Poor Taylor – forced to repeat this mantra to herself throughout 2023, a difficult year for the most famous woman in the world. The thesis statement of Swift Inc. is all contained there in “White Horse”; in the 18-year-old who knew the prophecy. The album cover – Swift semi-drowning, John Everett Millais style – is a helpful visual aide for those otherwise slow at symbolism. But without that instinct, there would be no Taylor Swift. Life doesn’t just happen to Taylor Swift – she told us that at 18.