It is no longer a time to associate country music with people in their mid
40s, for artists jumping in this genre is getting younger and younger. One
living proof: Taylor Swift. The accomplished country singer and songwriter who
began her career while a teenager has spawned an album and several singles that
garnered her awards that are commonly dominated by people twice or triple her
age. In 2007 alone she was nominated for four different awards, two of them
which have successfully been snatched. She took Breakthrough Video of the Year
at Country Music Television Awards through her debut single "Tim
McGraw", and Horizon Award, a special honor that was presented at 41st Country
Music Association Awards for being a promising act. Hailing from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Taylor Alison Swift was musically influenced by her grandmother who was a professional opera singer. While living with her parents, the December 13, 1989-born beauty became addicted to singing in contests and talent shows. At 10-year-old, she had entered local karaoke contests and recorded some demo tapes which ended in almost every receptionist desks of Nashville's record labels. Two years later she did the very thing that would eventually make a difference to her world, guitar picking. For four hours a day she would continuously try to master the art of guitar playing until her fingers literally bled. From there, original songs came pouring out along with the growing love of country vibes. She often wrote her lyrics during lessons at school although her reputation as a straight A student was unaltered. Her family eventually moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee where opportunity came in the form of Scott Borchetta.
While performing at a cafe, Swift immediately struck the attention of the record producer who was on the verge of developing a record label. Amazed, Borchetta thought that she would be the perfect candidate to launch his new company, Big Machine Records. Together with Liz Rose, the then 16-year-old Swift wrote a ballad called "Tim McGraw", which is an ode to her favorite country singer. The song peaked at #6 on Billboard Hot Country Song and even entered the Hot Singles chart at #40. Her self-titled debut album was then released on October 24, 2006 and debuted at #19 on Billboard Hot 200 before eventually peaking at #8. The second single was released to better fate than the first one. "Teardrops on My Guitar", a song about a girl's ironic love for a boy who loves another girl, was released in February 2007 and peaked at #2 on Hot Country Songs chart. Numerous nominations were immediately coming towards her way, mainly for breaking through the industry with amazingly only one studio album in hand.
Not only was she an accomplished singing bird, but she was also recognized for her work. In October 2007 her songwriter peers at Nashville Songwriters Association International voted her to be Songwriter/Artist of the Year, a title that had never been taken by a 17-year-old before. Swift was also nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but ultimately lost to Amy Winehouse.
Her second album was planned for a 2008 release, the same year she will complete her home-school program. "Fearless" was released in November that year, containing seven self-written songs about love and its complication. The album was graced with the chart success of lead single "Love Story". The song became the second best-selling country single of all time, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The following singles also experienced chart success, sending the album to number one on Billboard Hot 200 chart with almost 600,000 copies sold in the first week. "Fearless" was in fact the top-selling album of 2009.
A Fearless tour was conducted extensively between April 2009 and June 2010, visiting some cities in Australia and Asia as well with rising star Justin Bieber as supporting act on some dates. The tour was filmed for a DVD and Blu-ray release. Road trip aside, Swift gained popularity as well as sympathy from fellow musicians when she won Best Female Video for "You Belong With Me" at 2009 MTV Video Music Award. Her thank you speech was interrupted by Kanye West, who declared that Beyonce Knowles' video was the rightful winner. West received a lot of harsh criticisms for his act and was kicked off from the event. Konwles invited Swift to the stage to finish her speech when she later won Video of the Year. While insisting that Knowles' video was still the best of the decade, he gave a public apology to Swift by saying she was talented. Swift accepted his personal apology to her.
Swift was suddenly a hot commodity. She was featured on John Mayer's song "Half of My Heart", Kelly Pickler's "Best Days of Your Life" and Boys Like Girls "Two Is Better Than One" among others. Her success was further recognized by Country Music Association which named her one of the only six women to be named Entertainer of the Year. She was also the youngest ever artist to win the Academy of Country Music's Album of the Year honor. 2010 Grammy Awards saw the peak of her "Fearless" success when she won four out of eight nominations.
The third studio album "Speak Now" was released in October 2010 with more adult materials. All twelve songs came from her talented mind and sole effort. "Mine" was released as the first single, followed by five further singles throughout 2010 and 2011. "Speak Now" was a major commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart with the sale of 1,047,000 copies in the first week. The album led to equally successful tour in 2011 and early 2012. Bigger than the last one, the Speak Now tour featured numerous and various artists from B.o.B to Tim McGraw on some dates. The tour eventually grossed over $123 million. Swift earned another Grammy in 2012 when her song "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. She contributed two original songs to "The Hunger Games" soundtrack album in March 2012, "Safe & Sound" and "Eyes Open".
Swift did not waste a lot of time to record a fourth studio album, titled simply "Red". Like its predecessors, "Red" boasts songs which are self-written by Swift. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was released as the first single, sparking question whom she was referring to in the song. The song peaked at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100. "Red" also spawned singles "Begin Again", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22" and title track "Red" among others. Most of the singles managed to reach Billboard Hot 100's top 10. At the 2014 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for the coveted Album of the Year, but it lost to Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories".
After taking a two-year break from making an album, in August 2014 she announced that her new full-length would be called "1989" and it would arrive on October 27. On the same day she announced the project, she also released the pop album's lead single "Shake It Off" along with its accompanying music video. The song received generally positive review from critics, but some people criticized the video which was directed by Mark Romanek. Swift was accused of being racist for breakdancing and twerking with some black dancers. However, the criticism didn't change the fact that fans liked Swift's new music. The song, which she performed at 2014 MTV Video Music Awards just a few days after being released, debuted at No. 1 in Hot 100 and spent multiple weeks atop the chart.
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