Taylor Swift on removing her music from Spotify

In this week's Billboard cover story Billboard Woman of the Year Taylor Swift opens up about her decision to remove her music from Spotify, her friendship with stars like Lena Dunham and Lorde, why she's "perfectly happy" being single, and more (quotes below).

The superstar also discusses pushback -- even from her own label -- on changing her sound from country to pop, and how it "turned into the biggest triumph when it worked out."

On her decision to remove her music from Spotify:
"I wrote an entire op-ed piece [for The Wall Street Journal] back in the summer that was essentially foreshadowing this decision."

"Until Spotify starts to fairly compensate the creators of music, I'm not going to be a part of it."

"[My fans] proved that they still want to invest in music, that it's important enough to spend their hard-earned money on."

On pushback on changing her sound from pop to country:
"Everyone, in and out of the music business, kept telling me that my opinion and my viewpoint was naive and overly optimistic -- even my own label," says Swift. "But when we got those first-day numbers in, all of a sudden, I didn't look so naive anymore."

"The biggest struggle turned into the biggest triumph when it worked out."

On becoming friends with Lena Dunahm and Lorde:
"I went to Lena's Twitter and she was following me...so I followed her, and immediately got a direct message back saying, 'When can we hang out? We need to be best friends.'"

"With Ella -- Lorde -- her album came out and I thought it was amazing, so I sent her flowers and congratulated her on a great first week."

"[Lorde and I] met up in New York and walked to a park near my hotel, and we ate Shake Shack burgers and got attacked my monster squirrels who wanted our food."

​On ​being "perfectly happy" being single:
​"I, however, am 24, perfectly happy being alone, and one of the reasons I'm perfectly happy being alone is that no one gets hurt this way."

On having genuine friendships:
"I feel uncomfortable being the No. 1 priority in my friends' lives -- I want to be there to make their lives more fun, if they need to talk, to be there for spontaneous and exciting adventures, but I don't want friends who don't have a life outside of me."

"They have me in their life because they want me in their life, not because they gain from it."

"You'll notice a lot of celebrity-type people tend to surround themselves with people whose lives revolve around them. You'll have a posse of these exciting and fashionable cling-ons, and it's because those celebrities need to be fawned over."

On 'sexist' critics assuming she doesn't write her own music:
They may have to deal with their own sexist issues, because if I were a guy and you were to look at my catalog and my lyrics, you would not wonder if I was the person behind it ​ ​ ​