Taylor Swift then and now: 8 things you might not know about the singer, from her early financial adviser dreams to why she feels like an outsider

Eight things you may not know about Taylor Swift, the former country singer turned pop star, including her family’s stockbroker history and why 13 is lucky

The singer was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor because her mum wanted her to have a gender-neutral name and she was never the ‘cool kid at the party’

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Although Taylor Swift is a successful pop star, she had dreams of becoming a financial adviser when she was younger.

Published: 4:15pm, 18 Jun 2022

On June 11, Taylor Swift attended the 20th Tribeca Film Festival in New York, where her self-directed short film, All Too Well, was screened. Hundreds of Swifties – a term coined for the pop star’s devoted fan base – crowded along Broadway hoping to snap a selfie with their favourite singer.

While the 32-year-old is notoriously private about her music narratives, she did reveal some hidden meanings she “sprinkled” throughout the film (first released in November and rumoured to be based on her relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal).

The film’s leads, Stranger Things star Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien, also made an appearance at the screening.

Swift says she felt “impostor syndrome” (when a person doubts their skills or feels like a fraud) while directing the short film, but immense curiosity led her to pursuing it. So, just who is the woman behind All Too Well: the Short Film? Here are eight fun facts you may not know about the famous singer-songwriter and recent film director, Taylor Swift.

She was intentionally given a gender-neutral name

Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, was a former mutual fund marketing executive. Worried that her daughter would be treated differently as a woman in the corporate world, she gave Swift a gender-neutral name to help her business career – at least on paper.