Taylor Swift's Grammy Win Was Historic. Here's Why
Taylor Swift may have only taken home a single award at the 2021 Grammy Awards, but it was certainly an impactful one. The 31-year-old singer-songwriter took home the Album of the Year award at this year's event. She won for Folklore, her eighth studio album and one of two albums she put out in 2020. She beat out Post Malone, HAIM, Black Pumas, Jhené Aiko, Jacob Collier, Coldplay, and Dua Lipa for the honor (per Pitchfork).The win itself is significant, but it's also history-making.
The award has helped Swift make history before. In 2010, she won Album of the Year for Fearless, making her the youngest artist to ever win the award (per Insider). She won it again in 2016, for 1989. The win for Folklore makes three Album of the Year awards for Swift. This makes her the very first woman in history to win the honor three times.
Taylor surprised many with her acceptance speech
In her acceptance speech, Swift thanked album collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff for their help making the magic of the album happen. Then, she made a rare public recognition of boyfriend Joe Alwyn, who also lended his talents to the album's creation.
"Joe, who is the first person that I play every single song that I write, and I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine," she gushed (per Elle). Then, she moved on to some other notable famous friends.
"I want to thank — I want to thank James, Inez, and Betty and their parents (Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds), who are the second and third people that I play every new song that I write but mostly, we just want to thank the fans," Swift said heartfully.
"You guys met us in this imaginary world that we created, and we can't tell you how honored we are forever by this. Thank you so much, and thank you to the Recording Academy. We will never forget that you did this for us. Thank you so much."