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Best Taylor Swift Songs and Bio: Country and Pop Princess

Updated on July 14, 2014

Taylor's Younger Years

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. From a very young age Swift was interested in music and writing music. By age five she had already begun creating her own songs. By 10 she was performing at local fairs and events. At the young age of 11 she sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at a Philadelphia 76ers game. At the time when most young girls are interested in school and sports, Taylor began writing songs and learning how to play the guitar. It was obvious by age 12 that she had something very special. At the age of 14, Swift and her family moved to Tennessee to pursue her singing career. Swift began working with a music manager from New York and soon executives were listening to her original songs. RCA recognized the eighth grader’s potential and signed Swift up for an artist development deal. Through the artist development deal with RCA Swift gained invaluable writing knowledge by working with experienced writers off Music Row. However, RCA was not ready to allow Swift to sing her own creations yet and they wanted her to perform songs of other songwriters. Swift disagreed with RCA and felt she was more than ready to write her own music, so she soon left RCA and by age 15 was signed to Big Machine Records.

First Album

It was at Big Machine Records where Swift would have her debut album at age 16. Her first single “Tim Mcgraw” became a top 10 chart topping country hit, and it was followed by “Our Song” which hit number one on the charts. These singles were followed by “Teardrops on My Guitar” and “Should’ve Said No”, which also hit number one. “Teardrops on My Guitar” was the first of many of Swift’s songs to crossover to the pop charts. Taylor Swifts debut album sold over 5.5 million copies, and made her one of the youngest most successful singer songwriters of her time.

"Fearless"

In 2008, Swift released her second album “Fearless.” The album became an instant hit on both the country charts and the pop charts. “Fearless” produced many hit singles such as “Love Story”, “You Belong With Me”, and “Fifteen.” Taylor wrote seven of the songs on the album by herself, two of which became singles, the other songs on the album she helped co-write. The biggest single off of “Fearless” was “You Belong With Me” which crossed over to the pop charts and reached number two on the top one hundred charts. The album sold over 8.6 million albums and brought her success in both the country genre and in the pop genre. After the success of her sophomore album Swift began headlining her own concert tour, she was no longer the opening act. The concert tour sales alone made over $63 million dollars. During her “Fearless” tour Taylor remained very busy writing and singing with and for other artists. She provided a song for the movie “Valentine’s Day” called “Today was a Fairytale” and performed with various other artists such as John Mayer, Boys Like Girls, and Miley Cyrus. Swift won four Grammy Awards from her “Fearless” album but she wasn’t finished yet. She went on to win Best Female Music Video on the MTV Music Awards and was interrupted by an ignorant Kayne West.

"Speak Now"

In 2010, Swift released her third album “Speak Now”, which propelled the singles “Mean”, “Ours”, “Back to December” and “Sparks Fly” to the top of the charts. The album debuted at number one and sold over one million copies in less than seven days. Swift toured again after the release of “Speak Now” and this concert tour brought in over $123 million dollars. Swift was becoming the new queen of the country radio waves. Swift was rewarded with another Grammy Award for her single “Mean.”

"Red"

In 2012, Swift released her biggest album yet, “Red.” This time Swift wrote 9 songs on the album by herself with no co-writers, and only seven with the help of co-writers. “Red” spawned the hit singles “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “Red”, “22”, “Everything Has Changed”, and “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The success of “Red” brought more scrutiny to Taylor’s past relationships and she became as well known for her singing as she was for her dating relationships.

Swift is currently working on her fifth studio album and it is expected to be released in the last part of 2014 or early 2015.

Who Has Taylor Swift Dated?

Jake Gyllenhaal
Taylor Lautner
John Mayer
Harry Styles
Joe Jonas
Conor Kennedy

Quick Facts About Swift:

Swift rode her first horse at 9 months old
Swift modeled with Abercrombie and Fitch
She grew up on a Christmas Tree Farm in Pennsylvania
Swift did not pass her driver’s permit test the first time. It took her three times to pass.
Wrote her hit single “Love Story” in less than a half hour on her bedroom carpet.
Swift has written over 200 songs in her short life already