Taylor Swift has gone through a massive transformation in the public eye. She went from country to pop, from Nashville to New York, from serial girlfriend to single and proud, from media good girl to a feminist with complex views on the world. Basically, she's become a real woman — who also happens to be a global superstar. In a new interview with the Telegraph, she talks about the changes in her life, her expectations for her career, the follow-up to 1989, her friendships, her love life, her rumored feud with Katy Perry and more. Here's what she had to say:
On removing her music from Spotify:
"I didn't think it was going to be international news or affect a public offering. If I have an opinion on something, I act accordingly — and I believe music is valuable."
On her ability to sell albums:
"There were so many doomsday theories about the music industry. For the last two albums I'd sold one million copies in a week, and I knew people were waiting to see me not hit that number and then diagnose the music industry as dying or dead. Which is a lot of pressure to put on one artist and one album. We all have to step up and make albums that are good, top to bottom, if selling albums is still important. It is to me, but a lot of artists have already given up on that. I have friends who just think it's not attainable, which I feel is a very defeatist way to look at life."
On her circle of famous friends:
"The thing about my girlfriends right now is that none of them needs me for anything other than friendship. I love the fact that they are all passionate about their jobs, whatever their jobs are. A lot of celebrity-type people have this group of people around them where their friends' main priority is them, and they feel comfortable with that dynamic. I don't feel comfortable with that dynamic."
On her Swifties:
"[Our interaction is] not in a way that's like, having sycophantic worshippers. My fans make fun of me — it's really cool. They have all these Gifs of me making an idiot of myself or tripping and falling on stage. They bring humor back into it for me. I get too serious sometimes - you can probably tell - and they bring me back to like, 'OK, I'm not really doing anything that difficult. I just need to calm down.' I love them. They are cool and smart and hilarious and focused on the right things."
On being a role model for her fans:
"I want to make the most of this cultural relevance or success or whatever you want to call it, because it's not going to last. I have to be as good a person [as I can] while my name matters to them. Because it's not always going to matter to kids who are 15 and really struggling with who they want to be or [because] their friends were brutal to them at school that day. That's actual turmoil. I have to do everything I can to make their day better while I still can.
"[Sending presents] is fun for me. If I go a week without sending something, I start to feel sad. I'm getting to know them on a person-by-person basis. When I pick people to send packages to, I go on their social-media sites for the last six months and figure out what they like or what they are going through. Do they like photography? I'll get them a 1980s Polaroid camera. Do they like vintage stuff? I'll go to an antiques place and get them 1920s earrings. Do they work out a lot? I'll get them workout stuff. When you actually get to know them on a person-by-person basis, you realize what you're doing is special and sacred and it matters."
On not commenting on her rumored feud with Katy Perry:
"I'm not giving [the media] anything to write about. I'm not walking up the street with boys, I'm not stumbling out of clubs drunk. But I'm never going to talk about her in my interview. It's not going to happen."
On her love life:
"I'll be 30. I'll probably still be single, let's be honest. No one's going to sign up for this and everything that goes with it. Like, 'Hi, nice to meet you, want a date? Do you love camera flashes? I hope you do!' I don't know what's going to happen if I'm ever content in a relationship - no idea how that's going to work. I don't even know if that's possible with the life I have. I used to think it was important to find a boyfriend. But I don't feel that it is now. I just want to have as much fun and as many adventures as possible."
On her follow-up to 1989:
"I'm not going to put out an album until I've made one that's better than this one and that's going to be really hard. If that does happen, I think I could find complexity in happiness. I don't think anything's ever simple. Just because you're happy in a relationship doesn't mean that there aren't moments of confusion or frustration or loneliness or sadness. Hopefully, if I ever find some sort of meaningful relationship, I'll be able to still find inspiration, just through the everyday ups and downs."
Read the full interview here, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
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