Why Taylor Swift Should be TIME Person of the Year and Why She Shouldn't Be

by Tyler Glover and Julian Spivey

Taylor Swift Was the Right Choice for TIME's Person of the Year

​When Barbara Walters compiled her list of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year in 2014 she included TIME's 2023 Person of the Year, Taylor Swift. Barbara Walters said it best when she said that "Taylor Swift IS the music industry." At the time, Swift was coming off her transition into pop with the blockbuster success of 1989. It was considered for years to be the peak of Taylor Swift's career. What is crazy though is it wasn't! Taylor Swift's career peak hit in the year 2023, 17 years into her career. This is remarkable in an industry that tries to tell women they are done by 30 years old. The fact that Swift has peaked this far into her career and was arguably the biggest thing in pop culture this year is the reason no one else deserved the honor for TIME's Person of the Year. 
 
Swift has been extremely popular ever since her second album, Fearless became the most awarded country music album of all time. She became the youngest winner at the Grammy Awards (at the time) for Album of the Year. Swift followed this with her first album written solely by her (Speak Now). It became her first album to sell over 1 million copies in the first week. Her next three albums, Red, 1989 and reputation would all continue this feat. 1989 would garner Swift her second Album of the Year win at the Grammys. With all of the drama in 2016 where Kim Kardashian edited a video to make it appear that Swift had lied about permitting Kanye West to call her that "bitch," it appeared that her career could be over. However, her diehard fans, the Swifties, never strayed from her side. Her album, Lover, returned to sunny pop. When the pandemic happened, Swift strayed from pop to a more indie sound with folklore and evermore. folklore would give Swift her third Album of the Year win at the Grammys, tying her with Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder for the record. 
 
When Swift's entire catalog was sold out from under her to her nemesis Scooter Braun, she decided to re-record her first six albums that were recorded under Big Machine Records. She left BMR for Republic in 2019. Swift decided to release vault tracks from these albums to give fans an incentive to buy her new art and let her finally own the stories from her diary. These re-records have been critically and commercially successful.
 
However, it wasn't until her tenth studio album, Midnights, came out in 2022 that things started going to another level for Swift. She announced her Eras Tour, which would celebrate all 10 eras of her music career and give her the chance to tour four albums that had not been able to be performed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Swift's new album, Midnights, came out and in my opinion, it is one of her best albums. People fell in love with this album, which has been nominated for six Grammys and could get Swift her fourth Album of the Year Grammy this coming February. Aside from this, over these 17 years, Swift's fans have grown up. They have started having kids of their own and those little girls are falling in love with Taylor the same way their parents did. 
 
The Eras Tour has become the first tour in history to gross over $1 billion in revenue. A film version of it has become the highest-grossing concert film in history. Her Eras Tour was causing crazy booms to the economy wherever she was touring. Hotels, restaurants and stores see major increases in sales when Swift is in town. The tour isn't even halfway over either. She is expected to continue the tour through next year. 
 
When it came time for TIME to choose their Person of 2023, there simply was no one else who would have been a great choice. Swift has been everywhere this year and in a good way. She has been helping the economy more than any career politician has in the last few years, bringing joy to the world through her music, and giving us not only the highest-grossing tour but the best concert experience of my entire life. In 2023, there was only one person who could make the whole place shimmer and that was superstar Taylor Swift. - Tyler Glover 

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Taylor Swift Was the Wrong Choice for TIME's Person of the Year

So, my compadre Tyler did an excellent job at stating how Taylor Swift became the biggest superstar in entertainment and as the creator of this website dedicated solely to pop culture I salute him for doing so. But, you see, this is a pro and con article. So, Tyler being the “Swiftie” that he is got the easy part of the gig – explaining and exclaiming why Taylor Swift was the right person for Person of the Year. I have the hard part – and because of how overzealous Swift’s fan base can be, arguably a dangerous one at that in explaining why Taylor Swift is not the right choice for Person of the Year.
 
It also feels slightly wrong for me to vote against an entertainer for Person of the Year. I believe Swift is the first entertainer to ever receive this accolade and if any one performer in the entertainment industry was ever going to be named Person of the Year she’s probably the rightful choice. So, am I claiming an entertainer shouldn’t be significant enough to garner such a title? I don’t know if I believe that. Swift is certainly a more honorable person to be named Person of the Year than previous choices like Elon Musk in 2021, Donald Trump in 2016 and many others (y’all should check out who TIME called Person of the Year in 1938 – but also note Person of the Year isn’t necessarily honorific but a comment on who had the biggest impact on the world in the year chosen).
 
But what does it say when an entertainer is considered the person who had the biggest impact on the world over world leaders? Have we as a society and as a world become more concerned with needing to be entertained than more important societal or philosophical issues?
 
Earlier this month before announcing its selection as Person of the Year, TIME Magazine revealed nine candidates for the title on NBC’s “Today Show.” The eight candidates in addition to Swift were:
 
Hollywood strikes – both the Writers Guild and Actors Guild went on strike this year for higher wages, and more importantly the fight against artificial intelligence and royalties in the age of streaming  
 
Xi Jinping – the Chinese President who surprisingly hasn’t been named Person of the Year before.
 
Sam Altman – the visionary behind the ChatGPT A.I. that’ll write anything for you (seriously, screw that guy).
 
Trump prosecutors – the law in Florida, Georgia, New York and Washington D.C. who have brought felony charges against former U.S. President Donald Trump for election interference but thus far haven’t done enough to shut him up, let alone lock him up.  
 
Barbie – a toy that became something much more than a toy this summer thanks to director Greta Gerwig’s highest-grossing film of the year.
 
Vladimir Putin – the Russian President who was previously TIME’s Person of the Year and is still embroiled in a war against Ukraine and killing off his detractors.
 
King Charles III – who became King of England in May simply because of whose vagina he came out of many decades ago.
 
Jerome Powell – the Federal Reserve chairman whom TIME nominated for playing “a key role managing high inflation in the U.S.”
 
So, who among those is more deserving than Swift?
 
If the Trump prosecutors could manage to do something of note and not have half of this country still thinking Trump will be elected President again by this time next year they likely would’ve been my choice.
 
And when it comes to the world of pop culture I’m more inclined to want to say the Hollywood strikers, who truly seemed to make some important and good gains when it comes to earning more and staving off the tide of A.I. completely taking over the entertainment industry. But on a global scale did the Hollywood strikes impact the world?
 
None of TIME’s finalists impress me all that much. But there is one that was kind of on the right trail … and that’s Sam Altman, the man behind ChatGPT – the thing that will potentially put an end to what I’m doing right now – writing my thoughts on the internet.
 
I just don’t think TIME was thinking big enough with Altman being among the nominees. What truly should’ve been among the nominees instead was Artificial Intelligence in general because it was everywhere this year – from ChatGPT to Hollywood strike talks to creating fake videos on the internet that look and feel lifelike.
 
Artificial Intelligence has finally gotten to the point where it’s going to play a major role in this world – and maybe in a mostly negative way. It may take your job. It may take my job. It may take the job of actors, writers, etc. in Hollywood. Hell, it may even take Taylor Swift’s job one day.
 
TIME Person of the Year has been things or ideas before – The Computer in 1982, the Endangered Earth in 1988. Why not give it to our future A.I. overlords right now? – Julian Spivey