Taylor Swift almost unrecognizable on the cover of Vogue

A bleach blonde Taylor Swift is almost unrecognizable on the cover of Vogue’s May issue. And in her interview the driven pop star also sounds different, almost directionless, and happy to be that way.

“This is the first time in ten years that I haven’t known. I just decided that after the past year, with all of the unbelievable things that happened…I decided I was going to live my life a little bit without the pressure on myself to create something.”

Instead Swift is relaxing into her relationship with DJ Calvin Harris, a union that recently hit its one-year anniversary.

“I’m just taking things as they come,” Swift says. “I’m in a magical relationship right now. And of course I want it to be ours, and low-key…this is the one thing that’s been mine about my personal life."

And she’s not kidding about being low key.

“I would really like to take a little time to learn things. I want to be a well-rounded person who can make a good drink, to be able to save somebody if they’re drowning,” Swift muses.

And she also wants to hang out with her famous friends, even if people give her flak for it.

“I’ve had people say really hurtful things about me, and so I’ve kind of learned how to gauge it: ‘This is, like, low-to-medium-level hurtful.'"

“There are a lot of really easy ways to dispel rumors,” she said. “If they say you are pregnant, all you have to do is continue to not be pregnant and not have a baby. If the rumor is that you have fake friendships, all you have to do is continue to be there for each other. And when we’re all friends in fifteen years and raising our kids together, maybe somebody will look back and go, ‘That was kind of ridiculous what we said about Taylor and her friends.’"