Interesting Facts About Taylor Swift

She has been called America's sweetheart. With her tumbling blond curls, model-like good looks, sweet temperament—and six Grammys—country and pop singer/songwriter, Taylor Swift is a young megastar.
 
Swift won four Grammys at the 2008 awards ceremony. Two were Album of the Year and Best Country Album for Fearless, her second album. The other two were Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for the single "White Horse." Swift was 20 at the time. She had been pursuing a career in music for almost a decade.

"I think I first realized I wanted to be in country music and be an artist when I was 10," Swift said. "And I started dragging my parents to festivals, and fairs, and karaoke contests. And I did that for about a year before I came to Nashville for the first time. I was 11 and I had this demo CD of me singing Dixie Chicks and LeAnn Rimes songs." 

The Nashville record companies showed no interest in Swift's demo tape. But she was not discouraged. At the age of 12, she began writing songs. Two years later, she moved with her family to a Nashville suburb, where she could be with other young songwriters. She became a staff songwriter—the youngest—for a major music publishing company. But Swift soon left that job. She signed a contract with a new record label, Big Machine Records. Swift still records for this label.

Swift's first album, Taylor Swift, was released in 2006. It won her a Best New Artist Grammy nomination. Her four Grammys in 2008 cemented her reputation as a country superstar. That year, she was the nation's best-selling artist. Her albums sold a total of 4 million copies. In 2009, Billboard magazine named her Artist of the Year. Swift released her third album, Speak Now, in 2010. It sold more than a million copies in its first week. In 2011, she was named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association (CMA).

In 2012, Swift won two more Grammy Awards. She won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song for her single "Mean." And for the second year in a row she was named entertainer of the year at the CMA Awards.

What accounts for Swift's success? Her lyrics are very personal in nature. She often writes about her own relationships. And her fans—mostly young women—relate to that. Scott Borchetta, head of Big Machine Records, says that Swift's is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to [her fans], and they speak directly back to her."

Swift has been influenced by such musical talents as Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, and Patsy Cline. And like some of them, her songs are as much pop as country. Her lyrics can be critical of someone who has hurt her. Country music's "stand by your man" is not what Taylor Swift sings about.

Swift is now acting. She appears on the covers of magazines. A Taylor Swift doll is in stores. And there's a Taylor Swift line of clothing. Thankful for what she has received, Swift gives back. Her charities range from one that helps protect children from online predators to one that helps flood victims.

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