It would not be wrong to call Taylor Swift the most popular artist of her time, with all her achievements, which include winning Times Person of the Year. Since her resurgence with her Red (Taylor’s Version), the star’s shine has rarely dimmed. She also delivered one of the most successful concert films with Eras Tour, further solidifying her position.
Apart from her onstage presence, her public life has also been a big subject of the world media, as well as social media, with millions of fans closely following her every move.
Yet, there are some things that may, just may, be a mystery to even hardcore Swifties. Here are five such facts about the incredible singer-songwriter that may surprise most, if not all, Taylor Swift fans.
Five lesser-known facts about Taylor Swift
1) Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm
In what can only be considered a bizarre piece of trivia knowledge, Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm, where she resided with her family till the age of 14. She was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, United States, and went on to live her formative years on a Christmas tree.
She even referenced this in one of her songs.
2) Taylor Swift was named after James Taylor
Swift’s parents being huge James Taylor fans, named their daughter after James Taylor. Ironically, Taylor Swift went on to enjoy immense success in the field of music as well, and that too from a very young age.
Swift and James Taylor also collaborated on James Taylor’s Fire and Rain and Taylor Swift’s Love Story.
3) Taylor Swift technically wrote her first big hit in the ninth standard
It’s common knowledge that Taylor Swift started out early and was a gifted songwriter from the very start, even writing complete albums with no help from ghostwriters. But interestingly, she originally wrote Our Song, which was also an important part of her debut album, as part of her ninth-grade talent show.
It’a almost impossible to imagine how catchy the tune was considering how young the singer was at the time. When she released her debut album, she wanted to close with Our Song because the last line says “Play it again.”
4) Taylor Swift wrote Tim McGraw (2006) in 15 minutes
Tim McGraw, which was one of Swift’s earliest works, was written in only 15 minutes. It was named so because her favorite song was by the musician Tim McGraw. She even broke down the concept of the song and how she wrote it in a 2023 interview with The Boot.
Swift explained:
“The idea for this song came to me in math class. I just started singing to myself, ‘When you think Tim McGraw’…The concept for this song hit me because I was dating a guy who moved away, and it was going to be over for us.
“So, I started thinking of things that I knew would remind him of me. The first thing that came to mind was that my favorite song is by Tim McGraw. After school, I went downtown, sat down at the piano, and wrote this with Liz Rose in 15 minutes. It may be the best 15 minutes I’ve ever experienced.”
5) Speak Now became the first album Swift wrote completely by herself
While the singer is known for writing most of her songs, she enlists help on occasions. But her third studio album, Speak Now, was written completely on her own.
It also meant that the album was fresh and quite different from her previous body of work. It set the tone for future albums from the singer.