From the country girl to the most successful pop star of today: Taylor Swift has grown up before the world’s eyes. Since the end of her big “Eras Tour,” more than a year and a half has passed. The two-part documentary “Becoming Taylor Swift” now retraces the path of the American singer on the way to this global triumph once again.
Director Guy King starts with Swift’s beginnings in Nashville’s country scene and invites early collaborators, journalists, and fans to speak. The two films were produced for the British broadcaster Channel 4; they are now available on the ZDF streaming portal. On linear television, the first episode will air on June 12 (12:45 a.m., ZDF).
With Persistence to a Record Deal
Using archival footage, audio recordings, and song excerpts, the documentary traces Swift’s extraordinary career. King mostly proceeds chronologically: he shows how Swift wrote her first songs as a child, how she, through sheer perseverance, songwriting talent, and the support of loving parents, landed a record deal. He then tracks how she continually refined her sound from album to album, ultimately leaving the country genre behind and reinventing herself as a pop star.
That she deliberately targeted a younger, female audience and chose to emphasize big emotions rather than overt sexuality sets her apart, according to the experts. “She serves a group that had been underrepresented up to that point,” says journalist Zing Tsjeng: “Young women and girls who search for someone who mirrors their feelings—with songs that feel like they’ve been written about their lives.”
Withdrawal and Comeback
The documentary offers revealing glimpses into Swift’s early years, including input from her former manager Rick Barker and journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis, who sat with Swift for a lengthy interview in 2009. Excerpts from the recordings reveal how much the then-19-year-old already fretted about her music. In tandem, longtime “Swifties” recount how they grew up with the songs and spot parallels between their lives and Swift’s.
The first part culminates with a string of events that Swift herself has repeatedly identified as formative: her public feud with rapper Kanye West and his then-wife Kim Kardashian in 2016 and her subsequent withdrawal from the spotlight. After a year away from the glare, the singer returned in 2017 with the album “Reputation.”
No New Interview with Swift
“Becoming Taylor Swift” isn’t a music film, and thus the second episode only touches on new albums in passing. Instead, it focuses on her attempts to find a political voice and the fight for the rights to her first six albums. When the documentary arrives at the era of the “Eras Tour” in 2023, it leans on the Kanye West scandal: as journalist Tsjeng puts it, there’s no better retort for a woman than commercial success.
At this point, a major weakness of the documentary becomes evident: it defers interpretation of Swift’s motives and feelings mostly to third parties. The musician herself speaks only through archival material—and that material is largely familiar, as it has circulated in other places, such as Netflix’s “Miss Americana” (2020).
A Breezy Overview
That Swift herself isn’t speaking this time stands out even more because the 36-year-old has not shied away from interviews in the past year. She spent two hours on her partner Travis Kelce’s podcast, gave numerous interviews surrounding her new album “The Life of a Showgirl,” and appeared on late-night programs. At the end of 2025, Disney+ released a six-part documentary series about the “Eras Tour.” And the New York Times published a long video interview about her songwriting. If you’ve already followed these pieces, you’ll find little new in “Becoming Taylor Swift.” But for someone stepping in with only a basic background, King’s film offers a brisk, engaging overview of Swift’s life.
