Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans… Read Full Bio ↴Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her narrative songwriting, which is often inspired by her personal life, has received widespread media coverage and critical praise.

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. Following Midnights, Taylor Swift announced her upcoming eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department” (2024) which is set to be released on April 19, 2024. She announced this record at 66th Annual Grammy Award Show accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for her previous album, Midnights (2022) in honour of receiving her 13th Grammy.

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 14 Grammy Awards, including four Album of the Year wins, which makes
Swift the artist with the most awards for that category in history, 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, Artist of the Decade (2010s) by the American Music Awards, and Person of the Year (2023) by Time Magazine.

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Taylor Swift Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'm so glad you made time to see me
How's life
Tell me, how's your family?
I haven't seem them in a while
You've been good, busier than ever
We small talk, work, and the weather
Your guard is up and I know why
Because, the last time you saw me it still burned in the back of your mind

You gave me roses and I left them there to die

So, this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night
And I go back to December all the time
Turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I realized what I had when you were mine
And I go back to December, turn around and make it all right
I go back to December all the time

These days, I haven't been sleeping
Staying up, playing back myself leaving
When your birthday passed and I didn't call
Then I think about summer all the beautiful times I watched you laughing from the passenger side and
Realized I loved you in the fall
And when the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind
You gave me all your love and all I gave you was.. Goodbye

So, this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night
And I go back to December all the time
Turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time

I miss your tan skin, your sweet smile
So good to me so right
And how you held me in your arms that September night
The first time you ever saw me cry
Maybe this is wishful thinking, probably mindless dreaming
But If you loved again, I swear I'd love you right
I'd go back in time and change it
But I can't
So if the chain is on your door I understand

And then I said its too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it too late to apologize
It's too late

So, this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night
And I go back to December
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I realized what I had when you were mine

I said you're not sorry
No, no, no
You're not sorry
No, no, no
You're not sorry
No, no, no

You're not sorry
No, no, no

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Taylor Swift's "Back to December" are a heartfelt and emotional apology to someone she hurt in the past. As she meets up with this person, they exchange small talk about their lives and catch up on old times. However, there is tension between them as Swift acknowledges that the last time they were together, something went wrong. She gave him roses that he later found discarded, and she knows he hasn't forgotten that moment. Swift then goes on to reflect on how much she misses him since their break-up. She realizes that freedom without him means nothing to her, and she wishes she had realized how much he meant to her while they were still together. She relives their memories together, thinking about times when they were happy, and recognizes that she only realized how much she loved him as the relationship was ending. She then comes to the painful realization that she can't go back in time and fix what went wrong, and that he may never forgive her. The song ends with Swift's regretful admission that it's too late to apologize and that he's not sorry for moving on.

Overall, the lyrics to "Back to December" show the raw and honest emotion that comes with regret and the longing for a second chance. Swift is self-aware of her past mistakes and recognizes that her actions have caused her pain, as well as the pain of someone who meant a lot to her. She expresses the idea that time doesn't heal all wounds, and that sometimes it takes acknowledging past mistakes to be able to move forward.

Line by Line Meaning

I'm so glad you made time to see me
I appreciate that you have taken the time to meet me

How's life
How are you doing?

Tell me, how's your family?
How have your loved ones been?

I haven't seem them in a while
It's been a long time since we last saw each other

You've been good, busier than ever
You've been doing well, but very busy lately

We small talk, work, and the weather
We engage in casual conversation about work and the weather

Your guard is up and I know why
You're being guarded and I understand why

Because, the last time you saw me it still burned in the back of your mind
The last time we saw each other, my actions had a lasting impact on you

You gave me roses and I left them there to die
You were kind to me and I didn't appreciate it

So, this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night
I'm putting aside my pride and apologizing for what happened that night

And I go back to December all the time
I often think about that time in December

Turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
I've realized that being free doesn't mean anything if it means being away from you

Wishing I realized what I had when you were mine
I regret not appreciating what I had when we were together

And I go back to December, turn around and make it all right
I wish I could go back to December and fix things

These days, I haven't been sleeping
Lately, I've been having trouble sleeping

Staying up, playing back myself leaving
I keep replaying my decision to leave you in my mind

When your birthday passed and I didn't call
I regret not calling you on your birthday

Then I think about summer all the beautiful times I watched you laughing from the passenger side and
I fondly remember the happy moments we shared during the summer, when I watched you laugh from the passenger seat

Realized I loved you in the fall
I didn't fully realize my love for you until the autumn came

And when the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind
I felt scared during the cold and dark days of winter

You gave me all your love and all I gave you was.. Goodbye
You gave me everything, and I responded with a goodbye

I miss your tan skin, your sweet smile
I miss your beautiful skin and your sweet smile

So good to me so right
You were so good to me

And how you held me in your arms that September night
I remember how you held me on that particular night in September

The first time you ever saw me cry
That was the first time you saw me cry

Maybe this is wishful thinking, probably mindless dreaming
This may be unrealistic or foolish, but I can't help dreaming

But If you loved again, I swear I'd love you right
If you ever loved again, I promise to love you correctly

I'd go back in time and change it
I wish I could change the past

But I can't
But I know I can't

So if the chain is on your door I understand
If you've put a chain on your door to keep me out, I understand