Coordinates	34°5′24″N74°47′24″N
name	You Belong with Me
cover	Taylor Swift - You Belong with Me.png
artist	Taylor Swift
album	Fearless
b-side	"Love Story" (Stripped)
released	April 21, 2009
format	CD single, music download
genre	Country pop, pop
length	3:51
label	Big Machine
writer	Taylor Swift, Liz Rose
producer	Nathan Chapman, Taylor Swift
last single	"White Horse"(2008)
this single	"You Belong with Me"(2009)
next single	"Fifteen"(2009) }}

"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 album, ''Fearless'' (2008). Swift was inspired to write "You Belong with Me" after overhearing a male friend of hers arguing with his girlfriend through a phone call; she continued to develop a story line afterward. The song contains many pop music elements and its lyrics have Swift desiring an out-of-reach love interest.

Critical reception for "You Belong with Me" was middling to positive. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, the song received nominations for the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. "You Belong with Me" enjoyed commercial success as well; it became a top ten hit in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. In the United States, the song became Swift's best-charting single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 to date and Swift's second best-selling single. It managed to gain the largest crossover radio audience since Faith Hill's "Breathe" did in 2000. The single was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The song's accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. The video featured Swift portraying two characters, a nerd (the protagonist) and a popular girl (the antagonist), while American actor Lucas Till portrayed the male lead. The video's plot centers on the protagonist secretively loving the male lead, although he has a girlfriend. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, but during Swift's acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West interrupted, protesting in support of Beyoncé Knowles. The incident caused a reaction in the media, with most people coming to Swift's defense. The song was performed live at numerous venues, including the 2009–10 Fearless Tour, where it was the opening number. It was covered by various artists, including Butch Walker and Selena Gomez & the Scene, and parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Background

Swift became inspired to write "You Belong with Me" after she overheard a male friend of hers speaking to his girlfriend through a phone call. He acted defensive as his girlfriend yelled at him, and said to her, "No, baby...I had to get off the phone really quickly... I tried to call you right back... Of course I love you. More than anything! Baby, I’m so sorry." Out of the sympathy she felt towards him in the situation, Swift developed a concept for a song. In a writing session with co-writer Liz Rose, Swift explained the situation along with her idea and conceived the song's opening line, "You’re on the phone with your girlfriend / she’s upset / she's going off about something that you said." Together, they developed a story line, which described Swift being in love with the male friend and her having the desire for him to breakup with his current girlfriend for her. Swift described the song's concept as "basically about wanting someone who is with this girl who doesn't appreciate him at all. Basically like 'girl-next-door-itis.' You like this guy who you have for your whole life, and you know him better than she does but somehow the popular girl gets the guy every time." Swift recalled, "It was really fun for us to write the line, 'She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts'." "You Belong with Me" was first released as a promotional single from ''Fearless'' on November 4, 2008 as part of Countdown to ''Fearless'', an exclusive campaign by the iTunes Store; the song was then released as the third single from ''Fearless'' on April 21, 2009.

Composition

"You Belong with Me" is a country pop song with a length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds. According to Kate Kiefer of ''Paste'' magazine, it is "a straight-up pop song." The song is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 130 beats per minute. It is written in the key of G♭ major and Swift's vocals span two octaves, from G♭₃ to D♭₅. Leah Greenblatt of ''Entertainment Weekly'' felt Swift's vocals were light and twangy while the melody was "lilting". It follows the chord progression G♭–D♭–A♭m-C♭. The instrumentation consisted of clucking banjos alongside New Wave electric guitars.

The lyrics to "You Belong with Me" alternate between narrative modes, where she speaks of herself, a male friend whom she has an unrequited crush on, and his girlfriend. Greenblatt described Swift's role as a storyteller, the song being a narrative set to music, which describes concerning about love and boys "just [being] very hard to catch". Craig Rosen of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' believes "You Belong with Me"'s plot is "confessional" and regards scenarios themed with high school, while Swift "is the girl next door who's had her heart broken and takes refuge in music". Lucy Davies of the BBC noted, "Swift deals in the prosaic imagery of high school boys". In one verse, Swift contrasts herself with her friend's girlfriend and states, "She wears high heels, I wear sneakers / She's cheer captain, I'm on the bleachers", which Davies interpreted as the song's protagonist feeling envy towards cheerleaders, in particular, the one dating her male friend. In the choruses, Swift attempts "to persuade some boy to come to his senses and submit to her everygirl charms".

Critical reception

"You Belong with Me" received positive to mixed reviews from critics. For instance, Sean Dooley of About.com labeled "You Belong with Me" as one of the "best songs on ''Fearless''", while Johnny Davis of ''The Observer'' believed some parts of the song "may needle British ears", although he felt that it was better than single releases by pop singer Hilary Duff. Lucy Davies of the BBC was not impressed by the song's theme being similar to those of other songs on ''Fearless'' or on her eponymous debut album, ''Taylor Swift''. She opined that "You Belong with Me"'s "lyrical palette has few colours [...] and it's repetitive". Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine said, "'You Belong with Me' isn't her best-written song by a long shot, but it's hard to fault its construction." Jody Rosen of ''Rolling Stone'' commented, "It's hard not to be won over by the guilelessness".

A Times Editor review from ''The St. Petersburg Times'' also described it as sounding similar to other hits: "She hankers for a boy who either doesn't love her back or wants to ditch this small town." Josh Love of ''The Village Voice'' thought "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness" shined through the lyrics and theme of "You Belong with Me"; Love also mentioned that it was one of ''Fearless''' "great songs". Leah Greenblatt of ''Entertainment Weekly'' said Swift's vocals fit the song's melody and instrumentation, which, according to her, is "slick" and "radio-friendly". Rob Sheffield of ''Blender'' magazine recommended for readers to download "You Belong with Me", and Jeniffer Webb, also from About.com, predicted that the song would reach different age groups. Webb said, "It continues the artist's tradition of having a little something for everyone, so it's no wonder she has such a large fanbase."

Awards and nominations

At the 52nd Grammy Awards, "You Belong with Me" received nominations for three awards. The song received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year but lost to Beyoncé Knowles' "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008), for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year but lost to Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" (2008), and for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance but lost to Knowles' "Halo" (2009). "You Belong with Me" won Favorite Song at the 2010 Kids Choice Awards and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, but lost Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (2009).

Chart performance

Upon its release as a promotional single, on the week ending November 22, 2008, "You Belong with Me" debuted at number twelve on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 because of sales of 172,000 digital downloads, tying her with the Jonas Brothers for most top twenty debuts in 2008, a record which she later beat; the song fell from the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the following week. Following its single release, the song re-entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number eighty-seven on the week ending May 16, 2009. "You Belong with Me" moved to number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the week ending August 15, 2009, thus making the song Swift's highest-charting effort, surpassing her previous best-charting effort "Love Story", which peaked at number four in January 2009. Driven by non-country radio airplay, the song established the largest crossover radio audience since Faith Hill's "Breathe" (2000). The following week, it peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song is one of thirteen songs from ''Fearless'' charted within the top forty of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, breaking the record for the most top forty entries from a single album. It also peaked at number two on Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) and at number-one on both Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary. The single was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments exceeding two million copies. As of February 2011, "You Belong with Me" has sold over 3.6 million copies in the United States, becoming Swift's second best-selling single in the country. In Canada, "You Belong with Me" entered at number eighty-four and peaked at number three. It was also certified double platinum by Music Canada for sales of 160,000 digital downloads.

"You Belong with Me" was a success in Australia and New Zealand. On the week ending May 24, 2009, the song entered the Australian Singles Chart at number fifty. On the week ending July 5, 2009, the song reached its peak on the Australian Singles Chart, at number five, a position it maintained on for three non-consecutive weeks. "You Belong with Me" was placed at number eighty-eight on the decade-end Austrian Singles Chart. It was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments exceeding 140,000 copies. On the week ending May 25, 2009, "You Belong with Me" debuted at number twenty-eight on the New Zealand Singles Chart and, after two weeks of ascended positions, it peaked at number five. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for shipments exceeding 15,000 copies.

The song debuted at number ninety-nine on the week ending July 18, 2009, on the UK Singles Chart. It reached its peak on the UK Singles Chart at number thirty on the week ending September 26, 2009. In Ireland, it peaked at number twelve and spent a total of six weeks on the chart. In mainland Europe, "You Belong with Me" peaked at number sixty-one on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles Chart, number eleven on Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders), and number thirty-two on the Danish Singles Chart. "You Belong with Me" experienced similar commercial outcomes throughout the rest of Europe; it became a top forty hit in Belgium (Wallonia) and a top fifty hit in Sweden.

Music video

"You Belong with Me"'s accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. In the video, Swift portrays both the protagonist and antagonist, which she respectively described as "the nerd, who is pining away for this guy that she can't have" and "the popular girl." Swift described the popular girl's persona as "horrible and scary and intimidating and perfect". Her love interest is portrayed by American actor Lucas Till; Swift met Till while acting on the set of ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' in April 2008. She later asked him to act in the video, as she was intrigued by his "cool look", embodying a "dreamy guy". In regards to his acting on the video, Swift said, "He's absolutely perfect for the part and really fun to be around, too." According to her, the video's plot is "charming"; she also said that, "the whole video, I'm just sitting there pining away, wishing I could be in her position." In regards to the video's conclusion, White explained that Swift "becomes who she really is", while Swift thought it was a happy ending. Swift commented, "One of my favorite things about this video is that there wasn't a standard performance scene. This video was pretty much all story line and I'm narrating it in the moment, basically narrating while all this is happening around me."

The video was shot in two days between Gallatin, Tennessee and Hendersonville, Tennessee. On the first day of filming, Swift used a body double in order for both Swift, as the protagonist and antagonist, to appear in one shot. In a scene where she appeared dancing, White replaced Swift's routine with a one having no rhythm; she recalled, "It was some of the most fun I'd had in a long time, just freaking out and doing the dumbest moves." On the second day, they first filmed a prom scene and, lastly, the football game, both being filmed at Pope John Paul II High School. The school supplied many students as extras, including football players, band members, cheerleaders and students for the final prom scene. When filming for a touchdown, Till was unable to catch the ball, furthering the length of the shoot. "You put a lot of good solid effort in it and it looks good", Swift stated about filming.

The video commences with Till arguing with his girlfriend through a phone call. As soon as Swift, as the protagonist, notices, they begin to communicate by holding up signs through their bedroom windows. Till closes his curtains, and Swift holds up a sign saying, "I love you". As the song's chorus approaches, Swift starts to sing and dance in front of a mirror, changing to different clothing multiple times. Afterward, Swift is sitting in a bench while reading a book. Till arrives and the two converse. Then, Swift, as the antagonist, arrives in a red convertible car and Till gets in it; Swift, as the antagonist, kisses him and gives a vicious look towards the protagonist. Suddenly, she is seen cheerleading at a football game while Swift's other persona is in the bleachers, performing in the school band. After scoring the winning touchdown, Till moves toward his girlfriend and finds her flirting with a teammate; meanwhile, Swift, as the protagonist, stares in amazement. Back in their bedroom windows, they again communicate through signs, Till asked Swift, as the protagonist, if she was attending prom and she responded, "no, studying". Shortly after, Swift is seen entering prom with a white dress, no longer looking like a nerd, while all her peers stare in amazement. When Till spots her, he walks towards her and Swift, as the antagonist, attempts to impede him, but he ignores her. Ending the video, Till and Swift reveal folded signs saying "I love you" and kiss.

Video reception

The video premiered on May 2, 2009, on CMT. Chris Ryan of MTV commented, "'You Belong With Me' was a teen rom-com wrapped up in a music video, wherein Taylor plays two roles. See Dooley of About.com believed Swift worked "doubly hard", playing two roles. A Times Editor review from ''The St. Petersburg Times'' compared the large glasses Swift wore to those of Clark Kent. Michael Deacon of ''The Daily Telegraph'' felt the video suited the song, "in that they’re equally sappy and dull".

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video. During Swift's acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West interrupted Swift, grabbing the microphone and stating, "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you and I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé [Knowles] had one of the best videos of all time", regarding her video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". According to Jayson Rodriguez of MTV News, Knowles "looked on from the crowd, stunned". Later in the evening, during her acceptance speech for winning the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, Knowles told about her first experience winning her first Video Music Award with Destiny's Child and how much it meant to her. She then called Swift from backstage to complete her acceptance speech. Numerous critics, celebrities, and fans criticized West's actions, including the President of the United States, Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass". At first, West made no effort in contacting Swift, but he later issued an apology, which Swift accepted. The video was nominated for Video of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards. At the 2010 CMT Music Awards, the video received nominations for the CMT Music Award for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year", but lost to Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova" and Miranda Lambert's "White Liar", respectively. The video was nominated for the MuchMusic Video Award for Best International Artist Video and the MuchMusic Video Award for People's Choice: Favourite International Video, but lost to Miley Cyrus' video for "Party in the U.S.A." and Adam Lambert's video for "Whataya Want From Me" at the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards, respectively.

Live performances

Swift's first televised performance of "You Belong with Me" was at a free outdoor concert on May 29, 2009, broadcast by ''The Today Show''. Following promotion for the song, she performed it on ''Tonight with Jay Leno'', Studio 330 Sessions, at the 2009 CMA Music Festival, at the 2009 CMT Music Awards, and at the 2009 V Festival, in the summer of 2009. Swift performed "You Belong with Me" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, 2009, the same day in which Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech. She began the performance in a subway station, dressed in a brown trench coat and black beanie, and continued it in a subway, taking off the trench coat and revealing a red cocktail dress. Once the subway docked at a stop, Swift completed the performance atop a yellow taxi cab. Swift later performed the song on ''The View'' and ''Saturday Night Live''. In the fall of 2009 and winter of 2009 through 2010, Swift commenced promotion for "You Belong with Me" countries outside of the United States; she performed the song on the United Kingdom channel GMTV, the Australian charity concert Sydney Sound Relief, and the Japanese talk show ''The Sukkiri Morning Show''.

Swift performed a medley, which included "You Belong with Me" at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Wearing casual white blouse and black skinny jeans, Swift performed "Today Was a Fairytale" and then announced, "Its a fairly tale and an honor to share the stage with Stevie Nicks". Following, the two performed a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" (1976). Swift then grabbed her acoustic guitar for the third and final part in her medley, jumping into a twangy version of "You Belong with Me". Nicks stood back, tapping her tambourine and nodding, every so often stepping up to the microphone to sing with Swift. Eric Ditzian of MTV News was disappointed at Swift's and Nicks' harmonies, but said the two "made for a compelling twosome". The performance followed much backlash in regards to Swift's off key singing, which caused Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, to issue a statement defending the performance.

"You Belong with Me" is performed as the opening number on all 2009 and 2010 dates of Swift's first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour. Before Swift or the dancers entered the stage, a video played on the overhead screens; it showed various celebrities, including Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Faith Hill, Lucas Till and Swift herself, sharing their definitions of the word "fearless". Following the video's completion, the band and backup dancers appeared, dressed in yellow cheerleading uniforms. Swift, dressed in a white marching band uniform, then emerges from the bottom of the stage and commences singing. Swift roams around the stage singing and backup dancers perform cheerleading routines while projections of cheerleaders are shown on the stage. Midway through the performance, the backup dancers removed Swift's marching band uniform to reveal a sparkly cocktail dress; she is then handed a rhinestoned acoustic guitar and finishes the performance. Craig Rosen of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' believed Swift's performance of "You Belong with Me", coupled with the performance of "Should've Said No", at the May 22, 2009, concert in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center made the show a success. The song is also performed on the Speak Now World Tour.

Cover versions

Kidz Bop Kids recorded "You Belong with Me" for a digital single release in October 2009, which is included on the seventeenth installment of ''Kidz Bop''. In November 2009, American rock singer Butch Walker covered "You Belong with Me" for a digital single release. James Christopher Monger of Allmusic said the cover was infused "with the same karaoke glee that fueled previous installments". Bill Lamb of About.com described the composition as a "folksy almost honky-tonk sound" and "a bit more country than Taylor Swift's original". According to Mikael Wood of ''Billboard'', the cover's instrumentation is fueled by banjo; he claimed it was an "online success". Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine described the cover's arrangement as "fantastic" and, to him, it "emphasized the terrific melody and structure that are the song's real selling points". After hearing Walker's cover, Swift posted via her official Twitter account, "I'm losing my MIND listening to it! Blown away." ''Band Hero'' for consoles features "You Belong with Me" as one of sixty-five songs from "mainstream acts". American pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene covered "You Belong with Me" live on their Selena Gomez & the Scene: Live in Concert Tour (2009–10) and A Year Without Rain Tour (2011). A parody entitled "TMZ" was included on "Weird Al" Yankovic's studio album ''Alpocalypse'' (2011). A music video for the parody, directed by Bill Plympton, was filmed in October 2010, and will be included on the album's DVD. The music video was released on "Weird Al"'s Vevo on June 24, 2011.

Track listings

US Digital Download

#"You Belong with Me" (Album Version) – 3:52

2-Track CD Single

#"You Belong with Me" (Album Version) – 3:52 #"Love Story" (Stripped) – 3:54

AUS / EU Promo Single

#"You Belong with Me" (Radio Mix) – 3:54

2-Track CD Single 2

#"You Belong with Me" (Album Version) – 3:52 #"You Belong with Me" (Radio Mix) – 3:54

US Digital Pop Download

#"You Belong with Me" (Pop Mix) – 3:47

Chart and certifications

Charts

{|class="wikitable sortable" !align="center"|Chart (2009) !align="center"|Peakposition |- |Australian Singles Chart |align="center"|5 |- |Belgian Tip Singles Chart (Flanders) |align="center"|11 |- |Belgian Tip Singles Chart (Wallonia) |align="center"|23 |- |Canadian Hot 100 |align="center"|3 |- |Danish Singles Chart |align="center"|32 |- |Dutch Top 100 |align="center"|68 |- |Eurochart Hot 100 Singles |align="center"|61 |- |Hungarian Airplay Singles Chart |align="center"|31 |- |Japan Hot 100 |align="center"|14 |- |Irish Singles Chart |align="center"|12 |- |New Zealand Singles Chart |align="center"|5 |- |Swedish Singles Chart |align="center"|47 |- |UK Singles Chart |align="center"|30 |- |US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 |align="center"|2 |- |US Adult Contemporary |align="center"|1 |- |US Hot Country Songs |align="center"|1 |- |US Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) |align="center"|2 |}

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable" !Chart (2009) !Position |- |Australian Singles Chart |align="center"|17 |- |Canadian Hot 100 |align="center"|14 |- |New Zealand Singles Chart |align="center"|25 |- |UK Singles Chart |align="center"|177 |- |US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 |align="center"|11 |- |US Hot Country Songs |align="center"|13 |- |}

Decade-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Decade-end chart (2000s) ! Position |- | Australian Singles Chart |align="center"|88 |- |}

Certifications

! Country	Music recording sales certification>Certification
	2× Platinum
	2× Platinum
	Platinum
	3× Platinum

See also

List of best-selling singles in the United States

List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 2009 (U.S.)

List of number-one country singles of 2009 (U.S.)

References

External links

"You Belong with Me" music video on CMT

Category:2009 singles Category:Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one singles Category:Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles Category:Music videos directed by Roman White Category:Songs written by Liz Rose Category:Songs written by Taylor Swift Category:Taylor Swift songs Category:Singles certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America Category:Songs produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer)

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With Me may refer to:

"With Me" (Destiny's Child song), a 1998 song by Destiny's Child

"With Me" (Lonestar song), a 2001 song by Lonestar

"With Me" (Sum 41 song), a 2008 song by Sum 41

it:With Me ru:With Me

Coordinates	34°5′24″N74°47′24″N
Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) 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.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, 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".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, 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 US 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.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", 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. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "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 ''Billboard'''s 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.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', 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 ''Billboard'''s 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.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" 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 to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s 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."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

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 Jonas, 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".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley'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. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl 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 ''TIME''s "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 Pacific 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.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee 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.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, 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 Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' 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."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

>

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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Coordinates	34°5′24″N74°47′24″N
name	VenetianPrincess
birth name	Jodie Rivera
birth date	April 22, 1984
birth place	Massachusetts, United States
nationality	American
years active	2006–present
known for	Comedy, Parody, Musical
influences	"Weird Al" Yankovic
website	vprincess.com
web alias	VenetianPrincess
web host service	YouTube
signature phrase	}}

}} Jodie Rivera (born April 22, 1984), also known as, VenetianPrincess, is a YouTube Internet personality who became known worldwide in 2006. She was #1 most subscribed female in the world from February 2008 - August 2010 when her channel became a corporate franchise. Rivera is of Swedish and Italian ancestry, and grew up in Brockton, MA. Her videos are usually parodies of songs and events in pop culture. She has over 1,000,000 subscribers, and has had over 350 million video views. She gained notoriety in 2006 after being featured on the front page of YouTube, and then in 2007 was one of the first people invited into YouTube's revenue sharing program. In December 2008, Samsung announced that her music video for her original song "Somewhere Else" is the pre-installed video on all Samsung Behold cell phones. PC World Magazine named her "7 Things Guys Don't Have To Do" music video one of the top 10 viral videos of 2008.

Background

She studied opera as a coloratura soprano at the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, Massachusetts. She has since performed in several professional U.S. stage productions, including the touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''The Phantom of the Opera'' in which she played Christine Daaé.

Her official biography lists her background in modeling, including her most recent title of Miss Massachusetts State Queen.

Videos

She became popular for her episodic series ''The Princess Chronicles'' (formerly known as ''"The Disclosed Series''"). The series was known for its elaborate editing and visual effects. Episodes 1 - 8 keep the title of "Disclosed," as those installments disclose the story of the princess's life in her Venetian palace. ''The Princess Chronicles'' begin at Episode 9 and start the story of her adventures around the world. Each episode introduces new magical and eccentric characters, all played by herself disguised in elaborate costumes.

She shoots her videos in her bedroom closet in front of a green screen with no help with filming or post-production. She uses Final Cut Pro to edit her videos, on a Mac Pro, using Chroma Key for her videos, to create different settings. She cites Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam as favorite directors.

Her YouTube channel now primarily consists of assorted comedic skits, original music videos, and a murder mystery series called ''Cirque de Mystère'', which takes place in a traveling circus of the early 1940s.

On July 9, 2008, VenetianPrincess made a spoof of Miley Cyrus' 7 Things video. The original song was "7 Things"; her version covered the 7 things (and more) guys don't have to do, that females do. The video received 3 million views within its first month of being posted. It has since been favorited more than 160,000 times- making it one of the top favorited of all videos on YouTube. It is one of the most discussed videos of all time with over 120,000 comments. The video has received over 22 million views, and was one of the top 10 most viewed videos of 2008.

VenetianPrincess' "I Kissed A Girl" Elderly Remix Parody has received over 32 million hits (several million more views than the actual music video posted by Katy Perry's record label, Capital Records) and was played on BBC radio on October 26, 2008.

Other notable videos include her "Womanizer" parody, featuring other YouTube celebrities playing nerds such as nigahiga, Dave Days and Tay Zonday. It has been viewed over 37 million times. Another one is the "Outer Space" parody of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" featuring Lady Gaga as an extraterrestrial, with over 47 million views. She has released an album ''Video Girl'' through DFTBA Records, which contained numerous parodies, including the ones seen in her videos and new ones. Another notable video is a collaboration with makemebad35 on the video "Drunken Genie" (known as "My Pretty Genie on makemebad35's channel), in which she plays a genie trapped in a bottle.

Press

In 2007, she received media coverage for her videos, with appearances on Fox News, Boston, Fox News Milwaukee, and ABC News Boston. She was interviewed on Massachusetts radio station JAMN 94.5, and a two-page article was also written about her in the Boston Herald on June 18, 2007. A segment about her videos was presented by Bill Weir on ABC's first episode of television series ''I-Caught'', airing on August 7, 2007.

On February 10, 2008, an article about VenetianPrincess was featured in the Boston Globe. On February 11, 2008, another large article was printed in the Brockton Enterprise.

In April 2008, VenetianPrincess' "Hillary, Be My Best Friend" parody video went viral with over 800,000 views in just over 2 days. The video received press coverage from CNN, FOX News, NBC News, The Washington Post, VH1.com, and Hotair.com.

In July 2008, VenetianPrincess and MakeMeBad35's video collaboration of "Drunken Genie" (as titled on VenetianPrincess' channel) and "My Pretty Genie" (as titled on MakeMeBad35's channel) got an Epic Fail on Attack of the Show on G4. The hosts on the show have also chosen VenetianPrincess one of the top hottest women of the web for three consecutive weeks.

In February 2009, VenetianPrincess made a video about Nadya Suleman titled "Octo-Mom Song." The video was mentioned in several national magazines and newspapers including the LA Times, USA Today, Radar Online, Trendhunter Magazine, Entrevue Magazine, And Don't Miss Magazine. She has also made parodies about the Jonas Brothers.

On August 10, 2009 VenetianPrincess' Transformers 2 Parody was shown on MTV on the It's On with Alexa Chung Show. Alexa Chung commented "Megan Fox's acting was amazing in that video", referring to VP's portrayal of Megan Fox.

Acting career

As a child, Jodie appeared in the motion picture Hocus Pocus in 1993 as Emily Binx. She has since appeared in two episodes of HBO's web show Elevator: Drunk Dial and Telemarketer. She has also produced videos for MTV, Universal Pictures, ABC, and other major brands. In December 2010, it was reported that she earns an estimated $1.5 million a year from her promotions, public appearances, and brand endorsements outside of YouTube.

Awards/Rank Achievements

Samsung announced Jodie as the $10,000 winner of their National Talent Search "Juke Box Hero Contest". Her music video for her original song "Somewhere Else" is now the pre-installed video on all T-Mobile cell phones.

In March 2008, G4TV named her one of the hottest women of the web on two separate television segments.

PC World Magazine named her "7 Things Guys Don't Have To Do" music video one of the top 10 viral videos of 2008.

In April 2009, she won the title of Miss YouTube.

In December 2009, YouTube named her "Outerspace" music video, one of the Most Memorable Videos of 2009.

In December 2010, YouTube named her "Snooki Song" music video, one of the Most Memorable Videos of 2010.

Publications

Books

Jodie is written about in the nationwide published (8/10/09) book ''YouTube and Video Marketing An Hour A Day'' by Greg Jarboe.

Jodie is also written about in another recently nationally published book (11/10/10) ''Beyond Viral'' by Kevin H. Nalty.

Magazines

Jodie was featured in a spread in Spain's largest magazine, ''El País Magazine'' (12/11/09).

Jodie was also featured in a spread in India's top English-printed magazine, ''DNA Magazine'' (9/13/09).

She has also been profiled in several celebrity magazines overseas including France's ''Premier Magazine'' and Israel's "Teen Magazine."

Discography

Albums

2009: Video Girl

Music Videos/Parody Singles

''Brangelina, Adopt Me Too'' (2007) - 3:31

''Hillary, Be My Best Friend'' (2008) - 3:22

''Bad Mom Song'' (2008) - 1:43

''I Got A Crush On...Giuliani'' (2008) - 1:39

''7 Things Guys Don't Have To Do'' (2008) - 2:39

''I Kissed A Girl (Elderly Mix)'' (2008) - 3:18

''Tinseltown Nanny (2008)'' - 2:50

''Jonas Brothers Addict Anthem'' (2008) 2:12

''Womanizer'' (2008) 2:47

''Octo-Mom Song'' (2009) 1:30

''Outer Space'' (2009) 4:38

''Just a Zombie'' (2009) 1:55

''You'll Look Like Poo'' (2009) 3:41

''Britney Spears-3-Parody ("Speidi Free")'' (2009) 2:32

''The Snooki Song" (Parody of Tik Tok By Ke$ha)'' (2010) 1:27

''Accident Prone (Parody of Telephone By Lady Gaga)'' (2010) 2:09

''I'm A Gleek (Parody of Firework By Katy Perry)'' (2010) 2:23

''Crush On A Yeti (Parody of Hold It Against Me By Britney Spears)'' (2011) 2:30

''Charlie Sheen (Quotes) (Parody of ET By Katy Perry)'' (2011) 1:46

''The Edge Of Glory (Cover of the same song by Lady Gaga)'' (2011) 3:25

''I Gotta Go (Parody Of I Wanna Go By Britney Spears) '' (2011) 1:56

List of Characters Played by Jodie

Celebrities

Britney Spears ("Bad Mom Song", "Womanizer Parody", "3 Parody - Speidi Free", "Crush On A Yeti", "I Gotta Go") -music videos

Miley Cyrus ("A Miley Cyrus Christmas","Miley Cyrus vs. Selena Gomez - Girls Duke it Out","Miley Cyrus- 7 things parody","You'll Look Like Poo", "Let's Beat Miley") -music videos/sketch

Billy Ray Cyrus ("A Miley Cyrus Christmas") -music video

Selena Gomez ("Miley Cyrus vs. Selena Gomez - Girls Duke it Out") -sketch

The Jonas Brothers ("Jonas Brothers Interactive Compatibility Game") -interactive game/sketch

Lady Gaga ("Outer Space" - Poker Face Parody, Accident Prone - Telephone Parody) -music video

Nadya Suleman ("Octo-Mom Song") -music video

Angelina Jolie ("Tube Raider - Lara Croft Saves YouTube") -sketch

Megan Fox ("Transformers 2 Parody - Revenge of The Twiticons") -sketch

Katy Perry ("I Kissed A Girl" Parody - Elderly Remix", "Charlie Sheen (Quotes)") -music video

Taylor Swift ("Just A Zombie - You Belong With Me Parody") -music video

Tom Cruise ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video

Katie Holmes (Tinseltown Nanny") -music video

Suri Cruise ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video

Lindsay Lohan ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video

Michael Jackson ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video

Dorothy ("Dorothy Goes To Hollywood East") -sketch

Billy Mays ("Susan Boyle, Billy Mays, and Me") -sketch

Susan Boyle ("Susan Boyle, Billy Mayes, and Me") -sketch

Adam Lambert ("Adam Lambert's New Confession") -sketch

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi ("Tik Tok" parody) - music video

Random Characters

Genie ("Drunken Genie") -sketch

Ghosts ("Comment to Save Your Soul") -short film

Stewardess ("Fear of Flying") -sketch

Tobias Clefton [Cheesey Game Show Host] ("Jonas Brothers Interactive Compatibility Game") -interactive game/sketch

Dorky School Principal ("Adam Lambert's New Confession")

Supergirl ("Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex")

Emo Chick ("I'm A Gleek") -music video

Original Characters

Joan Shivers ("For The Miley Haters", "Princess Caught Going Wild", "Ysabellabrave & VenetianPrincess In Trouble" "YouTube Tonight-Juicy Dirt on YouTube Celebs") -sketch

Tinseltown Nanny (A.K.A. Nanny P) -music video

Original Series Characters

Catarina (Cirque de Mystère- Episodes 1 & 2)

The Ice Princess (Princess Chronicles- "Icy Obstacles")

Edmund, the ogre (Princess Chronicles (all episodes)

Elizabeth Ostrich (Princess Chronicles "The Dead Sea", "Quest For The Key")

Mystical Sea Urchin (Princess Chronicles "The Dead Sea")

The Oyster Empress (Princess Chronicles "The Oyster Empress")

Pirates (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")

The Sky Boat Renter (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")

The Sky Fisherman (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")

Ethereal, The Sky Goddess (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")

Claudius and Larithius, the Cherubs (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")

Clovis (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")

Moonlings (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")

The Lunar Empress (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")

Lunar Lagoon Mermaids (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")

Water Lilies (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")

Behind the Name: VenetianPrincess

The Official YouTube Blog did a write-up about VP's username and asked her where her username came from. This is what she said:

"When I created my YouTube account back in 2006, culture and mystique, from its colorful venetian masks to its gondolas. I thought it would make for a good video setting. The princess part was my paying homage to my idol, the late Princess Diana. I’m also a Disney fan, so it has two meanings to me."

References

External links

Official Website

Steve Goldstein's Music Blog

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American Internet personalities Category:New England Conservatory alumni Category:DFTBA Records artists

de:VenetianPrincess he:ונטיאן פרינסס pt:Venetian Princess fi:Venetian Princess

Coordinates	34°5′24″N74°47′24″N
Name	Selena Gomez
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Selena Marie Gomez
Birth date	July 22, 1992
Birth place	Grand Prairie, Texas, U.S.
Genre	Pop rock, dance-pop, electropop
Occupation	Actress, singer, businesswoman
Instrument	Vocals, piano, guitar, drums
Years active	2002–present
Label	Hollywood
Associated acts	Selena Gomez & the Scene, Demi Lovato
Website	150pxSelena Gomez's signature }}

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series ''Wizards of Waverly Place''. She subsequently ventured into feature films and has starred in the television movies ''Another Cinderella Story'', ''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'', and ''Princess Protection Program''. She made her starring theatrical film debut in ''Ramona and Beezus''.

Her career has expanded into the music industry; Gomez is the lead singer and founder of the pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which has released two RIAA Gold certified studio albums, ''Kiss & Tell'' and ''A Year Without Rain'' and spawned three RIAA Platinum certified singles, "Naturally", "Who Says" and "Love You Like a Love Song". As of April 2011, the band has sold 1,354,000 albums in the United States. Gomez has also contributed to the soundtracks of ''Tinker Bell'', ''Another Cinderella Story'', ''Wizards of Waverly Place'', and ''Shake It Up'' after signing a record deal with Hollywood Records. In 2008, Gomez was designated a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Personal life

Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of former stage actress Amanda Dawn "Mandy" Teefey (née Cornett) and Ricardo Joel Gomez. Her father is of Mexican ancestry, and her mother is of part Italian descent. Regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez said: "My family does have Quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except [that we] go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church." Her birth parents divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised as an only child by her working mother. In 2006, Mandy remarried Brian Teefey. She is named after Tejano singer Selena, who died almost three years after Gomez was born. In a 2009 interview with ''People'', Gomez mentioned that she developed an early interest in acting from watching her mother prepare for and act in theater productions. She earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.

On February 27, 2011, Gomez attended the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party with Canadian singer Justin Bieber, confirming several months of media speculation about a romantic relationship between the pair. The relationship has since continued to garner significant media attention.

Acting career

2002–06: ''Barney & Friends'' and early work

Gomez began her acting career at age seven, playing Gianna on ''Barney & Friends''. She later had minor roles in ''Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over'' and the TV film ''Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire''. Gomez also starred in the television movie ''Brain Zapped''. (Selena Gomez also found out that she wanted to be an actress because in E Special she states that "I would also watch my mom on stage do her lines".)

In 2004, Gomez was discovered by the Disney Channel in a USA-wide scouting. Gomez appeared as a guest star on ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and had a guest appearance – that later turned into a recurring role – on ''Hannah Montana'' from seasons two to three. Gomez previously taped two different pilots that were spin-offs to two previous Disney series. The first one, ''What's Stevie Thinking?'', was the spin-off to ''Lizzie McGuire''. Gomez played Stevie Sanchez, Miranda Sanchez's little sister. The other show was titled ''Arwin!'', the spin-off to ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'', in which she played Alexa. Neither series was picked up.

2007–09: ''Wizards of Waverly Place''

In early 2007 Gomez was cast in the Disney Channel series ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' as one of the three main characters, Alex Russo. The show premiered to an audience of 5.9 million, becoming a hit. Many news outlets began dubbing Gomez the next 'Miley Cyrus' causing some controversy and a reported 'feud'. Gomez clarified that there was no feud and that she was flattered by the comparison, saying: "It's a little overwhelming, but I think really, it's a compliment. She's obviously extremely successful, and I think she's a wonderful performer ... So being compared to her, I was very, very flattered."

In 2008, Gomez appeared in ''Another Cinderella Story'', the direct-to-DVD sequel to the 2004 Hilary Duff film, opposite Drew Seeley. She also had a minor voiceover role as one the Mayor's ninety-six daughters in ''Horton Hears a Who!'' which released in March of that year. In April, Lacey Rose, of ''Forbes'' ranked Gomez as being fifth on their "Eight Hot Kid Stars To Watch" list; and Rose described Gomez as having been "a multitalented teen".

In February 2009, Gomez signed on to star as one of the two female leads in ''Ramona and Beezus'', a film adaption of the children's novel series by Beverly Cleary. Gomez stated that she felt no pressure in taking more adult roles: "I think I’m fully aware of my audience and I’m still just a kid myself. I wouldn’t do a role I don’t feel comfortable doing or that my audience wouldn’t feel comfortable seeing."

In June 2009, Gomez did a guest appearance as herself in one episode of best friend Demi Lovato's Disney Channel television show, ''Sonny with a Chance'', entitled "Battle of The Network Stars". That same month Gomez appeared alongside Lovato in the made-for-television Disney Channel movie, ''Princess Protection Program''. The telecast garnered 8.5 million viewers becoming, at the time, the third most watched Disney Channel Original Movie. One month later, Gomez, along with two cast members of ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' appeared in a television three-way cross-over episode with ''Hannah Montana'' and ''The Suite Life on Deck'', entitled ''Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana''.

On August 28, two months after appearing in ''Princess Protection Program'', Gomez starred in ''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'', a made-for-television film based on the show. The film premiered to an audience of 11.4 million viewers becoming cable's No. 1 scripted telecast of 2009 and Disney Channel's second most-viewed film premiere after ''High School Musical 2''. In 2010, the film adaptation won ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' its second consecutive Emmy for "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards over its television series counterpart which had won in the same category at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.

2010–present: Focus on film

Gomez's first theatrical film ''Ramona & Beezus'' premiered on July 23, 2010 and met with generally positive reviews. In March 2010, ''Variety'' reported that Gomez was set to star as one of the three lead roles in ''Monte Carlo'', alongside Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy. In the film Gomez plays Grace, a girl who’s “mistaken for a socialite while on a trip to Paris.” To prepare for the role Gomez learned how to play polo and also took two weeks of vocal training to learn two different British accents. The same year Gomez confirmed that the fourth season of her hit Disney Channel show, ''Wizards of Waverly Place'', would be its last.

In February 2011, Deadline.com reported that Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment had acquired the novel ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' by Jay Asher with Gomez attached to the lead. That same month TV Guide reported that Gomez would make a cameo in the ''Muppets'' film. Production for the final season of ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' came to a wrap on May 14, 2011. Gomez co-hosted the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards on June 19. She also hosted the 2011 MTV EMAs on November 6, 2011, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she performed her band's new single "Hit The Lights". In early November, ''Variety'' reported that Gomez was in talks to star in the upcoming film ''Spring Breakers'' alongside James Franco, Emma Roberts, and Vanessa Hudgens. Gomez confirmed to ''MTV'' that she had signed on for the project and that production will begin in early 2012.

Music career

2009: Solo career

In 2008, Gomez recorded a cover of "Cruella de Vil"—which included a music video—for the compilation album ''DisneyMania 6''. Gomez recorded three songs for the ''Another Cinderella Story'' soundtrack, which Gomez appears in.left|thumb|Selena Gomez permorming [[Naturally (Selena Gomez & the Scene song)|Naturally on Good Morning America|150px]] Gomez also recorded "Fly to Your Heart" for the 2008 animated film ''Tinker Bell''. In July 2008, before Gomez' sixteenth birthday, she signed a recording deal with Hollywood Records, a music label owned by ''Disney''. In 2009, Gomez recorded "One and the Same" for ''Princess Protection Program'' as a duet with her co-star Lovato. Gomez recorded four songs, one of which was a cover, for the ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' soundtrack, only one single (Magic) from the album was released. In May, of the same year, Gomez was featured, with Forever the Sickest Kids, on a duet version of the non-album song "Whoa Oh!".

2009–present: Selena Gomez & the Scene

Formed in 2009, Selena Gomez & the Scene is a teen pop band which consists of Selena Gomez on vocals, Ethan Roberts on guitar, Joey Clement on bass, Greg Garman on drums and Dane Forrest on keyboards. ''Kiss & Tell'' is the band's debut studio album and was released on September 29, 2009 by Hollywood Records. On March 5, 2010, the album was certified Gold by RIAA. The album's single, "Naturally", was certified Platinum by the RIAA on July 15, 2010. The band's second album ''A Year Without Rain'' was released on September 17, 2010. The record debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 4, selling 66,000 copies. On January 19, 2011, the album was certified Gold by RIAA. The band's third album ''When the Sun Goes Down'', previously titled ''Otherside'', released on June 28, 2011. The album debuted at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 78,000 copies its first week. The following week, the album rose to number 3 on the, becoming the band's highest charting album to date. The album's lead single, "Who Says" was certified Platinum by RIAA on June 23, 2011 and has become the band's highest charting song on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 to date, peaking at number 21.

Other projects

Philanthropy

Gomez was involved in the UR Votes Count campaign which encouraged teenagers to learn more about 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. In October 2008, Gomez participated in St. Jude's Children's Hospital "Runway For Life" benefit. Gomez is a spokesperson for Borden Milk; she is featured in the campaign's print and television ads. She is the ambassador of DoSomething.org after being involved with the charity Island Dog, which help dogs in Puerto Rico. She got involved while filming ''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'' in Puerto Rico. Gomez is a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance, and is featured in their TV commercials; which air on the Disney Channel, to raise awareness of being a safe driver. Gomez is also involved with the charity RAISE Hope For Congo, an initiative of the Enough Project, which helps raise awareness about conflict minerals and violence against Congolese women.

In October 2008, Gomez was named UNICEF's spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, which encouraged children to raise money on Halloween to help children around the world. She said that she was "extremely excited" to "encourage other kids to make a difference in the world."

In August 2009, a 17-year-old Gomez became the youngest UNICEF ambassador ever, passing fellow songstress Hayley Westenra, who was 18 when she was chosen. In her first official field mission, Gomez traveled to Ghana on September 4, 2009 for a week to witness first-hand the stark conditions of vulnerable children that lack vital necessities including clean water, nourishment, education and healthcare. Gomez explained during an interview with Associated Press that she wanted to use her star power to bring awareness to Ghana: “That’s why I feel very honored to have a voice that kids listen to and take into consideration [...] I had people on my tour asking me where IS Ghana, and they Googled it [...] and because I went there, they now know where Ghana is. So it’s pretty incredible.” Gomez said of her role as ambassador that: "Every day 25,000 children die from preventable causes. I stand with UNICEF in the belief that we can change that number from 25,000 to zero. I know we can achieve this because every moment, UNICEF is on the ground providing children with the lifesaving assistance needed to ensure zero becomes a reality."

Gomez was named spokesperson for UNICEF's 2009 Trick-or-Treat campaign, for the second year in a row. Gomez, who raised over $700,000 for the charity in 2008, stated that she hopes to be able to raise 1 million dollars in 2009. Gomez participated in a celebrity auction and hosted a live web cast series on Facebook in support of the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign. Gomez returned as the UNICEF spokesperson for the 60th anniversary of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign in 2010. In celebration of the 60th anniversary, Gomez and her band, The Scene, held a benefit concert donating all proceeds to the campaign.

In February 2011, Gomez traveled to Chile to witness and meet with the families of UNICEF's supported program, "Programa Puente" which helps families better understand and develops skills to deal effectively with early childhood education, development and other issues related to raising children. From her field trip experience, Gomez said "UNICEF is helping Chilean families get out of poverty, prevent violence within the home and promote education. To witness first hand these families' struggles, and also their hope and perseverance, was truly inspiring." In March 2011, Gomez participated in the UNICEF Tap Project's "Celebrity Tap Pack," limited-edition, custom-made water bottles featuring tap water from the homes of each celebrity advocate, in order to raise funds and increase profile for the clean water and sanitation programs. She is also featured in videos promoting the campaign.

Gomez is involved in Disney's Friends for Change, an organization which promotes "environmently-friendly behavior", and appears in its public service announcements. Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers recorded "Send It On", a charity single with all of its proceeds to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20. Also in 2009, Gomez made a surprise visit to a Los Angeles elementary school as part of the "A Day Made Better" program that was sponsored by OfficeMax. During her visit, Gomez gave the school an award and $1,000 worth of school supplies, and talked to students about the importance of giving back to the community.

Gomez is also the owner of six rescue dogs and describes herself as a "huge animal-lover".

Entrepreneurship and sponsorships

thumb|left|upright|Gomez on the set of her music video for "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" in July 2008 Gomez was part of Sears back-to-school fashion ad campaign. As part of the campaign Gomez was featured in the television commercials. In August 2009, Gomez also hosted the "Sears Arrive Air Band Casting Call" – to select five people for the first-ever "Sears Air Band", which performed at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

In October 2008, Gomez launched her own production company, July Moon Productions, and partnered with XYZ Films to create star vehicles for Gomez. As part of the agreement Gomez will have the opportunity to be able option articles, hire writers and create talent packages to shop to studios. Also, as part of the deal, "XYZ Films will allow Gomez to star in and produce at least two films. ''Variety'' reported that: "In August, XYZ [Films] inked a similar deal with Time Inc. and management-production company the Collective to finance the development of the print media giant's content for the bigscreen [...] As part of the July Moon-XYZ deal, [Selena] Gomez will have the ability to cherry-pick projects from the vast Time Inc. library, which includes Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Life."

In October 2009, Gomez announced her plan to launch her own fashion line, called "Dream Out Loud by Selena Gomez". The clothing line launched in the fall of 2010. The collection consists of and features bohemian dresses, floral tops, jeans, skirts, jackets, scarves and hats, all made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. Gomez said that the line will reflect her own personal style and described the clothing as being "pretty, feminine, and bohemian," and: "With my line, I really want to give the customer options on how they can put their own looks together [...] I want the pieces that can be easy to dress up or down, and the fabrics being eco-friendly and organic is super important [...] Also, the tags will all have some of my inspirational quotes on them. I'm just looking to send a good message." Gomez, who has no background in fashion, teamed up with designers Tony Melillo and Sandra Campos, both who have worked with big-name fashion houses. Gomez said of the partnering: "When I met Tony and Sandra, I was instantly comfortable with them and now they are just like family to me [...] They are so creative and I love how I can just call them up whenever and talk to them about everything, even if it's just about changing a button [...] They've been so cool about everything." The brand will be manufactured by, Melillo and Campos teamed with New York-based Adjmi Apparel and formed by Adjmi CH Brands LLC; which is the holding company for the brand.

It was announced on July 14, 2011, that Gomez had signed a license agreement with Adrenalina, an extreme sports and adventure-themed lifestyle brand, to develop, manufacture, and distribute the actress' fragrance. It is expected to debut in the spring of 2012. Chairman and C.E.O. of Adrenalina, Ilia Lekach, said, "We are incredibly enthused to be working with Ms. Gomez and will reveal more details pertaining to the fragrance as we get closer to the launch date."

Filmography

Film

Notes
2003	''Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over''	Waterpark Girl	Minor role
2005	''Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire''	Julie	Television movie
2008	''Another Cinderella Story''	Mary Santiago	Direct-to-videoMain role
2008		96 daughters	(Voice)
2009	''Princess Protection Program''	Carter Mason
2009	''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie''	Alex Russo
2009	''Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard''	Princess Selenia
2009	''Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds''	Princess Selenia	(Voice)
2010	''Ramona and Beezus''		Main role
2011		Grace Bennett/Cordelia Winthrop Scott	Main role
2011		Herself	Cameo appearance
2012		Hannah Baker	Main Role
2012	''Hot Mess''	TBA	Main Role
2013	''Spring Breakers''	TBA	Main Role

Television

Notes
2002–2003	''Barney & Friends''	Gianna	Recurring role
	''Brain Zapped''	Emily Grace Garcia	Unsold pilot
''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody''	Gwen
2007–2008	''Hannah Montana''	Mikayla	"I Want You to Want Me... to Go to Florida" (Season 2, episode 13)"That's What Friends Are For?" (Season 2, episode 18)"(We're So Sorry) Uncle Earl" (Season 2, episode 22) (uncredited)
2007–2012	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	Alex Russo	Lead role
	''The Suite Life on Deck''	Alex Russo
''Hannah Montana''	Alex Russo	"Double Crossed"
''Sonny With a Chance''	Herself
	''So Random!''	Herself
''PrankStars''	Herself	Guest star

Music videos

Notes
2008	"Burnin' Up"	Jonas Brothers	Played Nick Jonas' love interest
2011	"The Dance Routine"	The Midnight Beast	Cameo

Discography

Soundtrack albums

+ List of albums, with selected chart positions	scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"	Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"		! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"
! scope="row"		* Released: August 26, 2008	* Formats: CD, digital download	* Label: Walt Disney Records	116	8	—
scope="row"	''Wizards of Waverly Place''		* Released: August 4, 2009	* Formats: CD, digital download	* Label: Walt Disney Records	24	4	2

Singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"	Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know"	2008	58	—	—	''Another Cinderella Story#Soundtrack	Another Cinderella Story''
scope="row"	"Magic"		61	86	5	''Wizards of Waverly Place (soundtrack)	Wizards of Waverly Place''
scope="row"	"One and the Same" (with Demi Lovato)	82	—	—	''Disney Channel Playlist''
scope="row"	"Shake It Up"	2011	—	—	—	''Shake It Up: Break It Down''

Featured singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
! scope="col" style="width:6em;font-size:90%;"
! scope="row"		—	non-album song
! scope="row"	20	non-album song

Other appearances

Song	Year	Album
! scope="row"		''Disneymania 6''
"Fly to Your Heart"
"Everything Is Not What It Seem"		''Disney Channel Playlist''
"Everything Is Not What It Seem"	''Pop It Rock It!''
! scope="row"		''Disneymania 7''
"Winter Wonderland"	''Family Holiday, Vol. 2''

Music videos

Song	Year	Album
"Cruella De Vil"		Unknown
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know"	Unknown
"Fly to Your Heart"	Unknown
"One and the Same"		Unknown
"Send It On"	Unknown

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Award	! Category	! Work	! Outcome
	ALMA Award	Outstanding Female Performance in a Comedy Television Series		rowspan=3
Imagen Awards	Best Actress – Television
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program – Series or Special
	Favorite TV Actress	rowspan=2
	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special – Leading Young Actress	''Another Cinderella Story''
Best Performance in a TV Series – Leading Young Actress	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	rowspan=2
Best Performance in a Voice-over Role
	"Choice Summer- Celebrity Dancer"	''Another Cinderella Story''	rowspan=4
"Choice Summer – TV Star-Female"	''Princess Protection Program''
"Choice Other Stuff – Red Carpet Icon: Female"
Hollywood Style Awards	Style Igenue
Imagen Awards	Best Actress – Television
Alma Award	Special Achievement Comedy – Television – Actress
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave International TV Star
	Gracie Award	Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Comedy Series
NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program – Series or Special
	Favorite TV Actress
Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special – Leading Young Actress	''Princess Protection Program''	rowspan=3
BET Awards	YoungStars Award
American Latino Awards	Favorite American Latino Actor
rowspan="3"	Choice TV Actress: Comedy	rowspan=2
Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon: Female	Herself
Choice Summer: Movie Star- Female	''Ramona and Beezus''	rowspan=2
Imagen Awards	Best Actress – Television	''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie''
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave TV Star
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program – Series or Special
rowspan=2	Favorite TV Actress
Favorite Female Singer
rowspan=4	Choice Female Hottie	rowspan=2
Choice TV Actress: Comedy	''Wizards of Waverly Place''
Choice Summer: Movie Star- Female		rowspan=2
Choice Summer: Music Star- Female	Herself
Imagen Awards	Best Young Actress – Television
	Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy	rowspan=4
Favorite Movie Actress – Comedy/Musical	''Monte Carlo''
Favorite Female Music Artist
	Biggest Fans
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave TV Star	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	rowspan=2
Nickelodeon Argentina Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite International Singer	''Selena Gomez & the Scene''

References

External links

Selena Gomez at Disney.com

Category:1992 births Category:Actors from Texas Category:American bloggers Category:American actors of Mexican descent‎ Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American dance musicians Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American pop singers Category:American rock singers Category:American television actors Category:American television personalities Category:American voice actors Category:American women in business Category:Barney & Friends Category:Child pop musicians Category:Female American rock drummers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Grand Prairie, Texas Category:Pop rock singers Category:UNICEF people

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