With her teenage girl diary lyrics and infectious country-pop hooks, Taylor Swift has single-handedly introduced the sounds of Nashville to a younger generation, becoming America’s National Sweetheart in the process. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1989, she travelled to Broadway for acting lessons as a youngster, but after discovering the likes of Faith Hill and Shania Twain, opted to pursue a career in country music instead. Before she had even reached her teens, she’d opened for Charlie Daniels, performed “The Star Spangled Banner” at various sporting events and began writing her own songs. After moving to Tennessee with her family, she secured a deal with Big Machine Records aged just 15 and released her self-titled debut in 2006. Described as a cross between Patsy Cline and Britney Spears by Rolling Stone magazine, it reached No.5 on the Billboard charts, spawned two No.1 country singles, “Should’ve Said No” and “Our Song,” and a US Hot 100 crossover hit, “Teardrops On My Guitar.” Swift then opened for a number of more established acts including Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley, whilst in 2007, she became the youngest ever artist to be named the Nashville Songwriters Association Artist of the Year. In 2008, she released her first chart-topping album, Fearless, Taylor Swift tickets for a tour of the same name and the biggest-selling country single of all time, “Love Story.” Swift then received a plethora of honours including four Grammys, the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year and an MTV Video Music Award for “You Belong To Me,” where her acceptance speech was famously interrupted by Kanye West. Following collaborations with John Mayer, Colbie Caillat and Boys Like Girls, she made her big-screen debut in romantic comedy Valentine’s Day and wrote all twelve songs on her second US No.1, Speak Now, whilst over 1.6 million Taylor Swift tickets were sold for its subsequent 13-month, 111-date world tour. In 2012, she contributed two songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack, duetted with B.o.B on Top 20 single, “Both Of Us,” and scored her first US Hot 100 number one with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Its parent album, Red, achieved the highest opening first-week sales for over a decade to debut at the top spot before Taylor Swift tickets went on sale for a 60-date North America tour across 2013.