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“I’m not Paris Hilton!” Taylor Swift jokingly shouts from a bench in Manhattan’s Central Park. While she’s waiting for the photographer to set up for her cover shoot, a class of rowdy third-graders on a field trip notice a celebrity in their midst, mistakenly concluding that the tall blond girl in the short black dress must be the infamous heiress. The fact is, Taylor is about as different from Paris as you can get. Despite her superstar status, she doesn’t party, she still lives with her family, and she’s more comfortable in her flat, fringed booties than in Prada pumps. Actually, Taylor has always known who she was meant to be. At 10, she combined her love of country music with her natural vocal talent and started singing at local festivals. At 11, she begged her to take her to Nashville – almost 800 miles away – so she could hand demo tapes of her singing to her record label receptionists. An underwhelming response only made her work harder to find the thing that would set her apart: not only playing, but writing her own songs. By age 12, Taylor was taking regular trips to Nashville to work with songwriters, and two years later, her family – with younger brother Austin in tow – moved there so she could further her career. It paid off big-time. In 2006, at age 16, she was signed by the independent Big Machine Records, which released her self-titled debut. At 17, she became the youngest person to write and sing a number one country single (“Our Song”). All five of her singles earned Top 10 status on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and Top 40 status on the Hot 100, and the album went triple platinum. Unlike the racy lyrics of other hot artists, Taylor’s songs are refreshingly real and from the heart, which could be why she has connected so deeply with an audience of all ages – including people who aren’t country music fans. Continuing her streak of success, she just released her new album, Fearless. The first single, “Love Story,” is already a hit, suggesting another blockbuster year to come. But Taylor isn’t just making her mark in music – she’s forging a path in the world of philanthropy too, whether she’s teaming with Tennessee’s governor to fight internet predators or donating $100,000 to Iowa flood relief efforts. When Taylor accepts her many music awards and mentions how grateful she is. It’s not just lip service. It’s proof that working hard and sharing the spoils of your success are the true makings of a superstar.
“I was that annoying kid who around singing for random strangers. Music was always it for me. When I was 9, I saw a TV show about Faith Hill and how she made it I country music, and she talked about Nashville. So I looked up Nashville and learned it was this amazing city where country music lived. I was like ‘That’s the promised land of country music. That’s where I need to go!’ The thing that Nashville taught me then was that an 11-year old girl who sings songs other people have written is more common than you’d think. How was I going to make myself different? That’s what I had to figure out. When I was 12, a family friend taught me three chords on the guitar. I wrote my first song, and I found what could make me different. Discovering songwriting put me into overdrive. It was exhilarating.
“Writing my own songs gives me the ability to vent. For some people, they like to paint. Others like to shop and buy the cutest pair of shoes, and that’s the art they get to wear on their feet. For me, it’s writing. I love writing about past relationships because it justifies them. If I dated someone and it didn’t work out, and it hurt, and I could write a song that goes Top 10 because of it – that relationship was totally worth it, you know? Still, you don’t imagine that when you’re sitting in your living room that it’s going to go out in the world and affect somebody you’ve never met. It’s amazing when my fans tell me my song helped them move on from a relationship or made their day better. My fans are so important to me, and I would love for them to grow up with me. But I never want to throw anyone for a loop or change so much that people can’t recognize me. The songs I’ve written for my new album are at a different place then they were when I wrote my first album, and I’m looking forward to experiencing more in my life and being able to translate that into new songs.”
“When a mom says to me, ‘You’re an incredible role model for my daughter,’ that’s the best compliment you could give me because it’s about my character, which to me is the biggest honor. I always try to operate by the standards that I set for myself, because those standards are the hardest to beat. I love giving back to people because it’s sort of like when you’re looking forward to Christmas – not because you’re going to get presents, but because you’ve gotten your mom something really cool and you can’t wait to see her face when she opens it.”
“The best advice that I’ve ever gotten was one little thing Faith Hill told me. At the Country Music Awards, I was in these awesome high-heeled shoes but they really hurt. I was going up to present an award, and I whispered to Faith ‘My feet hurt so bad!’ She goes, ‘Take ’em off!’ I was like, well, Faith Hill told me to, so I took off my shoes and carried them in my hand. She taught me that I don’t have to take everything so seriously.”
“My song Fearless is about an incredible first date when all your walls are coming down and you are fearlessly jumping into love.”
