Taylor Swift Aspires to Oprah Status, Thanks Jay Z in 'Vanity Fair'
If Taylor Swift ran the world, girls would run in gangs, everyone would pay for the music they listen to, Kanye would respect everyone, and she could date (and fall in love) whomever she wanted without interference. And let’s face it, she’s closer to doing so than anyone else.
The musician appears on the cover of Vanity Fair’s September issue, shot by Mario Testino, and opened up to Josh Duboff about all her hopes, dreams, and worldly opinions. Photographed at London’s Beaufort Bar, the “most influential 25-year-old in America” appears as an Old Hollywood siren (which is basically a requirement to appear on or in Vanity Fair these days) wearing voluminous hair extensions and sexy ensembles, quite unlike her typically girly crop tops and flared skirts. “They usually dress me up like a 12-year-old French boy,” she said. “It’s nice to be glamorous.” And Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift at a piano in black and white separates on the cover of Vanity Fair. Photography by Mario Testino for Vanity Fair.
On Apple Music and Spotify… When Swift wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal criticizing Spotify’s free-streaming music service and subsequently pulling her album from the site, she faced backlash. So when Apple Music shared its plan to similarly not compensate artists, she was hesitant to speak up. “I wrote the letter at around four A.M.,” Swift said. “Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll write a song and I can’t sleep until I finish it, and it was like that with the letter.” She also asked her mom for advice.
On her girlfriends… Swift’s famous friends include Karlie Kloss, Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, and so many more (watch her Bad Blood music video for a more comprehensive list). And she takes her gang really seriously and lives by the mantra hoes over bros, but dating the same dudes is totally OK. “It’s almost like the sisterhood has such a higher place on the list of priorities for us. It’s so much more important than some guy that it didn’t work out with,” she said. “When you’ve got this group of girls who need each other as much as we need each other, in this climate, when it’s so hard for women to be understood and portrayed the right way in the media… . now more than ever we need to be good and kind to each other and not judge each other — and just because you have the same taste in men, we don’t hold that against each other.”
On Kanye West… Kanye West famously stage-crashed Swift’s acceptance of Best Female Video at the 2009 Grammys because he thought Beyoncé was more deserving. But, after six years of feuding, the artists finally cleared the air — thanks to Jay Z. “I feel like I wasn’t ready to be friends with [West] until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me, and he wasn’t ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me — so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time,” Swift says. “I became friends with Jay Z, and I think it was important, for Jay Z, for Kanye and I to get along… . And then Kanye and I both reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I’ve accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid’s doing.” Thanks, North West!
On who she wants to be when she grows up… “If you look at Oprah, she’s made so many people happy over the years,” Swift said. “She’s made so much money, but she’s given so much of it away… . Same thing with Angelina Jolie. She’s been so productive, but she’s used that position to better other people’s lives, and I think that’s where I’d want to be.”
On dating… Before getting together with Calvin Harris, Swift made a conscious decision not to date anyone and instead focus on her female friendships because of the way she was portrayed in the media as a man-eater. “That was the way that I decided to go on with my life,” she revealed. “Not looking for anything, not necessarily being open to anything, and only being open to the idea that, if I found someone who would never try to change me, that would be the only person I could fall in love with. Because, you know, I was in love with my life.”
On fashion… “I think I know how to put together a good outfit… . But any day you’re going to admit to being a style icon is a day you need to look in the mirror and really check yourself.”
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