Friday Feature: Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift may not have been who you have been expecting for this week's Friday Feature, however her tenth studio album, Midnights arrived last Friday afternoon.

So here we have it, the West Reading, Pennsylvania born Swift, moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at age 14 to become a country artist.

Signing a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004 & a recording contract with Big Machine Records in 2005. 

The 2006 self-titled debut album made her the first female country singer to write or co-write a US platinum-certified album entirely.

The came Swift's pop era with Fearless (2008) and Speak Now (2010), exploring a new genre of country pop. 

Taylor experimented with rock and electronic styles on Red (2012), which features her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

Her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014), featured the chart topping Shake It Off, Blank Space & Bad Blood.

Then came,  Reputation (2017) along with the number-one song Look What You Made Me Do. Making Swift the first act to have four albums each open with a million copies sold.

Her seventh studio album, Lover (2019), followed by the autobiographical documentary Miss Americana (2020). 

Swift's input during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the indie folk and alternative rock albums, Folklore and Evermore (2020), which incorporated fictional narratives; their lead singles Cardigan & Willow debuted atop the Hot 100. 

She began re-recording her Big Machine catalog after a public dispute over the albums' masters, re-releasing two in 2021—Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version). The latter's All Too Well (10 Minute Version) became the longest song to top the Hot 100. 

Swift has also played supporting roles in films, and directed the music films Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) and All Too Well: The Short Film (2021). 

Having sold over 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. 

Her accolades include 11 Grammy Awards, including three Album of the Year wins; 34 American Music Awards, the most for an act; 29 Billboard Music Awards, the most for a woman; and an Emmy Award. 

She has featured on rankings such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists, the Time 100 and Forbes Celebrity 100. 

Honored with titles like Artist of the Decade and Woman of the Decade, Swift is an advocate for artists' rights and women's empowerment.

So like last year's Sunday Spotlight Legends series, Swift has earned a Friday Feature. Midnights is also a nice chilled weekend to set up the weekend.

So stream it, or some Swift classics below. There are a few more week's of the Friday Feature's before we head into a long, wet summer. See you next week!