In case there was any doubt who 2023 belonged to, it’s now official, with Taylor Swift named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year overnight.
The 33-year-old singer made history by receiving the accolade for a second time, after previously taking the title in 2017.
“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been,” Swift told the publication.
READ MORE: Why two Aussies are being lauded with Adele and Prince Harry
To celebrate the moment, the magazine created three different covers, including one featuring a cat around Swift’s neck (she famously loves felines).
Inside the wide-reaching profile piece to accompany the honour, Swift talks about about her career reaching even higher heights, having re-recorded “Taylor’s Version” editions of her back catalogue, as well as her record-breaking The Eras Tour.
The concert series, which will make it’s way to Australia early next year, sparked pandemonium when tickets went on sale.
“It’s not lost on me that the two great catalysts for this happening were two horrendous things that happened to me,” Swift told the publication.
“The first was getting cancelled within an inch of my life and sanity … The second was having my life’s work taken away from me by someone who hates me.”
Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber’s former manager and one-time music heavyweight, famously bought Swift’s masters out from under her.
At the time, the collection featured her first six albums, prompting the singer-songwriter to re-record them all to devalue the purchase and get back the rights to her masters.
Swift also dishes for the first time on her NFL boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and talks about being pitted against Beyoncé.
For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here
“She’s the most precious gem of a person – warm and open and funny,” Swift says of the singer.
“There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé,” she says.
“Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”
Beyoncé dispelled any ideas of competition between the two women when she turned up at Swift’s LA premiere of her concert film, The Eras Tour. Swift repaid the favour at Beyonce’s Renaissance concert film premiere in London.
Swift is only the second woman to win the TIME accolade twice, since the annual award began in 1927, joining a select group of people – mainly former US presidents.
Woman were only included from 1999 when the magazine change the title from “Man of the Year” to “Person of the Year”.
Swift took home the ARIA Award last month for Most Popular International Artist and won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video for All Too Well: The Short Film, which she directed.
And just last week, the performer took the crown for as 2023’s most streamed artist on Spotify, with the Cruel Summer singer getting a total of 5.76 billion streams on the music streaming service.