Three years ago, a 13-year old Taylor Swift set out to be a star and moved from Reading, Pennsylvania, to Nashville. By 14, she had a publishing deal, and by 15, a recording contract. In these days of Bianca Ryan (and before her, Tanya Tucker and LeAnn Rimes), many are called, but few are chosen. Swift, it appears, is one of the chosen ones. Her vocal talent is modest, though sweetly affecting, her style seemingly influenced by the radio hits of early Sheryl Crow and Michelle Branch, and perhaps Cyndi Thomson. And at times, her youthfulness shows--she encoded messages in the lyrics of her CD booklet, starting with the name of the boy who cheated on her from "Should've Said No" (the album's strongest offering). But in writing or co-writing all 11 songs on this debut, Swift demonstrates remarkable maturity, particularly in crafting a hooky, radio-ready chorus. Though she sounds ridiculous looking back from the perspective of an 87-year old woman on "Mary's Song," to her credit she mostly writes about what she knows--unrequited high-school crushes ("Teardrops on My Guitar"), teenage angst ("Tied Together with a Smile"), and complete immersion in starry-eyed romance (her breakout hit "Tim McGraw"). Swift has such wistful charm and tunefulness that only a curmudgeon could dismiss her, and in fact, more than 60,000 fans lined up to grab this CD the first month of release. No wonder Rascal Flatts and George Strait added her to their tours. Look out, Carrie Underwood--there's a new kid in town. --Alanna Nash

4座葛莱美得主、2008与2009全美年度专辑销售最高歌手－「国民小公主」泰勒丝(Taylor Swift)，将于10月25日发行她的第三张大碟【Speak Now】，新歌”我的最爱Mine(暂译)”原订美国在8月16日于电台首播并同步数位发行，却于8月3日就在网络上提前外流，唱片公司临时决定提前12天在8月4日发行，虽然宣传计划因此被打乱，但在美国拥有庞大歌迷的泰勒丝，新歌只发行四天就创下29万7千次付费下载，空降告示牌数位榜冠军与单曲榜第3名，也让泰勒丝成为在一年之内拥有两首空降单曲榜前五名的女歌手，追平玛丽亚凯莉在1995年创下的纪录。这首新歌将于今天(8/16)下午2点在飞碟电台首播，台湾数字音乐平台也会在今天(8/16)同步上架。
专辑销售超过1300万张，四座葛莱美奖肯定的泰勒丝，原定在8月16日才要首播发行的新歌”我的最爱”，由于受到歌迷的高度期待，在8月3日就意外在网络上外流，低音质的MP3档案传遍全球各大部落格与YouTube。为了不让低音质的版本被歌迷误会以为就是专辑版本，一向对音乐作品自我要求极高的泰勒丝在与唱片公司紧急讨论过后，决定让新歌提前12天发行。这首新歌”我的最爱”在iTune发行当天只花了五个小时就打败了阿姆与蕾哈娜合唱的”Love the way you lie”登上当日销售冠军，刷新今年年初泰勒丝自己以单曲”宛如童话Today was a fairytale ”所写下的16个小时最快称霸当日销售冠军纪录。泰勒丝在今年年初以”宛如童话”空降单曲榜亚军，现在又以”我的最爱”空降本周告示牌单曲榜第3名，成为继玛丽亚凯莉之后，第二位在一年之内拥有两首空降单曲榜前五名的女歌手。
出道至今获奖无数的泰勒丝最近再添一座奖，不过好笑的是这次跟音乐可没有关系，而是在保龄球馆约会被偷拍，意外入选进入美国保龄球名人堂。今年泰勒丝被狗仔拍到与当红影集「Glee」中的帅学生柯瑞蒙特斯(Cory Monteith)想约打保龄球，并在保龄球馆抱抱的照片，这张照片在网络上到处流传，也让大家知道原来小天后也爱打保龄球。在美国保龄球协会举办的保龄球名人票选活动中，获得超过130万张投票，赢过小贾斯汀、赛琳娜戈梅兹等人，泰勒丝的名字将进入美国保龄球名人堂。不过泰勒丝与柯瑞都宣称「两人只是朋友」，这段绯闻并没有继续发展下去，只让泰勒丝获得因狗仔照片所拿的乌龙奖项，并继续感情空窗下去。
歌迷一直以来就是支持泰勒丝最大的力量，泰勒丝在日前就透过网络视讯，在官网、Face Book、Twitter等社群网络平台，领先媒体与歌迷分享新专辑最新讯息，新专辑【Speak Now】一共有14首 歌，全都由泰勒丝一手包办词曲创作，泰勒丝说：「在对的时间说出对的话是多么的重要，以致于我们常常会迟疑，因为我们会担心在不对的时候，说出不对的话， 但最近我更担心在什么话都还未说出口时，时间就这样溜走了。」令人好奇泰勒丝所指的是否就是这场无疾而终的保龄球恋情。

Taylor Swift’s project to re-record her albums to reclaim legal ownership of the music begins with 2008’s Fearless, an almost identical, polished, and somewhat melancholy version of it.