Taylor Swift is browsing a small guitar shop in the industrial-turned-hip Edgehill neighborhood of Nashville, her hometown. Hair swept up in a pretty ponytail and wearing a mustard yellow below-the-knee pleated skirt, a crisp white button-down shirt, and sea-foam green cat-eye sunglasses, she looks like she just stepped out of the French film Amélie. She seems relaxed and at home, glancing at the acoustics and making small talk with the bearded, jeans-clad owner about the cool art prints of Elvis and Johnny Cash hanging on the wall. As we're about to leave, he says, "I just have to ask...are you..?" Taylor smiles and breezily replies, "Yes." Even in Nashville, where country-music stars are a common sight, he can't resist asking for a photo, but Taylor politely explains that she's in the middle of an interview and slips out the door.
It's late afternoon, and we walk across a stone alleyway to a low-key pizza place, where we sit outside at a green plastic table and Taylor orders a small margherita pie and an iced tea. For two hours, she enjoys relative anonymity with only two middle-aged men stopping briefly at our table—dads wanting autographs for teen daughters. Taylor signs their scraps of paper with a friendly but quick "Here you go!" One passing fan, who looks about 13 years old, glances excitedly at Taylor, who gives her a smile, but the girl's parents keep her from stopping.
As 2012's highest paid musical performer and the winner of six Grammys (and countless other music awards), Taylor is nothing short of a teenage icon. But with her growing fame and fortune, her life keeps moving further and further away from the teen audience that made her a star...although she's trying as hard as she can to remain their patron saint. Ask her what makes her happy, and she immediately rattles off along, G-rated list of favorite things: cats, oceans, hydrangea flowers, arts and crafts, blankets, fireplaces, changing seasons....
She's not lying—it's just that at this point you might think running a $57 million brand, taking the red carpet by storm in the latest designer clothes, performing in front of stadiums packed with screaming fans, and getting romantic with a Kennedy might edge out writing notes and people with green eyes (both also on her list) on her thrill meter. |
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