Taylor Swift is 2023’s Time Person of the Year, giving the billionaire, business mogul, singer, songwriter, director, actor and producer another heavyweight accolade for her mantelpiece.

 

“In a divided world, where too many institutions are failing, Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light,” wrote Time Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs. “No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well. 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.”

In the interview, Swift talks with Time writer Sam Lanksy from her New York City apartment about when she disappeared to an international rental in 2016 and hid for a year, her rerecorded albums taking off, her fitness training for her behemoth concert, her economic impact, her blockbuster movie and her relationship with Travis Kelce.

“I know I’m going on that stage whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable or stressed,” Swift said. “That’s part of my identity as a human being now. If someone buys a ticket to my show, I’m going to play it unless we have some sort of force majeure.”

Read on for more revelations from the interview.

Swift rereleased two of her albums, claiming the ownership of eight of her 10 eras. At the end of 2022, she released the “Bejeweled” music video and embedded in it her plans for 2023. The singer rode an elevator and planned to stop at floors three (her third album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”) and five (her fifth album “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”) on her way to the top.

The only two albums she has left are “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” and her eponymous debut album. Swift said the Reputation tracks will be “fire.”

“I’m collecting horcruxes,” she told Time. “I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.”

Swift credits Kelly Clarkson and her dad with pushing her to rerelease the albums. “I’d run into Kelly Clarkson and she would go, ‘Just redo it,’” Swift told Time. “My dad kept saying it to me too.”

The singer also credited Kenny Chesney with boosting her career back at its beginning. She lost an opportunity to tour with him when she was 17 because his shows were sponsored by a beer company. To make it up to her, the country star cut her a check for her 18th birthday she used to pay for tour buses and bonuses for her band.

“I was able to fuel my dreams,” Swift said about Chesney’s generosity.