There are many reasons for Taylor Swift’s extraordinary success: talent, resilience, courage and, not least, a work ethic that is second to none. The country-turned-pop superstar is tireless and extraordinary productive. Her just-announced The Life of a Showgirl will be her ninth full-length album of the 2020s. And that doesn’t even count live albums.
Swift has been a prolific and engaged artist since she released her eponymous debut album in October 2006. Her longest gap between regular studio albums was just over three years – the gap between 1989 (October 2014) and reputation (November 2017).
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But she has picked up the pace in the 2020s. As this decade began, Swift had achieved six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and had become the first woman to win the Grammy for album of the year twice as a lead artist. One might reasonably think that an artist who had achieved that much success and validation would let up on the pace a bit, perhaps even take a well-earned breather. Instead, Swift has redoubled her efforts.
Two factors played a role in this explosion of activity. COVID-19, which was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, led Swift to record two albums in quick succession, Folklore and its “sister record,” Evermore. They were released less than five months apart in 2020.
And Swift’s desire to reclaim control of her artistic legacy led her to re-record four of her early albums. Those re-recordings didn’t slow the pace of new studio albums. Swift somehow found the time and energy to toggle back and forth between new albums and re-recordings of old ones.
In addition to these nine new and re-recorded albums, Swift has also released two live albums in the 2020s – Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions and Lover (Live from Paris). (Technically, there was a third: Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008 was released in April 2020 without Swift’s approval. Swift bluntly denounced the release on her social media accounts, calling it “shameless greed in the time of coronavirus” and asked fans not to buy or stream the album. They complied: The album flopped.)
Just about any talent scout will say that talent is not enough to achieve and sustain success in the music business. A strong will to succeed, and a willingness to do whatever that takes, are just as important. You can call it a “work ethic.” Swift has it in spades.
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