Taylor Alison mwepesi, teleka (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop[1] singer–songwriter, guitarist and actress. In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the mwaka in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified Platinum several times kwa the Recording Industry Association of America.
In November 2008, mwepesi, teleka released her sekunde album, Fearless. Fearless and Taylor mwepesi, teleka finished 2008 at number three and number six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million.[5] Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks,[6] no album has spent zaidi time at No. 1 since 2000. Forbes, ranked mwepesi, teleka 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity, earning $18 million.[7] mwepesi, teleka was named Artist of the mwaka kwa Billboard Magazine in 2009. [8]
Early life
mwepesi, teleka was born in the borough of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Scott Swift, a stock broker, and his wife Andrea, a homemaker. She has a younger brother, Austin.[9] When she was in fourth grade, mwepesi, teleka won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet".[10][11]
At ten, mwepesi, teleka began uandishi songs and imba at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. One summer, she devoted herself to uandishi a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished.[12]
She was a member of a local SNL-inspired kid's sketch comedy group, TheatreKids Live!, where she was a natural comedic talent. After seeing her karaoke performance at one of the cast parties, group founder Kirk Cremer's mother suggested that mwepesi, teleka seemed better poised to pursue a career in country muziki than theatrical performing. Cremer soon leased space at a local mall and began to showcase his young protégée in weeknight performances of country songs with karaoke backing tracks. Emboldened kwa her performances and growing audiences, she began to perform in other local open mike and karaoke nights. Her first major onyesha was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair, arranged kwa local performer Pat Garrett.[13]
Songwriting interest
mwepesi, teleka began learning to play guitar, gitaa from a computer repairman who showed her how to play three chords. After learning those three chords, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began uandishi songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Other kids would react badly to her so she wrote songs about them.[citation needed]
Early work
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain.[14] Her other influences include her grandmother, LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner and Dolly Parton. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer,[15] Taylor's tastes always ran zaidi toward country and she developed a upendo for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age.[16] She also credits the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain for demonstrating how much impact can be made kwa "stretching boundaries".[17]
At age 11, mwepesi, teleka made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal kwa distributing a demo tape of her imba with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town.[18] mwepesi, teleka was rejected kwa record labels and her peers.[19]
After mwepesi, teleka returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament; her rendition of the national anthem received a lot of attention.[20] mwepesi, teleka started uandishi songs and playing 12-string guitar, gitaa when she was 12. mwepesi, teleka began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. kwa the time she was 14, her family decided to songesha to an outlying Nashville suburb.[21]
When mwepesi, teleka was fifteen, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on a development deal.[22] mwepesi, teleka then performed at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The bluebird Café, catching the attention of Scott Borchetta[23] who signed her to his newly-formed record label, Big Machine Records. She also became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired kwa the Sony/ATV mti publishing house at 14.[24]
muziki career
2006–2008: Taylor Swift
mwepesi, teleka performing at a café with a koa wood guitar, gitaa in June 2006Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching number 6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart.[25] Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006.[26] mwepesi, teleka wrote au co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold 39,000 copies during its first week.[27] It later peaked at number one at Billboard juu Country Albums and number five on the Billboard 200.[28] It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the juu of the juu Country Albums charts[29] and remained at the juu for 24 out of 91 weeks.[30] The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks au zaidi are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.[31] As of November 2008, Taylor mwepesi, teleka has sold over three million copies and 7.5 million single downloads.[32]
mwepesi, teleka has surpassed the 200 million mark for muziki streams on MySpace. She is currently ranked in the juu 10 for the most MySpace visits for all genres of music, and is MySpace's current top-ranking Country artist.[33][dead link] mwepesi, teleka is the most searched musical artist on MySpace in 2008.[34] The muziki video for "Tim McGraw" set a record kwa appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC's fan-voted weekly juu 20 muziki countdown show, and reached number one on CMT's video charts. The video also won mwepesi, teleka an award for Breakthrough Video of the mwaka at the 2007 CMT muziki Awards.[35] Her pursuit of country muziki stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country muziki channel.[36] On May 15, 2007, mwepesi, teleka performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country muziki Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. mwepesi, teleka has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith kilima on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.[37]
On August 21, 2007, mwepesi, teleka performed live on the season finale of America's Got Talent.[38] The sekunde single from the Taylor mwepesi, teleka album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. The song originally made its peak positions in mid-2007, peaking at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released to the Hot 100 and Pop 100 in late 2007 with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift's songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter/Artist of the mwaka Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.[39]
On November 7, 2007, mwepesi, teleka won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed "Our Song," the third single from her album, which would go on to become her first #1 song the week of December 22, 2007, where it leaped up from the #6 spot. This was the biggest jump to Number One since January 1998, when Tim McGraw's "Just to See wewe Smile", also jumped from #6 to #1.[40] "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts and also peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. mwepesi, teleka also recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor mwepesi, teleka Holiday Collection, which was released October 16, 2007, exclusively available at Target stores. The album, which was not as successful as her self-titled debut, featured both holiday classics such as "Last Christmas" and original songs written kwa Swift. mwepesi, teleka 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 early in 2008 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Chart in the spring of 2008.
mwepesi, teleka performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007Big Machine Records announced the release of "Should've alisema No" on Monday, May 19. The song is the fifth and final single from Swift's debut album. She performed it on the 43rd Annual Academy of Country muziki Awards.[41] The performance started off with her dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, but soon after a short black halter dress was revealed. In the last dakika of the song, she went backstage to perform the final verse under a cascading waterfall. mwepesi, teleka had wanted to do that performance on stage with the water and the change of clothes since she was ten years old.[42]
"Should've alisema No" became her sekunde Number One single for the chart dated August 23, 2008. In June 2008, at the CMA muziki Festival held in Nashville, mwepesi, teleka signed autographs for nearly eight straight hours. It was the longest autograph-signing session since Garth Brooks' 23-hour marathon in 1996.[43] In Summer 2008, mwepesi, teleka released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart.[44] In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard's juu Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album at #2 the same week, mwepesi, teleka became the first artist to hold the juu 2 positions of the juu Country Albums chart since LeAnn Rimes did so in 1997.[45] mwepesi, teleka plays a custom-made Taylor acoustic guitar, gitaa made of koa wood.[46]
2008–present: Fearless and MTV VMA controversy
Swift's latest studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008.[47] The album debuted at #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 kwa a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest ujumla, jumla behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay.[48] Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, zaidi than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives mwepesi, teleka the best online start for any country album in history.[49] It also makes mwepesi, teleka the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004.[50] Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold zaidi than 338,467 paid downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In sekunde place is Swift's debut Taylor mwepesi, teleka with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009.[51]
In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying mwepesi, teleka with Hannah Montana for the most kwa a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave mwepesi, teleka her sixth juu 20 debut of 2008, a calendar mwaka 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.[50] "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics.[45] The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.
She also released the lead single from the album, "Love Story", on September 12, 2008. The song is accompanied kwa a muziki video that is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached number 2 on iTunes Store juu Downloaded Songs and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It is also called as Taylor Swift's signature song. 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 list, as well as number one on the Mediabase juu 40 Chart.[52]
The sekunde single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The muziki video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered kwa Mediabase) in that week.[53] "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas.[54]
She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the juu 10 on the mwaka end album chart.[5] It also was the first album kwa a female artist in country muziki history to log eight weeks at #1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, mwepesi, teleka became the first country artist to juu the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs.[55]
As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with most paid downloads in history and the first country song to juu the Mainstream juu 40 chart.[56][57] mwepesi, teleka then subsequently went onto replicate the feat, reaching number 1 again on the Mainstream juu 40 in September 2009 with "You Belong with Me", making it just the sekunde country song in the chart's history to reach the top.
mwepesi, teleka performing during her Fearless tour in August, 2009.Swift is Billboard's juu Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008.[58] mwepesi, teleka ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor mwepesi, teleka took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart.[59] mwepesi, teleka sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.
On January 10, 2009, mwepesi, teleka made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, making her the youngest country singer to appear as a musical guest on the onyesha in its 33-year run.[60][61] Swift's onyesha achieved SNL’s highest adult 18-49 rating and ujumla, jumla viewer total since the November election (in 2008). It was tied for the #7 rating of that week among all broadcast and cable entertainment programs on all networks and outscored all its telecasts of last season in 18-49 and total viewers.[62] On February 8, 2009, mwepesi, teleka performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.
Since the release of Swift's sekunde 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 muziki Awards, mwepesi, teleka picked up Album of the mwaka honors as a performer and producer for Fearless.
mwepesi, teleka is the youngest artist in history to win Album of the mwaka award. mwepesi, teleka was also awarded the Academy's Crystal Milestone Award, aliyopewa for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling zaidi albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album (which spawned five juu 10 hits, zaidi than any in history for a female artist's debut CD), and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country muziki attract a younger audience.[63] As of late April 2009, mwepesi, teleka has sold zaidi than 14 million downloads, as well as three dhahabu Mobile Ringtones.[64]
mwepesi, teleka performing on April 25, 2009, in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.In June 2009, mwepesi, teleka performed "Thug Story" with T-Pain at the CMT muziki Awards. She went on to win two awards for Female Video of the mwaka and Video of the Year.[65] On July 14, 2009, it was confirmed mwepesi, teleka would perform at the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards. "I'm so excited that MTV and the VMAs have invited me to perform, because I think this year's onyesha will be unlike anything they've ever done!" stated Swift. "I upendo incorporating theatrics into my performances, and the VMAs have always allowed artists to run with that," mwepesi, teleka says. "MTV has been so good to me, and I could not be zaidi excited about this year's VMAs." This was Swift's first performance on the VMAs. The onyesha aired September 13 on MTV, with British comedian Russell Brand hosting for the sekunde mwaka in a row.[66] In addition to having three of her songs featured, mwepesi, teleka will appear as a playable character in Band Hero.[67] mwepesi, teleka announced September 6 on her MySpace blog that Fearless will be re-released on October 27 with six new songs. It will also include a DVD with her tour footage and pictures.[68]
In January 2009, mwepesi, teleka announced her first headlining tour. mwepesi, teleka is taking her North American Fearless Tour 2009 to 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. Opening acts include Kellie Pickler and Gloriana, a new group in country music. The tour features a theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements designed kwa Swift; mwepesi, teleka plays guitar, gitaa as well as piano. Multiple costume changes and a fairy-tale ngome are some of the elements of the three-act show.[69]
The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. On February 6, 2009, tickets went on sale for the May 22 tarehe at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and sold out in two minutes.[70] Tickets for several dates and venues, including Madison Square Garden, went on sale the following week and sold out in one minute.[71][72][73][74][75]
On April 28, 2009, mwepesi, teleka gave a free, private tamasha 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.[76] The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one mwezi long contest. mwepesi, teleka played for about an saa 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.
West taking the microphone from mwepesi, teleka at the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards.On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards, singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from mwepesi, teleka during her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best video of all time". This caused the audience in the venue to respond negatively.[77][78] He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech.[77][79] West was removed from the remainder of the onyesha for his actions.[77] When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the mwaka for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called mwepesi, teleka up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.[77][80]
Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed).[77] He was criticized kwa various watu mashuhuri for the outburst,[78][81][82][83][84] and kwa President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment.[85][86][87][88] He later ilitumwa a sekunde apology on his blog and appeared on The jay Leno onyesha one siku after the incident, apologizing publicly.[78]
mwepesi, teleka at the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards with her award.On September 15, 2009, mwepesi, teleka talked about the matter on The View. Asked what she was thinking the moment it happened, she stated, "Well, I think my ujumla, jumla thought process was something like, 'Wow, I can't believe I won, this is awesome, don't trip and fall, I'm gonna get to thank the fans, this is so cool'", she said, and that she further thought, "'Oh, Kanye West is here. Cool haircut. What are wewe doing there?' And then, 'Ouch.' And then, 'I guess I'm not gonna get to thank the fans.'"[89][90] In addition, she alisema that West had not spoken to her following the incident.[90] Following Swift's appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; mwepesi, teleka alisema she accepted his apology.[90][91] The night of the awards show, mwepesi, teleka became the first country muziki artist to win an MTV Video muziki Award.[91]
On November 11, 2009 mwepesi, teleka won four CMA Awards: Album of the mwaka for "Fearless", muziki Video of the mwaka for "Love Story" Female Vocalist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.[92] During the CMA ceremony, the incident with Kanye West was lampooned on stage kwa Brad paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens, with Dickens stealing the microphone during Paisley's speech to say Swift's video was better.
On the chart week of November 14, 2009, mwepesi, teleka set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 kwa 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 juu 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #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).[93] In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" kwa Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives mwepesi, teleka six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts kwa 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 kwa the same female artist in the same week.[94] When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, mwepesi, teleka became the female artist with most juu 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé Knowles, who currently has 19 juu 40 singles.[95][96] "Fifteen" became Swift's thirteenth juu 40 single from Fearless and her twentieth overall.[97][98] Taylor's historical moves continued as the December 5 issue of the Hot 100 was announced; "Two Is Better Than One" kwa Boys Like Girls progressed to #40, and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" debuted at #25 where both of these songs featured Taylor. This gives mwepesi, teleka her 21st and 22nd juu 40 singles.
mwepesi, teleka won five 2009 American muziki Awards: Artist of The Year, inayopendelewa Pop/Rock Female Artist, inayopendelewa Country Female Artist, inayopendelewa Country Album for "Fearless", and inayopendelewa Adult Contemporary Artist.[99]
On December 2, 2009, mwepesi, teleka received Grammy Award nominations for: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Belong with Me", Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song for "White Horse", Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for "Breathe", and Album of the mwaka and Best Country Album for "Fearless".[100]
Songwriting style
Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has alisema that "If wewe listen to my albums, it’s like kusoma my diary."[101] For instance the song "Forever & Always" was inspired kwa her relationship with Joe Jonas,[102] while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a guy who opened some shows for her.[101] It has been alisema that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, au a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her."[103]
The intently personal nature of the songs have drawn her the most attention. mwepesi, teleka once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the zaidi personal my songs were, the zaidi closely people could relate to them."[104]
uigizaji career
In 2008, mwepesi, teleka made her uigizaji debut in Brad Paisley's muziki video "Online". In that same mwaka mwepesi, teleka filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which was premiered on November 7, 2008, drew zaidi than 4.5 million viewers for its four initial airings.[105] mwepesi, teleka collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D tamasha Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D tamasha Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America. The tamasha film brought in $12,700,000 on its opening weekend.[106] mwepesi, teleka made her primetime televisheni uigizaji debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Turn, Turn, Turn on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched kwa 20.8 million viewers.[107] mwepesi, teleka made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's muziki video "Best Days of Your Life". mwepesi, teleka also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie as "woman imba in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America.[108] The televisheni onyesha Dateline NBC showcased an saa to mwepesi, teleka on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor mwepesi, teleka included scenes from her tour bus, tamasha footage, and rehearsals. She was also interviewed for the onyesha and some of her exclusive video diaries were shown.[109]. Taylor both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live.[1]
In 2010, mwepesi, teleka will make her feature film uigizaji debut as Samantha Kenny in the film Valentine's Day.
Philanthropy
On September 21, 2007, mwepesi, teleka launched a campaign to protect children from online predators.[110] She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.[110] The year-long campaign, launched in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.[110] In early 2008, mwepesi, teleka donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck aliyopewa to her kwa her record label to children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June, 2008, mwepesi, teleka donated all the proceeds she got from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country muziki Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red kuvuka, msalaba Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red kuvuka, msalaba Disaster Relief Fund.[111] mwepesi, teleka donated $10,000, funded kwa CMT ONE COUNTRY, to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital kwa winning the "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2008 CMT muziki Awards.[112] In 2009, mwepesi, teleka won "Video of the mwaka and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2009 CMT muziki Awards. She donated $5,000, funded kwa CMT, to American Red Cross.[113]
mwepesi, teleka donated $100,000 to the Red kuvuka, msalaba in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.[114] mwepesi, teleka has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly".[115] mwepesi, teleka supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten kwa 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.[116] mwepesi, teleka has lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal kwa joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,[117] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.[118] mwepesi, teleka donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.[119] On November 11, 2009 mwepesi, teleka donated £13,000 to Children in Need.
Public image and other work
mwepesi, teleka has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. In 2008, the orodha includes Blender, Seventeen,[120] Billboard,[121] Girls' Life,[122][123] Women's Health and CosmoGirl.[124] In 2009, mwepesi, teleka graced the cover of Teen Vogue,[125] Self Magazine,[126] Rolling Stone,[127] Allure,[128] Glamour,[129] and Bliss.[130] She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen mwaka run to be a cover subject.[131] Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008.[132] CosmoGirl voted mwepesi, teleka as the "2008 Girl of the Year".[133] mwepesi, teleka was named kwa Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change".[134] She was nominated as a candidate for TIME's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined kwa online voting.[135]
Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of mwepesi, teleka in late 2008.[136] Taylor mwepesi, teleka is the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008.[137] mwepesi, teleka and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing. It will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months.[138] However, mwepesi, teleka alisema 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 mwepesi, teleka designer line."[139] In 2009, mwepesi, teleka became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.[140] On November 20 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Taylor mwepesi, teleka announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.
Personal life
In 2008, mwepesi, teleka was in a high-profile relationship with pop singer Joe Jonas. On November 11, 2008, in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, mwepesi, teleka claimed that Jonas broke up with her in a 27-second phone call.[141] In explanation, Jonas wrote on his MySpace blog (in a post that has since been removed): "I called to discuss feelings with the other person, and obviously these feelings were not well received. I did not end the phone call. Someone else ended it for me. Phone calls only last as long as the person on the other end is willing to talk." Furthermore, Jonas says that he has tried to call her since the breakup, in an attempt at reconciliation, but received no response.[142][143] During the same interview with Ellen DeGeneres, mwepesi, teleka revealed that the heartbreak song "Forever & Always" on her album Fearless, recorded in late September/early October 2008, was inspired kwa Jonas.[144]
Swift's best friend has been Abigail Anderson, whom she has known since ninth grade. During a discussion of Shakespeare in an English class they learned what they had in common. "We were the ones in the back of the class saying negative things about Romeo and Juliet because we were so uchungu, chungu toward that emotion at the time," alisema Anderson. "We just really connected ... and ever since then we have been inseparable."[145][broken citation] Anderson also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres onyesha to surprise Swift. Anderson was mentioned in Swift's single Fifteen.
mwepesi, teleka is also close Marafiki with Kellie Pickler, with whom she co-wrote Pickler's sekunde single "Best Days of Your Life" from her self-titled album Kellie Pickler.[146] In July 2008, mwepesi, teleka graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which offers a home-schooling program.[147] Prior to this, she attended Hendersonville High School.[148]
In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified Platinum several times kwa the Recording Industry Association of America.
In November 2008, mwepesi, teleka released her sekunde album, Fearless. Fearless and Taylor mwepesi, teleka finished 2008 at number three and number six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million.[5] Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks,[6] no album has spent zaidi time at No. 1 since 2000. Forbes, ranked mwepesi, teleka 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity, earning $18 million.[7] mwepesi, teleka was named Artist of the mwaka kwa Billboard Magazine in 2009. [8]
Early life
mwepesi, teleka was born in the borough of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Scott Swift, a stock broker, and his wife Andrea, a homemaker. She has a younger brother, Austin.[9] When she was in fourth grade, mwepesi, teleka won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet".[10][11]
At ten, mwepesi, teleka began uandishi songs and imba at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. One summer, she devoted herself to uandishi a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished.[12]
She was a member of a local SNL-inspired kid's sketch comedy group, TheatreKids Live!, where she was a natural comedic talent. After seeing her karaoke performance at one of the cast parties, group founder Kirk Cremer's mother suggested that mwepesi, teleka seemed better poised to pursue a career in country muziki than theatrical performing. Cremer soon leased space at a local mall and began to showcase his young protégée in weeknight performances of country songs with karaoke backing tracks. Emboldened kwa her performances and growing audiences, she began to perform in other local open mike and karaoke nights. Her first major onyesha was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair, arranged kwa local performer Pat Garrett.[13]
Songwriting interest
mwepesi, teleka began learning to play guitar, gitaa from a computer repairman who showed her how to play three chords. After learning those three chords, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began uandishi songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Other kids would react badly to her so she wrote songs about them.[citation needed]
Early work
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain.[14] Her other influences include her grandmother, LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner and Dolly Parton. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer,[15] Taylor's tastes always ran zaidi toward country and she developed a upendo for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age.[16] She also credits the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain for demonstrating how much impact can be made kwa "stretching boundaries".[17]
At age 11, mwepesi, teleka made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal kwa distributing a demo tape of her imba with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town.[18] mwepesi, teleka was rejected kwa record labels and her peers.[19]
After mwepesi, teleka returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament; her rendition of the national anthem received a lot of attention.[20] mwepesi, teleka started uandishi songs and playing 12-string guitar, gitaa when she was 12. mwepesi, teleka began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. kwa the time she was 14, her family decided to songesha to an outlying Nashville suburb.[21]
When mwepesi, teleka was fifteen, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on a development deal.[22] mwepesi, teleka then performed at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The bluebird Café, catching the attention of Scott Borchetta[23] who signed her to his newly-formed record label, Big Machine Records. She also became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired kwa the Sony/ATV mti publishing house at 14.[24]
muziki career
2006–2008: Taylor Swift
mwepesi, teleka performing at a café with a koa wood guitar, gitaa in June 2006Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching number 6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart.[25] Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006.[26] mwepesi, teleka wrote au co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold 39,000 copies during its first week.[27] It later peaked at number one at Billboard juu Country Albums and number five on the Billboard 200.[28] It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the juu of the juu Country Albums charts[29] and remained at the juu for 24 out of 91 weeks.[30] The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks au zaidi are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.[31] As of November 2008, Taylor mwepesi, teleka has sold over three million copies and 7.5 million single downloads.[32]
mwepesi, teleka has surpassed the 200 million mark for muziki streams on MySpace. She is currently ranked in the juu 10 for the most MySpace visits for all genres of music, and is MySpace's current top-ranking Country artist.[33][dead link] mwepesi, teleka is the most searched musical artist on MySpace in 2008.[34] The muziki video for "Tim McGraw" set a record kwa appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC's fan-voted weekly juu 20 muziki countdown show, and reached number one on CMT's video charts. The video also won mwepesi, teleka an award for Breakthrough Video of the mwaka at the 2007 CMT muziki Awards.[35] Her pursuit of country muziki stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country muziki channel.[36] On May 15, 2007, mwepesi, teleka performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country muziki Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. mwepesi, teleka has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith kilima on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.[37]
On August 21, 2007, mwepesi, teleka performed live on the season finale of America's Got Talent.[38] The sekunde single from the Taylor mwepesi, teleka album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. The song originally made its peak positions in mid-2007, peaking at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released to the Hot 100 and Pop 100 in late 2007 with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift's songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter/Artist of the mwaka Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.[39]
On November 7, 2007, mwepesi, teleka won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed "Our Song," the third single from her album, which would go on to become her first #1 song the week of December 22, 2007, where it leaped up from the #6 spot. This was the biggest jump to Number One since January 1998, when Tim McGraw's "Just to See wewe Smile", also jumped from #6 to #1.[40] "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts and also peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. mwepesi, teleka also recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor mwepesi, teleka Holiday Collection, which was released October 16, 2007, exclusively available at Target stores. The album, which was not as successful as her self-titled debut, featured both holiday classics such as "Last Christmas" and original songs written kwa Swift. mwepesi, teleka 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 early in 2008 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Chart in the spring of 2008.
mwepesi, teleka performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007Big Machine Records announced the release of "Should've alisema No" on Monday, May 19. The song is the fifth and final single from Swift's debut album. She performed it on the 43rd Annual Academy of Country muziki Awards.[41] The performance started off with her dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, but soon after a short black halter dress was revealed. In the last dakika of the song, she went backstage to perform the final verse under a cascading waterfall. mwepesi, teleka had wanted to do that performance on stage with the water and the change of clothes since she was ten years old.[42]
"Should've alisema No" became her sekunde Number One single for the chart dated August 23, 2008. In June 2008, at the CMA muziki Festival held in Nashville, mwepesi, teleka signed autographs for nearly eight straight hours. It was the longest autograph-signing session since Garth Brooks' 23-hour marathon in 1996.[43] In Summer 2008, mwepesi, teleka released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart.[44] In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard's juu Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album at #2 the same week, mwepesi, teleka became the first artist to hold the juu 2 positions of the juu Country Albums chart since LeAnn Rimes did so in 1997.[45] mwepesi, teleka plays a custom-made Taylor acoustic guitar, gitaa made of koa wood.[46]
2008–present: Fearless and MTV VMA controversy
Swift's latest studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008.[47] The album debuted at #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 kwa a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest ujumla, jumla behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay.[48] Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, zaidi than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives mwepesi, teleka the best online start for any country album in history.[49] It also makes mwepesi, teleka the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004.[50] Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold zaidi than 338,467 paid downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In sekunde place is Swift's debut Taylor mwepesi, teleka with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009.[51]
In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying mwepesi, teleka with Hannah Montana for the most kwa a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave mwepesi, teleka her sixth juu 20 debut of 2008, a calendar mwaka 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.[50] "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics.[45] The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.
She also released the lead single from the album, "Love Story", on September 12, 2008. The song is accompanied kwa a muziki video that is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached number 2 on iTunes Store juu Downloaded Songs and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It is also called as Taylor Swift's signature song. 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 list, as well as number one on the Mediabase juu 40 Chart.[52]
The sekunde single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The muziki video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered kwa Mediabase) in that week.[53] "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas.[54]
She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the juu 10 on the mwaka end album chart.[5] It also was the first album kwa a female artist in country muziki history to log eight weeks at #1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, mwepesi, teleka became the first country artist to juu the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs.[55]
As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with most paid downloads in history and the first country song to juu the Mainstream juu 40 chart.[56][57] mwepesi, teleka then subsequently went onto replicate the feat, reaching number 1 again on the Mainstream juu 40 in September 2009 with "You Belong with Me", making it just the sekunde country song in the chart's history to reach the top.
mwepesi, teleka performing during her Fearless tour in August, 2009.Swift is Billboard's juu Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008.[58] mwepesi, teleka ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor mwepesi, teleka took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart.[59] mwepesi, teleka sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.
On January 10, 2009, mwepesi, teleka made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, making her the youngest country singer to appear as a musical guest on the onyesha in its 33-year run.[60][61] Swift's onyesha achieved SNL’s highest adult 18-49 rating and ujumla, jumla viewer total since the November election (in 2008). It was tied for the #7 rating of that week among all broadcast and cable entertainment programs on all networks and outscored all its telecasts of last season in 18-49 and total viewers.[62] On February 8, 2009, mwepesi, teleka performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.
Since the release of Swift's sekunde 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 muziki Awards, mwepesi, teleka picked up Album of the mwaka honors as a performer and producer for Fearless.
mwepesi, teleka is the youngest artist in history to win Album of the mwaka award. mwepesi, teleka was also awarded the Academy's Crystal Milestone Award, aliyopewa for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling zaidi albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album (which spawned five juu 10 hits, zaidi than any in history for a female artist's debut CD), and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country muziki attract a younger audience.[63] As of late April 2009, mwepesi, teleka has sold zaidi than 14 million downloads, as well as three dhahabu Mobile Ringtones.[64]
mwepesi, teleka performing on April 25, 2009, in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.In June 2009, mwepesi, teleka performed "Thug Story" with T-Pain at the CMT muziki Awards. She went on to win two awards for Female Video of the mwaka and Video of the Year.[65] On July 14, 2009, it was confirmed mwepesi, teleka would perform at the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards. "I'm so excited that MTV and the VMAs have invited me to perform, because I think this year's onyesha will be unlike anything they've ever done!" stated Swift. "I upendo incorporating theatrics into my performances, and the VMAs have always allowed artists to run with that," mwepesi, teleka says. "MTV has been so good to me, and I could not be zaidi excited about this year's VMAs." This was Swift's first performance on the VMAs. The onyesha aired September 13 on MTV, with British comedian Russell Brand hosting for the sekunde mwaka in a row.[66] In addition to having three of her songs featured, mwepesi, teleka will appear as a playable character in Band Hero.[67] mwepesi, teleka announced September 6 on her MySpace blog that Fearless will be re-released on October 27 with six new songs. It will also include a DVD with her tour footage and pictures.[68]
In January 2009, mwepesi, teleka announced her first headlining tour. mwepesi, teleka is taking her North American Fearless Tour 2009 to 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. Opening acts include Kellie Pickler and Gloriana, a new group in country music. The tour features a theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements designed kwa Swift; mwepesi, teleka plays guitar, gitaa as well as piano. Multiple costume changes and a fairy-tale ngome are some of the elements of the three-act show.[69]
The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. On February 6, 2009, tickets went on sale for the May 22 tarehe at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and sold out in two minutes.[70] Tickets for several dates and venues, including Madison Square Garden, went on sale the following week and sold out in one minute.[71][72][73][74][75]
On April 28, 2009, mwepesi, teleka gave a free, private tamasha 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.[76] The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one mwezi long contest. mwepesi, teleka played for about an saa 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.
West taking the microphone from mwepesi, teleka at the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards.On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards, singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from mwepesi, teleka during her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best video of all time". This caused the audience in the venue to respond negatively.[77][78] He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech.[77][79] West was removed from the remainder of the onyesha for his actions.[77] When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the mwaka for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called mwepesi, teleka up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.[77][80]
Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed).[77] He was criticized kwa various watu mashuhuri for the outburst,[78][81][82][83][84] and kwa President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment.[85][86][87][88] He later ilitumwa a sekunde apology on his blog and appeared on The jay Leno onyesha one siku after the incident, apologizing publicly.[78]
mwepesi, teleka at the 2009 MTV Video muziki Awards with her award.On September 15, 2009, mwepesi, teleka talked about the matter on The View. Asked what she was thinking the moment it happened, she stated, "Well, I think my ujumla, jumla thought process was something like, 'Wow, I can't believe I won, this is awesome, don't trip and fall, I'm gonna get to thank the fans, this is so cool'", she said, and that she further thought, "'Oh, Kanye West is here. Cool haircut. What are wewe doing there?' And then, 'Ouch.' And then, 'I guess I'm not gonna get to thank the fans.'"[89][90] In addition, she alisema that West had not spoken to her following the incident.[90] Following Swift's appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; mwepesi, teleka alisema she accepted his apology.[90][91] The night of the awards show, mwepesi, teleka became the first country muziki artist to win an MTV Video muziki Award.[91]
On November 11, 2009 mwepesi, teleka won four CMA Awards: Album of the mwaka for "Fearless", muziki Video of the mwaka for "Love Story" Female Vocalist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.[92] During the CMA ceremony, the incident with Kanye West was lampooned on stage kwa Brad paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens, with Dickens stealing the microphone during Paisley's speech to say Swift's video was better.
On the chart week of November 14, 2009, mwepesi, teleka set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 kwa 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 juu 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #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).[93] In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" kwa Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives mwepesi, teleka six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts kwa 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 kwa the same female artist in the same week.[94] When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, mwepesi, teleka became the female artist with most juu 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé Knowles, who currently has 19 juu 40 singles.[95][96] "Fifteen" became Swift's thirteenth juu 40 single from Fearless and her twentieth overall.[97][98] Taylor's historical moves continued as the December 5 issue of the Hot 100 was announced; "Two Is Better Than One" kwa Boys Like Girls progressed to #40, and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" debuted at #25 where both of these songs featured Taylor. This gives mwepesi, teleka her 21st and 22nd juu 40 singles.
mwepesi, teleka won five 2009 American muziki Awards: Artist of The Year, inayopendelewa Pop/Rock Female Artist, inayopendelewa Country Female Artist, inayopendelewa Country Album for "Fearless", and inayopendelewa Adult Contemporary Artist.[99]
On December 2, 2009, mwepesi, teleka received Grammy Award nominations for: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Belong with Me", Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song for "White Horse", Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for "Breathe", and Album of the mwaka and Best Country Album for "Fearless".[100]
Songwriting style
Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has alisema that "If wewe listen to my albums, it’s like kusoma my diary."[101] For instance the song "Forever & Always" was inspired kwa her relationship with Joe Jonas,[102] while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a guy who opened some shows for her.[101] It has been alisema that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, au a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her."[103]
The intently personal nature of the songs have drawn her the most attention. mwepesi, teleka once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the zaidi personal my songs were, the zaidi closely people could relate to them."[104]
uigizaji career
In 2008, mwepesi, teleka made her uigizaji debut in Brad Paisley's muziki video "Online". In that same mwaka mwepesi, teleka filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which was premiered on November 7, 2008, drew zaidi than 4.5 million viewers for its four initial airings.[105] mwepesi, teleka collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D tamasha Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D tamasha Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America. The tamasha film brought in $12,700,000 on its opening weekend.[106] mwepesi, teleka made her primetime televisheni uigizaji debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Turn, Turn, Turn on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched kwa 20.8 million viewers.[107] mwepesi, teleka made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's muziki video "Best Days of Your Life". mwepesi, teleka also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie as "woman imba in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America.[108] The televisheni onyesha Dateline NBC showcased an saa to mwepesi, teleka on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor mwepesi, teleka included scenes from her tour bus, tamasha footage, and rehearsals. She was also interviewed for the onyesha and some of her exclusive video diaries were shown.[109]. Taylor both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live.[1]
In 2010, mwepesi, teleka will make her feature film uigizaji debut as Samantha Kenny in the film Valentine's Day.
Philanthropy
On September 21, 2007, mwepesi, teleka launched a campaign to protect children from online predators.[110] She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.[110] The year-long campaign, launched in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.[110] In early 2008, mwepesi, teleka donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck aliyopewa to her kwa her record label to children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June, 2008, mwepesi, teleka donated all the proceeds she got from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country muziki Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red kuvuka, msalaba Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red kuvuka, msalaba Disaster Relief Fund.[111] mwepesi, teleka donated $10,000, funded kwa CMT ONE COUNTRY, to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital kwa winning the "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2008 CMT muziki Awards.[112] In 2009, mwepesi, teleka won "Video of the mwaka and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2009 CMT muziki Awards. She donated $5,000, funded kwa CMT, to American Red Cross.[113]
mwepesi, teleka donated $100,000 to the Red kuvuka, msalaba in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.[114] mwepesi, teleka has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly".[115] mwepesi, teleka supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten kwa 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.[116] mwepesi, teleka has lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal kwa joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,[117] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.[118] mwepesi, teleka donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.[119] On November 11, 2009 mwepesi, teleka donated £13,000 to Children in Need.
Public image and other work
mwepesi, teleka has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. In 2008, the orodha includes Blender, Seventeen,[120] Billboard,[121] Girls' Life,[122][123] Women's Health and CosmoGirl.[124] In 2009, mwepesi, teleka graced the cover of Teen Vogue,[125] Self Magazine,[126] Rolling Stone,[127] Allure,[128] Glamour,[129] and Bliss.[130] She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen mwaka run to be a cover subject.[131] Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008.[132] CosmoGirl voted mwepesi, teleka as the "2008 Girl of the Year".[133] mwepesi, teleka was named kwa Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change".[134] She was nominated as a candidate for TIME's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined kwa online voting.[135]
Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of mwepesi, teleka in late 2008.[136] Taylor mwepesi, teleka is the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008.[137] mwepesi, teleka and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing. It will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months.[138] However, mwepesi, teleka alisema 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 mwepesi, teleka designer line."[139] In 2009, mwepesi, teleka became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.[140] On November 20 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Taylor mwepesi, teleka announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.
Personal life
In 2008, mwepesi, teleka was in a high-profile relationship with pop singer Joe Jonas. On November 11, 2008, in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, mwepesi, teleka claimed that Jonas broke up with her in a 27-second phone call.[141] In explanation, Jonas wrote on his MySpace blog (in a post that has since been removed): "I called to discuss feelings with the other person, and obviously these feelings were not well received. I did not end the phone call. Someone else ended it for me. Phone calls only last as long as the person on the other end is willing to talk." Furthermore, Jonas says that he has tried to call her since the breakup, in an attempt at reconciliation, but received no response.[142][143] During the same interview with Ellen DeGeneres, mwepesi, teleka revealed that the heartbreak song "Forever & Always" on her album Fearless, recorded in late September/early October 2008, was inspired kwa Jonas.[144]
Swift's best friend has been Abigail Anderson, whom she has known since ninth grade. During a discussion of Shakespeare in an English class they learned what they had in common. "We were the ones in the back of the class saying negative things about Romeo and Juliet because we were so uchungu, chungu toward that emotion at the time," alisema Anderson. "We just really connected ... and ever since then we have been inseparable."[145][broken citation] Anderson also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres onyesha to surprise Swift. Anderson was mentioned in Swift's single Fifteen.
mwepesi, teleka is also close Marafiki with Kellie Pickler, with whom she co-wrote Pickler's sekunde single "Best Days of Your Life" from her self-titled album Kellie Pickler.[146] In July 2008, mwepesi, teleka graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which offers a home-schooling program.[147] Prior to this, she attended Hendersonville High School.[148]
