Taylor Swift
Encyclopedia
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop
singer-songwriter
, musician and actress.
In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw
", then her self-titled debut
album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless
, and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year
, at the 52nd Grammy Awards
. Fearless and Taylor Swift finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless topped the Billboard 200
for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine
in 2009. Swift released her third album Speak Now
on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.
In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan
. Forbes
ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by Billboard. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan
listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood
The Country Royalty, as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on Rolling Stone
Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 Guinness Book Of World Records
as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album Speak Now, and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, Billboard
named her woman of the year.
, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker
who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm
.
When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke
contests, festivals, and fairs.
Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee
, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair
. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School
, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma
.
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain
. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes
, Tina Turner
, Dolly Parton
, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline
and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks
for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".
, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania
, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem
received much attention.
When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records
because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal
. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records
. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house
.
", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs
chart. Her self-titled debut album
was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the Billboard 200
, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the Billboard 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood
. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait
, Brad Paisley
and Rascal Flatts
as well. The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar
", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs
chart and No.33 on the Billboard Hot 100
. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
, which was released exclusively at Target
in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award
in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse
. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn
", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008.
"Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes
, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart
. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on Billboards Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard
in a taped show in Nashville
, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards
in 2009.
, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne
, AC/DC
and Coldplay
. Its lead single "Love Story
" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift
with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus
for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse
" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics
. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on Romeo and Juliet
. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story
" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from Fearless, "White Horse
", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT
on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs
as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse
" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas
. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan
to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is Billboards Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series
in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.
In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour
planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville
, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live
. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen
" with Miley Cyrus
at the 51st Grammy Awards
. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story
" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier
" for the soundtrack
of the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie
. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story
". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School
, a small Catholic school in Alexandria
, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless
. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.
Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
.
This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me
," singer/rapper Kanye West
came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama
who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show
. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on The View, where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions.
On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award
for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100
by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me
" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen
" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One
" by Boys Like Girls
which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé
. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer
's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. Fearless
was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.
" as a digital download on iTunes
on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Valentine's Day
, in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100
, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour
to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana
. In mid-July 2010, Billboard revealed that Swift's new album is called Speak Now
. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman
serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine
," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore
as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour
and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis
and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on Rolling Stone'
s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the Hamish & Andy
show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly
" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the Billboards Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to Speak Now, set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."
, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live
; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.
The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace
by my fans."
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".
's music video "Online
". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard
for CMT
entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers
in their 3D Concert Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
"Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler
's music video "Best Days of Your Life
". Swift also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie
credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC
showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live
. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film Valentine's Day
. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film The Lorax
, set to be released in 2012.
for Blender
, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in People
s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's
sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year".
Swift was named by Rolling Stone
magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for TIMEs "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.
released a celebrity doll
of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i.
Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart
in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League
's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators
.
In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury
, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages
, three times the actual damages sustained
, and statutory damages
, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her Speak Now album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.
Governor Phil Bredesen
to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross
, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids
, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008
. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly
". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy
to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen
", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal
by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief
concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross
. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC
's Children in Need
night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan
she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.
On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.
In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.
On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour
into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football
coach Nick Saban
's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.
, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal
, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer
. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us
" from her album Speak Now are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to People
magazine that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."
Country pop
Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, musician and actress.
In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw (song)
"Tim McGraw" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose, and produced by Nathan Chapman. It was released on June 19, 2006 by Big Machine Records as Swift's debut single and the lead single from Swift's eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift...
", then her self-titled debut
Taylor Swift (album)
Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The album was released on October 24, 2006 by Big Machine Records. Swift wrote songs for the album during her freshman year of high school and has writing credits on all of the albums' songs including those...
album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless
Fearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
, and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
, at the 52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
. Fearless and Taylor Swift finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless topped the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
in 2009. Swift released her third album Speak Now
Speak Now
Speak Now is the third studio album by American singer–songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 25, 2010 by Big Machine Records. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2010 at several recording studios, and was handled by Swift and country music producer Nathan Chapman...
on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.
In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by Billboard. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
The Country Royalty, as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 Guinness Book Of World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album Speak Now, and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
named her woman of the year.
Early life
Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, PennsylvaniaReading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, established on July 2, 1906. The population was 8,587 at the 2000 census, but after the January, 2002 merger with neighboring Wyomissing Hills, the combined 2000 Census estimate was 11,155 making it the most populous borough in...
. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm
Christmas tree cultivation
Christmas tree cultivation is an agricultural, forestry, and horticultural occupation which involves growing pine, spruce, and fir trees specifically for use as Christmas trees. The first Christmas tree farm was established in 1901, but most consumers continued to obtain their trees from forests...
.
When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
contests, festivals, and fairs.
Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair
Bloomsburg Fair
The Bloomsburg Fair has been held in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania since 1855 and continues to this day.-History:It was originally held as an agricultural exhibition located on the lower end of Second Street, which is now Main Street. Since then it has grown to be the largest fair in the Commonwealth of...
. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School
Hendersonville High School
Hendersonville High School is one of two public high schools located in Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee. The principal is Joni Worsham, a former assistant principal at the school...
, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma
High school diploma
A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED.-Past diploma styles:...
.
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".
2000–05: Musical beginnings
At age 11, Swift made her first trip to NashvilleNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
received much attention.
When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal
Artist development deal
An artist development deal is often the first of a recording artist's contracts with a major record label. In lieu of high royalties or other desirable rights, the label will promise to develop the skills and public profile of the artist...
. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an Independent American record label specializing in country music artists. It was launched in 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. The label was part of a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his...
. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly owned subsidiary...
.
2006–08: Taylor Swift
Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGrawTim McGraw (song)
"Tim McGraw" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose, and produced by Nathan Chapman. It was released on June 19, 2006 by Big Machine Records as Swift's debut single and the lead single from Swift's eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift...
", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart. Her self-titled debut album
Taylor Swift (album)
Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The album was released on October 24, 2006 by Big Machine Records. Swift wrote songs for the album during her freshman year of high school and has writing credits on all of the albums' songs including those...
was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the Billboard 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
, Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
and Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...
as well. The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar
Teardrops on My Guitar
"Teardrops on My Guitar" is a song by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was co-written by Swift, alongside Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's aid. "Teardrops on My Guitar" was released on February 24, 2007 by Big Machine Records, as the second single...
", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart and No.33 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
The EP received generally positive critical reception. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the songs on Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection were "all crisp, cheerful arrangements that are suitably seasonal but also faithful to her bright country-pop." Craig Shelburne of...
, which was released exclusively at Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn
Picture to Burn
"Picture to Burn" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was co-written by Swift and Liz Rose, and produced by Nathan Chapman. It was released on January 29, 2008 by Big Machine Records as the fourth single from Swift's eponymous studio album, Taylor Swift...
", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008.
Beautiful Eyes
Beautiful Eyes is the second extended play by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The EP was released on July 15, 2008 by Big Machine Records exclusively to Wal-Mart stores in the United States and online...
, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on Billboards Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
in a taped show in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards
CMT Music Awards
The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on CMT. Voting takes place on CMT's website, CMT.com.-History:...
in 2009.
2008–2010: Fearless and MTV VMA incident
Swift's second studio album, FearlessFearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
and Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
. Its lead single "Love Story
Love Story (Taylor Swift song)
"Love Story" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman, alongside Swift. It was released on September 12, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the lead single from Swift's second studio album Fearless...
" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift (album)
Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The album was released on October 24, 2006 by Big Machine Records. Swift wrote songs for the album during her freshman year of high school and has writing credits on all of the albums' songs including those...
with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....
for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse
White Horse (song)
"White Horse" is a country music song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman, with Swift's aid. The song was released on December 8, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the second single from Swift's second studio...
" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story
Love Story (Taylor Swift song)
"Love Story" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman, alongside Swift. It was released on September 12, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the lead single from Swift's second studio album Fearless...
" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from Fearless, "White Horse
White Horse (song)
"White Horse" is a country music song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman, with Swift's aid. The song was released on December 8, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the second single from Swift's second studio...
", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse
White Horse (song)
"White Horse" is a country music song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman, with Swift's aid. The song was released on December 8, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the second single from Swift's second studio...
" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas
Joe Jonas
Joseph Adam "Joe" Jonas is a Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin...
. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is Billboards Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.
In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour
Fearless Tour
The Fearless Tour was the first concert tour by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The tour was in support of her second studio album, Fearless. On the tour, she was joined by guests Kellie Pickler and Gloriana. Teen singer, Justin Bieber joined her for the tour when she went to...
planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live (Season 34)
The thirty-fourth season of the variety series Saturday Night Live began airing in 2008 and concluded in 2009 on NBC. This season of Saturday Night Live consisted of 22 episodes, in an attempt to compensate for episodes lost during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike...
. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen
Fifteen (song)
"Fifteen" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Swift self-penned the song and co-produced it along with Nathan Chapman. "Fifteen" was released on September 1, 2009 by Big Machine Records, as the fourth single from Swift's second studio album, Fearless...
" with Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....
at the 51st Grammy Awards
51st Grammy Awards
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the biggest winners of the night, jointly winning five awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year...
. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story
Love Story (Taylor Swift song)
"Love Story" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman, alongside Swift. It was released on September 12, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the lead single from Swift's second studio album Fearless...
" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier
Crazier
"Crazier" is a song by American recording artist Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Robert Ellis Orrall and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's aid. The song was featured in both the film Hannah Montana: The Movie and on its soundtrack. The song is a relaxed ballad with country pop...
" for the soundtrack
Hannah Montana: The Movie (soundtrack)
Hannah Montana: The Movie is the soundtrack for the film of the same name. The film is an adaptation of the popular Disney Channel original series Hannah Montana, which first aired in 2006. In the television series and film, American singer–songwriter and actress Miley Cyrus portrays Miley Stewart,...
of the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hannah Montana: The Movie is a 2009 Walt Disney Pictures musical comedy film based on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana which was released on April 10, 2009, by Walt Disney Pictures, it was the second Disney Channel series to have a movie for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by...
. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story
Love Story (Taylor Swift song)
"Love Story" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman, alongside Swift. It was released on September 12, 2008 by Big Machine Records, as the lead single from Swift's second studio album Fearless...
". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School
Bishop Ireton High School
Bishop Ireton High School is a Roman Catholic High School located in Alexandria, Virginia. The school was founded in 1964 by the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, an order of Catholic priests sometimes called Salesians, and originally admitted only male students...
, a small Catholic school in Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....
. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.
Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 13, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, honoring the best music videos from June 19, 2008, to June 29, 2009. Comedian Russell Brand hosted the event for the second time in a row. The awards were held a few months after Michael...
.
This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me
You Belong with Me
"You Belong with Me" is a country pop song performed by American recording artist Taylor Swift. The song was co-written by Swift and Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's aid. It was released on April 21, 2009, by Big Machine Records as the third single from Swift's second studio...
," singer/rapper Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
"Single Ladies " is a song by American recording artist Beyoncé Knowles from her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. It was released by Columbia Records on October 12, 2008 as the album's lead single, and appeared with "If I Were a Boy" as a double A-side single, demonstrating the...
", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show
The Jay Leno Show
The Jay Leno Show is an American comedy show created by and starring Jay Leno, that aired from September 14, 2009 to February 9, 2010 on NBC following the May 29, 2009 conclusion of Leno's first tenure as host of The Tonight Show...
. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on The View, where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions.
On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me
You Belong with Me
"You Belong with Me" is a country pop song performed by American recording artist Taylor Swift. The song was co-written by Swift and Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's aid. It was released on April 21, 2009, by Big Machine Records as the third single from Swift's second studio...
" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen
Fifteen (song)
"Fifteen" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Swift self-penned the song and co-produced it along with Nathan Chapman. "Fifteen" was released on September 1, 2009 by Big Machine Records, as the fourth single from Swift's second studio album, Fearless...
" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One
Two is Better than One
"Two Is Better Than One" is the title of a song written by Martin Johnson. It was recorded by Boston alternative rock group Boys Like Girls. It is included on their second studio album Love Drunk, which was released in 2009. The song is the second official single from the album and features country...
" by Boys Like Girls
Boys Like Girls
Boys Like Girls is an American rock band from Massachusetts. Formed in 2005, the group gained mainstream recognition when it released its self-titled debut album. Boys Like Girls was the co-headliner with Good Charlotte for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour 2008 that toured across the United...
which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. Fearless
Fearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.
2010–present: Speak Now
Swift released the track "Today Was a FairytaleToday Was a Fairytale
"Today Was a Fairytale" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's help. It was released on January 19, 2010 by Big Machine Records as a single from the corresponding soundtrack for the 2010 film...
" as a digital download on iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day (film)
Valentine's Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall and based on the novel by Michael Connelly. The screenplay and the story was written by Katherine Fugate, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Akiva Goldsman, Rob Reiner, P. J...
, in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour
Fearless Tour
The Fearless Tour was the first concert tour by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The tour was in support of her second studio album, Fearless. On the tour, she was joined by guests Kellie Pickler and Gloriana. Teen singer, Justin Bieber joined her for the tour when she went to...
to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana
Gloriana (band)
Gloriana is an American country music group founded in 2008. It is composed of brothers Tom Gossin and Mike Gossin , as well as Rachel Reinert and, until July 2011, Cheyenne Kimball . Before the band's foundation, Kimball was the 2002 winner of the competition America's Most Talented Kid and a...
. In mid-July 2010, Billboard revealed that Swift's new album is called Speak Now
Speak Now
Speak Now is the third studio album by American singer–songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 25, 2010 by Big Machine Records. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2010 at several recording studios, and was handled by Swift and country music producer Nathan Chapman...
. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman
Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Nathan Chapman is an American record producer who works in the field of country music. He is known primarily for working with Taylor Swift, having produced her albums Taylor Swift, Fearless and Speak Now. The former was also the first album that he produced...
serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine
Mine (song)
"Mine" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift alone and produced by Swift along with Nathan Chapman. It was released as the lead single from Swift's third studio album, Speak Now by Big Machine Records...
," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour is the second concert tour by American country singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, in support of her third studio album, Speak Now. The tour visited Asia, Europe, North America and Australasia...
and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on Rolling Stone'
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the Hamish & Andy
Hamish & Andy
Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. They currently host the radio program The Hamish & Andy Show which airs in Australia on the Today Network....
show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly
Sparks Fly (song)
"Sparks Fly" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, from her third studio album, Speak Now . The song was written and produced by Swift, with additional production handled by Nathan Chapman. Swift penned the song when she was sixteen years of age; before she had broken out into the...
" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the Billboards Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to Speak Now, set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."
Songwriting style
Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe JonasJoe Jonas
Joseph Adam "Joe" Jonas is a Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin...
, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.
The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
by my fans."
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".
Acting
In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad PaisleyBrad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
's music video "Online
Online (song)
"Online" is a single by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It is the second single from his 2007 album 5th Gear. The single is Brad's ninth overall Number One single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, as well as his fifth consecutive Number One...
". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
for CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers
Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...
in their 3D Concert Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience is a 2009 concert film released in Disney Digital 3-D, Real D 3D and IMAX 3D. It was released in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico on February 27, 2009 with the release in other countries later on. The film stars the American pop trio Kevin, Joe...
. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
"Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler
Kellie Pickler
Kellie Dawn Pickler is an American country music artist and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol, eventually finishing in sixth place. In 2006, she signed to 19 Recordings and BNA Records as a recording artist, releasing...
's music video "Best Days of Your Life
Best Days of Your Life
"Best Days of Your Life" is the title of a song written and performed by American country artist Kellie Pickler, and co-written by Taylor Swift. It was released on December 1, 2008 as the second single from her self-titled second album. Swift also provides background vocals on the song.Pickler...
". Swift also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hannah Montana: The Movie is a 2009 Walt Disney Pictures musical comedy film based on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana which was released on April 10, 2009, by Walt Disney Pictures, it was the second Disney Channel series to have a movie for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by...
credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day (film)
Valentine's Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall and based on the novel by Michael Connelly. The screenplay and the story was written by Katherine Fugate, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Akiva Goldsman, Rob Reiner, P. J...
. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film The Lorax
The Lorax (film)
The Lorax, also known as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, is an upcoming American computer-animated 3-D film based on Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name. It is being produced by Illumination Entertainment and will be released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, what would have been the 108th...
, set to be released in 2012.
Cover model and recognition
Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girlCover girl
A cover girl is a woman whose photograph features on the front cover of a magazine. She may be a model, celebrity or entertainer. The term would generally not be used to describe a casual, once-off appearance by a person on the cover of a magazine....
for Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year".
Swift was named by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for TIMEs "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.
Merchandise
Jakks PacificJakks Pacific
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is a designer and marketer of toys and consumer products, with a range of products that feature numerous children's toy licenses...
released a celebrity doll
Celebrity doll
A celebrity doll is a doll modelled after a celebrity.Celebrity dolls have been in production for a very long time. In the 1840s, several famous ballerinas were featured as paper dolls. Also in the 19th century, various military heroes were portrayed as dolls/figures. With the advent of silent...
of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i.
Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
.
In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages
Punitive damages
Punitive damages or exemplary damages are damages intended to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit...
, three times the actual damages sustained
Treble damages
Treble damages, in law, is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff, generally in order to punish the losing party for willful conduct. Treble damages are a multiple of, and not an addition...
, and statutory damages
Statutory damages
Statutory damages are a damage award in civil law, in which the amount awarded is stipulated within the statute rather than being calculated based on the degree of harm to the plaintiff. Lawmakers will provide for statutory damages for acts in which it is difficult to determine a precise value of...
, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her Speak Now album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.
American Greetings
American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Brooklyn, Ohio and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products , and electronic expressive content...
Philanthropy
On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
Governor Phil Bredesen
Phil Bredesen
Philip Norman "Phil" Bredesen Jr. was the 48th Governor of Tennessee, serving from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected Governor in 2002, and was re-elected in 2006. He previously served as the fourth mayor of Nashville and Davidson County from 1991 to...
to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...
, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008
Iowa flood of 2008
The Iowa flood of 2008 was a hydrological event involving most of the rivers in eastern Iowa beginning around June 8, 2008 and ending about July 1. Flooding continued on the Upper Mississippi River in the southeastern portion of the state for several more days...
. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen
Fifteen (song)
"Fifteen" is a country pop song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Swift self-penned the song and co-produced it along with Nathan Chapman. "Fifteen" was released on September 1, 2009 by Big Machine Records, as the fourth single from Swift's second studio album, Fearless...
", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal
February 2009 Victorian bushfires
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that ignited or were burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009...
by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief
Sound Relief
Sound Relief was a multi-venue rock music concert held on 14 March 2009, which was announced by the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby on 24 February 2009...
concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.
On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.
In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.
On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour
into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football
Alabama Crimson Tide football
|TeamName = Alabama football |Image = Alabama Crimson Tide Logo.svg |ImageSize = 110 |Helmet = Alabama Football.png |ImageSize2 = 150 |CurrentSeason = 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide football team...
coach Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou "Nick" Saban is the head coach of the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide football team. Saban has previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other NCAA universities: LSU, Michigan State and Toledo...
's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.
Personal life
In addition to her relationship with Joe JonasJoe Jonas
Joseph Adam "Joe" Jonas is a Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin...
, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us
The Story of Us (song)
"The Story of Us" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her third studio album, Speak Now . Swift wrote the track solely, and produced it alongside Nathan Chapman. The song was released on April 19, 2011 by Big Machine Records, as the fourth single from Speak Now...
" from her album Speak Now are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | America's Got Talent America's Got Talent (Season 2) The second season of America's Got Talent, an American television reality show talent competition, premiered on the NBC network on June 5, 2007 with a two-hour episode. Tabloid talk show host Jerry Springer succeeded Regis Philbin as host. Piers Morgan and David Hasselhoff returned as judges,... |
Herself | Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale |
| 2008 | CMT Crossroads | Herself | Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard Taylor Swift and Def Leppard Taylor Swift and Def Leppard is an episode of the CMT television show CMT Crossroads. The episodes features performances by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and English band Def Leppard.... " |
| 2009 | Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience is a 2009 concert film released in Disney Digital 3-D, Real D 3D and IMAX 3D. It was released in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico on February 27, 2009 with the release in other countries later on. The film stars the American pop trio Kevin, Joe... |
Herself | Cameo Cameo appearance A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television... |
| 2009 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer... |
Haley Jones | Episode: "Turn, Turn, Turn" |
| 2009 | Hannah Montana: The Movie Hannah Montana: The Movie Hannah Montana: The Movie is a 2009 Walt Disney Pictures musical comedy film based on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana which was released on April 10, 2009, by Walt Disney Pictures, it was the second Disney Channel series to have a movie for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by... |
Herself | Cameo |
| 2009 | Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture... |
Herself | Host/Musical Guest |
| 2009 | Dancing with the Stars | Herself | Guest; Episode: Week 6 results |
| 2010 | Valentine's Day Valentine's Day (film) Valentine's Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall and based on the novel by Michael Connelly. The screenplay and the story was written by Katherine Fugate, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Akiva Goldsman, Rob Reiner, P. J... |
Felicia | Movie acting debut |
| 2010 | Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless is a three-night television series that aired on The Hub, Hasbro's and Discovery's TV joint, starting on October 22, 2010. Starring American country pop recording artist Taylor Swift. The show debuted on The Hub Friday night block... |
Herself | Main Role |
| 2010 | Dancing with the Stars | Herself | Guest; Episode: 200th episode |
| 2012 | Audrey | Voice only Voice acting Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called... |
|
| 2012 | Bruno the Robot | Various | Voice only Voice acting Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called... PBS KIDS series |
Albums
- Taylor SwiftTaylor Swift (album)Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The album was released on October 24, 2006 by Big Machine Records. Swift wrote songs for the album during her freshman year of high school and has writing credits on all of the albums' songs including those...
(2006) - FearlessFearless (Taylor Swift album)Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
(2008) - Speak NowSpeak NowSpeak Now is the third studio album by American singer–songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 25, 2010 by Big Machine Records. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2010 at several recording studios, and was handled by Swift and country music producer Nathan Chapman...
(2010)