Taylor Swift Reveals Bombshells as Time’s Person of the Year

A Check From Kenny Chesney Helped Jumpstart Taylor’s Career

At 17, Taylor’s first big opportunity came from a chance to tour with country singer Kenny Chesney. However, her dreams were shattered when a beer company opted to sponsor the tour, which meant Taylor couldn’t join because of her age. The “Betty” singer was devastated but Kenny saved the day with his 18th birthday present for the Grammy Award winning artist – an apology card with a check.

“It was for more money than I’d ever seen in my life,” Taylor told Time. “I was able to pay my band bonuses. I was able to pay for my tour buses. I was able to fuel my dreams.”

Taylor Physically Trained for the Eras Tour

The Eras tour has dominated the news and made Swifties reach a whole new level of adoration for their queen, and it was well-deserved. Taylor said she previously toured “like a frat guy,” but her preparation for this tour required a different approach and her gym even created a specific program for her.

“Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” she said. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs. Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones. I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.”

The Feud With Kim Kardashian Took a Huge Mental Toll on the Singer

Taylor’s career took a hit when Kim Kardashian released a phone call between then-husband Kanye West and the “Mastermind” artist, making it seem like Taylor approved the vulgar lyrics of Kanye’s song “Famous.” Kim’s fans immediately swarmed social media labeling the “Cruel Summer” crooner as a snake, something Taylor had a tough time handling.

“You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar,” Taylor revealed. “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. 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.”

Taylor Thought Scooter Braun Wanted Her ‘Masters for Nefarious Reasons’

After the release of her album Lover in 2019, her record label Big Machine was sold to Scooter Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings. The sale resulted in Scooter profiting off six of her albums.

Taylor recalled feeling “beat” after the incident, and said, “With the Scooter thing, my masters were being sold to someone who actively wanted them for nefarious reasons, in my opinion.”

Scooter eventually took some hits of his own when big names like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande left the company, but Taylor pointed out that she knows “fame is a seesaw” and “nothing is permanent.”

“But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies,” she told Time. “Trash takes itself out every single time.”

Taylor’s First Chiefs Game Wasn’t Her and Travis Kelce’s First Date

Football fans and Swifties collided when Taylor popped up at the September 24, 2023, Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium. While lots of fans believed this was the couple’s first date, they’d actually been dating a few months at that point.

The “Lavender Haze” singer revealed that she and Travis Kelce began hanging out shortly after he called her out on his podcast, “New Heights,” in July 2023.

“We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date,” she said.