Since the debut of her self-titled album in 2006, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has released 10 studio albums and won 12 Grammys and countless other awards and accolades. Swift is notable not just for retaining the public’s attention for over a decade, but for reinventing herself time and time again. From a country girl to a pop princess to a folk star, it seems as though when studying Swift’s history from 2006-2022, every version of her is unrecognizable in comparison to the singer just two years prior. A reinvention award is meant for an artist who has reinvented their image, sound, and vibe in substantial ways, and no artist exemplifies this like Swift—she has repeatedly reinvented all three, each era marked by her distinct aesthetic, music, and political image.

Swift owns her reinvention and makes it a unique part of her image in a way other artists who have reinvented themselves do not, setting her apart. In her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, Swift explains that “everyone is like a shiny new toy for like two years… they have to [reinvent] or else you’re out of a job” (Wilson). She constantly references her ever-changing public image in lyrics such as “I want you to know / I’m a mirrorball / I can change everything about me to fit in” (mirrorball). Other artists brush past their reinventions. Billie Eilish, for example, dropped her baggy clothes and green and black hair on her eighteenth birthday in favor of form fitting pink lingerie and platinum blonde hair, but apart from a single interview with Vogue, has moved on and not highlighted the change (Snapes). Madonna’s name was once synonymous with reinvention, but the artist hardly discusses her different eras (Azzopardi). In 2023, Swift stands out from other artists by owning her reinvention and incorporating it into her brand; she alone deserves the reinvention award for this sole reason.

Swift is one of the only artists in history to make the transition from country to pop with such success. Swift debuted as a country girl in 2006 at the age of sixteen and by 2014, fully reinvented herself and transitioned into modern pop aesthetics. Throughout her first three albums—Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), and Speak Now (2010)—Swift used mostly the same aesthetic symbols: long, curly blonde ringlets, cowboy boots, princess dresses, and a fashion sense that matched her youth (Singh). Swift positioned herself as the sweet girl next door, and her music reflected this—hits like “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Love Story,” and “Long Live” all emphasize her innocence and her hope for love. She began her transition to modern aesthetics with the release of her fourth album Red in 2012, a mixture of country and pop, and completed the transition with her fifth album, 1989, in 2014. She simultaneously moved to New York and named the first track from 1989 “Welcome to New York”: a spatial representation of her transition from a country artist from Tennessee to a big city pop star (Jeon). She changed her aesthetics completely, instead embracing: short straight hair, bangs, red lipstick, high-waisted shorts, crop tops, minidresses, and glitter (Billboard). Musically, she began experimenting with pop in Red in songs, such as “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and completed her transition to pop with the release of 1989, which took Red’s mature and experimental style to new heights. Swift abandoned the lovestruck, innocent theme from her previous albums and satirized her public image without apology, singing lyrics like “got a long list of ex-lovers / they’ll tell you I’m insane” (Blank Space). The Taylor Swift of 2014 and the Taylor Swift of 2006 are ultimately unrecognizable when compared to one another, not just aesthetically, but sonically.

Swift’s biggest era of reinvention came during the late 2010s, when she both fell from fame and rose up again in the short span of three years and reinvented herself twice in that time, a feat no other artist has managed. The singer disappeared from the public eye for a year after her public feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in 2016 and reappeared in 2017 with her comeback single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” the lead single off of her sixth album reputation. Swift was no longer an exuberant pop star; she was vengeful and bitter, looking for karmic retribution after West and Kardashian framed her to be a liar and trashed her “good girl” reputation. It would not be until 2020 that she was vindicated and it was revealed that she was telling the truth about her feud with the celebrity couple (Newcomb & Kubota). During the reputation era, Swift abandoned her bright red lips for a darker purple to match her black and white wardrobe and album cover; her short hair had a tousled and half-wet look to it, and she wore sequin bodysuits with thigh-high boots, all in dark shades to match the aesthetics of her newest era (Singh). Only two years after reputation, Swift astounded audiences when she released her sixth album Lover and used it to reinvent herself aesthetically in the opposite direction.

From “sequined smile” to “black lipstick,” Swift had entered the era of “sensual politics,” (to quote her song “cardigan”) and the star reinvented herself politically instead of musically. Previously known for her hands-off stance on politics, the now thirty-year-old singer stepped into the political spotlight for the first time—her largest reinvention as a person to this day (Wilson). Lover is a complete reversal from her reputation image: in the foreword to the album, she explains that “I’ve decided that in this life, I want to be defined by the things I love—not the things I hate, the things I’m afraid of, or the things that haunt me in the middle of the night” (Lover Foreword). No longer would Swift be silenced; her music is blatantly political while still being upbeat, using rainbows, current events, and her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn as the main inspirations. Swift’s looks matched the airy album: she dropped the dark lipstick and clothing for florals, fringe, and pastels, and even dyed the tips of her hair a bright pink (Jeon). Most artists reinvent themselves once, maybe twice in their career; Swift did it twice in three years, and furthermore, became one of the few artists to dramatically change her public persona not just once, but multiple times. It is this unique period of reinvention, from 1989 to reputation to Lover, and Swift’s dramatic change from an apolitical artist to a mature, socially educated pop star that truly proves that the reinvention award belongs to Swift and Swift alone.

Swift’s reinvention can be seen not only in her aesthetics and public persona, but also in her song-writing. Swift first reinvented herself as a song-writer with her third album Speak Now, in which she wrote every track on her own as a response to critics who derided her by stating that she was not a serious artist, and simply sang the songs others had written, despite the fact that she was credited as a song-writer on most songs in her first two albums. Swift stated in an interview with TIME, “I decided I was just going to write it [Speak Now] entirely on my own, to me that was enough of a statement” (Dickey). Swift then used the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to reflect and reinvent herself away from the pop music that defined her most popular hits with the release of her sister albums, folklore and evermore, in 2020, in which she experimented with folk and indie music and embraced their aesthetics both sonically and visually. In the 34 songs in folklore and evermore, Swift did not sing about herself any longer, but instead leaned into her songwriting abilities and used guitar and piano chords to back up her voice as she narrated story after story. While it was her first foray away from singing about herself, she still peppered in small references that made it ‘her music’ in classic Taylor Swift style, such as the lyric “I come back stronger than a 90’s trend” (willow). Swift also leaned into rural aesthetics—longer, tousled hair, toned down makeup, florals, flannels, soft sweaters, and muted colors—attending the 2021 Grammy’s in a netted, floral dress (Billboard). folklore and evermore proved that artists can leave pop music and keep their mainstream popularity. This unique reinvention at a time when no one expected it further proves that Swift is the queen of reinvention, and it was still not her final reinvention.

Swift is the only artist to reinvent herself with a focus on her legacy, proving for a final time why she deserves the reinvention award. Her latest reinvention came in 2022, with the release of her tenth studio album, Midnights, and the simultaneous re-recordings of her first six albums so that she would once again own their masters. In 2021 she released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), both of which not only featured re-recordings of all her old songs but also never-before-seen songs “from the vault” to make the re-recorded albums stand out. After a decade and a half of singing, Swift decided to establish herself as a trailblazer in the music industry. Rolling Stone explained that as a result of her re-recording, “overnight, the concept of remaking old songs became validated in a way it never had before” (Browne). Swift not only inspired other artists to follow in her footsteps and re-release their own music, (U2 being the biggest example) but also inspired other artists to negotiate with their record labels for fairer pay and the ownership of their music. Simultaneously, Swift used Midnights to focus on her musical legacy: the album is a collection of songs from different nights throughout her life, each song harkening back to a different era. For example, “Karma” sounds like it could be a track from reputation, and “Mastermind” like a track from Lover. Swift is no longer looking for a new person to be—she is being every facet of herself at once, and that is what makes Swift shine.

For the past decade and a half, Swift has taken us through personality after personality—from country princess to popstar to indie singer—she has reinvented herself in every sense and outdone everyone’s expectations of her. Every time people have thought she was done, but she has come back singing “honey I rose up from the dead I do it all the time” and captivated the public yet again (Look What You Made Me Do). Every artist deserves an award for the hard work and dedication they put into their craft, but when it comes to finding an artist who stands out from the crowd, Swift’s reinventions are unique to her and her alone. She has reinvented her sound, political image, and aesthetics repeatedly, each with a different impact, and her reinventions have made her a trailblazer and inspiration for younger artists. Back in 2012, Swift wrote “lord, what will become of me / once I’ve lost my novelty,” and though it seems her predictions were incorrect—she proceeded to stay relevant for the next decade—Swift seems to be winding down (Nothing New). As she embarks on her nostalgic Eras Tour and re-records her music, the mature artist is looking back on her years in the public eye and establishing the newest and best version of Taylor Swift we have seen: herself. It is the act of reinventing herself while staying true to who she is that truly deserves the reinvention award.

Bibliography: Websites

Azzopardi, Chris. “INTERVIEW: Madonna Talks ‘Tired, Old’ Reinvention Label, Being Judged.” Pride Source. January 26, 2012. https://pridesource.com/article/51377/.

Billboard Style. “Taylor Swift’s Style Evolution, From 2006 to Now.” Billboard. August 29, 2022. https://www.billboard.com/photos/taylor-swift-style-evolution-photos-429884/56-june-2019/.

Browne, David. “Remaking Your Old Songs Used to Be Considered Lazy, Shady, and So Uncool. What Changed?,” Rolling Stone. January 18, 2023. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/album-remakes-u2-taylor-swift-1234660335/.

Dickey, Jack. “Taylor Swift on 1989, Spotify, Her Next Tour and Female Role Models.” TIME. November 13, 2014. https://time.com/3578249/taylor-swift-interview/.

Jeon, Hannah. “Every Taylor Swift Era Explained.” The List. Last Modified February 23, 2023. https://www.thelist.com/463869/every-taylor-swift-era-explained/.

Newcomb, Alyssa and Kubota, Samatha. “Taylor Swift ‘was telling the truth the whole time’ about Kanye West recording.” Today. March 23, 2020. https://www.today.com/popculture/taylor-swift-was-telling-truth-whole-time-about-kanye-west-t176551.

Singh, Olivia. “45 photos that show how Taylor Swift’s style has evolved through the years.” Insider. Last Modified June 17, 2019. https://www.insider.com/taylor-swift-fashion-evolution-10-years-2016-7.

Snapes, Laura. ““It’s All About What Makes You Feel Good”: Billie Eilish On New Music, Power Dynamics, And Her Internet-Breaking Transformation.” British Vogue. May 2, 2021. https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/billie-eilish-vogue-interview.

“Taylor Swift – Lover [Foreword].” Genius. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-lover-foreword-annotated.

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