Little Taylor’s all grown up! The pop-star celebrated her 30th birthday in style over the weekend, and in more ways than one. Friday evening started with a performance at the Jingle Ball in Madison Square Gardens, where Tay was serenaded by the crowd (‘That was the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard!’, she proclaimed) before being treated to the cake to end all cakes. Bigger than her, and plastered with photos of her beloved cats, the culinary masterpiece was presented to her by Jingle Ball host Elvis Duran.
Then came time to hit the town. Taylor headed to New York’s Oscar Wilde restaurant, accompanied by old friends and new favourites. From high-school bestie Abigail Lucier to Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness and Anthoni Porowski, Gigi Hadid to Camila Cabello and A-list couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the assembled crowd got seriously stuck in to the event’s festive spirit. As Taylor said in an Instagram post, ‘Happy Birthday but make it Santa’.
There was another cat cake (I, for one, did not know you could make such realistic cat faces out of icing). There were fairy lights and Christmas trees, tinsel and a photo booth. Taylor posted online, summing up the evening in all its glory. ‘Honestly spending my 30th with the fans who have made my life what it is at Jingle Ball then throwing the most aggressive holiday party known to womankind…’ she wrote. ‘I just.. seriously feel so lucky for you all and will spend forever trying to find ways to say thank you. Cries in Christmas tree’.
Don’t cry, Taylor! The weekend’s not over yet – after her stateside celebration, the newly minted thirty-year-old headed to London where she performed ‘Lover’ at Strictly Come Dancing’s final. It’s been an action-packed week for the Grammy winner, who was named Billboard’s Woman of the Decade on Thursday – as fitting a way as any to see out her 20s.
She spoke passionately about her experience of the music industry, and what she’ll take into her future there. ‘In the last 10 years I have watched as women are criticised, measured up to each other and picked at for their bodies, their romantic lives and their fashion. Lately I’ve been focusing less on doing what they say I can’t do and more on doing whatever the hell I want’, said Swift. ‘Thank you for a magnificent, happy, free, confused, sometimes lonely but mostly golden decade.’ Hear hear! Happy birthday, Taylor
READ MORE: Taylor Swift And Joe Alwyn Finally Go Public