Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic reinventions, and cultural impact, Swift is a leading figure in popular music and the subject of extensive media coverage, with a vast fanbase known as Swifties.

She experimented with subdued pop genres on Midnights (2022) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024), and began re-recording her Big Machine albums as Taylor's Version[a] due to an ownership dispute with the label.

[18] Her early love for country music was influenced by Shania Twain, Patsy Cline, LeAnn Rimes, and the Dixie Chicks,[14] and she spent weekends performing at local festivals and events.

[26][27] To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee.

[54][55] She promoted her debut album extensively as the opening act for other country musicians' tours in 2006 and 2007, including those by George Strait,[56] Brad Paisley,[57] and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

[109] On Red, Swift worked with Chapman and new producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Dan Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Dann Huff, and Butch Walker, resulting in a genre-spanning record that incorporated eclectic styles of pop and rock such as Britrock, dubstep, and dance-pop.

[133] Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the US, with the first two making Swift the first woman to replace herself at the Hot 100 top spot.

[136] After publishing an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal stressing the importance of albums as a creative medium for artists,[137] in November 2014, Swift removed her catalog from ad-supported, free music streaming platforms such as Spotify.

[151] She recorded "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Zayn Malik for the soundtrack to Fifty Shades Darker (2017)[152] and won a Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year with "Better Man", which she wrote for the band Little Big Town.

[157] The public controversies influenced Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, which explored the impact of her fame and musically incorporated electropop with urban styles of hip hop and R&B.

[179] While promoting Lover in 2019, Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with the talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her albums that the label had released.

[192] Swift played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (2019), for which she co-wrote and recorded the Golden Globe-nominated original song "Beautiful Ghosts".

[199][202] In the US, Midnights was her fifth to open atop the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of over one million copies, and its tracks, led by the single "Anti-Hero", made Swift the first artist to monopolize the top 10 of the Hot 100.

[243][244] In January 2024, AI-generated fake pornographic images portraying Swift were posted to Twitter and spread to other social media platforms, spurring criticism and demands for legal reform.

[245] In July, Swift and Kelce received death threats from a stalker in Gelsenkirchen, Germany,[246] and three children were killed in a stabbing attack at a Swift-themed workshop in Southport, England, leading to civil unrest in the UK.

[277] Swift expanded on the electronic production on her next albums;[278] Reputation consists of hip hop, R&B, and EDM influences;[158][279] and Lover features eclectic elements from country, pop-punk, and folk rock.

[285] Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department both incorporate a minimalist, subdued synth-pop sound, making use of analog synthesizers, sustained bass notes, and simple drum machine patterns.

[291][292] Jody Rosen commented that by originating her career in Nashville, Swift made a "bait-and-switch maneuver, planting roots in loamy country soil, then pivoting to pop".

[304] Despite the criticism, most reviewers appreciated that Swift refrained from correcting her pitch with Auto-Tune and how she prioritized "intimacy over power and nuance" to communicate the messages of her songs with her audience[305]—a style that has been described as conversational.

[337] Neil McCormick, the chief music critic of The Daily Telegraph, opined that Swift is a "significant vehicle for expressing the inner lives and day-to-day concerns of women of her generation [and younger]".

[338] Swift's confessional lyrics received positive reviews from critics,[339][28][340] who highlighted their vivid details and emotional engagement, which they found uncommon in pop music,[341][342][343] although some perceived her as a fragile, juvenile artist, a label she has consistently challenged.

[344][306] NPR dubbed Swift "a master of the vernacular in her lyrics",[158] remarking that her songs offer emotional engagement because "the wit and clarity of her arrangements turn them from standard fare to heartfelt disclosures".

[391] After Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, Swift debuted as a filmmaker with All Too Well: The Short Film,[203] which made her the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Music Video as a sole director.

[392] Swift has cited Chloé Zhao, Greta Gerwig, Nora Ephron, Guillermo del Toro, John Cassavetes, and Noah Baumbach as filmmaking influences.

[466] Although labeled by the media in her early career as "America's Sweetheart" for her girl next door persona,[467][468] Swift has been called by detractors "calculated" and manipulative of her image, a narrative bolstered by her 2016 dispute with West.

Swift helped shape the modern country music scene,[484] having extended her success beyond the Anglosphere,[293][484] pioneered the use of the internet (Myspace) as a marketing tool,[27][47] and introduced the genre to a younger generation.

[490] Lyrically, in being personal and vulnerable in her songs, music journalist Nick Catucci opined Swift helped make space for later singers like Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and Halsey to do the same.

[485][284][495] Journalists praise her ability to reform industry practices, noting how her actions changed streaming policies, prompted awareness of intellectual property in new musicians,[496][497] and reshaped ticketing models.

[498] Various sources deem Swift's music a paradigm representing the millennial generation;[499] Vox and The Daily Telegraph likened her to Bruce Springsteen,[500][338] and The Times named her "the Bob Dylan of our age".

[322][537] Following the George Floyd protests, she donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement,[547] called for the removal of Confederate monuments in Tennessee,[548] and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.