Taylor Alison Swift, one of the world’s biggest celebrities, an artist who’s been credited for pulling economies out of recession, a phenomenon known as “swiftonomics”.
Her Eras Tour, has become the highest-grossing tours of all time generating a revenue of more than a Billion Dollars and that too just within a span of 60 shows, raking in an average revenue of 17 million dollars per show, which is just insane.
And this is not all, she has been named top artist of the year in 2023 by both Spotify as well as Apple Music and has won 14 Grammys, 40 AMAs, 39 Billboard Music Awards, 23 VMAs and the list goes on.
And by now you must be knowing that Taylor is a billionaire but what is more surprising is how she’s made her billion dollars, while other artists have made their fortune by investing in a start-up or selling apparels and make up, Taylor has made most of her fortune through her music.
Now if we go on talking abouts Taylors achievements this blog will fall short and the time will run out, so without further ado, let’s get into the meat of this video and find out the 5 Surprising Secrets of Taylor Swift that you most probably did not know.
Table of Contents
Babysitter
Yes, Taylor Swift used to babysit Jeff Jarrett’s Children and for those of you who do not know who Jeff Jarrett is? He is a professional wrestler who has won NWA World Heavyweight Championship 6 times, WCW World Heavyweight Championship 4 times and was inducted to TNA Hall of Fame in 2015 and the WWE hall of fame in 2018.
Jarrett is now signed with AEW where he serves as the director of Business Development.
But how did a Professional wrestler and soon to be one of the biggest musicians come to meet?
It was in the early 2000s that Jeff, along with his father, founded TNA which was centered in Nashville, where he would spend the next decade. Jarrett at the time was known for carrying a guitar and even once sang in the WWE and it was in Nashville where he had a next door neighbor who also knew a thing or two about guitars and she was none other than Taylor Swift.
Jeff later revealed in an interview that at the time his wife, Jill Jarrett was battling cancer and had later died in 2007, this was a really dark time for Jeff’s family.
Taylor at the time would take care and hang out with Jeff’s 3 daughters, Jeff also said, “Taylor was like a big sister and came over and took the girls, baking cookies, and just kind of hung out at the house. I can’t say enough good things about Taylor.”
He revealed that technically Taylor was not a babysitter as she never expected a payment for the time she spent with the girls.
The bond between the two was so strong that later in her 2010 single “mine” from the album “Speak Now”, Jaclyn, one of Jeff Jarrett’s daughters played the role of little Taylor swift.
When asked about the same Taylor revealed, “I chose Jaclyn to be mini me because I’ve known her for a long time and I always used to joke around with her and say, ‘You look just like I did when I was younger, and one of these days I’m gonna call you up, but I’m gonna have you play a younger version of me in a music video.’ Now it actually happened.”
And today the video has over 300 million views on youtube.
Model
What does Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Roberts and Taylor Swift have in common? Long before they were all famous, winning awards and posing for magazine covers, they were all modeling for Abercrombie & fitch.
So how did one of the world’s biggest pop stars end up becoming a model for Abercrombie & fitch?
At just the age of 11 Taylor along with her parents moved to Nashville in order to advance her career in music.
Taylor and her mother, Andrea Swift would often visit record labels and submit demo tapes but unfortunately she was rejected by all the labels and as a result she shifted her focus on songwriting.
In 2003, When Taylor was just 13 years old, her parents came in contact with Dan Dymtrow, who was managing Britney Spears at the time and had agreed to take Taylor as a client as he was impressed by her talent, creativity and song writing.
As Taylor was then struggling to make it in the music industry, Dan decided that in order for her to get the public’s attention, she had to try her hands in other gigs.
At the time Maybelline, an American makeup brand was looking to support young and undiscovered female artists through the release of its promotional CD titled “Chicks With Attitude” and Dan then asked Taylor to write a song for the same.
Taylor then on a rainy weekend in January of 2004, picked up her guitar and thirty minutes later after memorizing the chord progression began writing the lyrics on her computer to the tune she titled “The Outside”.
Dan then recommended the same to Maybelline officials for the “Chicks with Attitude” CD.
When Dan called and told Swift that her song made it to the CD, she was eating at a Taco Bell and literally started screaming there and then in all her excitement.
And after her song started making rounds, Dan helped Taylor with another major gig with the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch.
The company at the time was looking for potential stars for their “Rising Stars” campaign in 2004 and Taylor was selected to be featured in the magazine.
This is the same campaign in which many soon to become future celebrities would feature, including the likes of Jennifer Lawerence and Emma Roberts.
An Ugly Lawsuit
Taylor is no stranger to lawsuits, ranging from copyright claims over her songs lyrics or a $1 sexual assault case in which she accused DJ David Mueller of lifting her skirt and grabbing her butt during a backstage photo opportunity in Denver in 2013 but the most prominent lawsuit is the one between Dan Dymtrow and the Swift family.
In 2008, Dan would sue the Swifts, for breach of contract as he alleged that he was dumped in July of 2005 just before Taylor signed with Big Machine Records and became an international sensation.
Dan claimed that he’s owed millions of dollars in commission because he was the one to discover Swift and played a key role in her career, from arranging her vocal lessons, creating press kits, getting Taylor ad campaigns with Abercrombie & Fitch, scheduling meetings with every major label who otherwise would have never met her.
Dan also claimed that he was the one who got Taylor a development contract with RCA records, a publishing deal with Sony, a deal with CAA who ended up representing her in Booking concert gigs along with other acting opportunities.
All in all Dan claimed that he was the one who opened the doors for the modern day Taylor Swift and kick started her career.
Dan also claimed that he had a contract with Scott and Andrea Swift guaranteeing him a commission of 5 to 10% from Taylor’s music career but was only paid $10,000 for his work.
He alleged that after introducing Taylor to Big Machine Records’ CEO Scott Borchetta, he was cut loose by the Swift family and fired to avoid paying him.
Dan further claimed there was a conspiracy between Scott Swift and Borchetta to dismiss him, presenting an August 2006 email which was sent by Scott Swift to Borchetta as evidence, which stated, “Enough with the Dymtrow. You asked me to break both his legs, wrap him in chains, and throw him in the lake. I did.”
Scott Swift however argued that the reason for Dan’s termination was that He expected him to move to Nashville to manage Taylor but since he couldn’t do that he was no longer Taylor’s manager.
The lawsuit was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount, but the revelations from the case had a very deep impact on the Swift family, which will be discussed later in the video.
It’s Nice To Have A Friend
On August 23, 2019, Taylor dropped her new Album Lover and the album has sold more than 2 Million Copies till date.
But what is so special about this album is that it has a song in it, “It’s nice to have a friend” that has backing vocals from a Toronto Children’ Choir.
The non-profit Regan Park School of Music (RPSM), was losing funding and needed money to stay open and support underprivileged kids, so they put the vocals out and hoped that someone would use them and they could end up earning royalties on it to keep the school float.
So Guess What? One of the greatest pop stars used it and now the school is set for life!
But How did the vocals end up in Taylor’s sight?
It all begins when a producer from Toronto, Frank Dukes, spent 3 days with RPSM students and recorded music for an album called Parkscapes, which included a track called, “Summer in the south”, the one that ended up in Swift’s album.
Frank had already committed to donate 80% of the royalties from his album to the school and when Taylor contacted Frank about her upcoming album, she came to know about the school and it resonated with her so much that she decided to use the vocals for her song.
And aside the royalties that the school will receive, the pop star has also made a very generous personal donation to the school.
So I guess at the end, it really is nice to have a friend.
Divorced
If you are a Taylor Swift fan, you must be knowing that there are two important figures in her life without whose endless support, she would not reach the level of success that she is enjoying today and they are none other than her parents, Scott and Andrea.
The duo is regularly seen supporting their daughter in public, at her concerts, interacting with fans and dancing along the sidelines but many are unaware that the duo has been divorced more than a decade ago.
But Why?
Scott and Andrea were married on February 20, 1989 and Taylor was born on December 13, 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania and her younger brother Austin Swift was born on March 11, 1992.
Scott was a Stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and Andrea worked as a mutual Fund executive and they very early recognized that taylor had a passion for music and moved to Nashville in 2003 to support her daughters dream.
And this is when the problems started, Ronnie Cremer, the man who claims to have taught Swift to play the guitar, revealed in an interview that even before Taylor’s success the couple was in a loveless marriage.
He Said, “Scott used to tell me… ‘I got a wife that doesn’t love me. I’m trying to help my daughter out and do all the right things, and my wife could care less.’”
There would be arguments between them over Taylor’s career and would not even like to be in the same room.
But a turning point came when Dan filed the aforementioned case in 2008, in which Dan presented certain controversial email exchanges in 2005 between him and Scott as evidence.
In these emails Scott can be seen making a series of harsh comments about Andrea as well as Taylor, “Who gets to go to New York, New England and every cool appearance? Not dad. Can’t fix hair. Dad talks too much. Who pays for trips to New York? Dad. I am going to do anything that I think is appropriate to do to advance Taylor’s career.” Plus, in an apparent dig at Andrea, he added: “Finally, if you want to get rid of me, please forward this to Andrea.”
Many fans have reacted strongly to these emails, with some accusing Scott of misogyny and others expressing shock at his apparent resentment towards his wife and child.
In another email, Scott mentioned that Andrea had imposed an email restriction on him, requiring all his messages to be approved by her first. He warned that if Dan ever brought this up with Andrea or Taylor, it could lead to a quick divorce.
And that’s exactly what happened in 2011,when Scott and Andrea divorced, though they chose not to make it public to avoid harming Taylor’s career at the time.
Now looking back, connections between Taylor’s songs and her parents’ divorce can be made, for example, In her song “Mine” she said, “You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter,” and, “Braced myself for the goodbye, ’cause that’s all I’ve ever known”
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