Even as a teenager, Taylor Swift had high hopes for her career.
The singer released her first album when she was 16 and built a fan base that has stuck with her into her 30s. Not long after the release of her debut album, Swift was looking far into the future.
She shared how she hoped people would remember her after the end of her career.
Taylor Swift spoke about how she hopes people will remember her career
In the early stages of her career, Swift prioritized her songwriting.
“When people look back on my career, I’d love for them to look at what I’ve done and say wow, she wrote songs for herself but she also wrote that hit for someone else, and then someone else,” she told InsideVandy in 2007.
She also wanted people to view her as gracious and modest. It wouldn’t hurt to sell a lot of records, either.
“I’d love for people to look back and say that I never took anything for granted and I appreciated everything that was ever given to me because everything can be taken away if I make one wrong move,” she said. “I want people to look back and realize that I was really respectful of the music industry and my career — and that I sold millions and millions of albums.”
She said her big break came long before she was famous
Given the importance Swift placed on her songwriting, it makes sense that she believes her big break has more to do with that than singing.
“I don’t consider my big break to have ever happened as a singer,” she said. “My first break came as a songwriter when I was 14 years old and I was signed to a publishing deal with Sony Publishing. From that point on I was a paid songwriter.”
She said the publishing deal helped her grow tremendously as a songwriter.
“I would go in every day and write songs with some of the best songwriters in town,” she said. “I met so many people through that and learned so many things so I really consider that to be my big break.”
Taylor Swift reflected on her career in her Eras Tour
While her career is still going strong, Swift looked back on it with her recent Eras Tour. In it, she reflected on the various eras of her career.
She said she believes it’s important to celebrate all versions of herself, even as she grows and changes as a person.
“Every part of you that you’ve ever been, every phase you’ve ever gone through, was you working it out in that moment with the information you had available to you at the time,” she told Time in 2023. “There’s a lot that I look back at like, ‘Wow, a couple years ago I might have cringed at this.’ You should celebrate who you are now, where you’re going, and where you’ve been.”
