Thursday, June 12, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
"Trumpets"
[Chorus:]
Every time that you get undressed
I hear symphonies in my head
I wrote this song just looking at you oh, oh
Yeah the drums they swing low
And the trumpets they go
And the trumpets they go
Yeah the trumpets they go
Da da, da ra ra da, da, da
Da, ra, ra, ra, da, da
Da da, da ra ra da, da, da
Da, ra, ra, ra, da, da
They go
[Verse 1:]
Is it weird that I hear
Violins whenever you’re gone
Whenever you’re gone
Is it weird that your ass
Remind me of a Kanye West song?
Kanye West song
Is it weird that I hear
Trumpets when you’re turning me on?
Turning me on
Is it weird that your bra
Remind me of a Katy Perry song?
[Chorus:]
Every time that you get undressed
I hear symphonies in my head
I wrote this song just looking at you ooh, oh
Yeah the drums they swing low
And the trumpets they go (and they playing for you girl)
And the trumpets they go (ha, yeah)
Yeah the trumpets they go
Yeah the trumpets they go (go, go go, go go, go, go go)
And they go
Da da, da da da da [7x]
They go
[Verse 2:]
(Damn) Is it weird that I hear
Angels every time that you moan?
Time that you moan
Is it weird that your eyes
Remind me of a Coldplay song?
Coldplay song
Is it weird that I hear
Trumpets when you’re turning me on?
Turning me on
Is it weird that your bra
Remind me of a Katy Perry song?
[Bridge:]
Every time that you get undressed
I hear symphonies in my head
I wrote this song just looking at you oh
Oh yeah
[Chorus:]
Every time (every time) that you get undressed (every time that you get undressed)
I hear symphonies in my head (I hear symphonies in my head)
I wrote this song (I wrote this song) just looking at you oh, oh (just looking at you girl)
Yeah the drums they swing low
And the trumpets they go (ha, acapella on them)
They go (oh, yeah)
Come on, come on, come on, they go
Every time that you get undressed
I hear symphonies in my head
I wrote this song just looking at you oh, oh
Yeah the drums they swing low
And the trumpets they go
And the trumpets they go
Yeah the trumpets they go
Da da, da ra ra da, da, da
Da, ra, ra, ra, da, da
Da da, da ra ra da, da, da
Da, ra, ra, ra, da, da
They go
[Verse 1:]
Is it weird that I hear
Violins whenever you’re gone
Whenever you’re gone
Is it weird that your ass
Remind me of a Kanye West song?
Kanye West song
Is it weird that I hear
Trumpets when you’re turning me on?
Turning me on
Is it weird that your bra
Remind me of a Katy Perry song?
[Chorus:]
Every time that you get undressed
I hear symphonies in my head
I wrote this song just looking at you ooh, oh
Yeah the drums they swing low
And the trumpets they go (and they playing for you girl)
And the trumpets they go (ha, yeah)
Yeah the trumpets they go
Yeah the trumpets they go (go, go go, go go, go, go go)
And they go
Da da, da da da da [7x]
They go
[Verse 2:]
(Damn) Is it weird that I hear
Angels every time that you moan?
Time that you moan
Is it weird that your eyes
Remind me of a Coldplay song?
Coldplay song
Is it weird that I hear
Trumpets when you’re turning me on?
Turning me on
Is it weird that your bra
Remind me of a Katy Perry song?
[Bridge:]
Every time that you get undressed
I hear symphonies in my head
I wrote this song just looking at you oh
Oh yeah
[Chorus:]
Every time (every time) that you get undressed (every time that you get undressed)
I hear symphonies in my head (I hear symphonies in my head)
I wrote this song (I wrote this song) just looking at you oh, oh (just looking at you girl)
Yeah the drums they swing low
And the trumpets they go (ha, acapella on them)
They go (oh, yeah)
Come on, come on, come on, they go
"Not A Bad Thing"
[Verse 1:]
Said all I want from you is to see you tomorrow
And every tomorrow, maybe you'll let me borrow your heart
And is it too much to ask for every Sunday
And while we're at it, throw in every other day to start
I know people make promises all the time
Then they turn right around and break them
When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you're bleeding
But I could be that guy to heal it over time
And I won't stop until you believe it
'Cause baby you're worth it
[Chorus:]
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
[Verse 2:]
Now how about I'd be the last voice you hear tonight?
And every other night for the rest of the nights that there are
Every morning I just wanna see you staring back at me
'Cause I know that's a good place to start
I know people make promises all the time
Then they turn right around and break them
When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you're bleeding
Don't you know that I could be that guy to heal it over time
And I won't stop until you believe it
'Cause baby you're worth it
[Chorus:]
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me
(Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me)
No I won't fill your mind
With broken promises and wasted time
And if you fall, you'll always land right in these arms
These arms of mine
[Chorus:]
Don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me
Said all I want from you is to see you tomorrow
And every tomorrow, maybe you'll let me borrow your heart
And is it too much to ask for every Sunday
And while we're at it, throw in every other day to start
I know people make promises all the time
Then they turn right around and break them
When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you're bleeding
But I could be that guy to heal it over time
And I won't stop until you believe it
'Cause baby you're worth it
[Chorus:]
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
[Verse 2:]
Now how about I'd be the last voice you hear tonight?
And every other night for the rest of the nights that there are
Every morning I just wanna see you staring back at me
'Cause I know that's a good place to start
I know people make promises all the time
Then they turn right around and break them
When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you're bleeding
Don't you know that I could be that guy to heal it over time
And I won't stop until you believe it
'Cause baby you're worth it
[Chorus:]
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me
(Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me)
No I won't fill your mind
With broken promises and wasted time
And if you fall, you'll always land right in these arms
These arms of mine
[Chorus:]
Don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me
"The Lucky One"
New to town with a made up name in the angel city,
Chasing fortune and fame.
And the camera flashes, make it look like a dream.
You had it figured out since you were in school.
Everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool.
So overnight you look like a sixties’ queen.
Another name goes up in lights, like diamonds in the sky.
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
But can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh...
Now it’s big black cars, and Riviera views,
And your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you
And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page.
And they tell you that you’re lucky.
But you’re so confused,
Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used.
And all the young things line up to take your place.
Another name goes up in lights. You wonder if you’ll make it out alive.
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.
It was a few years later, I showed up here.
And they still tell the legend of how you disappeared,
How you took the money and your dignity, and got the hell out.
They say you bought a bunch of land somewhere,
Chose the Rose Garden over Madison Square,
And it took some time, but I understand it now.
‘Cause now my name is up in lights, but I think you got it right,
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.
Yeah they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh
Chasing fortune and fame.
And the camera flashes, make it look like a dream.
You had it figured out since you were in school.
Everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool.
So overnight you look like a sixties’ queen.
Another name goes up in lights, like diamonds in the sky.
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
But can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh...
Now it’s big black cars, and Riviera views,
And your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you
And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page.
And they tell you that you’re lucky.
But you’re so confused,
Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used.
And all the young things line up to take your place.
Another name goes up in lights. You wonder if you’ll make it out alive.
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.
It was a few years later, I showed up here.
And they still tell the legend of how you disappeared,
How you took the money and your dignity, and got the hell out.
They say you bought a bunch of land somewhere,
Chose the Rose Garden over Madison Square,
And it took some time, but I understand it now.
‘Cause now my name is up in lights, but I think you got it right,
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.
Yeah they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one.
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh
"Tim McGraw"
He said the way my blue eyes shined
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said: "That's a lie."
Just a boy in a Chevy truck
That had a tendency of gettin' stuck
On backroads at night
And I was right there beside him all summer long
And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone
But when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
September saw a month of tears
And thankin' God that you weren't here
To see me like that
But in a box beneath my bed
Is a letter that you never read
From three summers back
It's hard not to find it all a little bitter sweet
And lookin' back on all of that, it's nice to believe
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
And I'm back for the first time since then
I'm standin' on your street
And there's a letter left on your doorstep
And the first thing that you'll read is:
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
Someday you'll turn your radio on
I hope it takes you back to that place
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
Oh, think of me
Mmmm
He said the way my blue eyes shine
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said: "That's a lie"
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said: "That's a lie."
Just a boy in a Chevy truck
That had a tendency of gettin' stuck
On backroads at night
And I was right there beside him all summer long
And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone
But when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
September saw a month of tears
And thankin' God that you weren't here
To see me like that
But in a box beneath my bed
Is a letter that you never read
From three summers back
It's hard not to find it all a little bitter sweet
And lookin' back on all of that, it's nice to believe
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
And I'm back for the first time since then
I'm standin' on your street
And there's a letter left on your doorstep
And the first thing that you'll read is:
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
Someday you'll turn your radio on
I hope it takes you back to that place
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
Oh, think of me
Mmmm
He said the way my blue eyes shine
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said: "That's a lie"
The field trip is not too fun.
I went to Cijantung and the honey farm.
I mean my friends and me went to that place.
I just having fun there, we go inside the Tank. and it's so hot.
The first, we went to cijantung. we went to the tank place, idk what it called in english. the second place, we went to honey farm, there was so many bees, and it so hot. it feels like a hell, but its not that hot. we play at the playground and eat lunch there. we got many informations about tanks and bees.
i think that's all of my field trip sumarry story, because im lazy to type. for more infos follow and mention my twitter @mandaswifty13 and follow my instagram @myperfectswift13 or comment on my post for followback. thank you.
I went to Cijantung and the honey farm.
I mean my friends and me went to that place.
I just having fun there, we go inside the Tank. and it's so hot.
The first, we went to cijantung. we went to the tank place, idk what it called in english. the second place, we went to honey farm, there was so many bees, and it so hot. it feels like a hell, but its not that hot. we play at the playground and eat lunch there. we got many informations about tanks and bees.
i think that's all of my field trip sumarry story, because im lazy to type. for more infos follow and mention my twitter @mandaswifty13 and follow my instagram @myperfectswift13 or comment on my post for followback. thank you.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
"Highway Don't Care"
(feat. Keith Urban & Taylor Swift)
Bet your window's rolled down and your hair's pulled back
And I bet you got no idea you're going way too fast
You're trying not to think about what went wrong
Trying not to stop 'til you get where you goin'
You're trying to stay awake so I bet you turn on the radio
And the song goes
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby, baby
The highway won't hold you tonight
The highway don't know you're alive
The highway don't care if you're all alone
But I do, I do.
The highway won't dry your tears
The highway don't need you here
The highway don't care if you're coming home
But I do, I do.
I bet you got a dead cell phone in your shotgun seat
Yeah, I bet you're bending God's ear talking 'bout me.
You're trying not to let the first tear fall out
Trying not to think about turning around
You're trying not to get lost in the sound but that song is always on
So you sing along
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without I can't live without you baby, oh baby
The highway won't hold you tonight
The highway don't know you're alive
The highway don't care if you're all alone
But I do, I do.
The highway won't dry your tears
The highway don't need you here
The highway don't care if you're coming home
But I do, I do.
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without I can't live without you, baby, oh baby
The highway don't care
The highway don't care
The highway don't care
But I do, I do.
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without I can't live without you, baby, oh baby
(The highway don't care
The highway don't care
The highway don't care
But I do, I do)
[x3]
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
(feat. Keith Urban & Taylor Swift)
Bet your window's rolled down and your hair's pulled back
And I bet you got no idea you're going way too fast
You're trying not to think about what went wrong
Trying not to stop 'til you get where you goin'
You're trying to stay awake so I bet you turn on the radio
And the song goes
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby, baby
The highway won't hold you tonight
The highway don't know you're alive
The highway don't care if you're all alone
But I do, I do.
The highway won't dry your tears
The highway don't need you here
The highway don't care if you're coming home
But I do, I do.
I bet you got a dead cell phone in your shotgun seat
Yeah, I bet you're bending God's ear talking 'bout me.
You're trying not to let the first tear fall out
Trying not to think about turning around
You're trying not to get lost in the sound but that song is always on
So you sing along
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without I can't live without you baby, oh baby
The highway won't hold you tonight
The highway don't know you're alive
The highway don't care if you're all alone
But I do, I do.
The highway won't dry your tears
The highway don't need you here
The highway don't care if you're coming home
But I do, I do.
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without I can't live without you, baby, oh baby
The highway don't care
The highway don't care
The highway don't care
But I do, I do.
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without I can't live without you, baby, oh baby
(The highway don't care
The highway don't care
The highway don't care
But I do, I do)
[x3]
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Taylor has been taking NYC by storm with her retro-inspired fashions — and the singer rocked a flirty floral dress in honor of Earth Day. SHOP her exact look here for just $59!
Taylor Swift is quite the lover of any and all things feminine! The 24-year-old songstress looked completely ready for spring, opting for an adorable frock while shopping in NYC on Earth Day, April 22. I am totally loving Tay’s casual yet girly look — and, of course, the amazing price tag!Taylor Swift’s Floral Dress:
Taylor stepped out on Earth Day wearing a totally adorable frock while flower shopping on the streets of New York City. The down-to-earth starlet donned a navy and yellow floral printed fit and flare dress by Kimchi Blue, which is available at Urban Outfitters.
Taylor Swift Crashes Fan's Bridal Shower
Taylor Swift crashes a bridal shower and surprises a fan named Gena after she is invited to her wedding.
Starring Chloe Melas
Taylor Swift Mocks Her Own Dating History
Taylor Swift makes fun of her own dating history with Harry Styles and others for the Academy Of Country Music Awards.
Starring Bonnie...
What do you think of Taylor's flirty frock?
T Swift opted to get fully into the spirit of Earth Day and matched her flirty frock with a super cute floral yellow headband. The “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer finished off her look with a pair of quirky green mary jane’s which were complete with a sweet bow on the ankle strap and she added her fave Dolce & Gabbana ‘Agagta’ shoulder bag to pull the entire get-up together!
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Swift's third album, 2010's Speak Now, sold over one million copies in its first week of US release. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards. In 2012, Swift released her fourth album, Red. Red's opening US sales of 1.2 million were the highest recorded in a decade, with Swift becoming the only female artist to have two million-plus opening weeks. The singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" were worldwide hits.
Swift is known for narrative songs about her personal experiences. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other achievements include seven Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, eleven Country Music Association Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards. To date, she has sold over 26 million albums and 75 million digital single downloads. Forbes estimates that she is worth over $220 million. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day (2010) and the animated film The Lorax (2012). As a philanthropist, Swift supports arts education, children's literacy, natural disaster relief, LGBT anti-discrimination efforts, and charities for sick children.
Swift's family owned several Quarter horses and a Shetland pony and her first hobby was English horse riding.[15] Her mother first put her in a saddle when she was nine months old and she later competed in horse shows.[16] At the age of nine, Swift became interested in musical theatre. She performed in many Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions and traveled regularly to Broadway for vocal and acting lessons.[17][18] Swift then turned her attention to country music; Shania Twain's songs made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything."[19] She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs, Boy Scout meetings and sporting events.[4][5][20] At the age of eleven, after many failed attempts,[21] Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes's "Big Deal", and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater.[17] This growing ambition began to isolate Swift from her middle school peers.[1]
After watching a Behind the Music episode about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure that she needed to go to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career.[22] At the age of eleven, she traveled with her mother to Nashville for spring break to leave a demo of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers with record labels along Music Row.[23] She received label rejections and realized that "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."[24] At the age of twelve, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You".[25] She had previously won a national poetry contest with a poem titled "Monster in My Closet" but now began to focus on songwriting.[26] In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York-based music manager Dan Dymtrow. With Dymtrow's help, Swift modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included in a Maybelline compilation CD and took meetings with major record labels.[27] After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, the eighth-grader was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother.[28]
When Swift was fourteen, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lakefront house in Hendersonville, Tennessee.[1] "My parents took all the pressure off by saying, ‘We’re just moving because we love the area, so don’t worry.’ They knew nothing about the industry and had no involvement in entertainment, but I was obsessed with it and so they did their research and read up about it to help me in every way they could. They’re amazing people."[29] In Tennessee, she attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore years.[30] Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services. She earned her high school diploma in 2008, having completed her final two years of course work in twelve months.[31][32]
Swift performing at the Maverick Saloon & Grill in Santa Maria, California in 2006
Swift began working on her eponymous debut album
shortly after signing her record deal. After experimenting with veteran
Nashville producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to hire her demo
producer Nathan Chapman. It was his first time recording a studio album
but Swift felt they had the right "chemistry."[21]
Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, including two singles,
and co-wrote the remaining eight with writers such as Liz Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia.[45] Musically, the album has been described as "a mix of trad-country instruments and spry rock guitars."[46] Taylor Swift was released in October 2006. The New York Times
described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both
wide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading
voice."[47] The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones described the sixteen-year-old Swift as a "prodigy." He noted that "Our Song" "stop[ped] me in my tracks" and praised the lyrics: "He's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart."[48] Rolling Stone described Swift as "bright-eyed but remarkably seasoned," and admired "Our Song"'s "insanely hooky sing-song melody that's as Britney as it is Patsy."[46]
Big Machine Records was still in its infancy upon the release of the lead single "Tim McGraw" in June 2006, and Swift and her mother helped "stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio."[49] She spent much of 2006 promoting Taylor Swift in a radio tour and later commented, "Radio tours for most artists last six weeks. Mine lasted six months."[21] Swift baked cookies and painted canvases to gift to radio station programmers who played her music.[50] She made many television appearances, including on the Grand Ole Opry,[51] Good Morning America,[52] and TRL.[53] Swift, a self-described "kid of the internet," used Myspace to build a fanbase.[54] This was, at the time, "revolutionary in country music."[55]
Borchetta has said that his decision to sign a sixteen-year-old
singer-songwriter initially raised eyebrows among his record industry
peers but Swift tapped into a previously unknown market: teenage girls
who listen to country music.[55] Following "Tim McGraw", four further singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All were highly successful on the Billboard Hot Country Songs
chart, with "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" both reaching number
one. "Our Song" made Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write
and sing a number one country song.[56] "Teardrops on My Guitar" became a minor pop hit; it reached number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100.[57] The album sold 39,000 copies during its first week of release[58] and, as of March 2011, has sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide.[59] Swift also released a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, in October 2007 and an EP, Beautiful Eyes, in July 2008.[60][61]
Swift toured extensively in support of Taylor Swift. In addition to her own material, Swift played covers of songs by Beyoncé, Rihanna, John Waite, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Eminem.[62][63][64] She conducted meet-and-greet sessions with fans before and after her concerts; these lasted for up to four hours.[65] As well as festival and theater dates, Swift performed as an opening act for several country artists' concert tours. In late 2006, she opened for Rascal Flatts on the final nine dates of their Me & My Gang Tour, after the previous supporting act Eric Church was fired.[52] Swift later sent Church her first gold record with a note: "Thanks for playing 'too long' and 'too loud' on the Flatts tour. I sincerely appreciate it. Taylor."[66] In 2007, she served as the opening act on twenty dates for George Strait's tour,[67] several dates on Kenny Chesney's Flip-Flop Summer Tour,[68] selected dates on Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour[69] and several dates for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's joint Soul2Soul II Tour.[70] Swift again opened for Rascal Flatts on their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008.[71] Swift and Alan Jackson were jointly named the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007, with Swift becoming the youngest person ever to be honored with the title.[72] She also won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for Best New Artist,[73] the Academy of Country Music Awards's Top New Female Vocalist award[74] and the American Music Awards's Favorite Country Female Artist honor.[75] She was also nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse.[76]
Swift went on her first headlining tour in support of Fearless. As part of the 105-date Fearless Tour, Swift played 90 dates in North America, six dates in Europe, eight dates in Australia and one date in Asia.[89] She sang a cover of Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around" nightly, intertwined with her own "You're Not Sorry".[90] Swift invited John Mayer, Faith Hill and Katy Perry to perform one-off duets with her at various dates during the North American tour, while Justin Bieber, Kellie Pickler and Gloriana were the support acts.[91] The tour was attended by more than 1.1 million fans and grossed over $63 million.[92] Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless, a concert film, was aired on television and later released on DVD and Blu-ray.[93] Swift also performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban's Escape Together World Tour.[94]
In addition to tour dates, the singer paid tribute to a number of
fellow artists in televised performances. She performed a cover of Alan
Jackson's "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" at the CMT Giants: Alan Jackson event, took part in a joint, televised concert with rock band Def Leppard in Nashville, and performed a cover of George Strait's "Run" at a televised ACM event honoring Strait as the Artist of the Decade.[95] Swift sang her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards and performed a self-penned rap skit with T-Pain at the CMT Awards.[96] Swift also recorded a number of side-projects. She released a cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl" through Rhapsody in 2009[97] and made her stage entrance to Petty's recording of the song until 2013.[98] She contributed backing vocals to John Mayer's "Half of My Heart", a single featured on his fourth album.[99] She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kellie Pickler[100] and co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack – "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" – with Martin Johnson and Robert Ellis Orrall, respectively.[101] Swift also provided vocals for Boys Like Girls's "Two Is Better Than One", written by Martin Johnson.[102] She contributed two songs – including "Today Was a Fairytale" – to the Valentine's Day soundtrack[103] and recorded a cover of Better Than Ezra's "Breathless" for the Hope for Haiti Now album.[104]
Swift became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video in 2009.[105] Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents.[106] In the event's press room, Swift, a fan of West's music,[107] said that she did not have "any hard feelings" toward him.[108][109] The incident received much media attention and inspired many Internet memes.[110]
A few days later, Swift told an interviewer that West offered her a
personal apology, which she accepted: "He was very sincere."[105]
She refused to discuss the incident in subsequent interviews so as not
to make a "bigger deal" of it: "It happened on TV, so everybody saw what
happened ... It's not something I feel like we need to keep talking
about."[111] It has been said that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity."[112]
Swift won four Grammy Awards in 2010, from a total of eight nominations.[113] Fearless was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, while "White Horse" was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance.[114] She was the youngest ever artist to win Album of the Year.[115] During the ceremony, Swift sang "Rhiannon" and "You Belong with Me" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and sparked a widespread media backlash.[112][116] Her vocals were described variously as "badly off-key," "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched."[117][118] While The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years,"[115] music analyst Bob Lefsetz predicted that her career would end "overnight." He publicly appealed to Swift's father to hire a "crisis publicity agent" to manage the story because "Taylor's too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made."[119][120] Stevie Nicks, writing in Time, defended the singer: "Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John ... The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business."[121] Fearless won many other accolades and has become the most awarded album in country music history.[122] Swift became the youngest ever artist and one of only six women to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.[123] Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.[123] Swift was the youngest ever artist to win the Academy of Country Music's Album of the Year honor.[124] The American Music Awards honored Swift with Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album plaudits.[125] She was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame[126] and was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association.[127] Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.[128] Swift was included in Time's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2010.[129]
Swift toured throughout 2011 and early 2012 in support of Speak Now. As part of the thirteen-month, 111-date world tour, Swift played seven shows in Asia, twelve shows in Europe, 80 shows in North America and twelve shows in Australasia.[142] Swift invited many musicians to join her for one-off duets during the North American tour. Appearances were made by James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shawn Colvin, Johnny Rzeznik, Andy Grammer, Tal Bachman, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Nicki Minaj, Nelly, B.o.B, Usher, Flo Rida, T.I., Jon Foreman, Jim Adkins, Hayley Williams, Hot Chelle Rae, Ronnie Dunn, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.[143][144] During the North American tour leg, Swift wrote different song lyrics on her left arm for each performance and has said that the lyrics should be viewed as a nightly "mood ring."[145][146] Swift performed many acoustic cover versions during her North American tour. In each city, she paid tribute to a homegrown artist.[147] She has said the cover versions allowed her to be "spontaneous" in an otherwise well-rehearsed show.[148] The tour was attended by over 1.6 million fans and grossed over $123 million.[142] Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of the tour, was released in November 2011.[149]
At the 54th Grammy Awards, Swift's song "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.[150]
She also performed the song during the ceremony. Bob Lefsetz, one of
the most vocal critics of her 2010 Grammy performance, believes the song
is addressed to him.[151][152] Lefsetz had previously been a supporter of the singer's career,[153] and Swift and Lefsetz had corresponded occasionally by email and telephone.[151] Time felt she "delivered her comeback on-key and with a vengeance"[154] while USA Today remarked that the criticism in 2010 seemed to have "made her a better songwriter and live performer."[155] Swift won various other awards for Speak Now. She was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association in both 2010 and 2011.[156][157] She was named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music in both 2011 and 2012[158] and was named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association in 2011.[159] Swift was the American Music Awards's Artist of the Year in 2011, while Speak Now was named Favorite Country Album.[160] Billboard named Swift 2011's Woman of the Year.[161]
While Swift was completing her fourth album in the summer of 2012, James Taylor invited her to appear as a special guest during his Tanglewood set; they performed "Fire and Rain", "Love Story" and "Ours" together.[162] Taylor, who first met Swift when she was eighteen, has said that, "we just hit it off. I loved her songs, and her presence on stage was so great."[163][164] During this period, Swift also contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album. "Safe & Sound" was co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett.[165] John Paul White has said working with Swift was "a revelation ... It truly was a collaboration."[166] It was released as the album's lead single and, as of January 2013, has sold over 1.4 million copies in the United States.[167] It won Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 2013 Grammy Awards and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 70th Golden Globe Awards.[168] Swift's second contribution to the album, "Eyes Open", was written solely by the singer and produced by Nathan Chapman.[169] In addition, Swift contributed vocals to "Both of Us", a Dr. Luke-produced single from B.o.B's second album Strange Clouds.[170]
As part of the Red promotional campaign, representatives from 72 worldwide radio stations were flown to Nashville during release week for individual interviews with Swift.[179] She also appeared on many television chat shows and performed at award ceremonies in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Australia.[180] The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", became Swift's first number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[181] Six further singles have been released: "Begin Again" (for country radio), "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time" (all for pop and international radio) and "Red" (for country radio). Red debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies; this marked the highest opening sales in a decade and made Swift the first female to have two million-selling album openings.[182] As of May 2013, Red had sold over 6 million copies worldwide.[183] In her career, as of November 2012, she had sold in excess of 26 million albums and 75 million song downloads.[184]
The North American leg of Swift's Red Tour
ran from March to September 2013. She played 66 dates across North
America, including thirteen stadium shows. The Red Tour visited stadiums
across New Zealand and Australia in December 2013, and visited England
and Germany in February 2014. The tour will finish with a six-date Asian
leg in June 2014.[185] Swift invited special guests such as Carly Simon, Tegan and Sara, Jennifer Lopez, Luke Bryan, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Ellie Goulding, Nelly, Sara Bareilles, Cher Lloyd, B.o.B, Gary Lightbody, Train, Neon Trees, Rascal Flatts and Hunter Hayes to duet with her on various nights of the tour.[186] Swift has collaborated with a number of other artists in the Red era. She co-wrote "Sweeter Than Fiction" with Jack Antonoff for the One Chance movie soundtrack and received a nomination Best Original Song at the 71st Golden Globe Awards.[187][188] She provided guest vocals for a Tim McGraw song titled "Highway Don't Care", featuring guitar work by Keith Urban; the trio performed the song live on three occasions.[189] She performed an acoustic version of "Red" with Vince Gill and Alison Krauss at the 2013 CMA Awards.[190] Swift performed "As Tears Go By" with The Rolling Stones in Chicago as part of their 50 & Counting... tour.[191] She also joined Florida Georgia Line on stage during their set at the 2013 Country Radio Seminar to sing "Cruise".[192]
Red won no Grammy Awards but was nominated in a total of four categories. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was a Record of the Year nominee at the 2013 Grammy Awards while Red was an Album of the Year nominee at the 2014 Grammy Awards. Similarly, Swift's fourth album won no awards at the Country Music Association's annual ceremony. However, Swift was honored by the Association with a special Pinnacle Award for "unique" levels of success; Garth Brooks is the only other recipient. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, George Strait and Brad Paisley presented Swift with the award, while Mick Jagger, Carly Simon, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Ethel Kennedy and Justin Timberlake recorded video messages. The New York Times considered it an attempt to persuade "country music’s cash cow, its creative engine, its ambassador to the wider world" to remain within the genre[193] while The New Yorker wondered whether "it may have been the moment when Swift and the genre that helped steer her toward pop domination said goodbye."[194] Swift won three MTV Europe Music Awards in 2012, including the honors for Best Female and Best Live Act.[195] "I Knew You Were Trouble" won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.[196] She was named Best Female Country Artist at the 2012 American Music Awards and was named Artist of the Year at the 2013 ceremony.[197] The Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award went to Swift for the fifth and sixth consecutive years in 2012 and 2013.[198]
In the Red era, Swift's romantic life became the subject of intense media scrutiny. Gawker remarked that Swift had dated "every man in the universe."[199] The Westboro Baptist Church protested Swift's concerts, labelling her "the whorish face of doomed America," while Abercrombie & Fitch marketed a slogan t-shirt with a "slut-shaming" Swift reference.[200] The New York Times asserted that her "dating history has begun to stir what feels like the beginning of a backlash" and questioned whether Swift was in the midst of a "quarter-life crisis."[201] The Village Voice suggested that Swift's embrace of "traditional femininity" was the cause of the backlash: "She's young, she can be contentiously dramatic, she puts herself in the center of her stories, and obviously she's dated a lot of famous people in a relatively short amount of time. But none of that is exceptionally rare."[202] At the Golden Globes award ceremony, comediennes Tina Fey and Amy Poehler poked fun at Swift's serial dating reputation, with Fey warning her to "stay away" from young men in the audience: "She needs some 'me' time to learn about herself." Swift was later asked about the incident in a Vanity Fair profile: “I was just sort of like, Oh well, you know, I can laugh at myself. But what it ended up adding to was this whole kind of everyone jumping on the bandwagon of ‘Taylor dates too much’—which, you know, if you want some big revelation, since 2010 I have dated exactly two people.” Elsewhere in the article, whilst discussing what the journalist describes as "the Golden Globes, and mean girls in general," Swift approvingly quoted Madeline Albright's remark that ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’[203]
Swift was introduced to country music by "the great female country artists of the '90s ... Shania, Faith, the Dixie Chicks."[62][222] She was drawn to both the sound and storytelling of country music.[223] Shania Twain, both as a songwriter and performer, was her biggest musical influence.[224] Faith Hill was Swift's childhood role model and she tried to copy "everything she said, did, wore."[225][226] Swift admired the Dixie Chicks's defiant attitude and their ability to play their own instruments.[4][227] The band's "Cowboy Take Me Away" was the first song Swift learned to play on the guitar.[228] She then began to explore the music of older country stars, including Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton.[4][229] Lynn's "Fist City" is one of Swift's favorite country songs.[4] She believes Parton is "an amazing example to every female songwriter out there."[226] Other mainstream country influences include Miranda Lambert,[230] Dwight Yoakam,[231] George Strait,[4] Garth Brooks,[62] Kenny Chesney,[226] Reba McEntire,[232] Alan Jackson,[4] Martina McBride,[233] LeAnn Rimes,[234] Tim McGraw[235] and Brad Paisley.[236] Swift also admires alt-country artists such as Ryan Adams,[237] Patty Griffin,[238] Lori McKenna[239] and Bon Iver.[240]
Swift has been influenced by many artists outside the country genre. As a pre-teen, she enjoyed bubblegum pop acts including Hanson and Britney Spears; she still has "unwavering devotion" for Spears.[241] In her high school years, Swift listened to emo bands such as Dashboard Confessional,[242] Fall Out Boy,[243] The All-American Rejects[244] and Jimmy Eat World.[245] She was also a fan of contemporary female singer-songwriters including Ingrid Michaelson,[246] Michelle Branch,[245] Pink,[247] Alanis Morissette,[248] Ashlee Simpson,[249] Kelly Clarkson,[250] Fefe Dobson[245] and Avril Lavigne.[250] Swift closely followed the musical supervision on the television dramas The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy, downloading "every" song featured.[240] She was a fan of hip hop music, particularly the rhyming patterns used by artists such as Eminem: "Pride [in a lifestyle] is something that both country and hip-hop share."[4] Swift also drew inspiration from the catalogues of veteran artists. She describes Stevie Nicks as a "hero" who "has inspired me in so many ways."[167][251] Tom Petty, she has said, "is on a pedestal for me."[15] She is "obsessed" with Sixties acts like The Shirelles, Doris Troy and The Beach Boys.[146][252] Influence also came from older female pop rock singers including Pat Benatar,[250][253] Melissa Etheridge,[253] Sarah McLachlan,[248] Shawn Colvin[254] and Linda Ronstadt.[255][256]
Swift lists Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Carly Simon as her career role models: "They've taken chances, but they've also been the same artist for their entire careers."[254][257][258] McCartney, both as a Beatle and a solo artist, makes Swift feel "as if I've been let into his heart and his mind": "Any musician could only dream of a legacy like that."[259] She admires Springsteen because he is "so musically relevant after such a long period of time."[260] She aspires to be like Harris as she grows older: "It’s not about fame for her, it’s about music."[261] Swift says of Kristofferson: "He shines in songwriting ... He's just one of those people who has been in this business for years but you can tell it hasn't chewed him up and spat him out."[262] She admires Simon's "songwriting and honesty": "She's known as an emotional person but a strong person."[263]
Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Swift's third album, 2010's Speak Now, sold over one million copies in its first week of US release. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards. In 2012, Swift released her fourth album, Red. Red's opening US sales of 1.2 million were the highest recorded in a decade, with Swift becoming the only female artist to have two million-plus opening weeks. The singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" were worldwide hits.
Swift is known for narrative songs about her personal experiences. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other achievements include seven Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, eleven Country Music Association Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards. To date, she has sold over 26 million albums and 75 million digital single downloads. Forbes estimates that she is worth over $220 million. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day (2010) and the animated film The Lorax (2012). As a philanthropist, Swift supports arts education, children's literacy, natural disaster relief, LGBT anti-discrimination efforts, and charities for sick children.
Contents
Early life
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania.[1] Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a Merrill Lynch financial adviser.[2][3] Scott was raised in Pennsylvania and is the descendant of three generations of bank presidents.[1][4] Her mother, Andrea (née Finlay), is a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive.[5] Andrea spent the first ten years of her life in Singapore, before settling in Texas; her father was an oil rig engineer who worked throughout Southeast Asia.[4] Swift has a younger brother, Austin, who attends the University of Notre Dame.[6] She and her brother were raised in the Presbyterian faith and attended bible school.[7][8] She spent the early years of her life on an eleven-acre Christmas tree farm in nearby Cumru Township, Pennsylvania.[9] She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia Montessori School, run by Franciscan nuns,[10] and was later educated at the Wyndcroft School, a co-ed private school.[11] When Swift was nine years old, the family moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania,[12] where she attended West Reading Elementary Center and Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.[13] Swift summered at her parents' waterfront vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed."[14]Swift's family owned several Quarter horses and a Shetland pony and her first hobby was English horse riding.[15] Her mother first put her in a saddle when she was nine months old and she later competed in horse shows.[16] At the age of nine, Swift became interested in musical theatre. She performed in many Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions and traveled regularly to Broadway for vocal and acting lessons.[17][18] Swift then turned her attention to country music; Shania Twain's songs made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything."[19] She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs, Boy Scout meetings and sporting events.[4][5][20] At the age of eleven, after many failed attempts,[21] Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes's "Big Deal", and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater.[17] This growing ambition began to isolate Swift from her middle school peers.[1]
After watching a Behind the Music episode about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure that she needed to go to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career.[22] At the age of eleven, she traveled with her mother to Nashville for spring break to leave a demo of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers with record labels along Music Row.[23] She received label rejections and realized that "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."[24] At the age of twelve, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You".[25] She had previously won a national poetry contest with a poem titled "Monster in My Closet" but now began to focus on songwriting.[26] In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York-based music manager Dan Dymtrow. With Dymtrow's help, Swift modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included in a Maybelline compilation CD and took meetings with major record labels.[27] After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, the eighth-grader was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother.[28]
When Swift was fourteen, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lakefront house in Hendersonville, Tennessee.[1] "My parents took all the pressure off by saying, ‘We’re just moving because we love the area, so don’t worry.’ They knew nothing about the industry and had no involvement in entertainment, but I was obsessed with it and so they did their research and read up about it to help me in every way they could. They’re amazing people."[29] In Tennessee, she attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore years.[30] Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services. She earned her high school diploma in 2008, having completed her final two years of course work in twelve months.[31][32]
Music career
2004–08: Career beginnings and Taylor Swift
Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen. As part of her artist development deal with RCA Records, she had writing sessions with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally and The Warren Brothers.[33][34] She eventually formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose. Swift saw Rose performing at an RCA songwriter event and suggested that they write together.[35] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.[36] Rose has said that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks."[37] Swift also began recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman.[35] After performing at a BMI Songwriter's Circle showcase at The Bitter End, New York,[34] Swift became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.[38] Swift left RCA Records when she was fifteen; the company wanted her to record the work of other songwriters and wait until she was eighteen to release an album, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.[21][39] She also parted ways with manager Dan Dymtrow, who later took legal action against Swift and her parents.[40][27] "'I genuinely felt that I was running out of time," Swift later recalled. "I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through."[41] At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records. She became one of the label's first signings, with her father purchasing a three per cent stake in the fledgling company at an estimated cost of $120,000.[42][43] As an introduction to the country music business, Borchetta arranged for Swift to intern as an artist escort at the CMA Music Festival.[44]
Swift toured extensively in support of Taylor Swift. In addition to her own material, Swift played covers of songs by Beyoncé, Rihanna, John Waite, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Eminem.[62][63][64] She conducted meet-and-greet sessions with fans before and after her concerts; these lasted for up to four hours.[65] As well as festival and theater dates, Swift performed as an opening act for several country artists' concert tours. In late 2006, she opened for Rascal Flatts on the final nine dates of their Me & My Gang Tour, after the previous supporting act Eric Church was fired.[52] Swift later sent Church her first gold record with a note: "Thanks for playing 'too long' and 'too loud' on the Flatts tour. I sincerely appreciate it. Taylor."[66] In 2007, she served as the opening act on twenty dates for George Strait's tour,[67] several dates on Kenny Chesney's Flip-Flop Summer Tour,[68] selected dates on Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour[69] and several dates for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's joint Soul2Soul II Tour.[70] Swift again opened for Rascal Flatts on their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008.[71] Swift and Alan Jackson were jointly named the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007, with Swift becoming the youngest person ever to be honored with the title.[72] She also won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for Best New Artist,[73] the Academy of Country Music Awards's Top New Female Vocalist award[74] and the American Music Awards's Favorite Country Female Artist honor.[75] She was also nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse.[76]
2008–10: Fearless, VMA controversy and Grammy backlash
Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in November 2008. Swift wrote seven of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining six with songwriters Liz Rose, John Rich, Colbie Caillat and Hillary Lindsey.[77] She co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman.[77] Musically, it has been said that the record is characterized by "loud, lean guitars and rousing choruses," with the occasional "bit of fiddle and banjo tucked into the mix."[78] The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country's foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults."[79] The Village Voice felt she displayed "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness," "masterfully avoiding the typical diarist's pitfalls of trite banality and pseudo-profound bullshit."[80] Rolling Stone described her as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture" whose "squirmingly intimate and true" songs seemed to be "literally ripped from a suburban girl's diary."[78] Music critic Robert Christgau characterized Swift as "an uncommonly-to-impossibly strong and gifted teenage girl."[81] Swift, who now owned her own management company led by Robert Allen,[82][83] promoted Fearless heavily upon its release. An episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show was dedicated to the album launch and Swift appeared on many other chat shows.[55][84] She communicated with fans using social media platforms such as Twitter and personal video blogs.[55] The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released in September 2008 and became the second best-selling country single of all time, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[85] Four more singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.[86] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with sales of 592,304 and has since sold over 8.6 million copies worldwide.[87] It was the top-selling album of 2009 and brought Swift much crossover success.[88]
Swift won four Grammy Awards in 2010, from a total of eight nominations.[113] Fearless was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, while "White Horse" was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance.[114] She was the youngest ever artist to win Album of the Year.[115] During the ceremony, Swift sang "Rhiannon" and "You Belong with Me" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and sparked a widespread media backlash.[112][116] Her vocals were described variously as "badly off-key," "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched."[117][118] While The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years,"[115] music analyst Bob Lefsetz predicted that her career would end "overnight." He publicly appealed to Swift's father to hire a "crisis publicity agent" to manage the story because "Taylor's too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made."[119][120] Stevie Nicks, writing in Time, defended the singer: "Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John ... The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business."[121] Fearless won many other accolades and has become the most awarded album in country music history.[122] Swift became the youngest ever artist and one of only six women to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.[123] Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.[123] Swift was the youngest ever artist to win the Academy of Country Music's Album of the Year honor.[124] The American Music Awards honored Swift with Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album plaudits.[125] She was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame[126] and was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association.[127] Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.[128] Swift was included in Time's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2010.[129]
2010–12: Speak Now and world tour
Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, in October 2010. She wrote all fourteen songs alone and co-produced the record with longtime collaborator Nathan Chapman.[130] Musically, it has been said that the album "expands beyond country-pop to border both alternative rock and dirty bubblegum pop."[131] The New York Times described the album as savage, musically diverse and "excellent too, possibly her best."[130] The Village Voice remarked that the album demanded "a true appreciation of Swift's talent, which is not confessional, but dramatic: Like a procession of country songwriters before her, she creates characters and situations—some from life—and finds potent ways to describe them."[132] Music critic Robert Christgau found the album's songs "overlong and overworked" but remarked that "they evince an effort that bears a remarkable resemblance to care—that is, to caring in the best, broadest, and most emotional sense."[81] Rolling Stone described Swift as one of the best songwriters in "pop, rock or country": "Swift might be a clever Nashville pro who knows all the hitmaking tricks, but she's also a high-strung, hyper-romantic gal with a melodramatic streak the size of the Atchafalaya Swamp."[133] Swift carried out an extensive promotional campaign prior to Speak Now's release.[134] She appeared on various talk shows and morning shows, and gave free mini-concerts in unusual locations, including an open-decker bus on Hollywood Boulevard and a departure lounge at JFK airport.[135] She took part in a "guitar pull" alongside Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill and Lionel Richie at LA's Club Nokia; the musicians shared the stage and took turns introducing and playing acoustic versions of their songs to raise money for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.[136][137] The album's lead single, "Mine", was released in August 2010 and five further singles were released throughout 2010 and 2011: "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly" and "Ours".[138] Speak Now was a major commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Its opening sales of 1,047,000 copies made it the sixteenth album in US history to sell one million copies in a single week.[139] As of February 2012, Speak Now has sold over 5.7 million copies worldwide.[140][141]
While Swift was completing her fourth album in the summer of 2012, James Taylor invited her to appear as a special guest during his Tanglewood set; they performed "Fire and Rain", "Love Story" and "Ours" together.[162] Taylor, who first met Swift when she was eighteen, has said that, "we just hit it off. I loved her songs, and her presence on stage was so great."[163][164] During this period, Swift also contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album. "Safe & Sound" was co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett.[165] John Paul White has said working with Swift was "a revelation ... It truly was a collaboration."[166] It was released as the album's lead single and, as of January 2013, has sold over 1.4 million copies in the United States.[167] It won Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 2013 Grammy Awards and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 70th Golden Globe Awards.[168] Swift's second contribution to the album, "Eyes Open", was written solely by the singer and produced by Nathan Chapman.[169] In addition, Swift contributed vocals to "Both of Us", a Dr. Luke-produced single from B.o.B's second album Strange Clouds.[170]
2012–14: Red and tabloid coverage
Swift's fourth studio album, Red, was released in October 2012.[171] She wrote nine of the album's sixteen songs alone. The remaining seven were co-written with Max Martin, Liz Rose, Dan Wilson, Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody. Nathan Chapman served as the album's lead producer but Jeff Bhasker, Butch Walker, Jacknife Lee, Dann Huff and Shellback also produced individual tracks. Chapman has said he encouraged Swift "to branch out and to test herself in other situations."[172] Musically, while there is experimentation with heartland rock, dubstep and dance-pop, it is "sprinkled among more recognisably Swiftian fare."[173][174] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times found Red "less detailed and more rushed than her usual fare"[175] but placed it at number two on his end-of-year list, characterizing it as the album on which Swift "stops pretending she’s anything but a pop megastar, one with grown-up concerns, like how two bodies speak to each other and how taste in records can be a stand-in for moral turpitude."[176] The Times praised her "sublime" lyrics, particularly those on the "brooding" "All Too Well".[177] Rolling Stone enjoyed "watching Swift find her pony-footing on Great Songwriter Mountain. She often succeeds in joining the Joni/Carole King tradition of stark-relief emotional mapping ... Her self-discovery project is one of the best stories in pop."[178]As part of the Red promotional campaign, representatives from 72 worldwide radio stations were flown to Nashville during release week for individual interviews with Swift.[179] She also appeared on many television chat shows and performed at award ceremonies in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Australia.[180] The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", became Swift's first number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[181] Six further singles have been released: "Begin Again" (for country radio), "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time" (all for pop and international radio) and "Red" (for country radio). Red debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies; this marked the highest opening sales in a decade and made Swift the first female to have two million-selling album openings.[182] As of May 2013, Red had sold over 6 million copies worldwide.[183] In her career, as of November 2012, she had sold in excess of 26 million albums and 75 million song downloads.[184]
Red won no Grammy Awards but was nominated in a total of four categories. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was a Record of the Year nominee at the 2013 Grammy Awards while Red was an Album of the Year nominee at the 2014 Grammy Awards. Similarly, Swift's fourth album won no awards at the Country Music Association's annual ceremony. However, Swift was honored by the Association with a special Pinnacle Award for "unique" levels of success; Garth Brooks is the only other recipient. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, George Strait and Brad Paisley presented Swift with the award, while Mick Jagger, Carly Simon, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Ethel Kennedy and Justin Timberlake recorded video messages. The New York Times considered it an attempt to persuade "country music’s cash cow, its creative engine, its ambassador to the wider world" to remain within the genre[193] while The New Yorker wondered whether "it may have been the moment when Swift and the genre that helped steer her toward pop domination said goodbye."[194] Swift won three MTV Europe Music Awards in 2012, including the honors for Best Female and Best Live Act.[195] "I Knew You Were Trouble" won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.[196] She was named Best Female Country Artist at the 2012 American Music Awards and was named Artist of the Year at the 2013 ceremony.[197] The Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award went to Swift for the fifth and sixth consecutive years in 2012 and 2013.[198]
In the Red era, Swift's romantic life became the subject of intense media scrutiny. Gawker remarked that Swift had dated "every man in the universe."[199] The Westboro Baptist Church protested Swift's concerts, labelling her "the whorish face of doomed America," while Abercrombie & Fitch marketed a slogan t-shirt with a "slut-shaming" Swift reference.[200] The New York Times asserted that her "dating history has begun to stir what feels like the beginning of a backlash" and questioned whether Swift was in the midst of a "quarter-life crisis."[201] The Village Voice suggested that Swift's embrace of "traditional femininity" was the cause of the backlash: "She's young, she can be contentiously dramatic, she puts herself in the center of her stories, and obviously she's dated a lot of famous people in a relatively short amount of time. But none of that is exceptionally rare."[202] At the Golden Globes award ceremony, comediennes Tina Fey and Amy Poehler poked fun at Swift's serial dating reputation, with Fey warning her to "stay away" from young men in the audience: "She needs some 'me' time to learn about herself." Swift was later asked about the incident in a Vanity Fair profile: “I was just sort of like, Oh well, you know, I can laugh at myself. But what it ended up adding to was this whole kind of everyone jumping on the bandwagon of ‘Taylor dates too much’—which, you know, if you want some big revelation, since 2010 I have dated exactly two people.” Elsewhere in the article, whilst discussing what the journalist describes as "the Golden Globes, and mean girls in general," Swift approvingly quoted Madeline Albright's remark that ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’[203]
2014: Upcoming fifth studio album
Swift began writing songs for her fifth studio album in July 2013; it is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2014.[204] In November 2013, the singer told Billboard that, "There are probably seven or eight [songs] that I know I want on the record. It's already evolved into a new sound, and that's all I wanted."[205] She is again working with Max Martin and Johan Shellback, this time writing "a lot more than three songs together."[206] Diane Warren and Ryan Tedder have also worked on the album,[207] with Tedder remarking: "For anyone who doubts it, she writes her own stuff ... She's probably the fastest songwriter I've ever met in my life."[208] Swift has also expressed an interest in collaborating with Sia Furler, Jack Antonoff and Imogen Heap for the album.[209][210] She is also in talks with Harvey Weinstein to write the score for an upcoming stage musical.[211][212] In early 2014, Swift hired a new publicist.[213]Artistry
Influences
One of Swift's earliest musical memories is listening to her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), sing at church.[11][214] In her youth, Finlay was a television host in Puerto Rico and performed in operas in Singapore and Thailand.[4][215] As a very young child, Swift enjoyed Disney movie soundtracks: "My parents noticed that, once I had run out of words, I would just make up my own."[23][216] Later, her parents exposed her to artists including James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel and Def Leppard.[217][218] Swift has said she owes her confidence to her mother, who helped her prepare for class presentations as a child.[219] She also attributes her "fascination with writing and storytelling" to her mother.[220] Swift enjoyed both reading and writing poetry and was particularly drawn to the works of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss.[4][221] She remains interested "in any writing from a child's perspective" and has cited To Kill a Mockingbird as one of her favorite books.[50]
Swift has been influenced by many artists outside the country genre. As a pre-teen, she enjoyed bubblegum pop acts including Hanson and Britney Spears; she still has "unwavering devotion" for Spears.[241] In her high school years, Swift listened to emo bands such as Dashboard Confessional,[242] Fall Out Boy,[243] The All-American Rejects[244] and Jimmy Eat World.[245] She was also a fan of contemporary female singer-songwriters including Ingrid Michaelson,[246] Michelle Branch,[245] Pink,[247] Alanis Morissette,[248] Ashlee Simpson,[249] Kelly Clarkson,[250] Fefe Dobson[245] and Avril Lavigne.[250] Swift closely followed the musical supervision on the television dramas The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy, downloading "every" song featured.[240] She was a fan of hip hop music, particularly the rhyming patterns used by artists such as Eminem: "Pride [in a lifestyle] is something that both country and hip-hop share."[4] Swift also drew inspiration from the catalogues of veteran artists. She describes Stevie Nicks as a "hero" who "has inspired me in so many ways."[167][251] Tom Petty, she has said, "is on a pedestal for me."[15] She is "obsessed" with Sixties acts like The Shirelles, Doris Troy and The Beach Boys.[146][252] Influence also came from older female pop rock singers including Pat Benatar,[250][253] Melissa Etheridge,[253] Sarah McLachlan,[248] Shawn Colvin[254] and Linda Ronstadt.[255][256]
Swift lists Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Carly Simon as her career role models: "They've taken chances, but they've also been the same artist for their entire careers."[254][257][258] McCartney, both as a Beatle and a solo artist, makes Swift feel "as if I've been let into his heart and his mind": "Any musician could only dream of a legacy like that."[259] She admires Springsteen because he is "so musically relevant after such a long period of time."[260] She aspires to be like Harris as she grows older: "It’s not about fame for her, it’s about music."[261] Swift says of Kristofferson: "He shines in songwriting ... He's just one of those people who has been in this business for years but you can tell it hasn't chewed him up and spat him out."[262] She admires Simon's "songwriting and honesty": "She's known as an emotional person but a strong person."[263]
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