Tracing the origin story of Taylor Swift [Replay]
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Tennessee, The Times’ Megan Agnew spent three weeks on the Taylor Swift trail, discovering the origins of the supersonic star. How does someone go from teenage guitarist to pop phenomenon? Was her fame just luck and talent, or was there a master plan behind it all?
This episode was first broadcast on June 10th 2024.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guest: Megan Agnew, Senior Features Writer, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Host: Jane Mulkerrins.
Producer: Taryn Siegel.
Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | How often can you say a gift is truly unique? |
| 0:04.1 | When you gift a loved one and ancestry DNA test, |
| 0:07.0 | you're giving them the keys to unlock their own personal journey of discovery. |
| 0:11.4 | And with our festive sale now on, you can save on a truly meaningful gift. |
| 0:15.8 | Help them discover their heritage, learn about their ancestors, |
| 0:19.1 | and make new family connections this Christmas. |
| 0:22.1 | Visit ancestry.co.com.uk to give them a gift that is truly unique. Terms apply. |
| 0:30.3 | This year, we've had a record 150,000 children homeless in England. We'll be waking up homeless on Christmas morning, in cramped |
| 0:39.5 | rooms with nowhere to play, and sometimes even having to share bathrooms with strangers. This is not a home. |
| 0:48.9 | This is the heartbreaking reality, but it doesn't have to be this way. Your donation to shelter could could help a family find a safe place to call home. Donate today at shelter.org. UK. |
| 1:09.6 | Hi, it's Manveen. |
| 1:11.6 | It may feel like a lifetime ago, but in March last year, Taylor Swift played the first show of her career-defining eras tour. |
| 1:20.6 | Spanning 149 shows across five continents and generating headlines wherever it went, it became the highest |
| 1:29.0 | grossing tour of all time, and the first to earn over a billion dollars. In June, ahead of her |
| 1:36.8 | London shows, we spoke to Megan Agnew from the Sunday Times, who'd spent weeks on the trail of the |
| 1:42.7 | Taylor Swift origin story, from the |
| 1:45.6 | Pennsylvania Christmas tree farm to the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Earlier this month, |
| 1:52.0 | the tour finally came to an end, 632 days after that first performance in Vancouver. So, we thought, what better time to revisit the Taylor Swift story. |
| 2:11.9 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. |
| 2:15.9 | I'm Jane Mulcairons. |
| 2:33.9 | I'm just driving up the road where Taylor Swift spent much of her childhood in wire missing in Pennsylvania. |
| 2:36.5 | For three weeks, the Times and Sunday Times |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

