her fight her personal battles.

Paul Theberge writes:

“ But for the moment, it is worth noting how Swift, rather than simply resolving the conflict

through legal negotiations behind closed doors, or publicizing her discontent in a more

limited way via the trade press, chose to enlist her fans, en masse, transforming a dispute

over a relatively obscure case of rights management into an issue of artistic integrity,

ownership, gender, and morality. In doing so, Swift signaled that she knows her celebrity,

and in particular, the attendant devotion of her fans, is a form of ‘power” (Theberge 42).

This anecdote about the ongoing dispute over ownership of her back catalog demonstrates how

aware Swift is of her relationship to her fans, and her understanding of her power through them.

She believed that it would be more effective to enlist her millions of fans to help fight her dispute

over her ability to perform her old albums than it would be for her to take any legal action. The
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dedication of her massive fanbase, and her knowledge of that dedication, has led to her ability to

maintain success throughout her career.

One of the benefits of social media marketing strategies is the new level of fan engagement.

Whether it be between artists themselves and the fans or the fans interacting with themselves, social

media accounts on different platforms allow for new ways and levels of connecting. In her article

“Music’s Powers: Embodiment and Flourishing with Taylor Swift”, Mila Volpe discusses the

different ways music can affect those who sing it and those who hear it. Volpe states, “Whether

one identifies as a fan or not, Swift’s music has likely and sensibly infiltrated one’s ‘sonic territory’

as popular music scholar Simon Frith calls it, and produced some embodied effect, pleasurable or

averse” (61). Even if someone would not identify as a Taylor Swift fan, the chances are that that

individual has heard a song of Swift’s at one point in time—whether a song was playing on the

radio, or in the grocery store, or she was trending in the media. However, the effect this music can

have on an individual depends on the time and space in which the song was heard. In this sense, a

song may receive either a positive or a negative association in a listener’s mind. A song that is

playing during someone’s proposal could receive a positive association, while one playing during a

car crash could receive a negative association. Taylor Swift has established herself as a household

name, and even if an individual is not a fan, anyone who lived through the 2010s has heard a song

of hers at some point. For fans of Swift’s, they might have many memories associated with songs

of hers. The most dedicated swifties could also have memories associated with major moments in

her career, like when she broke her political silence.

Politics

Throughout the majority of her career, Swift did not make her political opinions public. In
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2017, the artist was featured as one of the faces for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year cover,

which highlighted some of the leaders of the #MeToo movement. Then, in 2018, she publicly

announced her support for Democrat Phil Bredesen for the Tennessee Senate Election. This was

her first time publicly sharing her support for the Democratic party. Following this reveal, she

started publicly supporting other social movements such as the feminist movement and LGBTQ+

allyship. In the article “The Fashionable New Face of Feminism? Constructions of celebrity

feminism in online media,” Emma Tennent states, “Celebrities are an influential source of

feminism, especially for young women who are competent cultural consumers of internet media.

Celebrity feminism offers the potential to bridge popular culture and academia. Yet, it is in the

debate surrounding the meaning and relevance of celebrity feminism online that long-standing

feminist debates are reinvigorated” (132). Taylor Swift’s fanbase is largely made up of young

women who are the cultural consumers of internet media, as described by Tennent. This scholar’s

statement about celebrity feminism potentially bridging the gap between academia and popular

culture is also very applicable to Swift communicating her own beliefs with her fans. The

performer’s statements could count as the first political ideologies some of her young fans are

exposed to, and that also ties into the debate over the relevance of a celebrity’s online presence.

Swift was criticized by many over her newly public LGBTQ+ allyship, particularly over her music

video for her single “You Need to Calm Down”, which urged potential haters of the LGBTQ+

community to move on and to literally calm down. Many argued that Swift’s allyship was

calculated and performative—the negative responses largely came from consumers who would not

identify as fans, while swifties had much more of a positive response (Avdeeff 80; Driessen 2;

Smialek 100). There could be a large portion of Taylor Swift’s fanbase that does not agree with her
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political beliefs or her expressing them to millions of fans. Fans who disagree may no longer

identify as swifties following the publicization of her beliefs, which is likely the reason why Swift

avoided the topic of politics for the first twenty years of her career.

Literature Review Findings

There was minimal research published about the music industry and what makes an artist

successful, and there was even less published about Swift herself. However, the existing research

did discuss social media as a business strategy within the music industry, and what artists can do to

capitalize on it. Additionally, there was research completed describing how Swift was able to

successfully switch genres without decreasing her fanbase. There have been several studies done

on celebrity culture and society’s fixation on the personal lives of celebrities, and specifically about

how Swift was able to take advantage of society’s obsession with her personal life and turn it into

hit singles. Swift’s relationship with her fans has also been researched, focusing on how Swift

utilizes the dedication of her fanbase to her own advantage. Another heavily researched topic is

sonic territory, which explores how the most successful musicians have been able to affect a high

percentage of society’s opinions and beliefs towards music and what it sounds like. Lastly, Swift’s

avoidance and eventual discussion of her own political beliefs and its effects have been studied.

While the existing literature discusses the music industry as a whole and even certain elements of

Swift’s career, the defining factors for what makes an artist successful have not been studied. There

has been no research done on what strategies and campaigns an artist should partake in to achieve

success. Throughout this study, the factors that make an artist successful were studied, with Swift’s

career being an example. Swift’s use of various marketing techniques and her ability to change her

sound while staying true to herself and her brand is what has led her to be one of the highest-
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streamed, in-demand, and most awarded artists. Her streaming and sales records, demand for live

performances, and the awards she has won has made her one of the most successful and influential

artists of her time. In order to conduct the research necessary to defend this claim, several different

methods were used.

Methods

In order to answer the proposed research question, I conducted both textual and discourse

analysis. I analyzed primary sources relating to the business strategies utilized within the music

industry, the idolization of musicians, and the overall interest in the life of celebrities. Specifically

relating to Swift, I analyzed research done on the business strategies she has used, different

methods she has used to stay connected to her fanbase, society’s fixation on her personal life as a

public figure, and the responses to her public political stances. Additionally, I studied direct quotes

from Swift and statements that her fans, the general public, and the media made about her.

To measure and compare her success, I looked at her award nominations and wins, her

digital streams across streaming platforms, both physical and digital sales, and the amount that each

of her tours grossed. I also viewed and compared her following on various social media platforms

and studied the likes, comments, and responses different posts received. Several of her songs were

analyzed in order to study how her messaging may or may not have changed throughout the course

of her career. Lastly, I drew on the theory of celebrity and Henry Jenkins convergence culture

theory in order to determine how Swift’s celebrity status and the public opinion of her affected her

success thus far. However, an understanding of Swift’s career is conductive to forming an opinion

on her successes.

Career Overview
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Swift’s self-titled debut album came out in 2006, which catapulted her career in the country

music world and would go on to become the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade on the

Billboard 200 chart. Several singles from this album landed on the Billboard 100 Chart, such as

“Teardrops on My Guitar”, “Tim McGraw,” and “Our Song”. Swift followed her debut album

with 2008’s Fearless, which went on to become the most awarded country music album of all

time. The success of Fearless launched Swift into stardom, where she was quickly becoming a

household name, with hits like “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me” dominating the charts.

Fearless went on to earn Swift her first Album of the Year award from the Grammy Awards,

making her the youngest person at that time to ever receive the honor (Forman). In 2010, Swift

released her album Speak Now, which she wrote completely by herself after facing criticism

claiming she was incapable of writing her own music. The “Speak Now World Tour” was Swift’s

first experience headlining at stadiums. At this point in her career, she had established herself as

one of the most promising artists of the generation. Her 2012 album Red marked her last album in

country music, and hits like “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We are Never Ever Getting Back

Together” sparked Swift’s transition to star status. “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

held the top spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart for nine weeks straight, which set the

record for most consecutive weeks in the top spot. Red marked the end of Swift’s time in country

music and the first phase of her career, before she took pop music by storm in 2014.

Swift’s 1989 was one of the most successful pop albums from the 2010s decade. 1989 was

the best-selling album of 2014 with 3.66 million copies sold, and went on to become the third best-

selling album of the decade, behind Adele’s 21 and 25 (Hautman). Singles from 1989 dominated

the charts, with hits such as “Shake it Off”, “Blank Space”, “Bad Blood”, “Style” and “Wildest
 2

Dreams”. The singles “Blank Space”, “Shake it Off”, and “Bad Blood” made their way to the top

of the Billboard 100 chart, resulting in Swift being the artist to spend the most time in the number

one spot for 2014. In their review of Swift’s 1989, the New York Times states “By making pop

with almost no contemporary references, Miss Swift is aiming somewhere higher, a mode of

timelessness few pop stars even bother aspiring to” (Caramanica). The article continues, “On this

new stage, Ms. Swift is thriving. And crucially, she is more or less alone, not part of any pop

movement of the day. She has set herself apart and, implicitly, above” (Caramanica). Additionally,

with the success of 1989, “Taylor Swift has done something only The Beatles have done: an album

at number one for six weeks for four consecutive albums” (Grein). The success of 1989 changed

the trajectory of Swift’s career, and she collected her second Album of the Year Award at the

Grammy Awards. She became the face of pop music and a household-recognized name. Her shift

from country to pop established her as an artist with the ability to dominate more than once genre,

and this shift is one of the reasons Swift will go down as the one of the greatest of all time for this

generation. The performer carried this momentum into her 2017 album Reputation, which is

considered one of the best comeback albums of all time by critics and the media. Her public image

had fallen due to media scrutiny following her 1989 success and public feuds with celebrities such

as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, so Swift removed herself from the public for several months

leading up to her album’s release. She wiped her social media platforms and delivered her

comeback single “Look What You Made Me Do” which beat Spotify’s record for the biggest

opening day for any song (McIntyre). The music video broke YouTube’s record for the most views

in 24 hours at that time, and is one of the most viewed music videos of the decade. “Look What

You Made Me Do” was Swift’s comeback anthem on her comeback album and proved that even
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when her public image suffers, Swift is still able to dominate the charts and accumulate massive

success.

In late 2018, she signed a new record deal with Republic Records at Universal Music

Group, following disputes with her former label Big Machine Records. Swift’s first album with

Republic Records, Lover, was released in 2019. In contrast to the dark imagery and sounds that

Swift characterized her Reputation album, Lover paints a happy, bright picture through Swift’s

promotion strategies for the album. When promoting the Reputation album, Swift only wore dark

clothing, typically black, to events. In contrast, Swift wore brightly colored clothing, like pastels

and floral prints, when promoting the Lover album. Madeline Merinuk writes “For example, Swift

surprised fans with her slinky, fierce attitude on "Reputation" in 2017, conveyed through lyrics and

imagery (specifically, snake imagery). The subsequent album "Lover," out in 2019, explored a

more romantic side of Swift, in which butterflies, rainbows and happiness reigned supreme”

(Merinuk). Additionally, the musical production on Reputation is much darker, with songs

frequently including loud sounds overshadowing the lyrics. However, Lover consists of more

acoustic sounds, with piano melodies prevailing and creating a much softer-sounding album. When

discussing the difference in themes for the two albums and being asked if Lover was a bright and

happy album, Swift stated “Yeah, it definitely is. I’m in a much better mood” (Swift). The Lover

album was the only album of 2019 to sell more than one million copies and was the year’s most

successful album (Rolli). Swift had planned on touring her Lover album in 2020; however, the

COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the live music industry completely shutting down.

While many artists paused their work during the pandemic, Swift went into overdrive. In

July 2020, Swift surprise-dropped her eighth studio album, Folklore, which turned out to be
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another shift in her career. The term “folklore” is typically used to reference a community’s

stories and beliefs that have been verbally passed down through generations. Swift’s Folklore is an

alternative, indie album which can best be described as a collection of stories, both personal and

fictionalized, whose lyrics proved yet again that she is one of the best songwriters of her

generation. In their review, The Guardian stated, “Folklore proves that she can thrive away from

the noise: if you interpret “classmates” as pop peers, Swift is no longer competing” (Snapes).

Although Folklore wasn’t the pop album expected from Swift, its genre had no impact on its

charting success. Folklore spent eight weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart and became the best-

selling album of 2020 (Unterberger). Swift dropped the song “cardigan” as the lead single from the

album and became the first artist to ever debut a song on top of the Billboard 100 chart and debut

an album on top of the Billboard 200 in the same week. Folklore also won Swift her third Album

of the Year Award at the Grammy Awards.