Fifteen years before Taylor Swift was born, father Scott was graduating from the University of Delaware with a degree in business after living in Brown Hall just off The Green near Grotto Pizza.
Who knew he would one day be a parent to Time magazine's first-ever entertainer Person of the Year.
That's right. Taylor Swift was announced Wednesday morning as Time's Person of the Year for 2023 ― the first time a performer received the honor in the 94-year history of the annual power issue.
She beat out eight others on the magazine's shortlist: Hollywood strikers, Chinese President Xi Jinping, AI leader Sam Altman, Donald Trump prosecutors, "Barbie," Russian President Vladimir Putin, United Kingdom's King Charles III and Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell.
FLASHBACK'The Eras Tour' coming to Philly. Did you know Taylor Swift has this Delaware connection?
"In a divided world, where too many institutions are failing, Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light," wrote Time Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs. "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."
Even though her connection to UD via her father is her only real Delaware link other than performing at the Delaware State Fair 16 years ago, we still kinda want to adopt her as our own. She grew up 50 miles north of the First State in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and that's close enough for us.
And now, she's part of world history, joining the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill as Time's Person of the Year.
Not too bad.
In the article, Swift talks with Time writer Sam Lanksy from her New York City apartment about when she disappeared to an international rental in 2016 and hid for a year, her rerecorded albums taking off, her fitness training for her behemoth concert, her economic impact, her blockbuster movie and her relationship with Travis Kelce.
"I know I'm going on that stage whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable or stressed," she said in the article. "That’s part of my identity as a human being now. If someone buys a ticket to my show, I’m going to play it unless we have some sort of force majeure."
The main character of pop culture had a groundbreaking year with the kickoff of her Eras Tour that brought her 3½-hour show to 66 shows in 23 cities across North America, Argentina and Brazil.
When the SAG-AFTRA strike halted the promotion of blockbuster movies, Swift struck a deal with the union and then bypassed production studios to release her movie with distributor AMC. Her "Eras Tour" film made more than $200 million globally, according to AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron on X, formerly Twitter.
"Twelve of my last 13 tweets (there's that ubiquitous lucky number 13 again) have been about Taylor Swift. Want to know why?" he posted. "Well, there are about 200 million reasons why! Taylor Swift's concert film is the highest grossing in history."
Swift re-released two of her albums, claiming the ownership of eight of her 10 eras. At the end of 2022, she released the "Bejeweled" music video and embedded in it her plans for 2023. The singer rode an elevator and planned to stop at floors three (her third album "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)") and five (her fifth album “1989 (Taylor’s Version)") on her way to the top.
The only two albums she has left are "Reputation (Taylor’s Version)" and her eponymous debut album.Swift said the "Reputation'' tracks will be "fire."
ANOTHER FLASHBACK
"I'm collecting horcruxes," she told Time. "I'm collecting infinity stones. Gandalf's voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now."
In November, Bloomberg named Swift a billionaire from her booming "Eras Tour" movie hitting theaters, album re-recordings and merchandise sales.
A hidden "Taylor Swift economy" catapulted sales for business owners across the nation. From soaps to a thematic cruise inspired by her eras, the insatiable thirst for Swift gear skyrocketed. The USA TODAY Network even hired areporter dedicated to covering the Taylor Swift beatfull time.
SZA @ UD
Professionally she killed it in 2023, and personally, she started dating star tight end Travis Kelce. In Argentina, the Kansas City Chief attended her concert where she sang "End Game" in her surprise set and changed a "Karma" lyric to "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me."
Heading into 2024, Swift will kick off the Eras Tour again in Tokyo, Japan and Australia. Sorry, there is no Delaware show on the schedule. Yet.
USA Today contributed to this report. Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).
