So with all due respect to Taylor the myth, the icon, the red-carpet tabloid staple, let’s celebrate the real Taylor - the songwriter she was born to be. She was soaring on the level of the all-time greats before she was old enough to rent a car, with the crafty guile of a Carole King and the reckless heart of a Paul Westerberg - and she hasn’t exactly slowed down since then. It’s in her music where she’s made her mark on history - as a performer, record-crafter, guitar hero and all-around pop mastermind, with songs that can leave you breathless or with a nasty scar. But Swift was a songwriter before she was a star, and she’ll be a songwriter long after she graduates from that racket. Taylor Swift the celebrity is such a magnet for attention, she can distract from Taylor Swift the artist.