Taylor Swift: Time Named Her 2023’s ‘Person of the Year’
Taylor Swift attends the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey.
People dubbed Taylor Swift as 2023’s “Most Intriguing” person. And today, Time magazine is giving her the high honor of naming her 2023’s “Person of the Year.” The publication calls her an “extraordinary storyteller” and noted that she redeems herself time and time again. “I’ve been raised up and down the flagpole of public opinion so many times in the last 20 years,” she says in the feature story. “I’ve been given a tiara, then had it taken away.” Now at 33 years old, the award-winning singer-songwriter feels like she is experiencing the “breakthrough moment” of her career all over again. “For the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.”
How Swift Got Here
The “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer’s cultural, critical, and commercial success this year alone is what landed her Time‘s Person of the Year title. Time journalist Sam Lansky stated that 2023 was the year the billionaire pop star perfected her craft. He referred to her as the “master storyteller of the modern era.” Swift, of course, had an incredibly successful year: from her Eras Tour, to her re-released music, to her concert film. Universities even began studying Swift and her songwriting. Swift knows this time is a peak, but she couldn’t be prouder or happier than she’s “ever felt.” The highly decorated artist adds this is the best place she’s been in as an artist. In the article, Swift asked Lansky: “Are you not entertained?”
Getting to this place of harmony with her past took work. Swift explains there is a dramatic irony to the success of her tour. “It’s not lost on me that the two great catalysts for this happening were two horrendous things that happened to me,” Swift says. “The first was getting canceled within an inch of my life and sanity,” she says plainly. “The second was having my life’s work taken away from me by someone who hates me.”
Celebrities That Gained Most Online Fame in 2023
In today’s digital age, celebrity success relies heavily on online popularity. With this in mind, new research has revealed the famous faces who have seen the biggest boom in online fame in 2023. Online casino site ICE36 took at look at this. Taking in data from Google searches, Instagram followers, likes and engagement rates, they determined the celebrities who saw the greatest increase in online popularity in 2023. This group of celebrities consists of a diverse list of athletes, musicians, and actors.
Per Statista, in 2023, over 4.89 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost six billion in 2027. These users aren’t tied to a single platform. The average user now spreads their digital footprint across six to seven platforms every month, according to Forbes.
The average individual has about eight social media accounts. In the United States, the average person has seven accounts. In India the number is nearly twelve, while in Japan it nears four. On a global level, the average person spends about 145 minutes on social media. Americans average about two hours and seven minutes daily. To put this into perspective, if the average person maintained this usage over an average life span of 73 years, the end result is an astonishing 5.7 years spent on social media platforms.
As we previously reported, studies have shown time and again that social media has been linked to brain development changes in teenagers. Even the Surgeon General issued a warning of social media’s “profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” Despite the possible negative effects of social media, which comes with anything used in excess, celebrities entertain their millions of followers. Whether they are plugging a new project they are working on or just being charismatic, these ten celebrities are the most popular online in 2023.
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
