Time magazine’s Person of the Year is Taylor Swift — because in this era, who else could it have possibly been? She was the first person from the arts to be honored for her success as an entertainer and also the first woman to appear twice on a Person of the Year cover since the franchise began in 1927. Swift was also named Person of the Year in 2017, when she was recognized as one of the Silence Breakers who inspired women to speak out about sexual misconduct. Swift joins the ranks of 14 U.S. presidents, five leaders of Russia or the Soviet Union and three popes.
The 33-year-old singer beat out Barbie, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and even King Charles III for the spot (though Swift, too, is undeniably royalty in her own right).
Swift told Time the honor — which has been previously bestowed to politicians, world leaders, activists and more — made her “the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt.”
Just in case the coveted title wasn’t enough of an accolade, this week Swift was also named People magazine’s Most Intriguing Person of the Year, Forbes’ Most Powerful Woman in Media and Entertainment, Apple Music’s Artist of the Year, and Spotify’s Global Artist of the Year.
Do I think this was the right choice for TIME person of the year? Yes, 1000%.
Do I think the cover was representative of how powerful and captivating she is? Unfortunately, no.
Many have questioned why the magazine would do such a ‘disservice’ to Taylor by ‘washing her out’ in the photos. Swifties have now rallied against Time Magazine and labeled the snaps of the singer showing off her signature red lip and donning a sequined bodysuit ‘basic’ and the ‘worst’ — adding that while Taylor achieved Person of the Year, Time didn’t give her ‘cover of the year.’
How can someone who commands millions on stage — she has people in the palm of her hand, waiting for her to drop her next hint and dissecting every little detail, down to her necklace and Instagram posts from 3 years ago — fall flat on the cover of TIME Magazine?
But if anyone knows Taylor Swift, then you know that she doesn’t do anything without leaving ‘easter eggs’ for her fans to dissect — she has proven herself to be a true “Mastermind”. And fans were quick to jump in and analyze every inch of these photos.
In the first setup, photographers captured Swift in a moody black bodysuit and matching tights — an obvious homage to her Reputation album. Her hair was also styled in its natural curl, except the bangs were pulled back. To any normal Swift fan, this is just a coincidence. But devoted Swifties remember on the original album’s cover, her hair was also curly and slicked back in a similar style. If you haven’t learned by now, nothing is an accident with Swift.
And while Taylor didn’t explicitly reveal when she’d be dropping Rep TV in the interview itself, fans have turned their attention to a mosaic portrait of Taylor featured in TIME — which appears to be packed with Easter Eggs. TIME wrote an article letting everyone know that there are hidden clues just waiting to be found — and fans pretty much immediately noticed a toy snake (THE symbol of Taylor’s Reputation era) placed next to a watch face with the hands at 12 and 7.
Naturally, this has people thinking Taylor could drop Rep TV (or at least a Rep TV announcementor something Rep TV related) on December 7, aka TODAY.
So maybe there is a bigger message from these photos, and when you take a step back, you realize this is all in her plan, she truly is a mastermind.
Swifties are on another level, they’re basically FBI agents at this point. Imagine them swarming to daylyy to see Taylor’s newest post, or Travis’ behind the scenes look into her life.
