It’s official Taylor Swift is Time’s Person of The Year for 2023. It’s really no surprise, her “Eras Tour” was the concert of a lifetime with attendees spending thousands upon thousands of dollars for the chance to see it. The film version of the tour garnered more than $250 million at the box office. She was Spotify and Apple Music’s most streamed artist of the year behind rereleases of Speak Now and 1989 but dubbed (Taylor’s Version). To crown anyone else as Person Of The Year would be well odd. Her success in 2023 is frankly mind-blowing. Not because it’s not well deserved, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks she is more deserving than I do. But because as a fan of Taylor Swift going on 17/18 years, I’ve thought she was on top of the world many times.
On Top Of The World
Even in the early years of Fearless and Speak Now she was selling out arenas in literal minutes. This was before the days of pick-your-own-seat maps on Ticketmaster. You were given randomly selected seats and if you refreshed the page odds are you weren’t getting tickets. Thought I’d take those days back compared to the disaster that ticket buying is today. But that’s another rant.
In those days Speak Now became the first album to sell over 1 million copies in its first week since the boyband days of the early 2000s. A feat the music industry never thought would happen again. But it did. And it’s something she’s continued to do year after year, including her biggest debut week ever coming in 2023 with 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Then there was the original 1989 era. Her full-fledged debut into pop. She was on top of the world, but as mentioned in this Time Person of the Year article, that only gave her farther to fall.
The Time Person Of The Year Interview
Throughout her long career, she has given numerous interviews with different publications. Though they are few and far between these days. I probably have close to 50 magazines that she’s graced the cover of stashed under my bed at my parent’s house. And when someone is as good with words as Taylor is, well these interviews often contain some great quotes. Taylor’s interview for Time Person Of The Year 2023 is no exception. And I fully believe you need to read the article in its entirety. The interviewer herself even said how everything Taylor told her seemed crafted to tell the story. But if you don’t have time to read the whole thing (again please do at some point) here are some of the cliff notes. Some are deep thoughts other more moments of comic relief. But they are what stood out to me during my first read.
(And yes there are three covers of the physical version of this magazine. And yes I ordered them all).
The 7 Best Quotes From Taylor Swift’s Time Person Of The Year Interview
In Response To Her Enemies
“But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies,” she says. “Trash takes itself out every single time.”
On Her New Found Interest In Football
“Football is awesome, it turns out,” Swift says playfully. “I’ve been missing out my whole life.”
On The Medias Narrative of Taylor v Beyonce
“Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”
On The Women Led Dominance of 2023
“And what has existed since the dawn of time? A patriarchal society. What fuels a patriarchal society? Money, flow of revenue, the economy. So actually, if we’re going to look at this in the most cynical way possible, feminine ideas becoming lucrative means that more female art will get made. It’s extremely heartening.”
On Just Enjoying Life No Matter What The Situation
“Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago.”
On Being Who She Is
“It’s something that’s been thrown at me like a dagger, but now I take it as a compliment.”
On Her "Peak"
“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been,” Swift tells me. “Ultimately, we can convolute it all we want, or try to overcomplicate it, but there’s only one question.” Here, she adopts a booming voice. “Are you not entertained?”
