Name	Fifteen
Cover	Taylor Swift - Fifteen.png
Border	yes
Alt	A light black and white photograph 3/4 portrait of a woman leaning her head against a small tree on the right side of the frame. Yellow and aqua swirls border the left side of the frame. Below the woman's chin are the words "Taylor Swift" and "Fifteen" in green lettering.
Artist	Taylor Swift
Album	Fearless
B-side	"You Belong with Me" (radio mix)
Released
Format	Digital download, CD single
Genre	Country pop
Length	4:54 (Album version) 4:01 (Pop Mix Edit) 4:23 (Radio Edit)
Label	Big Machine Records
Writer	Taylor Swift
Producer	Nathan ChapmanTaylor Swift
Type	singles
Last single	"You Belong with Me"(2009)
This single	"Fifteen"(2009)
Next single	"Two Is Better Than One"(2009)
Misc

}}

"Fifteen" is a country pop song written and recorded by American singer-songwiter Taylor Swift. It originates from Swift's second studio album, Fearless, which was released on November 11, 2008. "Fifteen" was released as the album's fourth single on October 9, 2009. The ballad was inspired by Swift's freshman year of high school and her best friend. Lyrically, the song is a warning to high school girls to believe in their own potential and avoid placing too much importance on boys. The music video for "Fifteen", directed by Roman White, starred Swift and her friend as themselves and was heavily accentuated with special effects.

The song was a critical success, with reviewers commending its thoughtful and effective lyrics concerning teenage relationships and adjusting to high school, and became a top forty hit for Swift in both the United States and Canada. "Fifteen" was released as a single internationally on November 23, 2009.

Background

"Fifteen" is a ballad written in the key of G major. The song is set in common time with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. It is heavily backed by an acoustic guitar. Swift's vocals span around one-and-one-half octaves, from G₃ to C₅. For the song's outro, Swift sings several bars of "la la la" and the second longest on the re-release, behind "Untouchable".

The lyrics to "Fifteen" were inspired by Swift's eventful freshman year at Hendersonville High School, during which she met her best friend, experienced her first date and first kiss, and supported her best friend through a broken heart. Swift said, "I just decided I really wanted to tell that story about our first year of high school because I felt in my freshman year, I grew up more than any year in my life so far." While writing the lyrics, she began with the line "... [she] gave everything/She had to a boy/Who changed his mind", which eventually became the song's bridge. "[I] wrote everything else from that point, almost backwards," Swift commented. James Reed of The Boston Globe wrote that Fearless' "most interesting songs are the ones Swift wrote alone. You can practically see the lyrics for "Fifteen" scribbled in a diary, chronicling Swift's freshman year in high school." Slant Magazine's Jonathon Keefe called the bridge "a great, revealing line about a friend's lost innocence" and considered it one of the nicer moments of the album, but was unimpressed with Swift's singing: "the "la la la" outro to "Fifteen" is just wretched". Billboard magazine called it an "insightful" song that would "connect with teens looking for hope and with adult women looking back." The New York Times' Jon Caramanica believed "Fifteen" is "one of the best songs Taylor’s written". Josh Love of The Village Voice called "Fifteen" the album's "standout" song and found it a refreshing contradiction to typical, idealistic country songs. Rob Sheffield, reviewing for Blender magazine, said the song was the most mature featured on Fearless. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called "Fifteen" a "fantasticly good" song that broadened "her potential market from teenage girls to anyone who used to be a teenage girl." Petridis continued, "You applaud her skill, while feeling slightly unsettled by the thought of a teenager pontificating away like Yoda". \he song #46 on their annual year end 100 Best Singles list in 2008. San Francisco Chronicle pop music critic Aidan Vaziri named it one of the top twelve singles of 2009, commenting, "Damn it if this song isn't too sweet, too vulnerable and just too real to ignore."

Chart performance

Due to the release of Fearless, "Fifteen" appeared on the U.S. Hot Digital Songs chart and eventually peaked there at number 15. The song debuted at number 79 on the U.S. singles chart Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending November 29, 2008 due to the album release. "Fifteen" reappeared on the chart for the week ending February 28, 2009, when it reached a peak at number 65. "Fifteen" fell off the chart again the following week and did not appear again until October, when the song was released as a single. For the week ending October 3, 2009, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 94. From there, It ascended to number 62 for the week ending November 7, 2009, defeating its previous peak set nine months earlier. Following the re-release of Fearless, "Fifteen" rose to 46 the week of November 14, 2009. Combined with "Jump Then Fall", "You Belong with Me", "Untouchable", "The Other Side of the Door", "Superstar", "Come in with the Rain", and "Forever & Always", "Fifteen" helped Swift break the record for the highest number of charting Hot 100 songs for any female artist in history. When the song reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, it became her thirteenth Top 40 single from Fearless, further extending the record for the most top 40 hits from one album.

The song also appeared on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, where it debuted at number 41 for the week ending September 12, 2009. On the Canadian Hot 100, the single debuted at number 63 before falling off the chart. It re-entered at number 93 in the week ending October 24, 2009.

Music video

The music video for "Fifteen" was directed by Roman White, who had previously directed the music video for Swift's "You Belong with Me". White began with the intention of making the video distinct from anything Swift had done before and taking the video "outside of high school" He explained the concept to CMT: The video was shot using a green screen. Elaborate special effects, such as the animated flowers, were then digitally added. The video stars Swift and her friend as themselves.

The video begins with Swift, barefoot and clad in a little white dress, approaching a tall, arched doorway which materializes in the middle of a barren landscape. Swift looks at a photograph of herself and her friend tucked into the arch and then passes through the doors. On the other side of the arch, animated flowers and vines grow across the scenes. People and objects from Swift's high school fade in and out of view, creating a surreal montage of scenes from Swift's freshman year. Swift walks through the memories and begins to play her guitar beneath a tree. The video transitions to her friend sitting at a desk before a chalkboard in the field of flowers. Swift sits down beside her and two begin to whisper and laugh to each other. In the next scene, Swift plays her guitar while her friend goes on her first date; she kisses her date, but pushes him away when he tries to go further. The boy, his car, and the animated background dissolve to the girl sitting alone on a stone bench. Swift approaches her and hugs her tightly as the field around them turns dark and stormy. The video then alternates between Swift singing in the rain and hugging her friend. Abruptly, the storm clouds merge over the scene, clearing to reveal the tops of several dark grey umbrellas. Swift finds herself in the real world, wearing a black rain coat and standing in the rain across the street from a high school. With a look of concern, she watches a fifteen year old (portrayed by a girl about to enter her own freshman year) speaking to her friend outside the school, saying "take a deep breath girl... as you walk through the doors." Swift tells CMT that the song "is kind of sung as advice to the fifteen year old."

The music video premiered on October 7, 2009 through Country Music Television. It first became available for streaming on its website, CMT.com. The video then premiered on television the same day within a 90 minute special titled CMT Fifteen Swiftly-Made Videos on CMT.

Live performances

.]] Swift selected "Fifteen" to perform at the 51st Grammy Awards, where she sang it as a duet with Miley Cyrus. The performance began shortly after the announcement of Song of the Year. The duo sat on simple bar stools for the acoustic performance with Swift, wearing a baggy white dress layered over a tight black outfit, playing the guitar. "Fifteen" is featured in the set list of Swift's Fearless Tour, which commenced on April 23, 2009, and is expected to last until June 2, 2010. For the tour performances, Swift dresses in a short pastel dress and cowboy boots. She walks through the crowd to sing and play the guitar atop a platform positioned in the middle of the audience. After finishing, Swift hugs the fans closest to the platform before beginning "Tim McGraw".

On October 13, 2009, Swift played the guitar and sang "Fifteen" at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum benefit concert, "We’re All For The Hall". She wore a glittery belted purple dress and was accompanied by three harmony singers. Swift has performed "Fifteen" twice in the United Kingdom, once on Later... with Jools Holland in May 2009, and once on The The Paul O'Grady Show in November 2009. At the 2009 Country Music Association Awards on November 11, 2009, Swift performed "Fifteen" as her second performance of the night. Once again, Swift sang while playing an acoustic guitar atop a bar stool in the center of the crowd. The crowd, which included approximately half the 300 Hendersonville High School students Swift had invited to see the ceremony free of charge, sang along.

@15

Swift partnered with electronics retailer Best Buy for @15, a program that allows teens to help decide how Best Buy's "@15 Fund" will be distributed among various charities. Swift taped a Public Service Announcement, called a "Teen Service Announcement" by Best Buy, for @15. Within the PSA, which was released on on February 9, 2009, scenes of Swift encouraging reminiscing on high school and encouraging originality and uniqueness were intercut with scenes of her singing "Fifteen". In June 2009, @15 became a partner for Swift's Fearless Tour. Swift's PSA was shown at each North American stop of the tour. At 15 stops, @15 donated 40 concert tickets and a guitar autographed by Swift to local teen-focused charity groups, such as chapters of Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Charts

{| class="wikitable" |- ! Chart (2009–2010) ! Peakposition |- | Australian ARIA Singles Chart | align="center"| 48 |- | U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | align="center"| 12 |- | Canadian Hot 100

References

External links

"Fifteen" lyrics hosted by MTV

"Fifteen" music video hosted by CMT

"Fifteen" at @15

Category:2009 singles Category:Country ballads Category:Music videos directed by Roman White Category:Taylor Swift songs Category:Songs written by Taylor Swift

Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Born	December 13, 1989Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, banjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, teen pop, country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Notable instruments	Custom-built Taylor acoustic guitars
Url
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose

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; no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. 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 millionand 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of 45 million too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most commercially successful country (or country/pop crossover) artist in music history with over 34 million digital tracks sold. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34 million singles worldwide.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Majorie Finlay, was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin.

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

2000–05: 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 U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house. guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to perform with custom-made Taylor guitars.]]

2006–08: 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, , 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. 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. 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. 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 Prince Edward Island, Canada.]] 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 of the feature film . 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). and even by President Barack Obama 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. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. 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. Taylor Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks.

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. 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, . 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 "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 credited as "woman singing in the barn". 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.

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 TIMEs "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks 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.

Philanthropy

, April 2009]] 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.

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.

Personal life

In 2008, Swift was in a relationship with pop singer Joe Jonas, which ended in October of that year. Swift indicated that her heartbreak song, "Forever & Always", on her album Fearless was inspired by Jonas. The song "Back to December" off her album Speak Now, which Swift has described as an apology song, has been widely speculated to be dedicated to Lautner.

In late 2010, Swift briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal. They split in early 2011.

Swift has also been linked to singer/guitarist John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album Speak Now is about Mayer.

Filmography

Discography

Taylor Swift (2006)

Fearless (2008)

Speak Now (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American child singers Category:American pop singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American country banjoists Category:American female guitarists Category:American pianists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players