Miss Americana (also known as Taylor Swift: Miss Americana) is a documentary film, directed by Lana Wilson, that follows Taylor and her life over the course of several years of her career.

Miss Americana debuted at the opening night of 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020, and was released on Netflix and in select theaters on January 31, 2020. Netflix described the film as a "raw and emotionally revealing look" at Taylor "during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice."

BACKGROUND

Taylor expressed interest in making a documentary with Netflix following the release of the concert film "Taylor Swift: reputation Stadium Tour" on the streaming platform in December 2018. She was provided with a list of potential directors, of which Wilson was one.

The title of the documentary is borrowed from "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince", a song on Taylor's seventh album "Lover" (2019), in which Taylor expressed her disillusionment over the state of United States politics.

Taylor revealed the documentary in November 2019, when she said the owner and founder of her former label Big Machine Records, Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta respectively, blocked her from using older music and performance footage for the documentary. She added that the documentary does not mention Braun, Borchetta, or Big Machine. Big Machine denied the accusations in a statement. In response, a representative for Taylor published an email from a Big Machine executive refusing to issue licences in connection to the documentary. In December, Variety reported Big Machine has cleared the use of Taylor's older material for the film.

In an interview with Chris Willman of Variety, it was revealed that the opening act of the film deals with "juxtaposing the joys of creation with the aggravations of global stardom" while the second half is a "provocative turn focused on why Swift became a political animal". Willman wrote that the film further features clips capturing Taylor's increasing LGBTQ allyship, her reaction to her mother's cancer diagnosis, and Taylor's response to her 2017 album "reputation" not receiving any nominations in general categories at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Wilson stated that she views the movie as "looking at the flip side of being America's sweetheart".

MUSIC

The documentary includes the song "Only The Young", which plays during the end credits of the film. Taylor wrote the song after the 2018 United States elections.