Taylor Swift Intends To Be More Vocal on Political Issues

cnn.com: A few months away from turning 30, Taylor Swift has her eye on 2020.

In a new piece for Elle magazine, in which the superstar serves up 30 things she's learned in her (almost) 30 years of life, Swift says she feels a "responsibility to use my influence" as the country heads toward another presidential election year.

"I'm finding my voice in terms of politics," Swift writes. "I took a lot of time educating myself on the political system and the branches of government that are signing off on bills that affect our day-to-day life. I saw so many issues that put our most vulnerable citizens at risk, and felt like I had to speak up to try and help make a change."

Back in October, Swift made the then-rare move of weighing in on Tennessee's midterm races, endorsing Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper, who were running for Senate and House of Representatives, respectively.

Cooper ended up winning his seat, while Bredesen was defeated by Marsha Blackburn. Swift said at the time that she had been "reluctant" to voice her political opinions in the past, but "due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now."

The move earned Swift a wave of criticism, particularly from her conservative fans. Now as she approaches her milestone birthday, Swift says she feels "informed enough to speak about [politics] to my 114 million followers."

"Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders," she writes. "I'm going to do more to help. We have a big race coming up next year."