Taylor Swift caps off massive 2023 by entering her Time Person of the Year era
Taylor Swift is 2023's Time Person of the Year, giving the billionaire, business mogul, singer, songwriter, director, actor and producer another heavyweight accolade for her mantlepiece.
"In a divided world, where too many institutions are failing, Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light," wrote Time Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs. "No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well. Achieving this feat is something we often chalk up to the alignments of planets and fates, but giving too much credit to the stars ignores her skill and her power."
In the article, Swift talks with Time writer Sam Lanksy from her New York City apartment about when she disappeared to an international rental in 2016 and hid for a year, her rerecorded albums taking off, her fitness training for her behemoth concert, her economic impact, her blockbuster movie and her relationship with Travis Kelce.
"I know I'm going on that stage whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable or stressed," she said in the article. "That’s part of my identity as a human being now. If someone buys a ticket to my show, I’m going to play it unless we have some sort of force majeure."
The main character of pop culture had a groundbreaking year with the kickoff of her Eras Tour that brought her 3.5-hour show to 66 shows in 23 cities across North America, Argentina and Brazil.
When the SAG-AFTRA strike halted the promotion of blockbuster movies, Swift struck a deal with the union and then bypassed production studios to release her movie with distributor AMC. Her Eras Tour film made more than $200 million globally, according to AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron on X/Twitter.
"Twelve of my last 13 tweets (there's that ubiquitous lucky number 13 again) have been about Taylor Swift. Want to know why?" he posted. "Well there are about 200 million reasons why! Taylor Swift's concert film is the highest grossing in history."
Swift rereleased two of her albums, claiming the ownership of eight of her 10 eras. At the end of 2022, she released the "Bejeweled" music video and embedded in it her plans for 2023. The singer rode an elevator and planned to stop at floors three (her third album "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)") and five (her fifth album “1989 (Taylor’s Version)") on her way to the top.
More: Taylor Swift's '1989 (Taylor's Version)' sets Spotify music streaming records for 2023
The only two albums she has left are "Reputation (Taylor’s Version)" and her eponymous debut album. Swift said the Reputation tracks will be "fire."
"I'm collecting horcruxes," she told Time. "I'm collecting infinity stones. Gandalf's voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now."
In November, Bloomberg named Swift a billionaire from her booming "Eras Tour" movie hitting theaters, album re-recordings and merchandise sales.
A hidden "Taylor Swift economy" catapulted sales for business owners across the nation. From soaps to a thematic cruise inspired by her eras, the insatiable thirst for Swift gear skyrocketed. The USA TODAY Network even hired a reporter dedicated to covering the Taylor Swift beat full-time.
Professionally she killed it in 2023, and personally she started dating star tight end Travis Kelce. In Argentina, the Kansas City Chief attended her concert where she sang "End Game" in her surprise set and changed a "Karma" lyric to "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me."
The two started dating after Kelce discussed on his podcast his failed attempt at giving Swift a friendship bracelet and weeks before she appeared in the Kansas City Chiefs suite.
"This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," she said. "We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."
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The love story has played out publicly, boosting ratings for the NFL, spiking Kelce jersey sales and propelling the athlete into a bigger universe of fandom. The football player had to move into a gated home for greater security.
"I'm just there to support Travis," she said about not knowing how often the league shows her on TV. "I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads."
Heading into 2024, Swift will kick off the Eras Tour again in Tokyo, Japan and Australia. Her current pinnacle has been a long time coming, but it may also be just beginning.
More: Travis Kelce joins Taylor Swift at the top of Billboard charts with Jason Kelce Christmas song duet
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Taylor Swift enters her Time Person of the Year era to cap off 2023
