Taylor Swift named Time magazine’s Person of the Year: 'Happiest I’ve ever felt'

Taylor Swift has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. 

The 33-year-old superstar was competing against multiple high-profile names for the title - including Barbie, King Charles and Sam Altman, among others, but ultimately the magazine saw the blank space and filled in her name. 

Coming one year after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was given the title, the singer confessed the honour has left her feeling “the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt”. 

“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been... It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33,” she said in her first print interview in four years. 

Swift’s latest title comes after a huge 12 months for the star in which she embarked on her massive 66-date global Eras Tour, which has earned her billionaire status, released the Eras Tour concert movie, re-released her 2014 album, 1989, and months after debuting her sensational new romance with NFL star Travis Kelce, 34. 

Travis Kelce romance 

Speaking about her romance for the first time publicly in the interview, Swift revealed their love story first began after he spoke about her on the podcast he hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce. 

“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell. We started hanging out right after that,” the singer said, adding that their infamous first public outing at a game was not their first date. “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.” 

Touching on her frequent attendance at Travis’ games for the Kansas City chiefs, she said, “When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care.” 

Kim Kardashian feud 

Elsewhere in the lengthy interview, the singer spoke about her huge rise in popularity in recent years as well as the moment she thought her career had been “taken away” from her following the infamous Kanye West phone call. 

Calling out Kim Kardashian, the Reputation singer spoke about the dispute which saw the reality TV star releasing a private telephone call between Swift and West which led to her being branded a snake and a “liar”. In the wake of the drama, Swift fled the US, moving to a “foreign country” where she said she didn’t leave her rental house “for a year”. 

After her year of living in recluse, the pop star came back with a plan. She released her 2017 album, Reputation, and specifically used snakes as imagery for the era with songs generally focusing on anger, vengeance, and even finding solace in love. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the star was back. 

After her year of living in recluse, the popstar came back with a plan. She released her 2017 album, Reputation and specifically used snakes as imagery for the era with songs generally focusing on anger, vengeance, and even finding solace in love. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the star was back. 

She confessed to Time magazine she has taken a slightly different approach to life following the incident and stays largely private, however, she still enjoys some time out and about. 

“Yes, if I go out to dinner, there’s going to be a whole chaotic situation outside the restaurant. But I still want to go to dinner with my friends.” 

Eras Tour 

The pop star is currently in the middle of her massive Eras Tour - which will see her visit Australia in February and March. 

The show has a 44-song strong setlist that takes fans on a journey of Swift’s “eras”, from her first album to her last - including Lover, folklore, evermore and Midnights, which she has never performed before. 

Coming in at just over three hours, the concert is roughly twice the length of an average pop stadium show and is split into 10, non-chronological “eras” for each of her albums and Swift admits, her training for the tour was intense. 

She told the magazine, she began training six months before the show and would run on a treadmill every day as she sang the setlist out loud. She also partook in three months of dance lessons. 

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.