“Miss Americana” & the Publicist
Who Is Tree Paine? The Publicist Behind Taylor Swift
Published on February 17, 2020, at 9:22 p.m.
by Emily Greco.
This month, Taylor Swift released her documentary Miss Americana, which followed Swift’s rise to fame and the obstacles she encountered along the way. The film featured her infamous feud with Kanye West after he explicitly cited her in his song Famous. In addition to the Kanye drama, Swift addressed her lawsuit against DJ David Mueller (Mueller allegedly groped Swift; she later sued him for $1 — and won).
These conflicts would be a lot to handle on her own, so who was by Swift’s side? A publicist. “Miss Americana” revealed Tree Paine, the publicist who helped guide Swift through adversity.
So who is Tree Paine and why have you never heard of her?
She’s no stranger to the Nashville music industry
Paine spent five years at Nashville’s crown jewel, The Academy of Country Music, overseeing all media, radio and marketing efforts. She later joined Warner Music Nashville in 2007 as an executive and was promoted to senior vice president of publicity in 2013. Paine left Warner Music in 2014 to start her own agency, Premium PR.
She’s not a recent addition to Swift’s team
Although Paine flew under the radar before “Miss Americana,” she’s been Swift’s publicist since 2014. According to The Nashville Post, “The hiring of Paine [came] after Swift and Paula Erickson, who began representing the singer after her first album began to climb the charts, parted ways — amid talk that Swift wanted to bring PR in-house.” Paine was eager to retain Swift as a client. “There isn’t a publicist in NY, LA or Nashville that wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to work with someone as talented as Taylor Swift and her management team,” said Paine in an interview.
Miss Americana” highlights how Paine supports Swift and helps her make publicity decisions. For example, Swift was on the fence about taking a political stance and Paine helped her craft her Instagram post backing Democratic candidates Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper.
She keeps her private life, private
Like any social media-savvy publicist, Paine is active on both Twitter and Instagram. She has a whopping 66,000 followers on Twitter, but only 214 on Instagram. Paine’s Twitter bio simply states “Premium PR.” Unsurprisingly, her Twitter is dedicated to Swift’s successes. Paine herself doesn’t tweet, but rather solely retweets Taylor Swift-related content (what more could a client ask for!).
You may be wondering why someone of Paine’s caliber only has 214 Instagram followers as of Feb. 17. This is answered in her Instagram bio that reads, “I only use the Gram for family photos so please don’t be offended if I don’t accept a request. It’s mainly for friends who know my family.”
She shows her personality through an unexpected platform
Believe it or not, Paine has an active Tumblr account. Paine’s Tumblr gives fans insight into who she is. She often shares humorous posts about herself, as well as plenty of pictures of her adorable cat!
It’s no surprise that Swift selected a well-qualified cat-lover as her publicist. With Paine by her side, Swift can fearlessly conquer any adversity that lies ahead of her.
