Taylor Swift is one very grateful 20-year-old. Upon hearing that her new album, Speak Now, sold over one million copies in its first week—making it the best initial sales week since 50 Cent's The Massacre in 2005—Swift sent a message via Twitter to her more than 4.5 million followers: "I... Can't... Believe... This... You guys have absolutely lit up my world. Thank you."
While some musicians—most famously Kanye West and 50 Cent—have used the microblogging service to crank up the volume on their already loud personalities, Swift cruises quietly. She is respectable, with not a foul word or lewd thought in sight, enthusiastic and polite. The phrase "thank you" or "thanks" appears over 50 times on the account she's kept since December 2008. She's tweeted just over 800 times total, and the word "love," in its various forms, shows up over 100 times. In addition to her fans, Swift loves her bandmates, North Dakota, the new Nelly song, fountains, sparkly dresses and Katy Perry. Exclamation points are everywhere. (You would think she's just out of adolescence. Oh... right.)
Swift's millions of followers are used to such breathless proclamations of adoration and gratitude. In real life, sizable chunks of Swift's concerts are spent praising the crowd and her shocked award show face, mouth agape and followed by thanks, is by now a signature move. Indeed, both Swift's music and her Twitter foster a diary-like intimacy. But with the cracks in her armor carefully crafted, Swift is only as vulnerable as she is precise; she is in total control.
On Friends Swift follows only 48 people. Most of them are famous. But contemporaries like Emma Stone, Kellie Pickler, Paramore's Hayley Williams, and Selena Gomez aren't just co-workers or competitors, they're buddies, and Swift's sunshine hits them extremely publicly.
On Family Swift writes incessantly about her mom, dad and little brother. Whether "riding shotgun" with dad to the Grand Ole Opry or making fluffer nutter sandwiches, the Swifts stick together. And when they're apart, they rely on technology.
On Gossip It's never addressed. After the infamous Kanye West interruption at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Swift didn't tweet for eight days. When she returned, she wrote about a nice fireplace. The weekend she was supposedly attending Saturday Night Live and brunching with new pal Jake Gyllenhaal, Swift's documented excitement was only about her album. But that's not to say she doesn't hint. When reports started to surface that her new song "Dear John" was about Swift's failed relationship with John Mayer, she sent a pointed message by invoking another famous song about an anonymous jerk.
On Her Lucky Number The singer is obsessed with the number 13, as evidenced by her Twitter handle, taylorswift13. (She was born on December 13, 1989.) Additionally, Swift records sightings of the number 13 and often celebrates the 13th day of the month. She was quick to point out that both "Valentine's Day" and "Staples Center" have thirteen letters. If that wasn't enough, she also planned to sign autographs for 13 hours at the CMA Music Festival. (It ended up being 14.5.)
On Popular Culture She's partial to work done by friends, but she also digs The OC . Easy A, starring her friend Emma Stone, is "easily, definitely, absolutely" her favorite new movie, though she was pretty into Eclipse, starring ex-flame Taylor Lautner, when it came out. The same goes for John Mayer's last album. Things were so simple back then.
On Arcana Did you know Taylor Swift appeared on CSI? Because she did.
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