The singer basks in the reception of her latest effort, 'Lover', as she fights for the rights to her previous albums just weeks shy of her 30th birthday.
With the release last August of her most successful album to date, Taylor Swift seemed to have everything to enjoy one of her best professional moments. The singer has also positioned herself as the best paid of this 2019 on the Forbes list, she has signed an important contract with Universal Republic Records and next month she will appear in the film version of the movie Cats. But not all that glitters is gold in the world of stars. Last Sunday the media echoed another chapter in the artist's fight for the rights to her music. With less than a month to go until her 30th birthday – December 13 – Swift comes to terms with her past and seeks control of her success.
This summer the artist began a public dispute with the founder of her former record label, Scott Borchetta, and with manager Scooter Braun, who acquired the company earlier this year. Swift accuses them of not allowing her to buy the rights to her music catalog and exercising "tyrannical control" over her music. Last week, the pop diva revived the issue with a text on Tumblr, in which she claimed to be harassed by Braun and Borchetta. According to her, she was told that she would not be able to “re-record” her music before she would again have the right to perform it “next year”. Swift is determined to regain control of her first six albums by re-recording her tracks, which she says she could start doing in November 2020.
The pop diva points to the music industry's age-old problem of who keeps the rights to an artist's work. Swift says that her position seeks to give a voice to less influential musicians. "I strongly believe that sharing what is happening to me could change the level of consciousness of other artists and potentially help them avoid a similar fate," she stressed.
Before her signing to Universal Music in 2018, all of the singer's original recordings – material she uses to create digital copies, CDs and vinyl – belonged to Big Machine Records, the label that launched her to fame. Swift was just a teenager when she signed with the company. And now, for 300 million dollars, she is in the hands of Braun, a staunch enemy of the artist, whom she has accused of bullying her with the complicity of other ex-representatives such as Kanye West. Braun is the manager of stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande or Demi Lovato, whom Swift has asked for her support in the fight she has with the businessman.
Parallel to this confrontation, the artist has experienced how her latest work, Lover, breaks one record after another. His seventh album, and the first to which he owns all the rights to his work, is the sixth to reach number one on the Billboard 200 list. In addition, in a single week Lover sold 867,000 units in the United States, the best-selling for any album since the singer's last release in 2017, Reputation, according to US magazine Billboard. With Lover topping the charts, Swift is the first female artist to have six different albums each sell at least 500,000 copies in a single week. In Great Britain, the singer has made history by being the only woman with four number one albums in the country in a decade.
All these recognitions are no coincidence, critics have turned to a project in which Swift takes a journey from her beginnings in country, through pop, R&B, electronic, ballads and a crossroads of influences with which the artist aspires. to a wider audience. “The desire for revenge that led her predecessor has evolved into self-reflection, maturity and positivity. She has decided to focus on herself, recover her identity and worry only about everything that makes her happy. Her new album is, therefore, a set of sincere songs that show a Taylor with more light and much clearer ideas after overcoming the darkness, ”reflected the critic in the specialized magazine MondoSonoro.
This musical evolution has been accompanied by a personal evolution in the same direction. Taylor Swift hasn't stopped fighting, but she does pick her battles better. Despite being one of the pillars of pop culture and being a fervent defender of women's rights, the interpreter had never positioned herself politically. She did not do it during the campaign that brought Donald Trump to the White House or throughout his controversial administration. Until October of last year, when her words caused thousands of people to go to the polls. Swift confessed on her Instagram account that she does not have a bias for any political party and that she votes according to the candidate and how close he is to her values. “I believe in the fight for LGTBI rights, and any form of discrimination based on orientation or gender is wrong. I think the systemic racism that we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying,” she stated.
Little by little, the young blonde from Pennsylvania is demonstrating her own voice, and the right cause to raise it. Therefore, throughout this year she has decided to close old wounds and end her feud with Katy Perry and Demi Lovato. The young woman is already aware of what is important, such as her mother's cancer, who is fighting this disease for the second time. “I was taught that there are real problems and then there is everything else. Now all my worry, stress and prayers are dedicated to this,” she noted.
An example of this growing maturity is her relationship with the British Joe Alwyn, 28, whom she met at the 2016 MET gala. Together with him, she has managed to maintain a discreet relationship away from the spotlight, even in the face of the growing fame that the actor has harvested in recent years. The singer has had to learn to choose the way to expose herself to the public. The fight against Braun is joined by stalkers who have repeatedly tried to enter several of her properties. Last April, Taylor Swift reflected on this in Elle magazine: "It would be nice if we could get an apology from the people who harass us, but maybe all I'll get is the satisfaction of knowing that I can survive and thrive despite it." ”.
