Editor's Note:I have found this wonderful article deep in the archives of our community. I decided to keep this out into the light. This is only an opinion. You may have an idea who deserves that title. Maybe this person is a celebrity, artist, hero, politician, or religious figure. Whoever that person is, I'm certain that he or she deserves that title.
Fearless lyrics. Undying aspiration. A broken Guinness World Record: three albums selling more than one million copies in their first week on the market. 25 years of age with a $200 million dollar net worth. Seven Grammy Awards, 15 American Music Awards, Seven Academy of Country Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards and 12 Billboard Music Awards. 423 award nominations and 227 award captures. A worldwide phenomenon with millions of fans, an unforeseeable dating history and a close-knit team of some of the world's most influential women, Taylor Swift shattered the theory that stars are no longer produced to be larger-than-life. With a face and sound to be recognized anywhere on Earth, Swift - even after climbing mountains upon mountains of success - remains one of the most personable, relatable and reachable stars to date. Condé Nast released a special edition issue, "Celebrating 10 Years of Superstar Taylor Swift", partnering with the editors of Vogue, Allure, Vanity Fair and Glamour, among several other renowned publications. After reading the issue, not only do I have a much greater appreciation for Swift, I've been taken on a journey through Swift's mountaintops and valleys, learning of her most surreal moments in the limelight all the way to her kitchen dance parties with her friends. Taylor Swift stands on stage as more than a blonde bombshell, and offers advice that very well can apply to those of us who don't stand on a sturdy foundation of award nominations and star-studded confidants.
Living for media and living for moments. "We're encouraged to document everything important that happens to us. Birthdays, proposals, baby's first this or that, crazy nights out when everyone's outfit is on point. It's cool, we all do it. What gets tricky is when something great happens and you didn't capture it, then you feel this sense of loss. That sense of loss and anxiety that you didn't get to your phone fast enough then completely overtakes the magic of the moment that just took place. So lately, I've learned to really live my life and not worry so much about documenting every split second of it. The most magical, exquisite, spontaneous things happen when there is no time to grab your phone. The best moments of my life have been too fragile, too fleeting, too magical to even try to document them with a camera. And I wish you a lifetime of moments too beautiful to capture on film."
Get excited about your life, no matter how many glances you receive for it. "I've always been an easily excitable person. A few years ago, I realized that being easily moved isn't necessarily normal in my line of work, or in this cynical world we live in. There were viral YouTube videos of all the times I'd won awards and and shocked I looked. At first, I didn't know how to process being made fun of for being stoked about really exciting accomplishments. It seems like people become jaded faster than ever these days, and in an effort to appear "cool", people in my profession and everywhere else I look have taken to trying to seem bored all the time. Unmoved, unfazed, chic, edgy. Let me just clarify something: Being a pop artist is a very exciting, incredibly fun thing to do. So over time, I just realized that it doesn't matter if people make fun of me for dancing at award shows, or seeing a cute dog on the street, or the fact that it's autumn, or if I see a 13 on a building. Be who you are, and if who you are is a slightly awkward, very excitable person who sometimes cries when they see little girls dressed in princess dresses at the mall, then be that!"
The Relationship Game. "Real men want you to text them back. Honestly, the way you can tell the boys from the men is how they react when you don't play games with them. A boy will become bored. A man will want to get to know you more. Everyone wants a challenge, but you shouldn't have to completely manipulate your communication style in order to seem like one. Your conversation, your outlook, your wit, your accomplishments, your charisma, those things should challenge him. Any man knows that if you're showing him all of these qualities, you could just as easily show them to someone else if he plays games. You know what they say, play games with a girl, she'll chase you. Play games with a woman, she'll replace you. Boys only want love if it's torture."
I want and I need. "I realized that my friends who had found solid relationships had usually found them with people who didn't initially need them; it started out as just a want. These people had already gotten their lives to a place where they didn't feel like there were any missing pieces, then they met someone and all of the sudden made room in their already great lives for somebody great to love. Then there a friends of mine who had ended up in dramatic, complex places with their partner because there was not enough "want" and too much "need" in the relationship from the very start. I know it's impossible to generalize relationships because every one is different, but I think if I were ever to let someone in my life, it wouldn't be someone who made me feel like I was filling some gaping void in his life. It would be someone who was happy with his life but just really wanted me to be in it.
"You can't believe too much of your positive hype, and you can't believe too much of your negative press — you live somewhere in between."
Taylor is known for her generosity and close sync with her beloved, millions of fans. She's invited fans on dates with her boyfriends, donated money to pay for college, picked fans from social media to appear in music videos, visited their homes delivering presents. Too close is never close enough as far as Swift and her supporters. "I want to leave a trail of people behind me who had gotten better opportunities or felt better about themselves because of me. People get freaked out by huge displays of emotion from fans, but I like criers and people who come up to me bawling and screaming. Hearing a crowd scream is the coolest sound in the world. It can motivate me to do anything."
Being present in the presence of happiness."A meaningful conversation doesn't mean that conversation has to last an hour. A meet-and-greet might sound weird to someone who's never done one, but after ten years, you learn to appreciate happiness when it happens, and that happiness is rare and fleeting, and that you're not entitled to it. You know, during the first few years of your career, the only thing anyone says to you is 'Enjoy this. Just enjoy this.' That's all they ever tell you. And I finally know how to do that."
Success and self-preservation. "Self-awareness has been such a huge part of what I try to achieve on a daily basis. It's less about reputation management and strategy and vanity than it is about trying to desperately preserve self-awareness, since that seems to be the first thing to go out the door when people find success."
Who knew the life lessons learned by considerably the most popular human alive related to those we learn everyday? Covered in sequins and pouring your heart and soul out to thousands of people or not — Taylor Swift may only be 25, but she's older than you.
Prince, Tom, ed. "Celebrating 10 Years of Superstar Taylor Swift." Condé Nast 1 Jan. 2016: n. pag. Web.
