Taylor, on her white horse, so Swiftly invaded the American pop scene, it's probably what made Flo Rida's head spin. She was a country starlet who hit American mainstream from the word go, and today, with 58 million followers on Twitter, the pop queen is iconic in unfathomable proportions. Let's take a look at her career, and plot the five turning points that define her career:
1. The Poet by Birth
This singer-songwriter has been an award-winning poet, and we didn't even know it! She won a national poetry contest for her poem "Monster in my Closet" when she was a fourth grader, and hasn't given up the pursuit of peppiness ever since. No wonder all her songs have that poetic quality, with perfectly strung rhymes and words that have that added bounce!
2. The Prodigy
She let her singer ambition fester since she was all of 11. Acting upon it immediately, she moved with her family to Nashville to take her chances. Some Teardrops may have fallen on her guitar, but her big break came along real soon. Her entry into the pop world was paved by Sony Publishing House, where she became the youngest songwriter ever hired by them. The New York Times review calling her a "Prodigy" catapulted her into the pipeline of the big-league.
3. The Youngest Chart-topper
Her first album - self-titled without any warning of the explosive content contained within- was dropped in 2006 and her dreams started coming true, one song at a time. "Our Song," tasted blood first, and made her the youngest person to have performed a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart, that she wrote herself. "Should've Said No" also reached number one, and the other two singles, Teardrops on My Guitar and Picture to Burn, all did exceedingly well. The Grammys took notice too, and gave her a Best New Artist nomination in 2008.
4. The Best-selling Grammy Winner
Swift's second album Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States, sitting on top of four Grammy Awards. This also officiated her prodigy status- for she became the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Her third and fourth albums, Speak Now and 2012's, both sold more than one million copies within the first week of their U.S release. And her fifth, 1989, was released just last year that is 2014, and went flying off the racks in its first week - more so than any album in the previous 12 years. The pop queen thus set a new record, or having three consecutive albums sell more than one million copies in the opening release week. And we haven't even mentioned her singles like Love Story and You Belong With Me, which made her a worldwide sensation.
5. The Pop-Queen
Just today, Swift the prodigy pulled a, well, Swift again. She became the youngest woman to make it to the Forbes list of 100 Most Powerful Women in The World, entering the ivy-league circuit of the world's most influential politicians, businesswomen and entertainers at no. 65. Forbes described her as “not only broken record sales and captivated the world with her fantastically honest lyrics, but she has proven herself as an impressive businesswoman.” Her last year's earnings are said to have exceeded $64 Million, and rumor has it that her legs were insured for $40 Million recently.
Swift, who mostly writes about her life's experiences, has had a pretty impressive song if you ask us - we won't be surprised if she asks God to play it again!
Image Courtesy: Fanpop.com