The Year in Taylor Swift (2024)

Today, Taylor Swift turns 27—and will likely document her squad-filled (or cat-filled) celebrations on social media for the world to see. This was a big year in the life of T.Swift: There was no new album, but there were two breakups, new friends (Blake Lively! Dakota Johnson!), multiple makeovers, three ongoing feuds, and one nuclear Snapchat receipt blowout.

So, in honor of her birthday, here's a month by month recap of the year in Swift. You know some of this will make it onto her next (inevitable) best-selling album.

January

Swift started the year fresh off the 1989 tour. She and her boyfriend Calvin Harris were still going strong after getting together in March 2015.

• Swift rings in New Year's in Las Vegas, where Harris is playing and dances with new friend Ruby Rose. (Rose would later defend Swift's relationship with Tom Hiddleston and also snag an invite to the Taymerica Fourth of July party).

• Swift releases "Out of the Woods" on New Year's Eve night. It has lots of Harry Styles references:

• Swift releases a very Taylor Swift clothing line in China.
• She goes out to dinner with Harris on January 12, and a kid crashes their date. His post goes viral:

• She celebrates her godson Leo Thames' six-month birthday:

February

This is when the Kimye feud gets reignited, and the Katy Perry feud begins to thaw.

• Swift's ex Harry Styles starts off the month by tweeting a reference to her and her song "22" on his 22nd birthday. Some call it shade; some call it a peace declaration. Styles doesn't say much more, but his tweet becomes the second-most retweeted of the year:

• Kanye West releases "Famous" during his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show on February 11, four days before the Grammys. The lyrics "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/I made that bitch famous" shock everyone.
• Austin Swift, Taylor's brother, immediately trashes his Yeezy shoes in response, in case there was any doubt how the Swift family feels about it:

• Swift's publicist releases the following statement to BuzzFeed News that night:

Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single "Famous" on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, "I made that bitch famous."

• West goes on a Twitter rant on Feb. 12 to maintain again that Swift approved the lyrics, despite her rep denying it:

This all comes back to haunt Swift in July, when Kim Kardashian gets involved.

• In other feud news, Katy Perry publicly invites Swift to her Spotify pre-Grammys party the Saturday before the show. Apple Music spokesperson Swift—who waged a war against Spotify and free streaming services in 2014—does not go, but it's an olive branch! (Maybe!)
• At the Grammys on Feb. 15, Swift takes Selena Gomez as her date (instead of Harris, who she never walks the red carpet with) and debuts a bob:

• She wins multiple Grammys, including two before the show.

And during the show, she takes the top honor: Album of the Year. She makes the following speech, which includes a thinly veiled jab at Kanye West:

As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all of the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, some day when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you'll know that it was you and the people who love you that put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.

Gomez is <3 :

• A week later on the 21st, Demi Lovato calls out Swift on Twitter after Swift―unlike Lovato, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus―said nothing after the New York Supreme Court ruled that Kesha would have to remain under contract with Sony and Dr. Luke, the producer she said emotionally, mentally, and sexually abused her.

• Swift makes a $250,000 donation to Kesha that Sunday "to help with any of her financial needs during this trying time," Swift's rep told Us Weekly. Kesha's mother confirms the donation on Twitter:

• Lovato remains unimpressed at Swift's silence—and would touch on her exchange with Swift again in October:

Kesha would later appear at Swift's Fourth of July party and spark rumors she and Swift were recording together in September.

March

• Harris and Swift celebrate their one-year anniversary. Swift posts a photo of a locket he gives her, captioning the shot "3.6.15 One year down! ❤️." (This, like every Tayvin photo, doesn't not survive the Great Instagram Purge in June.)

Harris posts a Snapchat of the cake they had to mark the day:

• Swift and Harris go on a very-Instagrammed vacation one week later:

April

• On April 1, Swift releases the best Apple Music commercial ever (at that time...):

• Swift attends the iHeartRadio Awards on April 3. There, she shows she's still no Belieber after Gomez's ex's performance (they don't have the best history, though Bieber made two public attempts to get back in her good graces this year):

But gets the most attention for her interactions with Harris, whom she sits next to. They hug! She makes heart eyes during his acceptance speech:

And then, for the first time, she publicly thanks her boyfriend Harris during her acceptance speech for best tour. "You know, for the first time, I had the most amazing person to come home to when the spotlight went out and the crowd was all gone," she said. "So I want to thank my boyfriend Adam for that."

• Days after, Swift releases her final 1989 music video, for "New Romantics." It's tour footage:

• Swift ends the month by going to Coachella where Harris is playing―as a bleach blonde. She posts a first look at her platinum hair with a jacket featuring the album art for "This Is What You Came For" weeks before it came out:

• Rihanna (who sings "TIWYCF") joins Harris's performance, and Swift fan girls over her:

• She and Harris also take 21st birthday girl Gigi Hadid to Coachella with them for a night, via private plane:

• On April 29, "This Is What You Came For" drops, the song Swift co-wrote with Harris (though no one knew at the time, as she was credited under a pseudonym).
• Harris does a radio interview for the single, where he's asked by Ryan Seacrest whether he'd ever work with Swift. "You know, we haven't even spoken about it [collaborating]," he tells the host on his radio show. "I can't see it happening, though. No. She's about to take a long break, you know?" That answer comes back to bite him later.

May

• Swift starts the month co-hosting the Met Gala, where she and future boyfriend Tom Hiddleston meet.

They have a dance-off that goes viral when they get together the following month:

• Hiddleston does his first interview on Swift on the 16th for MTV UK. It's clear from it he has something of a crush on her, based on the four compliments he drops in 53 seconds. "I sat next time to her at dinner that night, and she was very charming. She is amazing," he says.
• Swift, meanwhile, experiments with a rocker fashion look.

She wins the Taylor Swift award at the BMI Awards and accepts it on May 11, looking nothing like herself.

• On May 22, Harris gets in a serious car accident. Swift is reportedly there for him though their relationship is nearing its end. Their breakup is announced less than two weeks later.

June

• Swift and Harris end their relationship on June 1. They confirm the news in a tweet (that days later Harris would delete) on the 2nd.

• Swift is spotted at a fan's weddinga few days later:

• Kim Kardashian gives an interview to GQ where she says Swift lied about not knowing about Kanye West's "Famous" lyric about her and that there is footage of the phone call where Swift learned about it.

"She totally knew that that was coming out," Kardashian says. "She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn't. I swear, my husband gets so much sh*t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved. What rapper would call a girl that he was rapping a line about to get approval?"

Swift's team gives GQ this statement:

Taylor does not hold anything against Kim Kardashian as she recognizes the pressure Kim must be under and that she is only repeating what she has been told by Kanye West. However, that does not change the fact that much of what Kim is saying is incorrect. Kanye West and Taylor only spoke once on the phone while she was on vacation with her family in January of 2016 and they have never spoken since. Taylor has never denied that conversation took place. It was on that phone call that Kanye West also asked her to release the song on her Twitter account, which she declined to do. Kanye West never told Taylor he was going to use the term 'that bitch' in referencing her. A song cannot be approved if it was never heard. Kanye West never played the song for Taylor Swift. Taylor heard it for the first time when everyone else did and was humiliated. Kim Kardashian's claim that Taylor and her team were aware of being recorded is not true, and Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone.

• On June 15, Harris suddenly starts erasing Swift from his Instagram. He tweets, then deletes, "Oh boy it's about to go down," along with three skull emojis. ....And it does: photos of Swift and Hiddleston kissing on the rocks in Rhode Island appear on The Sun's cover.

• Swift does an Instagram purge of all Harris posts from her accounts and goes full throttle into her relationship with Hiddleston. They go to Nashville, where Hiddleston meets Swift's parents, and go to Selena Gomez's concert.

• Harris meanwhile, appears to answer Instagram users' questions about his relationship and breakup with Swift. He says Swift controlled the media narrative of it, and he's "not jealous [of Tom] sir, [but] FREE" on the 24th.

• At the same time, Swift is photographed in England, where she meets Hiddleston's family, looking more like her old Taylor Swift self:

• Kanye West releases his "Famous" music video, featuring a naked, wax Swift. She does not respond.
• Two days later on the 27th, she and Hiddleston are spotted in Rome.

• They make out at the Colosseum. They visit the Vatican! They share breakfast PDA. It's intense...
• ...And to some, not quite believable. Conspiracy theories start circulating that Hiddleswift was meant to be a media distraction from Kardashian's quote, one that suggests Swift is dishonest.

July

• The biggest Taylor Swift party of the year happens in Rhode Island: her Fourth of July extravaganza. Tom Hiddleston joins this one, where he wears his magnificent, memed "I Heart T.S." tank.

Hiddleswift also show a lot of PDA on inflatable slides and porch chairs. Swift, notably, does not post photos of Hiddleston. Her friends do for her:

• On July 7, TMZ reports Harris is releasing a song he wrote—"Olé"—about Hiddleswift. Its lyrics suggest Swift cheated on Harris with Hiddleston. ("You've hidden my name in your phone so you can call me to tell me you've been going through hell. Left him alone and you booked in a hotel" and "Low key [a] you won't tell none of your friends about me.") The song comes out on July 8 and does indeed have those lyrics—though whether he wrote it after their breakup is unclear.
• Swift goes with Hiddleston to Australia, where he's filming his new Thor movie. Two days later, paparazzi catch Hiddleston on his run. He has trouble answering questions about Swift:

• On July 13, it comes out that Swift did indeed write "TIWYCF" with Harris. Harris confirms the tabloid reports on Twitter and makes a direct appeal to Swift. "I figure if you're happy in your new relationship, you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do. ...I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it."

• Perry posts a response to Harris's tweets, indicating her feud with Swift is still alive and well:

• Kim Kardashian, on a teaser for that Sunday's Keeping Up with the Kardashians, brings up Taylor Swift. "I did an interview for GQ," Kardashian tells Kris Jenner. "I've had it with people blatantly treating my husband a certain way and making him look a certain way. And I'm gonna say how I feel...He really did wanna do the right thing."
• Hiddleston gives his first official interview on Taylor Swift to The Hollywood Reporter a day later. When asked about the Hiddleswift conspiracy theories, he laughs them off. "Well, um. How best to put this? The truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and we're very happy. Thanks for asking. That's the truth. It's not a publicity stunt."
• Kim Kardashian posts a shady tweet before dropping Snapchats of Swift and Kanye West's recorded "Famous" lyric approval phone call on July 17. Swift approves of at least some of the lyrics. A brief excerpt:

KW: For all my Southside n***** that know me best, I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.

TS: I'm like this close to over exposure...

KW: Oh well this one, I think this is a really cool thing to have, uh...

TS: I know, I mean it's like a compliment kind of.

KW: All I give a f*ck about is just you as a person and as a friend I want things that make...

TS: That's sweet.

KW: I don't want to do rap that makes people feel bad.

TS: Um, yeah I mean go with whatever line you think is better. It's obviously very tongue in cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that's really nice.

• #KimExposedTaylorParty trends on Twitter.
• Swift posts an Instagram response to this. People say it looks prewritten:

• Hiddleston says nothing. Selena Gomez defends Swift and gets torn apart on Twitter.

• Kendall Jenner, 1989 tour guest, makes it known where she stands through a couple choice "likes" that are later deleted:

• On the 22nd, Swift comes back from Australia with Hiddleston. She's spotted crab-walking out of the gym days later.

• Meanwhile, Hiddleston tries to do damage control on the idea he's being used to distract from the Kimye drama. "It comes down to being authentic," he tells People of dealing with the Hiddleswift hate. "Everything you do you have to make sure you truly believe in it and as long as you know that, it doesn't matter what anyone else says about it because the nature of being a public figure is that everyone will have an opinion about anything you do, and as long as you know why you've done something and you've committed to it with authenticity then you're okay."

August

• Hiddleston heads back to Australia solo on the 3rd. It's the beginning of the end for the two of them.
• Swift attracts some breakup rumors when she posts an Instagram story of herself gardening with her parents in Rhode Island, far from Hiddleston when he visits L.A. on the 11th.

He ends up flying to Rhode Island on the 14th for a reunion before going back to Australia for filming. She's photographed greeting him.

• Reports come out that Hiddleswift had their first major argument in early August. "They weren't spending as much time together," the source explains. "There was so much going on so it was hard making their schedules work, and they were upset they couldn't see each other."
• Swift starts reliving her 2014 single life in Manhattan with the squad.

• At the same time, Hailee Steinfeld shines a little light on how often all the members actually hang out: "I think people think we spend a lot more time together than we actually do!" Steinfeld told Seventeen. "She's amazing though."
• Swift reportedly attends Blake Lively's baby shower in Bedford, NY a day before the VMAs.
• Swift skips the VMAs (she would have faced Kim Kardashian and Kanye West for the first time since the Snapchat scandal, and she didn't win anything).
• On the 29th, the morning after the show, Swift is photographed serving jury duty in Nashville.

September

• News breaks that Hiddleston and Swift split on Sept. 6. Swift ended it, Us Weekly reports. "Tom wanted the relationship to be more public than she was comfortable with," a source tells the outlet. "Taylor knew the backlash that comes with public displays of affection but Tom didn't listen to her concerns when she brought them up."
• Swift makes her first public appearance since the Snapchat scandal and Hiddleswift breakup, at Gigi Hadid and Tommy Hilfiger's New York Fashion Week show on Sept. 9.

There, she posts an Instagram of herself lip-syncing to her and Harris's "This Is What You Came For":

Harris likes it:

• The DJ releases another breakup song that's maybe about Swift, "My Way," on Sept. 16. The song's lyrics, which are basically, "But in my heart I understand/I made my move and it was all about you/Now I feel so far removed," and "You were the one thing in my way," are pretty similar to the sentiment Harris expressed in July about their breakup.
• A week later, TMZ reports he and Swift are texting and are (just) friends now, so there's no more bad blood.
• Swift's other feud with Perry also nears its end. Perry extends a second olive branch-ish on Twitter on Sept. 11, explaining just how Swift can achieve peace with her. It isn't clear whether Swift has, but the offer stands:

• Swift ends the month with a rumored visit to the hospital to see Lively after she gives birth to her second child.

October

This is a solid month for the single squad.

• Swift is spotted out multiple times in New York City with Cara Delevingne (newly separated from St. Vincent) and her friends-turned-new-squad members Suki Waterhouse and Dakota Johnson:

• Swift does her much-hyped, only concert of 2016 at the Formula One show. She finds her look there (that hair!) and does not, as rumored, drop a new album.

• She does sing "This Is What You Came For" for the first time though! "As a songwriter, the most rewarding feeling in the world is writing something and then having a crowd sing it back to you because they know the words," she tells the crowd before going into it. "It's the coolest thing in the world. And um, I've never played this song live before. But if you know it, maybe you could sing along and then I could get to know what that feels like, to hear a song sung back to me."

• On Oct. 24, Swift goes to Drake's birthday party, out of nowhere. Some tabloids try to create dating rumors from it, but there's no evidence anything romantic went on.

• Swift shows her romantic side two days later when she comments on Lively's post for Ryan Reynolds' birthday.

• Meanwhile, ex Harris releases the music video for "My Way" on Oct. 28.

It is full of Swift references because of course it is:

Swift does not respond to it.

• She ends the month with her friends, borrowing Reynolds' Deadpool costume for a low-key Halloween party in her apartment. Guess who comments on it?

November

• A new Swift-written song is revealed to be Little Big Town's "Better Man" on Nov. 1. "She sent us this song, and it was one that was really special to her," Karen Fairchild says in the Facebook Live press conference the group held. Swift confirms the news herself on Instagram that afternoon:

There are hints of her feelings about her Harris breakup (and perhaps Hiddleston) in the lyrics: "But I just miss you, and I just wish you were a better man," for example, could be seen as her way of acknowledging all of Harris' shade-throwing post-breakup. Her ending line "We might still be in love, if you were a better man/Better man" could also be telling.

• Swift also makes headlines for doing what she does best the day before the election: throwing a celeb-filled birthday party for Lorde. "I am ur kid and u love me so hard i could burst," Lorde writes to Swift on her Instagram.

• Swift gets attention for staying mum on who she's voting for in the election—and people debate whether she should or shouldn't weigh in on the contentious election. She does advocate voting though. She becomes Google's top searched for "who did _ vote for":

• On Nov. 20, Drake releases his own Swift-themed Apple Music commercial, giving some explanation for that surprise Swift appearance at his birthday party:

• Swift spends Thanksgiving in Rhode Island with Broadway pal Todrick Hall. They sing "The Little Mermaid" and share many photos of their celebration on Instagram.

December

• Swift and one-time enemy-turned-Gigi Hadid's boyfriend Zayn Malik release Swift's first new song of 2016: "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" for Fifty Shades Darker.

It tops the iTunes charts in hours.

Christmas and Swift's official birthday party remain. A surprise album could drop! A new romance could come about! Given the precedent set over the last 11 months, Swift will close out 2016 with a bang.