Taylor in 2007 girlfriendcoverstar

of singing to sold-out stadium crowds. Even crazier, Tay was country music singer Braid Paisley’s opening act and played for just a few minutes.

Back then, Taylor’s albums were pure country and the titles were just her name. Her self-titled debut album, released in 2006, was a hit in the country music world and spawned several successful singles, including Tim McGraw and Our Song, which remained in the peak position on the Hot Country Songs chart for six consecutive weeks.

She released Our Song on Myspace. Tay put her music up on Myspace way before it was the done thing, to help decide what was going to be on the record. Our Song premiered at her ninth-grade talent show and was nearly lost on the cutting room floor, only making it on to the record because of Myspace. By early 2008 Taylor had more than 650,000 Myspace fans, according to Billboard. Today she has over 245 million Instagram followers.

Taylor’s music videos used to feature guitars, boys and pickup trucks instead of snakes, zombie Taylors and celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid, Hayley Williams, Kendrick Lamar, Hailee Steinfeld, Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss who feature in today’s videos.

Speaking of competitions, this period marked the start of her blitzing awards nights. At the 2008 Country Music Awards she was nominated in three categories (Album of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and

New Female Vocalist). Two years later, she won Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the Grammys. Fast-forward to 2022, where she won six American Music Awards, bringing her total in those awards to 40. That extends her lead as the mostawarded artist in the show’s 50-year history.

On the 2007 fashion front, Taylor wore bright ball gowns and her signature curly hair was copied worldwide. Her style has evolved over the years, making her a fashion icon, and she’s stepped out of the box more recently with tailored suits (or perhaps Taylored suits) and menswear-inspired looks.

Taylor fangirled over meeting her idols, including Shania Twain and Mariah Carey, at the same time as her idols fangirled over her. In 2019, social media went crazy over Taylor dancing during Mariah’s Billboard Music Awards performance. Seeing the buzz over Taylor’s love for her, Mariah tweeted, “Love you back!! Thank you for your incredible energy.” That same year, Taylor was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People, and in 2022 appeared on Forbes’ The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list. This was in addition to being named one of America’s Richest Self-Made Women.

Swifties and #squadgoals weren’t even a thing in 2007, and Taylor’s squad was just her mum and her hometown BFF Abigail Anderson. The two met in high school, and Taylor’s song Fifteen was inspired by Abigail. Also back then, Taylor would grab selfies with fans like most stars – but in 2014 she invited hundreds of fans into her parents’ house to eat cookies and listen to her new album, 1989, before it was released!