Who’s Taylor Swift anyway? Ew.

If you don’t know who Taylor Swift is by now, you probably live under a rock. Let me catch you up to speed with 10 facts about one of the biggest pop-stars right now, who’s right here in Singapore.

Like, seriously, right now, as you read this.

She Started With Country Music

While she’s currently more well-known for pop hits like Cruel Summer and You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift started off with country music.

Yeah, think: small town and cowboy boots.

In 2006, she released her self-titled debut album, featuring “Tim McGraw”, which was her first top 40 hit.

With tracks like “Teardrops On My Guitar”, “Our Song”, and “…Picture To Burn”, Taylor Swift swiftly stole the hearts of many country music lovers.

Within a year, she managed to make a huge name for herself and quickly became the hottest up-and-coming artist in country music.

At 17, Taylor Swift received the Horizon Award for best new artist from the Country Music Association.

She has won 14 Grammys

A Grammy is an award presented by the Recording Academy to recognise outstanding achievement in the music industry.

Winning one Grammy is already pretty impressive, so you have to be insanely good to win 14.

So far, Taylor Swift has managed to snag 14 of these for herself, being the only artist ever to win Album Of The Year four times.

Before she won her fourth Album Of The Year this year, she was also the first and only woman to win Album Of The Year three times.

She won Album Of The Year for her albums Fearless (2009), 1989 (2015), Folklore (2020), and Midnights (2024).

She Loves Cats

When you think of Taylor Swift and cats, you may get horrific flashbacks to the musical fantasy movie Cats. The movie received terrible reviews, with many saying it was an overload of uncanny valley.

But don’t worry, we’re not here to talk about that. Instead, we’re here to talk about her physical pet cats.

Taylor Swift currently has three cats. Two are Scottish folds named Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson, while the third is a Ragdoll named Benjamin Button.

The three furry felines are named after Swift’s favourite TV or movie characters – Olivia Benson from Law & Order: SVU, Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy, and Benjamin Button from, well, Benjamin Button.

Oh, and did I mention? Oliva Benson is a millionaire.

Reader: What???????

According to the 2023 Pet Rich List (yes this is a real thing), this little cat has a net worth of S$130 million. Olivia engages in commercial work, earning her lots of money to buy… I’m not sure. Catnip? Treats?

As if Taylor couldn’t buy all the treats in the world without even scratching the surface of her wealth.

To-date, She Has Released 10 Albums

She might just be a workaholic.

In the past 19 years, Swift has released 10 studio albums and four rerecordings of her previously released albums:

And, she’s set to release her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, this April.

If you’re curious about why she rerecorded some albums, watch this video below.

Over the past 10 albums, Swift has explored a variety of genres such as country, pop, synth, rock, indie folk, and more. With her next album set to be released in slightly less than two months, fans can’t wait to see what she tries next.

Taylor Swift University Classes

The American pop-star is known to write her own songs, sometimes waking up and immediately penning down lyrics that came to her in her sleep.

Many of her songs like “Champagne Problems”, “All Too Well”, and “My Tears Ricochet” contain an insane amount lyricism, imagery, metaphors, and basically about any literary device you can think of.

In fact, my Literature teacher actually had us analyse about five or more of Taylor Swift’s songs during class in Secondary 3 and 4. It’s kind of what made me grow to like her songs.

Now, universities in America are offering courses inspired by the superstar and her discography.

Standford University, Arizona State University, Berklee College of Music, Rice University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Florida, and more have offered or will offer courses that study the lyrics in Taylor Swift’s songs.

Even the prestigious Harvard University has offered an English course on Taylor Swift in the spring 2024 term.

She Wrote “Love Story” in 20 Minutes

Speaking of her lyrics, Taylor Swift wrote “Love Story” on her bedroom floor in approximately 20 minutes. She said she felt too inspired to put the song down unfinished.

She then recorded a rough demo of the song within 15 minutes the next day.

Talk about speed.

According to Swift, the song is about her optimistic outlook on love. The song follows the story of Romeo and Juliet, from Juliet’s point of view.

In the song, Swift sings “he knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said marry me Juliet you’ll never have to be alone.”

And of course, fans have begun their own trend based on this line.

At multiple concerts, men have been filmed getting on one knee. And I mean a lot.

I’ve seriously seen so many tiktoks of people being proposed to during this song. If you’re still waiting for your man to propose, you should get tickets for you two. It might just speed up the process.

She’s Dating Travis Kelce

Okay, this next fact isn’t exactly on the pop-star herself, but her boyfriend.

Currently, Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce, an American football player for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Considered as one of the greatest tight ends (a blocker to protect the quarterback during passing plays) of all time, Kelce is a nine-time Pro Bowler and currently holds the NFL (National Football League) records for most consecutive and most overall seasons with 1,000 receiving yards by a tight end.

Of course, Kelce attends her concerts and Swift goes to his matches.

In at least two of the concerts he attended, Taylor Swift changed a lyric in her song “Karma” from “karma is the guy on the screen” to “karma is the guy on the Chiefs”.

When she delivered the line, Swift was heard giggling, and the crowd went wild.

Swift and Kelce have been a “thing” since late 2023, and you can read about the entire timeline of their relationship here.

She’s Best Friends With Taylor Lautner

Remember the werewolf from Twilight? Taylor’s best friends with Taylor.

Reader: Wait, what?

Taylor Swift told Glamour that she considers Taylor Lautner, who played Jacob in Twilight, as “one of [her] best friends.”

Seems like a rare case of exes-turned-bestfriends.

Swift and Lautner dated for about three months in late 2009, and Swift even wrote a song about it (“Back to December”). Fortunately, the two managed to make up and are close friends now.

Interestingly enough, Taylor Lautner is now married to another Taylor – Taylor Dome.

Spiderverse? More like Taylorverse.

The three Taylors are really close friends, and the couple even attended one of Swift’s concerts last year. Swift invited Lautner on stage and the former lovers shared a hug, showing there are no hard feelings.

In the picture, he’s even wearing friendship bracelets, a must-wear at Swift’s concerts.

“I respect you so much, not for the singer you are, the songwriter, the performer, but truly for the human you are,” Lautner said. “You are gracious, humble, you are kind and I’m honoured to know you.”

There are tears in our eyes.

Her favourite number is 13

Taylor Swift has mentioned that her lucky number is 13 as it seems to follow her everywhere she goes.

She was born on 13 December 1989 and turned 13 on Friday the 13th.

Her first album went gold in 13 weeks and her first Number 1 song had a 13-second intro.

Every time she’s won an award at an award show, she’s either been seated in row 13 or row M – the 13th letter in the alphabet.

This year marks Super Bowl LVIII, aka the 58th Super Bowl. When you add 5 and 8 together, you get the sum of 13. Moreover, the date of the Super Bowl (11/2) adds up to 13.

In the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs went up against the San Francisco 49ers. When you add 4 and 9 together, you get 13.

In the end, the 49ers secured the Number 1 seed in the NFC in December 2023, while Swift’s boyfriend’s team finished as the No. 3 seed in the AFC. When you put 1 and 3 together, you get – you guessed it – 13.

There’s such a thing as coincidence, but when the number 13 appears so many times, it simply can’t be coincidence anymore.

Taylor Swift and Blake Lively have been really good friends since 2015.

Lively and Renolds’ kids have even been featured in Swift’s music. In her Reputation track “Gorgeous”, a baby’s voice is heard saying “gorgeous” at the start. Yes, that’s the voice of Lively and Renolds’ daughter, James.

In various songs in Folklore, the couple’s children, James, Inez, and Betty are all name-dropped. Lively even brought James and Inez along to The Eras Tour to support Swift – or should I say “aunt” Taylor.

Fun fact: The album cover of Folklore was actually taken in Blake Lively’s backyard.

Last October, Taylor Swift and Blake Lively also attended a Kansas City Chiefs game together.

Talk about an inseparable pair.

With these 10 facts about Taylor Swift, and presumably an interest in her since you’re reading this article, you’re now a certified swiftie. Go forth and share your knowledge with other swifties at The Eras Tour or Taylor-Swift-themed events at MBS happening soon.

Speaking of her concerts, you may be wondering why she’s performing on so many dates in Singapore. Watch the video below to find out more.