If you were one of the thousands who have seen Taylor Swift during her "Eras" tour this year (it started in March and goes into August), you may have wondered what was she like "back then." In 2008, Swift made one of her first headlining appearances at the Tyson Events Center. She wasn't booked there years in advance. In fact, it was a quick addition to the center's lineup -- and it did well. In advance of the concert, we talked with Swift about her road to success. Here's that interview from June 2008:
Don’t worry that Taylor Swift missed some of high school’s bigger moments.
“I went to prom and homecoming,” she reports. “I went my first year. Senior year, I went with a kid from Alabama.”
Both events were fine, but how can they ever top releasing a mega-hit CD, winning just about every “newcomer” award in the business and performing in front of some of the biggest names in country music?
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Even graduation, she says, doesn’t come close to “an amazing, amazing dream come true.” (For the record, the diploma’s in the mail. She was home-schooled.)
During her first year as a recording artist, Swift “got to do cool stuff” like magazine shoots and tours with Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. She performed on key television shows (including “American Idol” and “Nashville Star”) and got to write songs with industry heavyweights like John Rich.
“I never expected the album to go triple platinum,” she says. “That was one of the major surprises that happened this year. It’s pretty amazing… and it never gets to be old hat.”
Perhaps that’s because the 18-year-old has been dreaming about this career since she was a child. At 10, she performed at fairs and festivals in Pennsylvania, her home state. Then, at 11, she hit Nashville. She wrote songs at 12 and signed with a label at 13, only to walk away, convinced the move wasn’t the right one.
When Big Machine Records came calling, she listened and signed to the company that now claims her as one of its biggest stars.
Flashback to 2008: Taylor Swift performs at the Tyson Events Center, one of her first headlining appearances.
Songs help with rejection
The songs? They were culled from a canon that has been building for years. While friends kept journals, Swift wrote songs.
It was a way to deal with rejection, heartache, and betrayal, she says. “It feels awesome to write a song about somebody and have the truth come out.”
Writing has become such a Swift hallmark she doesn’t even view it as work. “Writing is like breathing to me,” she says during a phone interview. “Some people aren’t comfortable sharing their thoughts… but, for me, it’s a way to express myself. It’s a way to vent.”
In “Teardrops on My Guitar,” she references a boy who didn’t share her same strong feelings. The label wanted her to remove his name – to make the song more universal – but she insisted it stay. The result? A huge hit and a message sent. “Drew,” she says, knows the song is about him.
Others in her Pennsylvania home town are convinced they’re cited elsewhere. “I’ll hear back from them,” she says. That’s just one of the perks of the business.
Taylor Swift June 29, 2008.
Preparation is key
Working with blue-chip songwriters like John Rich is pretty nifty, too. In advance of her second album (which is due this fall) she slated sessions with several of the business’ top names. For those scheduled writing times, “I’ll prepare for two weeks. I have different ideas and I’ll write them down.”
In the past, she’d get an idea in math class and save it in a notebook. Other times, she’d leave a message on her cell phone. There were so many songs available for the sophomore effort, Swift says she wasn’t hunting. The result? “It’s better than the first album. I’m very, very excited and proud.”
Taylor Swift performs at the Tyson Events Center, June 2008.
Dealing with fans
Because she's now a force in country music, Swift gets recognized just about everywhere. “It changes how you act. It changes the experience of going to the mall. But I live my life the way I did before. It’s different, but I still go out to eat.” The difference? “I’m signing autographs throughout dinner. But that’s the life I chose. It’s the way I live my life and I can roll with that.”
Shopping? “If I’m in a store, a line will form. Girls come up to me all the time and want to get a picture… it wouldn’t be fair for me to complain. I don’t want to let it change who I am.”
Besides, there are many people who have been with her from those very first days. Grant Mickelson, a former Sioux Cityan and guitarist in her band, is among them. He’s such a huge part of my life,” she says. “My band… they’re my closest friends.”
Fans scream as country music star Taylor Swift performs at the Tyson Events Center June 29, 2008.
Words to live by
Before every concert, Team Taylor gets together for a nightly ritual – “we all have to tell each other we love each other.” Then, the band and the singer go out and demonstrate why the ascent has been so swift.
“You can’t play it safe… you’ve got to make a performance something to remember,” she insists. At the recent Academy of Country Music Awards, she performed in a rainfall. “It was something I was dreaming about since middle school,” she says. “There were 50 million ways it could have messed up.” But it didn’t. Nashville regulars were duly impressed.
When she performed at the Tyson Events Center in 2008, Taylor Swift was known primarily for country music. Since then, she has come to dominat…
Still, “I don’t worry about competition,” Swift says. “It’s destructive. Success for me is taking personal experiences and not condensing them into something universal.”
Then, when audiences sing along – and relate to her life – she’s moved. “You have amazing feelings when they sing it back to you. In my case, I was able to put on an album in which I wrote every song. Knowing what it’s like to create that song, see it go into production see that girl in the crowd hearing you… it’s amazing.”
In a word, that could describe Taylor Swift, too.
Country music star Taylor Swift performs at the Tyson Events Center June 29, 2008.
