Taylor Swift’s fans know all too well that the singer has had a transformative 2023.
“It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33,” the pop star told Time magazine of her achievements earlier this month. “And for the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.”
She continued, “This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been.”
Not only did the Grammy winner kick off her epic Eras Tour in March, but she released two re-recorded albums and reached billionaire status.
Swift’s personal life also saw its fair share of ups and downs as she ended her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn and hard-launched a new romance with Travis Kelce — with a controversial fling in between.
Keep scrolling to revisit the songwriter’s major moments this year in both her career and personal life as she turns 34 on Dec. 13.
Eras Tour
Swift announced her 151-show, five-continent Eras Tour in November 2022, telling her fans it would kick off in Arizona in March of the following year and end in Canada in November 2024.
The American Music Award winner promised fans “a journey through the musical eras of [her] career (past and present!)”
The tour set the record for the highest-grossing of all time, caused an extraordinarily high demand for tickets and led to an apology from Swift herself.
Each three-hour show features 10 acts, with the performer sectioning the concerts by album and changing into different costumes for each.
Swift’s different looks paid homage to her “Taylor Swift,” “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989,” “Reputation,” “Lover,” “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Midnights” records.
Concertgoers caught cameos from Phoebe Bridgers, Matty Healy, Hayley Williams and more singers throughout the tour.
Joe Alwyn breakup
In April, news broke that Swift and her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn had called it quits.
“It wasn’t dramatic,” a source told Pvnew at the time, claiming that the relationship had simply “run its course.”
Music producer Jack Antonoff seemingly hinted at the duo’s split timeline in November when he told his Instagram followers when Swift’s “You’re Losing Me” breakup ballad was written and recorded.
The song, believed to be about Alwyn, was written and recorded in December 2021, leading fans to believe the pair had been on the rocks for awhile before ending things.
Later that same month, Swift and the actor found themselves back in headlines after celebrity gossip Instagram account Deuxmoi claimed they had secretly gotten married — which Swift’s rep, Tree Paine, denied.
“Enough is enough with these fabricated lies about Taylor,” the publicist tweeted at the time. “There was NEVER a marriage or ceremony of ANY kind. This is an insane thing to post. It’s time for you to be held accountable for the pain and trauma you cause with posts like these.”
Matty Healy fling
Although the “Cruel Summer” and Healy were romantically linked in May, with the 1975 frontman and Swift making multiple appearances on and off her tour, the connection was controversial.
Not only did Healy’s previous comments about Swift come to light, but Swifties launched a #SpeakUpNow campaign requesting he apologize for bigoted remarks made on the “Adam Friedland Show” in February.
The duo broke up in June, with a source alleging to “Entertainment Tonight” that they were “extremely busy” and “not really compatible.”
‘Speak Now’ re-release
“Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” came out in July as Swift continued re-recording her albums in response to Scooter Braun buying her masters in 2019.
“The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness,” she wrote via Instagram before the release. “I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing … and living to speak about it.”
In addition to changing a misogynistic lyric from “Better Than Revenge,” Swift shared six vault tracks: “Electric Touch,” “When Emma Falls in Love,” “I Can See You,” “Castles Crumbling,” “Foolish One” and “Timeless.”
Travis Kelce romance
Kelce decided to shoot his shot with Swift in July, with the NFL player calling out the performer on his “New Heights” podcast when he tried and failed to pass on his phone number at an Eras Tour stop.
Despite Swift not going public with Kelce until September, the pair connected over the summer after his “metal as hell” shout-out.
“We started hanging out right after that,” Swift clarified to Time in December.
“So 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,” she recalled.
Kelce said the same to WSJ. magazine, explaining that he “had already kind of been talking” to Swift before their first date in New York City.
Since going public, Swift has been a staple at Kansas City Chiefs games in Missouri. Kelce, for his part, showed his support at one of her Argentina shows during a bye week in November.
‘Eras Tour’ film experience
Swift revealed in August that “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” would hit theaters the following month.
“The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I’m overjoyed to tell you that it’ll be coming to the big screen soon,” she wrote via X.
The guest of honor attended the red carpet premiere in October in a blue floral Oscar de la Renta gown and her signature red lip.
Billionaire status
Bloomberg News reported in October that Swift had become a billionaire amid her Eras Tour success.
In addition to her bombshell stadium tour and film, the “Love Story” singer’s real estate is worth $80 million on its own.
Swift has yet to comment on her new status.
‘1989’ re-release
Swift announced her “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” re-release during a Los Angeles Eras Tour stop in August.
She had “been planning [the project] for a really, really, really, ridiculously, embarrassingly long time,” Swift said during the SoFi Stadium reveal.
The album came out in October, featuring “‘Slut!’,” “Say Don’t Go,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends” and “Is It Over Now?” vault tracks.
Top Spotify streamer
Swift was named the most streamed artist of the year in Spotify’s Wrapped 2023 roundup in November.
The “Back to December” singer boasts 108 million monthly listeners, with a total of 26.1 billion global streams.
Swift reacted by writing, “Um ok this is unreal?? I just wanted to say to anyone who listened to my music this year, anywhere in the world, thank you. Getting named Spotify’s Global Top Artist in 2023 is truly the best birthday/holiday gift you could’ve given me.”
Heartbreak in Brazil
On Nov. 17, Ana Clara Benevides died after suffering heat stroke at one of the Eras Tour stops in Brazil.
Swift seemingly honored the late 23-year-old with an emotional “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” performance at the time, writing via Instagram that she was “devastated” by the news.
The college student’s family members posed for a picture with Swift later that same month, wearing matching shirts showing Benevides’ face.
‘Time’ magazine cover
Swift was named Time’s Person of the Year in December — and she covered the magazine with her cat Benjamin Button.
The “Valentine’s Day” actress broke her silence on her and Kelce’s relationship at the time, also slamming enemies Braun, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West as “trash.”
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview, Swift said, “Nothing is permanent. So I’m very careful to be grateful every second that I get to be doing this at this level.”
