Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Taylor Swift may not be the most badass adult, but she sure was as a kid. 1989 sold 1.287 million copies in its first week, and Tay Tay is celebrating with a 'gram of herself in the year 2002, the last time an album sold so rapidly (Eminem, by the way). So yes, Taylor Swift had a "braids phase" and it was majestic.