Taylor Swift is TIME‘s Person of the Year for 2023, gracing three unique covers of the magazine and giving a rare in-depth interview in honor of the occasion.
And in an Instagram post commemorating the title, the 33-year-old pop star hinted at the reason she’s more selective these days about which publications she speaks to, while also explaining why she made an exception for TIME. “I have tRuSt iSSueS when it comes to interviews,” she wrote Wednesday (Dec. 6) to caption a photo of one of her three covers.
“But I couldn’t be happier that I did this one with [Sam Lansky],” she continued, giving a special shoutout to the writer of her Person of the Year profile. “If you’ve ever been around him, you know he’s just the best type of person: Curious. Interested. Hilarious. Intriguing and intrigued.”
The “Anti-Hero” singer also said she was “blown away” to see that the magazine had spoken to Stevie Nicks, Greta Gerwig, Shonda Rhimes, Phoebe Bridgers and more stars, each of whom sang her praises in the piece. “I’m really reflecting on this year, and all the years that led up to it,” she added. “Can’t say thank you enough times.”
The pop superstar also shared how excited she was to receive the magazine’s honor. “The biggest, loudest, most aggressively over-excited thank you to @time for naming me Person of the Year,” she wrote in another Instagram post.
Named Person of the Year for her litany of year-end accomplishments, which are so numerous TIME wrote that “to recount them seems almost beside the point,” Swift was candid in her interview about everything from her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to her Eras Tour preparations, Reputation (Taylor’s Version) plans and past feuds with Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta.
And of the three covers she posed for, it’s not difficult to guess which is probably Swift’s favorite: the one on which she stands with her pet cat Benjamin Button draped around her shoulders. The ragdoll kitty is the 12-time Grammy winner’s third and youngest feline, after Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson, joining the family in 2019 after meeting his famous mom on the set of “Me!”
Sharing the cover on Instagram, Swift joked — “Time Magazine: We’d like to name you Person of the Yea- Me: Can I bring my cat.”
See Swift’s Instagram posts about her TIME honor and covers below: