Taylor’s Debut

On October 24th 2006 Taylor Swift released her self titled debut album; Taylor Swift. The album debuted at number 19 and sold 40,000 copies. The album showed the world her songwriting capabilities at only 16 years old. The album consists of songs that are experiences from her own life dealing with romantic relationships, friendships, and her insecurities in her life. The album spent 24 weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart making it the longest-charting album in the 2000s. The album was RIAA certified seven times platinum making her the first female country artist to have had writing credits in all of the songs on the album. One way she succeeded was by promotion through the social media app MySpace which brought a younger generation to the country music scene that’s dominated by middle aged men who wouldn’t relate to her teenage heartbreak and love themes in the album.

Her debut single was her song called “Tim McGraw ‘’ which is about her high school boyfriend and looking back at the memories they made together. Another track on the album called “Picture To Burn” captures teen rage after a break up with sharp guitar melodies and Taylor’s (fake) southern twang. Her song “Our Song” became her first number one song reaching number one on the Hot Country Songs chart. One song on the album that captures her imagination in her songwriting is the song “Mary’s Song (Oh, My, My, My), which is about the story of her neighbors who fell in love when they were young and ended up growing old together. The personal experiences mixed with her imagination in her songwriting and the country, pop-rock sound of the album allowed Taylor to thrive for many years to come.