INTERVIEW BY CHRIS WILLMAN
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY | JULY 25, 2007

EW: Going back a few years, since you’re such a veteran in many aspects of this, even at 17: You had your first songwriting deal at 14, and you had an RCA development deal before that at 13?
SWIFT: You did your research! That’s exciting. Yeah, I did.

EW: So does that mean everyone was thinking you were going to make a record at 13?
SWIFT: I was hoping for it. A development deal is where they’re giving you recording time and money to record, but not promising that they’ll put an album out. And they can kind of shelve you, in some circumstances. After a year of development, we just decided that we wanted to look around, so we walked. And it’s not a really popular thing to do in Nashville, to walk away from a major record deal. But that’s what I did, because I wanted to find some place that would really put a lot of time and care into this. And it ended up being a record label that wasn’t even in existence yet: Big Machine Records happened, and then got major-label distribution with Universal, and things have gone pretty well since then.

EW: Walking away from that first label, was that because of the material you thought you would be asked to record? You were so new to songwriting, I’m assuming that, at age 13, you weren’t necessarily thinking you had to do all your own songs.
SWIFT: Actually, I’ve been writing since I was 12, so I had so many songs I wanted people to hear. It was a combination of things, why I left, [but mostly] just because I did not want to be on a record label that wanted me to cut other people’s stuff. That wasn’t where I wanted to be.

EW: And you knew that at 13 or 14?
SWIFT: I did, and it was something that I wanted to be addressed. I didn’t want to just be another girl singer. I wanted there to be something that set me apart. And I knew that had to be my writing. Also, it was a big, big record label with big superstars, and I felt like I needed my own direction and the kind of attention that a little label will give you. I just did not want it to happen with the method of ”Let’s throw this up against the wall and see if it sticks, and if it doesn’t, we’ll just walk away.” I wanted a record label that needed me, that absolutely was counting on me to succeed. I love that pressure. 

EW: Are all the songs on this album that autobiographical, or were some written in that early spirit of youthful conjecture?
SWIFT: There’s one on the album called ”Tied Together With a Smile” that I wrote about one of my friends, who is this beauty queen, pageant princess—a gorgeous, popular girl in high school. Every guy wanted to be with her, every girl wanted to be her. I wrote that song the day I found out she had an eating disorder. There are a couple songs on the album like that, that are just watching other people and making observations. But most of the songs on the album are about actual people that have been in my life. I tend to be kind of blatantly obvious, and with my songs, I’ll even mention names a lot of times.

You use real names, and I’m sure even without names, people can figure out it’s them.
SWIFT: Oh, definitely. The funny thing is, there are so many people in the town where I live, Hendersonville [outside of Nashville], that think they do have a song written about ’em. You go out into this big world and you go on tour with all these people, and you go back and it’s still a small town and they still gossip about it. I think it’s one of everybody’s favorite things to talk about—who my songs are written about. [Laughs] There are definitely a few more people who think that I’ve written songs about them than there actually are.

EW: There are so few singers of your age making it in country. In the pop world, it’s more common for girls your age to have a success—but you always sense they’re just chafing against the limits of propriety until they turn 18, and then the minute they do they’ll start competing with the Pussycat Dolls like everybody else.
SWIFT: When I turn 18, I may do something crazy, like go out and vote or something. [Laughs] I’m just really more of a laid-back person. I’ve never been a party girl. I’d rather write a song about something or rather be doing something to further my career. I know that sounds like I’m a robot, but I honestly love this. Yesterday, I did five hours of radio remotes, which is where you walk around to all the different radio stations and you’re interviewed by everybody. And I honestly love that. That was the most fun part of my day yesterday. And I guess a lot of people don’t like that, but for me, I’ve just never been into going to parties as much as I’ve been into doing this. I guess I got used to having to make that choice when I was little. Because, you know, popular girls in school start partying when they’re like 12. And I had to choose between being popular or not messing my life up. So I think making that choice has kind of made a permanent mark on me to be responsible. Also, when you put out a single, whether you like it or not, you’re a role model, so you have to accept that.

EW: So you don’t try to dispel the role-model thing or put that out of your mind?
SWIFT: No. When I’m about to make decisions, my point of reference is the 6-year-old girl in the front row of my concert. I think about what she would think if she saw me do what I was considering doing. Then I go back and I think about her mom and what her mom would think if I did that.

EW: How do you feel about your age being an angle in your success?
SWIFT: I’ve never wanted to use my age as a gimmick, as something that would get me ahead of other people. I’ve wanted the music to do that. So we’ve never hidden the fact that I’m 17, but we’ve never wanted it to be the headline. Because I want the music to win. I think the actual truth of the matter is that being 17 has been sort of an obstacle, just in proving yourself to radio and proving yourself to middle-aged people listening to the radio. It’s just a number on my birth certificate. But I’m very respectful of that number, you know?

EW: If you look at the research that the country radio format compiles, a lot of it says that the core listeners are older women—and these older women mainly want to hear male singers. Does that mean the older female audience for country has accepted you, or you’ve brought in a younger audience?
SWIFT: I think there’s a little bit of both. In addressing the stereotype that middle-aged women want to hear male voices: I think they want to hear female voices too, but they want to hear female voices singing songs that they believe. But I think one of the cool things about this is that MySpace is one of the main reasons I’m here, along with radio and and word of mouth. And MySpace is pretty much a younger thing, at the moment. We just crossed over like 14 million plays on my MySpace page since June of last year. So yeah, definitely, it’s bringing a completely different audience to country music. And I am so grateful for that. I don’t know what I did to make that happen, because everybody was talking about it. I would go to CRS [Country Radio Seminar] before I was ever signed to a record deal, and I would listen to people say, ”Someone needs to bring in that younger demographic.” And what I’m hearing is that we’ve done that, and we kind of stumbled upon it. I wasn’t trying to be exclusive as to who would like it.

a selection of two responses from…
FIVE QUESTIONS WITH TAYLOR SWIFT
SEVENTEEN | JANUARY 20, 2009

SEVENTEEN: So you didn’t expect success?
SWIFT: No! The reason I was so driven was that I didn't expect that anything would just happen for me. But that doubt fueled me to work harder. My attitude was the opposite of people who are like, "It's gonna happen for me. It's gonna happen for me." My mantra was always, "It's not gonna happen for me. Go out and play that show or it won't happen." You know? I never expected anything to be given to me.

SEVENTEEN: You're known for being career-focused and not partying. Do you consciously try to stay away from that scene?
SWIFT: No, I'm just being myself. I'm not a party girl at this point in my life. It's not a priority for me. I have to get up early and do interviews and I have to sing every night. I don't have any interest in going out to clubs right now. I love people, and I love socializing, I just don't have any interest in being drunk. I don't worry about [people who say I'm too much of a good girl] because the people who say that, it's like, wow, you are really trying to find something you don't like about me. And, honestly, if somebody wants to criticize me for not being a trainwreck, that's fine with me!