Not that Taylor Swift needed to accomplish anything else this year, when she's just given us a video that may or may not be the greatest single contribution ever to the realm of human existence, but our favorite songstress has been named #1 on Maxim's Hot 100 list!

And in typical Taylor fashion, she didn't just pose prettily for the cover of the magazine and call it a day. In an interview, she shared some great insights into how growing up has shaped her approach to friendship and feminism alike.

For starters, she explained, she needed to get a little bit older before she could comprehend just what all the "feminism" fuss was about.

"Honestly, I didn’t have an accurate definition of feminism when I was younger," Taylor said, of her early days as a non-user of the F-word. "I didn’t quite see all the ways that feminism is vital to growing up in the world we live in. I think that when I used to say, 'Oh, feminism’s not really on my radar,' it was because when I was just seen as a kid, I wasn’t as threatening."

Needless to say, reaching her twenties and feeling the heat of a bigger, brighter spotlight was a wake-up call:

"I didn’t see myself being held back until I was a woman," she explained. "Or the double standards in headlines, the double standards in the way stories are told, the double standards in the way things are perceived. A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality."

It's almost definitely not a coincidence that Taylor's more socially aware outlook on life has come in conjunction with some high-profile friendships with a cabal of supportive, powerful ladies (many of whom showed up to kick some butt in that awesome "Bad Blood" video.") And for her part, the artist told Maxim that she's making those relationships a priority -- with a little help from her fans.

"You have to have time to breathe and have a happy life, and friendships are so important to me. Thankfully -- thanks to the fans -- now we get to play stadiums, so we do two or three stadium shows a week. I’ll see my friends in whichever city I’m closer to," she explained.

So basically, when Taylor posts some awesome pic of herself hanging with Karlie Kloss or Lorde while on tour, it's actually you who made that possible, so thanks.