Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 to pursue a career in country music. She broke into the country music scene with her eponymous self-titled debut studio album, Taylor Swift in 2006, which included the singles "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song". Swift also released the holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, later titled as The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007.
Swift rose to mainstream prominence with her sophomore studio album, Fearless (2008), a country pop record with crossover appeal. Aided by the top-five singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Swift's third studio album, Speak Now (2010), blended country pop with elements of rock and featured the top-ten singles "Mine" and "Back to December".
Drawing inspiration from various pop, rock, and electronic genres, Swift's fourth studio album Red (2012) saw her transcending her country roots. She completely moved to pop with her synth-pop fifth studio album, 1989 (2014), and expanded the electropop sound on her next two studio albums, reputation (2017) and Lover (2019), which respectively embraced urban and retro styles. The four albums spawned a string of international top-five singles, including "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", "Look What You Made Me Do", "ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco)", "You Need to Calm Down", and "Lover".
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift experimented with folk and alternative rock on her eighth and ninth studio albums, folklore and evermore (both 2020), whose lead singles "cardigan" and "willow" topped charts around the world. She also released the critically acclaimed documentaries Miss Americana and Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions that year. Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights (2022), marked her triumphant return to pop after two folk albums. The album set the record for biggest first day and first week ever on Spotify, spawned the hits Anti-Hero and Lavender Haze, and sold over 1.5 million copies in its first week becoming not only the biggest debut of the decade but also Swift's biggest debut ever. She would make history by becoming the first artist to occupy the entire top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 with tracks from Midnights.
Additionally, Swift began re-recording her back catalog in November 2020 as a result of a publicized dispute with talent manager Scooter Braun and her former label Big Machine, regarding the acquisition of the masters of her back catalog. In April 2021, Swift released a re-recorded issue of her 2008 album Fearless, titled Fearless (Taylor's Version). It debuted at number one in the US. Swift continued releasing re-recorded versions of her back catalog in November, 2021 with the release of Red (Taylor's Version), a 30 track re-issue of her 2012 critical smash. The album debuted at #1 in the US, spawned the #1 hit All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault), and broke the record at the time for biggest first day for a female album on Spotify. Red (Taylor's Version) was a critical and commercial hit, and proved that Swift's ambitious plan to re-record her first 6 albums was well worth it.
Along with the release of Red (Taylor's Version) came All Too Well: The Short Film (2021), Swift's filmmaking debut. The 15 minute romantic drama was based on the lyrical content from Swift's 2012 fan favorite "All Too Well" starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien. It had a limited theatrical release in major cities, and Swift held special screenings of the film throughout 2022 at various film festivals. In December, 2022 Taylor announced that she would be making her feature directorial debut with Oscar-winning studio Searchlight Pictures.
Following the release of Midnights, Swift would embark on her first tour in five years, The Eras Tour.
Swift has released several songs for film soundtracks. She co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack— "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier", and contributed two songs to the Valentine's Day soundtrack, including the single "Today Was a Fairytale", which was her first number one on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. She also contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album: "Safe & Sound - from The Hunger Games Soundtrack", co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, and "Eyes Open". "Safe & Sound" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 2013, Swift recorded "Sweeter than Fiction", a song she wrote and produced with Jack Antonoff for the One Chance film soundtrack, which received a Best Original Song nomination at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. Swift and English singer Zayn Malik, mononymously known as Zayn, released a single together, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", for the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades Darker (2017). She also recorded an original song called "Beautiful Ghosts", which she wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the Cats's soundtrack (2019). In 2020, Swift's documentary Miss Americana featured the song "Only the Young" which was written after the 2018 United States elections. In 2022, she released an original song titled "Carolina" for Where The Crawdads Sing (2022) inspired by the novel written by Delia Owens.
With sales of over 200 million records worldwide, Swift is a best-selling music artist. Her accolades include 12 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins), two Brit Awards (including a Global Icon award), an Emmy Award, 28 [https://guinnessworldrecords.com/]Guinness World Records, 32 American Music Awards (the most wins by an artist), and 23 Billboard Music Awards (the most wins by a woman). She ranked eighth on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists Chart (2019) and was listed on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015). Swift has been included in various power rankings, such as Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world (2010, 2015 and 2019) and Forbes Celebrity 100 (placing first in 2016 and 2019). She was named Woman of the Decade (2010s) by Billboard and Artist of the Decade (2010s) by the American Music Awards.
American Girl
Taylor Swift Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinking that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die
She was gonna keep
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Well it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
And she could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, all right
You take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Oh, take it easy now
Oh yeah, all right
She was an American girl
The lyrics to Taylor Swift's song "American Girl" describe a young woman who was raised on promises but desires more to her life than what she currently has. She yearns to escape her current situation and explore the world, believing that there is more out there for her to discover. The song's description of her being an "American girl" implies that she may feel bounded by her societal expectations and the perceived limitations of her upbringing.
The woman's sense of yearning is further conveyed in the lyrics' descriptions of the night, where she stands alone on her balcony in the cold, watching the cars roll by. The waves crashing onto the beach are a metaphor for the restlessness and intensity of her desires. Her memories flash back to a person from her past who is now out of reach, causing her heartache and pain. Despite this, she is determined to keep one little promise, implying that she is willing to take risks to achieve her dreams.
Overall, the song's lyrics explore themes of restlessness, escapism, and yearning for something more significant. The title "American Girl" can be interpreted as both a nod to Tom Petty's song "American Girl" and to a broader cultural idea of an ambitious young woman pursuing her dreams in America.
Line by Line Meaning
Well she was an American girl
The singer of the song is an American girl
Raised on promises
She grew up hearing big promises about the world and what she could achieve
She couldn't help thinking that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
Despite her upbringing, she has an inkling that there's more to life than what she sees around her
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
She acknowledges that the world is vast and there are potential opportunities elsewhere
Yeah, and if she had to die
Tryin-she had one little promise
She was gonna keep
She's determined to pursue her dreams, even if it means risking everything to achieve them
Well it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
And she could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin on the beach
She's alone and contemplating her future as she listens to the cars pass by
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach
She's reminded of someone from her past who she still holds onto but can't reach
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
The chorus repeats the song's title and implies a carefree attitude towards life
Contributed by Gianna V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Sevgi Aşık
Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, an d if she had to die
Tryin' she had one little promise
She was gonna keep
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
It was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
She could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' in the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Nick Hodge
Ironically, the older I get the more I like Taylor Swift; this is as good as a cover gets.
Sid T
Same haha. Hindsight is 2020 it seems.
rgoldz
HUGE Tom Petty fan, never a big Taylor Swift fan although I respect her talent, gotta say...this is Brilliant.
Tighnari
I looooove Tom petty so I wasn’t sure I’d like this but it’s really beautiful and shows off Toms amazing song writing and lyrical abilities. I respect any artist that can play two instruments like she does and found the heart of a song and made a version that gave me goosebumps!
Patrick Vaughan
I'm a huge Tom Petty fan, and don't usually like covers. This is absolutely beautiful!
Anna Rosen
Mikey Cyrus’s “just breathe” is amazing. Yo la Tengo’s “Friday I’m in love” is so sweet .. there are tons of great covers. Listen to the Miley one (if I feel like it, of course) 💕.
Liberty White
Me too.
LyricLover21
As a devout Tom Petty fan I really wanted to dislike this, but it moved me to tears! Simply phenomenal!!!
I heard it on Tom Petty radio and it blew my mind. Well done.
Paula Dycus
Same for me!!
conny brake
LyricLover21 me too 💧💧