Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. Her third single, "Our Song," made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me," Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the U.S. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Swift's third and fourth albums, 2010's Speak Now and 2012's Red, both sold over one million copies within the first week of their U.S release. Speak Now won two Grammy Awards, while Red's singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" were worldwide hits. Swift's fifth album, the pop-focused 1989, was released in 2014. It sold more copies in its opening week than any album in the previous 12 years, and made Swift the first and only act to have three albums sell more than one million copies in a week. The singles "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space" both reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won 3 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, making Swift the first and only woman in the awards' history that has won this honor twice.
Swift is known for narrative songs about her personal experiences. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other achievements include ten Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, eleven Country Music Association Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards. To date, she has sold over 30 million albums (27.1 million in the U.S.) and 80 million digital single downloads. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day (2010), the animated film The Lorax (2012) and The Giver (2014). As a philanthropist, Swift supports arts education, children's literacy, natural disaster relief, LGBT anti-discrimination activities and charities for sick children.
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"Shake It Off" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014). Written by Swift, Max Martin and Shellback, it is an uptempo pop track and features a departure from Swift's earlier country pop musical style. "Shake It Off" is the sixth track on the album and serves as the lead single. The song premiered during a Yahoo! live stream session on August 18, 2014; its music video was also released the same day. Several hours later, the song was made available for digital download.
"Shake It Off" received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its musical style. Meanwhile, the music video received mixed reception, and was additionally criticized for a scene which involved twerking. "Shake It Off" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending September 6, 2014, becoming Swift's second number-one single in the United States and the 22nd song to debut at number one in the chart's history. The song won Favorite Song at the 2015 People's Choice Awards, and also received nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 2015 Grammy Awards.
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The Speak Now World Tour was the second concert tour by American singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift. Also referred to as the Speak Now World Tour 2011 and the Speak Now World Tour 2012, the tour was launched in support of her third studio album, Speak Now (2010). The tour visited Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The tour ranked tenth in Pollstar's "Top 50 Worldwide Tour (Mid-Year)", earning over $40 million. At the conclusion of 2011, the tour placed fifth on Billboard's annual, "Top 25 Tours", earning $97 million with 89 shows.
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Red is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records, as the follow-up to her third studio album, Speak Now (2010). The album title was inspired by the "semi-toxic relationships" that Swift experienced during the process of conceiving this album, which Swift described the emotions she felt as "red emotions" due to their intense and tumultuous nature.
It was also a huge global success, becoming Swift's first chart-topper in the UK, and also topped the album charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand while charted in the top ten in every other major market including China. Worldwide, it has sold 6 million copies as of August 2014. Red became the best-selling album country album of 2012, making it her third consecutive top-seller and the second best-seller overall across all genres despite being out only for two months.