Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has been named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023, making her the first figure from the arts to carry the honor. The superstar is the fourth solo Person of the Year to be born in the last century.
The cover story for the edition of Time features an exclusive interview with Swift from Time’s Sam Lansky, her first in-depth conversation in nearly four years.
TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs writes,
“The person chosen has typically been a ruler over traditional domains of power … very often a politician or a titan of industry … And yet the person whose singular influence was revealed throughout 2023 has held none of these roles—or anything remotely similar … Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light … Swift is the rare person who is both the writer and hero of her own story.”
Jacobs wrote
“Much of what Swift accomplished in 2023 exists beyond measurement. She mapped her journey and shared the results with the world: She committed to validating the dreams, feelings, and experiences of people, especially women, who felt overlooked and regularly underestimated … For building a world of her own that made a place for so many, for spinning her story into a global legend, for bringing joy to a society desperately in need of it, Taylor Swift is TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year”.
