The big 3-0! Taylor Swift’s friends are showering the musician with love in honor of her 30th birthday on Friday, December 13.
The “Delicate” songstress has been gearing up to celebrate the milestone since the beginning of the year. Back in March, Swift reflected on her life by sharing “30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30” with Elle magazine.
“According to my birth certificate, I turn 30 this year. It’s weird because part of me still feels 18 and part of me feels 283, but the actual age I currently am is 29,” she wrote at the time. “I’ve heard people say that your thirties are ‘the most fun’ So I’ll definitely keep you posted on my findings on that when I know. But until then, I thought I’d share some lessons I’ve learned before reaching 30, because it’s 2019 and sharing is caring.”
Swift’s list covered a variety of topics, including body positivity, her fears, childhood scars, her mother’s battle with cancer, friendships and more.
“I learned that I have friends and fans in my life who don’t care if I’m #canceled. They were there in the worst times and they’re here now,” she wrote. “The fans and their care for me, my well-being, and my music were the ones who pulled me through. The most emotional part of the Reputation Stadium Tour for me was knowing I was looking out at the faces of the people who helped me get back up. I’ll never forget the ones who stuck around.”
On the eve before her big day, Swift was honored with the first-ever Billboard Woman of the Decade award at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 12. During her 15-minute acceptance speech, the Grammy winner tackled her recent drama with Scooter Braun and her former label, Big Machine Records.
“After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold. And yet, to this day, none of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly to perform their due diligence on their investment in me to ask how I might feel about the new owner of my art, my music, my handwriting,” she said. “Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced. I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it, though. And let me just say that the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, ‘But he’s always been nice to me’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists and their rights to own their music.”
The manager, for his part, spoke about the situation for the first time last month at the 2019 Entertainment Industry Conference: “We’re inciting all of this by continuing these arguments in public. We just need to go behind closed doors and see if we can have a conversation. And if we’re not having conversations, then I don’t think we’re going to find resolution.” (Braun and Big Machine also denied blocking Swift’s efforts to perform her old hits at the 2019 American Music Awards in November.)
After delivering her powerful speech, Swift kicked off the birthday with a sweet throwback photo of herself, writing, “WHO’S GONNA TELL HER SHE’S THIRTAY NOW.”
Sign up for Us Weekly's free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!
Scroll through to read the messages from her squad:
