Taylor

Taylor Swift was a rarity in pop culture: she was the sole celebrity who transitioned from the traditional to the mainstream and then to be an international icon of pop culture. Swift removed herself from country music like a second-skin and showed she had the finest pop sensibility of the time. Swift was the only artist/singer who could follow the zeitgeist of popular music out on the road. These skills were evident on her earliest hits especially the Neo-Tribute Tim McGraw but her second album, 2008's Fearless featured a singer-songwriter figuring out the person she really was, and in the process finding the mass market. The album was a huge success, not just in America, but also with six platinum-certified singles. In fact, the Top Ten songs Love Story & I Belong with Me were the most important reasons. However, it did very well across the globe. Swift took off to the peak of stardom with Speak Now. Her popularity only increased through her subsequent three albums - Red (2012) 1989 (2014) as well as Reputation (2017) Reputation (2017) which saw her move into a realm of pop music in which she was already a part. When she reduced her sound to the stripped-down versions of 2020, folklore, and Evermore but she was still at the top. It was a position that was confirmed by re-recordings from her past catalog as in Midnights the synth-based chart-topper 2022 album.