It all started at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee. That's where Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, discovered the young, curly-haired Taylor Swift, leading to the release of her first single "Tim McGraw" and shortly thereafter her self-titled debut album. It was June 2006. 13 years later, which is also Swift's lucky number, she has evolved from a country star to a pop icon. But his rise to fame didn't come without obstacles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The media tried to take down Swift. But Swift defeated the media. Since Fearless, her breakout album, tabloids have ripped her to pieces for writing vindictive songs about ex-boyfriends like "Forever and Always" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." For years, Taylor Swift has been framed as a manipulative man-eater who is mining her personal life for lyrical inspiration. The media also criticized her as the reigning queen of her so-called "team" and accused her of always playing the victim. It wasn't until she belted out "Cause baby, I could build a castle / With all the bricks they threw at me" (Swift) on her fifth studio album 1989 in 2014 that she finally acknowledged the public's perception of her . On the same album, Swift stated that detractors can criticize her all they want; it simply stands for "shake it off." With “Blank Space,” where she sings about having “a long list of ex-lovers,” Swift played into the ominous narrative built around her and used it to her advantage and it worked. It sold 1.2 million copies of 1989 in its first week alone. Taylor Swift clearly has her own story. What happened next was the start of a nerve-wracking feud between her and Kanye West. After interrupting his acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards in 2009, West released a song in which he claimed he made Swift "famous" in 2016. It was supposedly approved by Swift. But she denied giving West permission over the phone to call her "that bitch," which led to his wife, Kim Kardashian, getting involved. Kardashian posted an audio recording of the phone call and called Swift a "snake" on social media. Others followed her lead by leaving a trail of snake emojis on Swift's social media sites. But what could have destroyed Swift's career only made her stronger. He didn't let the snake bite him. He claimed it. It was late August 2017. That's when Taylor Swift posted a video of a snake on her Instagram profile, heralding the reputation of her new album and releasing her first single, "Look What You Made Me Do." In her music video, Swift boldly takes back the insidious public narrative that has been created around her. From wearing costumes from previous music videos like "Blank Space" to sporting snake rings and directing mannequins that look like her infamous "squad," Taylor Swift doesn't take herself too seriously. He acknowledges past feuds and media headlines. The video ends with all of her past alter egos standing in front of a plane called "reputation" and mocking her previous behavior and the behavior attributed (to her?) by the media. After its premiere, the video gained 43 million clicks on YouTube within 24 hours. Swift clearly made the narrative work for her, not against her. The media accused her of being a manipulator, but she became the media's manipulator. This pattern works its way through the entire album. The reputation cover is divided into a blank space depicting only the title.”).