Taylor Swift named Time’s Person of the Year

For the first time, Time magazine chose someone who is primarily known as an entertainer for its Person of the Year.

Photo by: Natacha Pisarenko / AP

Coming off her record-breaking concert tour, which was followed by a box office-topping concert film, Taylor Swift has a new accolade: Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year.

Swift is the first person primarily known for being an entertainer to be named Person of the Year. The award has been given annually since 1927.

Time editor Sam Jacobs made the announcement Wednesday on the “Today” show. Jacobs said Swift was chosen for “bringing light to the world.”

“Every year contains light and dark; 2023 was a year with significant shares of darkness,” Jacobs wrote. “In a divided world, where too many institutions are failing, Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light. No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well. Achieving this feat is something we often chalk up to the alignments of planets and fates, but giving too much credit to the stars ignores her skill and her power. ”

The magazine said that it had been four years since Swift had given a one-on-one media interview.

“I’ve been raised up and down the flagpole of public opinion so many times in the last 20 years,” she told Time. “I’ve been given a tiara, then had it taken away.”

Earlier this week, Time announced the finalists for the yearly honor. Hollywood strikers, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman, Trump prosecutors, Barbie, Russian President Vladamir Putin, King Charles and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell were among those considered.

Swift follows last year’s winner Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 2021 winner Elon Musk, and2020 winners Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.

Time says it selects the “individual, group, or concept that has had the most influence on the world throughout the previous 12 months.”

Time will release three covers featuring Swift as Person of the Year starting Dec. 15.

Swift explains relationship with Travis Kelce

 

During her interview with Time, Swift explains how she and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce became a couple.

“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” she told Time. “We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. 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.”

She said she recognizes the attention she has been getting during Chiefs broadcasts, but added, “I’m just there to support Travis.”

“I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in,” she says. “There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once.”

 

Swift bets on herself

 

Swift clearly swung for the fences this year, and hit big. Not only were tickets to her concert tour hard to come by, her albums topped charts and her film led the box office.

“Nothing is permanent,” she says about her popularity. “So I’m very careful to be grateful every second that I get to be doing this at this level, because I’ve had it taken away from me before. There is one thing I’ve learned: My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.”

Considering how many fans who wanted to see her tour were unable to get in, there was a clear demand for a film like the one released in October.

Swift said she went to a number of producers on how to best release a video recording of her Eras Tour concert.

“We sized up how it was perceived and valued, and if they had high hopes and dreams for it. Ultimately I did what I tend to do more and more often these days, which is to bet on myself,” she said.