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.
Sweet Tea and God's Graces
Taylor Swift Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Whistle County creek
Laying in the green grass, I was watching clouds pass
Baby, you were watching me
Cold barn struck bed, everything you said
Slowly educating me
I never had a lesson so sweet
You can get by with sweet tea and God's graces
You can love like a sinner and lose like a winner
Nothing's shatterproof
You can crash and burn and come back someone new
And that's what I learned from you
Autumn rain, window pane, looking how the leaves change
Just like the two of us
Still got your laugh, your ghost, your jacket
Guess I loved you way too much
But I'm a little smarter, my heart's a little harder
But it's still soft enough to cry
Cause I remember those times
I remember.........
You can get high on a first kiss
You can get by with sweet tea and God's graces
You can love like a sinner and lose like a winner
Nothing's shatterproof
You can crash and burn and come back someone new
And that's what I learned from you
Saw you just the other day
All that I could think to say was,
"Hey, how have you been?"
You caught me with that old smile
Said, "It's really been a while,
And I still think about back when.."
We used to get high on the first kiss
We could get by with sweet tea and Jesus
And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner
Nothing's shatterproof
You can crash and burn and now I'm someone new
And that's what I learned from you
Oh, that's what I learned from you
That's what I learned from you, oh you, oh
That's what I learned from you, oh yeah
The song "Sweet Tea and God's Graces" by Taylor Swift is a story of a relationship that has come to an end but the lessons learned from it still linger on in the present. The first verse is a flashback to a summer memory where Taylor Swift describes her surroundings - tire swings, honeysuckle on the breeze, Whistle County creek, and laying in green grass watching clouds pass. It was a moment where she was carefree and happy, and her lover was watching her with affection. The setting changes to a cold barn struck bed where Taylor's lover is educating her on love and life, and she finds it one of the sweetest lessons she has ever had.
The chorus of the song is about life lessons that the relationship taught her. The first kiss may bring a high, but it is not enough to sustain a relationship. She has learned to rely on sweet tea and God's graces to get through life's challenges. She knows that love is not always guaranteed, and losing can also be a lesson in life. Nothing is shatterproof, and one can come back from a crash and burn.
The last verse is about the present, where Taylor meets her ex-lover again after a long time. The past memories rush back, and she realizes that despite the heartbreak, she has learned valuable lessons from the relationship. The song ends with a repeated chorus, denoting that the lessons learned will continue to shape her life.
Line by Line Meaning
Tire swings, summer dreams, honeysuckle on the breeze
I remember a carefree summer day with sweet smells and the laughter of my childhood
Whistle County creek
The sound of water trickling by as I enjoyed a beautiful day
Laying in the green grass, I was watching clouds pass
Relaxed in the moment and enjoying the beauty of nature
Baby, you were watching me
I felt loved and appreciated by the person I was with
Cold barn struck bed, everything you said
Memories of a conversation with someone special that impacted me greatly
Slowly educating me
I was learning valuable lessons from the person I was with
I never had a lesson so sweet
The lessons I was learning were difficult, but the person made the experience worth it
You can get high on a first kiss
The exhilaration and excitement of a first kiss can be intoxicating
You can get by with sweet tea and God's graces
Sometimes the simple pleasures in life, along with faith, can help us through difficult times
You can love like a sinner and lose like a winner
Love can be both beautiful and painful
Nothing's shatterproof
Nothing in life is guaranteed to last forever
You can crash and burn and come back someone new
We can learn and grow from our mistakes and come back stronger
And that's what I learned from you
The person I was with taught me valuable lessons that have stayed with me
Autumn rain, window pane, looking how the leaves change
Remembering a beautiful and peaceful moment
Just like the two of us
Reflecting on a past relationship
Still got your laugh, your ghost, your jacket
Memories of the person I was with stay with me even though they are gone
Guess I loved you way too much
Realizing that my love for the person I was with was intense and deep
But I'm a little smarter, my heart's a little harder
Gaining wisdom from the past and becoming stronger as a result
But it's still soft enough to cry
Despite the growth, I still have emotions and am capable of vulnerability
Cause I remember those times
Memories of the past still hold a special place in my heart
Saw you just the other day
Encountering the person from my past unexpectedly
All that I could think to say was,
Feeling at a loss for words
"Hey, how have you been?"
Asking a polite and simple question
You caught me with that old smile
Feeling a rush of emotions upon seeing the person's smile once again
Said, "It's really been a while,
Noticing the amount of time that has passed since we last saw each other
And I still think about back when.."
Reflecting on memories of the past
We used to get high on the first kiss
Remembering the intense and exciting feeling of a first kiss
We could get by with sweet tea and Jesus
Finding comfort and strength in faith and simple pleasures
And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner
Love can be messy and unpredictable
Now I'm someone new
Growing and changing because of past experiences
Oh, that's what I learned from you
The lessons I learned from the person I was with have greatly impacted my life
That's what I learned from you, oh you, oh
Reflecting on the person that taught me so much
That's what I learned from you, oh yeah
Acknowledging the impact the person had on my life
Contributed by Lillian W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@chirpchirp8585
awww thanks! i was searching for this :))
@ngocdoan.pianoloft
You're welcome!