The Philadelphia Enquirer reacted to hometown hero Taylor Swift being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023.
The superstar - who hails from West Reading, Philadelphia - was lavished with praise by the local newspaper, as the singer is reportedly the first entertainer to receive the honour and the 96th Person of the Year named by the outlet.
They wrote, “A woman from West Reading whose parents owned a Christmas tree farm has been named Time’s Person of the Year and no one is surprised.”
The outlet pointed out that Swift has had quite the year, from her sold-out, career-spanning Eras tour to a whirlwind romance with NFL darling, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the “Anti-Hero” singer has been reaching new career and personal heights.
Swift reportedly beat the likes of Barbie, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Hollywood actors and writers who went on strike, and King Charles III, to name a few. Each of them are notable figures who have left an indelible stamp on the collective pop cultural consciousness, but none were quite as ubiquitous as Swift.
“Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light,” Time’s editor-in-chief, Sam Jacobs, said.
“No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well,” he added. “Achieving this feat is something we often chalk up to the alignments of planets and fates, but giving too much credit to the stars ignores her skill and her power. Swift is the rare person who is both the writer and hero of her own story.”
Reporter Sam Lansky sat down with the cover star and entertainer for a candid interview reflecting on what a rollercoaster her career has been, with this year leading her to achieve higher echelons of success beyond her wildest dreams.
Swift thanked Lansky for his “wondrous way with words,” adding that she’s been a fan of his work for over a decade.
“If you’ve ever been around him, you know he’s just the best type of person: Curious. Interested. Hilarious. Intriguing and intrigued,” she praised Lansky. “I have tRuSt iSSueS when it comes to interviews but I couldn’t be happier that I did this one with him.”
In the interview, the “Lavender Haze” singer touched upon the highs and lows of her career, including the Kim Kardashian and Kanye West debacle. In 2016, Kardashian leaked a phone call that made it look like the singer approved of the lyric’s in West’s song “Famous,” in which he rapped: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that b**** famous.”
An unedited version of the clip would later be released in 2020, showing that Swift didn’t approve of any of the derogatory statements made in the song, but the damage to her reputation had already been done.
“That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year,” she told the outlet. “I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
But Swift has all but risen from the drama like a phoenix from the ashes, posing for four separate covers shot by fashion photographer duo, Inez and Vinoodh. In one of the cover photos, she rocks one of her cats, Benjamin Button, like a scarf wrapped around her shoulders.
