Speak Now is the third studio album by American country pop recording artist Taylor Swift, released October 25, 2010, on Big Machine Records. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2010 at several recording studios and was handled by Swift and country music producer Nathan Chapman. Written entirely by Swift, Speak Now expands on the country pop style of her previous work and features lyrical themes concerning love, romance, and heartbreak.

Upon its release, Speak Now received positive reviews from most music critics and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling approximately 1,047,000 units in its first week. All fourteen songs from the standard edition of the album have charted on the Billboard Hot 100, with the lead single "Mine" having the highest peak of number three.

Background and development

Recording sessions for the album took place at several recording locations, including Aimeeland Studio, Blackbird Studios, and Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California, Pain in the Art Studio, and Starstruck Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and Stonehurst Studio in Bowling Green, Kentucky.. Muze. Retrieved on 2010-11-03. Some of the songs feature live strings, and some, a full orchestra.

Swift worked on the album for two years prior to its release. Swift wrote all of the songs on the album without co-writers. Speaking on a live webcast on July 20, 2010, she said, "I actually wrote all the songs myself for this record. It didn't really happen on purpose, it just sort of happened. Like, I'd get my best ideas at 3:00 AM in Arkansas, and I didn't have a co-writer around and I would just finish it." She has described it as a "conceptual" project, with variations of the theme of "boy-crazy country starlet tries to stop dripping tears all over her guitar". In an analysis of Swift's lyrics, The Oxonian Review noted themes of regret and solitude, highlighting that "December is a month to get through so we can return to the beginning, and is certainly not a month to relish. Yet, Swift goes there—'all the time'—in 'Back to December' by delivering an apology to an ex-boyfriend, which she never did on her prior two albums.". The Oxonian Review. Retrieved on 2010-11-02. Music writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine viewed that the album musically is "no great progression from Fearless but rather a subtle shift toward pure pop with the country accents".

At one point, the album was to be called, "Enchanted".http

Release and promotion

Speak Now was released worldwide on October 25, 2010, by Big Machine Records.PR (September 27, 2010). . PR Newswire. Retrieved on 2010-10-26. The album's official cover was premiered through Us Weekly on August 18, 2010. - Us Weekly Wednesday – August 18, 2010 – 2:28pm An upcoming world tour, Speak Now World Tour, was announced on November 23, 2010, by Billboard.

Swift performed the song "Innocent" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. Some of the tracks were previewed in advance of the release date: "Speak Now" on October 4, "Back to December" on October 11, and "Mean" on October 18, 2010. These three were subsequently released to the iTunes Store the following day, respectively. Additionally, "The Story of Us" was previewed October 22, 2010, through Comcast on-demand and XfinityTv.com. "Speak Now" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number eight and on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at number sixty the week of October 11, 2010, selling 217,000 digital downloads. "Back to December" debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, with 242,000 digital downloads. "Mean" debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 163,000 downloads. All fourteen songs on the standard edition of the album have charted on the Billboard Hot 100, with ten tracks debuting the week of the album's release. The highest-charting of these was "Sparks Fly" at number seventeen with 113,000 downloads.http

Singles

The album's first single, "Mine", was released on August 4, 2010, instead of the planned August 16 release, after being leaked. A music video for the song was shot in Kennebunkport, Maine, during July. Swift said the single was about her tendency to "run from love". The song has peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. "Mine" sold 1,734,000 copies, and the album's second single "Back to December" sold 1,027,000 copies in the US, becoming Swift's fifth and twelfth best-selling songs to date, respectively.Grein, Paul. . new.music.yahoo.com. February 9, 2011. The third single Mean, was released March 7, 2011. "The Story of Us" is to be released as a single in the UK on April 4, 2011.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first week sales of 1,047,000 copies in the United States. It is Swift's second US number-one album. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number six on the Top 40 Albums chart.. BBC Online. Retrieved on 2010-10-31. In Canada, the album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 62,000 copies.

After its massive debut, the album remained at the top in the United States for another week, selling 320,000 copies, down 69%.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.com. November 10, 2010. In its third week, it dropped to number two, behind the debut of Susan Boyle's The Gift and sold 212,000 copies, down 34%. In its fourth week, Speak Now descended seven places to number nine due to numerous debuts in the top 10, and sold 146,000 copies, down 30%.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.com. November 24, 2010. In its fifth week, the LP rose five places to number four by selling 241,000 copies, up 64%.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.com. December 01, 2010. In its sixth week, it rose two places to number two, again behind The Gift and sold 182,000 copies, down 24%. In its seventh week Speak Now stayed in the second position, selling 201,000 copies and up 11%.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.com. December 15, 2010. In its eighth week, it rose back to number 1 with 259,000, up 29%.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.com. December 22, 2010. In its ninth week, it remained number one for the fourth non-consecutive week and sold 276,000 copies, up 11%.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.biz. December 29, 2010. In its tenth week, the LP sold 77,000 copies and down 72% from the week before; however, it still remained at the top of the chart for the fifth non-consecutive week, as there were many Christmas LPs which descended from the top 10.Caulfield, Keith. . billboard.com. January 05, 2011. The album remained atop the chart in its eleventh week, passing the three million sales mark. With sales of 52,000 that week, it ranked as the lowest-selling number-one album to date during the Nielsen SoundScan era, before the record was broken by Cake with their album Showroom of Compassion, selling 44,000 copies the following week.Grein, Paul. . new.music.yahoo.com. January 19, 2011. In its 12th week the album dropped to number 3, selling 35,000 copies, bringing its total sales to 3,048,000. On December 6, 2010, Speak Now was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of three million copies in the United States.. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.

Critical reception

Speak Now received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 77, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2010-10-26. Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four out of five stars and commended Swift for her lyrical maturity, stating "she writes from the perspective of the moment yet has the skill of a songwriter beyond her years". Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers stated "she makes memorable music by honing in on the tiny stuff: the half-notes in a hummed phrase, the lyrical images that communicate precisely what it’s like to feel uncomfortable, or disappointed, or happy". Elysa Gardner of USA Today complimented Swift's "youthful" perspective, stating "At its best, Speak Now captures the sweet ache of becoming an adult, as only those who are still in the process can articulate". Eric R. Danton of The Hartford Courant commended her for "balancing the wistful teenage puppy-love mindset of her previous albums with more grown-up themes". Dave Heaton of PopMatters noted "a richer array of narratives and even more songs about that process of turning your life into a narrative". Rudy Klapper of Sputnikmusic gave the album four out of five stars and called it "the best pop record of the year".

Entertainment Weeklys Leah Greenblatt praised Swift's songcraft and called the album's tracks "perfectly contained snow globes of romance and catharsis, whole cinematic narratives rendered in four-to six-minute miniatures". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called it a "bravura work of nontransparent transparency... the most savage of her career, and also the most musically diverse. And it's excellent too, possibly her best". Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield perceived "a minimum of country schmaltz" and commended Swift for "slipping more grown-up details into her love stories". Despite finding its "bubblier tunes the album's dullest, most forgettable moments", Mikael Wood of Spin wrote that "Swift taps into something nervy and intense when she goes nasty". Theon Weber of The Village Voice perceived Swift's songwriting strength as "not confessional, but dramatic" and stated "Like a procession of country songwriters before her, she creates characters and situations—some from life—and finds potent ways to describe them". Weber described the album's songs as "iceberg songs" and elaborated on Swift's musical approach and progression with the album, stating:

Allison Stewart of The Washington Post called the album "ridiculously entertaining a lengthy, captivating exercise in woo-pitching, flame tending and score-settling", but found it "long: 14 wordy, stretched-thin, occasionally repetitive songs". Chicago Sun-Times writer Thomas Conner gave the album two out of four stars and stated "The topicality of Speak Now, plus Swift’s penchant for screwing a big, diesel-powered chorus into every song makes the album a little exhausting". Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe found her singing "technically poor" and commented that "her lyrics generally lack the variety and sophistication of her compositions", but complimented its "expertly crafted pop music" and called it "a studied, smart album that is easily the best, most dense work of Swift's career so far". Alex Macpherson of The Guardian described the album as "a conscious attempt to move beyond those childish things while retaining her balance of maturity and relatability", commenting that "At times the self-consciousness of an artist forcing herself into new modes shows – but mostly, Speak Now is a triumph". In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave Speak Now an A- rating, indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction". Christgau found the songs "overlong and overworked", but ultimately stated "they evince an effort that bears a remarkable resemblance to care‑-that is, to caring in the best, broadest, and most emotional sense". The album was ranked number 13 on Rolling Stones year-end list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010.Staff (December 25, 2010). . Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-01-18.

Personnel

* Chuck Ainlay – engineer

* Joseph Anthony Baker – photography

* Steve Blackmon – assistant

* Drew Bollman – assistant, assistant engineer, engineer

* Tristan Brock-Jones – assistant engineer

* David Bryant – assistant engineer

* Paul Buckmaster – conductor, orchestral arrangements

* Nick Buda – drums

* Jason Campbell – production coordination

* Chad Carlson – engineer

* Chris Carmichael – composer, string arrangements, strings

* Joseph Cassell – stylist

* Nathan Chapman – banjo, bass, engineer, Fender Rhodes, guitar (12-string electric), electric and acoustic guitar, handclapping, mandolin, organ, piano, producer, programming, synthesizer, vocal harmony

* Steve Churchyard – engineer

* Smith Curry – lap steel guitar

* Eric Darken – percussion

* Caitlin Evanson – vocal harmony

* Shannon Forrest – drums

* John Gardner – drums

* Jed Hackett – engineer

* Rob Hajacos – fiddle

* Amos Heller – bass

* Liz Huett – vocal harmony

* Jeremy Hunter – engineer

* Aubrey Hyde – wardrobe

* Joel Quillen – engineer

* Suzie Katayama – orchestra contractor

* Tim Lauer – Hammond B3, piano

* Steve Marcantonio – engineer

* Tim Marks – bass

* Mike Meadows – electric guitar, handclapping

* Grant Mickelson – electric guitar

* Seth Morton – assistant engineer

* Emily Mueller –production assistant

* Jemma Muradian – hair stylist

* John Netti – assistant engineer

* Bethany Newman – design, illustrations

* Josh Newman – design, illustrations

* Justin Niebank – engineer, mixing

* Mark Petaccia – assistant engineer

* Matt Rausch – assistant

* Lowell Reynolds – engineer

* Mike Rooney – assistant engineer

* Paul Sidoti – electric guitar

* Tommy Sims – bass

* Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar

* Austin K. Swift – photography

* Taylor Swift – vocals, art direction, composer, acoustic guitar, handclapping, liner notes, producer, vocal harmony

* Todd Tidwell – assistant engineer, engineer

* Lorrie Turk – make-up

* Hank Williams – mastering

* Brian David Willis – engineer

* Al Wilson – handclapping, percussion

Charts, certifications, and procession

Weekly charts

Certifications

Year-end charts

Chart procession and succession

References

Artist/Band Information

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 and was nominated for the Best New Artist award at 50th Grammy Awards. 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 and 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard.http In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most commercially successful country (or country/pop crossover) artist in music history with over 33 million digital tracks sold.http , she has sold over 19 million albums and 33 million singles worldwide.http

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989 to Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. She was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Her maternal grandmother, Majorie Finlay, was an opera singer.. TVguide.com. Retrieved November 28, 2010. Swift has a younger brother, Austin.

When she was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet". When Swift was 10, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. She was a victim of bullying, and often wrote songs to express her emotions. Swift also started performing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. When she was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. Swift attended Hendersonville High School but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high-school diploma.. MSNBC. July 27, 2008. Retrieved 2010-04-15.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and her 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. at Ask Men.com She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact you can make 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. Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was 12. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was 14, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb.

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. taylor Swift.jpgthumbSwift performing at a café with a koa wood guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to perform with custom-made Taylor guitars.

2006–10: Taylor Swift, Fearless, and 2009 MTV VMA incident

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching #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 #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and #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 #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released 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 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 #1 on the Country charts, peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. Taylor Swift at Yahoo crop.jpgleftuprightthumbSwift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007. "Should've Said No" became Swift's second #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 #1 on Billboards Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at #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.

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. 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 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached #2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and #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 #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 by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at #1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is Billboards 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 #1 and #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. Taylor Swift Cavendish.JPGuprightthumbleftSwift performing as the headlining act at the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music Festival 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 soundtrack of the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her #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.

Kanye-West-grabs-the-mic-2009-vma.jpgrightthumbWest taking the microphone from Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on The View, where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created.

Taylor Swift 2009 MTV VMA.jpgthumbleftSwift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with her award.

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 #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). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #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.http When "Fifteen" reached #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 #40 and #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 #1 and #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.PR (September 27, 2010). . PR Newswire. Retrieved on 2010-11-01. 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.Hester, T. (2011). "that show ruled!!" taylor swift speaks now of singapore. channelnewsasia.com, Retrieved from Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards.

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 who she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans."

The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie credited as "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 Peoples 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.http 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.http

Philanthropy

TaylorSwiftApr09.jpguprightthumbrightSwift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie, 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. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June, 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes - a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole - to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

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.

In 2009, she referenced the rumors that she was dating actor Taylor Lautner during her monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live. 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. January 11, 2011

Swift has been reported to be dating actor Chord Overstreet.

After releasing her 2010 album Speak Now, it was alleged that her song "Enchanted" was dedicated to Adam Young of Owl City. Young responded by posting a cover of the song on February 12, 2011 via his website, adding the lines: "I was enchanted to meet you too/I was never in love with someone else, I never had somebody waiting on me/Cause you were all of my dreams come true, And I just wish you knew/Taylor, I was so in love with you."

Swift has also been linked to singer/guitarist John Mayer. There has been speculation that the song "Dear John" from her album Speak Now is about Mayer, calling the latter out for an apparent relationship gone sour.

Filmography

Discography

*Taylor Swift (2006)

*Fearless (2008)

*Speak Now (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

*Fearless Tour (2009-10)

*Speak Now World Tour (2011)

References