Taylor Swift was born in 1989, and is
an American Singer-songwriter. She moved to Tennessee from Pennsylvania at the
age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. During her career she has had a
multiplatinum album four times, she’s had seven Grammy’s and has a large
dedicated following, they even hold the name “Swifties”. With all of this she’s
also been the highlight in many gossip magazines for her very personal lyrics
and her long list of boyfriends throughout her career. All of these traits
remind me of Queen Elizabeth herself, she was a self promoter, a true beauty
and always struggled with the men in her life. That is why I chose Taylor Swift
as my New Elizabethan.
Personal life aside, Taylor Swift as a
very intellectual business women. As a country star she still got herself into
the charts and has even recently worked her way into being a pop artist. She
knows exactly what is wanted from the current consumer audience and she does
what she needs to get to this success level. Her career mind started from an
early age, when she was 11 she took it into her own hands to get herself known.
She went up and down Music Row knocking on producers doors, letting them know
that they should listen to her music. The rejection made her more determined and
she new she had to do something to set her apart from other artists. She learnt
to play guitar at the age of 12, and then the song writing followed. Once she
had a few songs she returned to Nashville where people started to notice her
talent.
Her first deal was with RCA Records
although she never renewed as she wanted to be able to sing the songs she had
written. She took the initiative and power over her career, something every
business women should do. Her childhood was far from normal as she was so
dedicated to her career. She took a leap of faith when a guy from Universal
wanted to create his own company, and she signed with them. She knew that going
with a smaller company she could really work with them closely to create her
sound. She worked so closely with them that she even helped stuff her CD’s into
envelopes and send them to radio stations, she took control. Queen Elizabeth
was also a self promoter, although she did this through her Portraits. She new
what she wanted and how she wanted to be portrayed and I feel this is very
similar to Taylor.
As well as a great business women,
Taylor was truly passionate about her music. She has a confidence in the music
industry even while others don’t. she proclaims “I’m one of the few living
souls in the music industry who still believes that the music industry is not
dying… it’s just coming alive.” This is quite like Elizabeth, who always had
faith in her country and its power even when others doubted her.
One of Taylors most famous traits is
her use of personal situations within her songs, she doesn’t hold back on
naming and shaming her ex boyfriends. Luckily she isn’t low on them, from her
childhood loves to her famous exes, she has written many hits that give an
insight to her life. However other than this small insight she is actually
quiet about her love life while it is happening. This was similar to Queen
Elizabeth, although her love life was rumoured about, no one ever quite new the
full picture. Although Taylor Swift has a few more, the boys include:
Joe Jonas (July 2008-October)- It all
ended over a 27 second phone call. This inspired the songs Last Kiss and
Forever and Always. However in more recent times she has shown that she has
forgiven the Jonas brother through the song Holy Ground.
Taylor Lautner (August 2009-December)- They bonded over the movie set of
Valentines day, but she spoke little of it. We only have a glimpse through the
song Back To December where she talks about a rough night with an ex.
John Mayer (December 2009-Febraury 2010)- With another sour ending at
the age of 19, Taylor wrote the song Dear John in which she says “Don’t you
think I was too young to be messed with? The girl in the dress cried the whole
way home.”
Cory Monteith (April 2010-May)- Although it isn’t for certain, many
believe Speak Now and Mine are both songs about Cory as it was about a guy she
barely new but could see a relationship with.
Jake Gyllenhaal- (October 2010- January 2011)- Due to his busy schedule
as a actor, Taylor always claimed he was unreliable, which she writes about in
The Last Time.
Finally Conor Kennedy (July
2012-October)- this is linked to the song Begin Again and is all about finally
getting over a bad relationship.
Taylor has never been one to care
about the judgements she faces because of her relationship status, something
Queen Elizabeth also felt. Although on two different spectrums, Queen Elizabeth
would portray herself as a virgin, no matter the speculation over her love
affairs. Taylor Swift took everything more in her stride, and made a joke on
the rumours. This is seen in her song Shake It Off with the lyric “I go on too
many dates (chuckle) but I cant make them stay, at least that’s what people say
mmm-mmm” and in Blank Space with the lyric “Got a long list of ex-lovers
they’ll tell you I’m insane. Ain’t it funny rumors fly and I know you heard
about me…”. Another similarity is that Elizabeth always went for bad boys,
which is obvious with Taylor, she even sings in blank space “I could make the
bad guys good for a weekend.”
Finally Taylor Swift’s look very much
sticks to the Elizabethan era. She has very pale skin, which she always pairs
with a light rouged cheek and a red lip. She even named one of her albums Red.
Her hair always has a crimped texture and is a beautiful light blonde. She is a
wonderful modern Elizabethan.
Overall I feel that Taylor is a true
Elizabethan. She is a strong independent women, who has love affairs like many,
but deals with it in her own strong way. She knew exactly how to get herself
out there and forever promotes herself to be the best she can be.
Reference:
Wikipedia. (). Taylor Swift. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift. Last accessed 5/12/14.
Eells, J. (2014). The Reinvention of Taylor Swift. Available: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/taylor-swift-1989-cover-story-20140908. Last accessed 5/12/14.
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