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 eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department” (2024) which was 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, yet ongoing 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—a retrospective tour covering the entirety of her discography. During her ongoing tour, Swift would release her next two re-recorded albums, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in July and 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October of 2023. The former of which would land Swift as the woman with the most number-one albums (12) in Billboard 200 history, surpassing Barbra Streisand. The latter was her sixth album to sell one million copies in a single week in the US, her largest album sales in a week span. “Is It Over Now? (Taylor's Version)”, the lead single for 1989 (Taylor's Version), would peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
At the 66th annual GRAMMY Awards, Taylor Swift surprised viewers by announcing her eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. On April 19, 2024, the album was released globally, breaking records: it became the first ever to amass 1 billion Spotify streams in a week and sold 2.6 million units in its first week in the US. Swift dominated the charts, monopolizing the top 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 and securing the top 10 positions on Australia’s ARIA Singles Chart. The lead single, Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, quickly soared to the number-one position on the Hot 100. Additionally, just two hours after the album’s release, Swift surprised fans with a reissue titled THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY, which included 15 extra songs.
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.
Taylor Swift is the Music Industry.
We Were Happy
Taylor Swift Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When the porch lights were shining bright
Before I had somewhere to be
Back when we had all night
And we were happy
I do recall a good while back
We snuck into the circus
Back when I deserved it
And we were happy
When it was good baby,
It was good baby
We showed 'um all up
No one could touch the way we
Laughed in the dark
Talking 'bout your daddy's farm
We were gonna buy someday
And we were happy
We used to watch the sun go down
On the boats in the water
That's sorta how I feel right now
And Goodbye's so much harder
'Cause we were happy
When it was good baby,
It was good baby
We showed 'um all up
No one could touch the way we
Laughed in the dark
Talking 'bout your daddy's farm
We were gonna buy someday
And we were happy
Oh, I hate those voices
Telling me I'm not in love anymore
But they don't give me choices
And that's what these tears are for
'Cause we were happy
We Were Happy
When it was good baby,
It was good baby
We showed 'um all up
No one could touch the way we
Laughed in the dark
Talking 'bout your daddy's farm
And you were gonna marry me
When we were happy
Yeah, We were were happy
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
We Were happy
In Taylor Swift's song We Were Happy, the lyrics recount a nostalgic reflection on a past relationship that was once filled with happiness and laughter. The first verse paints a picture of youthful innocence, of carefree walks on the street at night, before the responsibilities of adulthood took over. The second verse recalls fond memories of an adventure, sneaking into a circus and embracing each other deeply, reminiscing about the nostalgia of the relationship. The sense of joy that they shared was truly one of a kind and the couple never allowed anyone to get in the way of their happiness.
In the chorus, the lyrics display the pride and fulfillment in their relationship. No one could touch the way that they laughed together in the dark and spoke about their shared dream of owning a farm someday. The vivid imagery of watching the sun go down, and the boats reflecting the sky, highlights that this relationship was once a source of natural beauty and tranquillity.
As the song nears its end, it takes a somber turn, as the singer comes to terms with the end of their love story. Swift employs a stark contrast between the melancholic realization of lost love and the happy memories of the past. The bridge, with its haunting lyrics of "I hate those voices telling me I'm not in love anymore, but they don't give me choices" conveys the struggle of letting go of love.
Overall, the lyrics of We Were Happy illustrate the complexity of a failed relationship, the pain of moving on, and the nostalgia and beauty of happiness remembered. It's a reminder to cherish the good times and memories life gives us, even though they may be bittersweet.
Line by Line Meaning
We used to walk along the street
When the porch lights were shining bright
Before I had somewhere to be
Back when we had all night
And we were happy
In the past, we used to stroll down the street when it was illuminated with the lights of the porch. This happened before I had any commitments and obligations, meaning we had all the time in the world. That was when we were the happiest
I do recall a good while back
We snuck into the circus
You threw your arms around my neck
Back when I deserved it
And we were happy
My memory takes me back to a time when we went to the circus without permission. You hugged me tightly around my neck, something I deserved at that time in our relationship. Those were the happy memories of our past
When it was good baby,
It was good baby
We showed 'um all up
No one could touch the way we
Laughed in the dark
Talking `bout your daddy's farm
We were gonna buy someday
And we were happy
Our love was top-notch - unbeatable. We were so ecstatic and in sync that people started taking note of us. We would laugh so much, reminiscing about buying your father's farm someday. Those were the simple things that made us happy
We used to watch the sun go down
On the boats in the water
That's sorta how I feel right now
And Goodbye's so much harder
'Cause we were happy
There was a time when we would sit by the waterside at dusk, watching the sunset as boats sailed past us. Right now, as we say our goodbyes, it's even harder to let go because we were at our happiest then
Oh, I hate those voices
Telling me I'm not in love anymore
But they don't give me choices
And that's what these tears are for
'Cause we were happy
It's so hard to accept the voices in my head telling me that I don't love you anymore. I wish I had a choice, but it seems like these tears are the only way out of the pain. We were at our happiest when we were together
And you were gonna marry me
When we were happy
Yeah, we were happy
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
We Were happy
We promised ourselves for commitment before we started being miserable. It's sad, but true that we were happiest when we made those promises. We were happy together
Contributed by Callie G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@jeremywu1238
"I will never change, but I'll never stay the same either."
- Taylor Swift
@pranavsarvaiya3728
🤘
@jyothilakshmi8438
That line just hit my heart ♥
@user-wd6do7kj2i
Some things never changed
@richardentero155
so true bestoe
@tuyethangphamthi5393
Hey Stephen: I think you and I should stay the same
Change: This thing will change, can you see it now?
@jessicaking9926
Fearless: We snuck into the circus
Folklore: They called off the circus
@saml4509
Reputation: circus ain't a love story
@hpis4me
WoAh 🤯
@caratkate2860
This one: we we happy
TMIK: and I would have been so happy