2014: The year of Meredith and Olivia Benson.
When 2014 began, Taylor Swift had only one famous cat, Meredith. Now, as 2014 ends, she has two. What change a year can make! This is the only 2014 retrospective you need, based solely on Taylor Swift’s cats.
JANUARY: This is Meredith Grey (named after the character on Grey’s Anatomy). She is Taylor Swift’s only cat at the moment and has gained prominent notoriety on the Internet for her quirky habits and general being-Taylor-Swift’s-cat-ness.
JANUARY - MAY: Meredith spends this time wiggling her ears and etc. Just being adorable and stuff for the Instagram likes.
PHOTOS: Check out these celebs posing with their adorable pets!
And then it all changed...
JUNE: Taylor Swift surprise Beyoncé-drops a new kitten on us fans. Her name is Olivia Benson (named after the character on Law & Order: SVU), and for a second everyone was like, “Meredith who?”
Because how could you not be obsessed with Olivia?!
Thankfully, someone was still around to let Meredith know her worth. As June turns into July, Ed Sheeran kisses Meredith, probably writes a song about it.
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JULY: For the summer months, Olivia Benson appears to be Taylor Swift’s Instagram muse. Behind-the-scenes, tensions were likely building between Meredith, the established star, and Olivia, the new “It Girl."
Culminating in this standoff. This very, very cute kitty standoff.
SEPTEMBER: Things were not immediately resolved, but Taylor Swift tried to keep tensions hidden from the masses. Still, Meredith’s diva antics were well known to those in their inner cat circle.
WATCH: Why are Ryan Seacrest and Taylor Swift about to kiss?
Meanwhile, Olivia’s star was only on the rise: In September, she starred in a iconic photo series in which she was carried by her human, Taylor Swift, through the streets of New York. Very avant garde.
"The kitten freaks out about being put in the cat carrier," Taylor would later explain, as if Olivia Benson owed anyone an explanation for anything.
"So I was just like, 'OK, all right, we're gonna just do this!' It was like a ten foot walk from my door to the car! What I thought was funny about those pictures is that, like, the cat is looking straight at the cameras!"
OCTOBER: Olivia began booking other photoshoots, like this now infamous shoot with renowned fashion photographers and Taylor Swift’s parents, Scott and Andrea. This was when Olivia Benson first felt the backlash of fame.
While appearing on BBC’s The Graham Norton Show, Taylor Swift was forced to defend the controversial shoot when John Cleese asked her, “How did [Olivia] have an accident?” To which Taylor asked, “What accident?” Cleese: “Is that a proper cat or is it damaged? That’s the weirdest cat I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Olivia realizes that she hadn’t truly made it, not until this very point, when she discovered her first hater. This also marked a turning point in the formerly wrought relationship between Olivia and Meredith. Coming to respect Olivia, Meredith took her under her paw, becoming a mentor of sorts.
NEWS: Say goodbye to 2014 with this epic end-of-the-year playlist
Respect turned into affection and, while the rumor mill speculated that the two might be something more — a news cycle that would foreshadow Taylor Swift’s own brief brush with supposedly but not really making out with Karlie Kloss — Meredith and Olivia said they were “just friends.”
Under Meredith’s tutelage, Olivia transitioned from model to actress, booking her first TV work in a Coca Cola commercial. Even though she was reaching a new level of fame, she didn’t forget the small people: Olivia graciously gave Taylor Swift a cameo in the ad too.
NOVEMBER: What a truly incredible, accomplished year these two have had. And as 2014 wound down, Olivia and Meredith took some much-needed and well-deserved R&R. But a brief reprieve before they return and become even bigger stars in 2014.
DECEMBER: But even when Olivia and Meredith lay low, they can’t escape being tabloid fodder. Like when child star Abigail Breslin tweeted a twist on Taylor Swift’s lyrics, “Cuz darling I'm a nightmare dressed like an emotionally unstable cat lady.” After Meredith and Olivia’s fans came for her, Breslin clarified that the tweet was not directed at the Swift family. For the record, Olivia and Meredith chose not to comment on the controversy, knowing that the best way for stories like this to go away is to not engage them.
Anyway, they can’t help it that they’re so popular.
2014 was also a big year for T.Swift parodies. Check out the best ones:
