"All About Taylor Swift"

#5 "Career"

2004–08: Career beginnings and Taylor Swift
Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was 14 years old,having signed an artist development deal with RCA Records.Swift proceeded to work with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally and The Warren Brothers. She eventually formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose. Swift saw Rose performing at an RCA songwriter event and suggested that they write together.They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.Rose said that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks."Swift also began recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman.

After performing at a BMI Songwriter's Circle showcase at The Bitter End, New York,Swift became the youngest songwriter ever signed by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.Swift left RCA Records when she was 14—she was afraid that the company would want her to record the work of other songwriters and wait until she was 18 to release an album, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.Swift later recalled: "I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through."She also parted ways with manager Dan Dymtrow, who later took legal action against Swift and her parents. In 2010, a judge nullified six of Dymtrow's legal claims. The remaining unjust enrichment claim was settled out of court.

At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records. She became one of the label's first signings, with her father purchasing a three per cent stake in the fledgling company at an estimated cost of $120,000.She was introduced to the country music business as an artist escort at the CMA Music Festival.

Swift began working on her eponymous debut album shortly after signing her record deal. After experimenting with veteran Nashville producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to hire her demo producer Nathan Chapman. It was his first time recording a studio album but Swift felt they had the right "chemistry".Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining eight with writers Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher and Angelo Petraglia.Musically, the album has been described as "a mix of trad-country instruments and spry rock guitars".

Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both wide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading voice".[61] Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker described the 16-year-old Swift as a "prodigy". He noted that "Our Song" "stop[ped] me in my tracks" and praised the lyrics: "He's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart."Rolling Stone's reviewer described Swift as "bright-eyed but remarkably seasoned", and admired "Our Song"'s "insanely hooky sing-song melody that's as Britney as it is Patsy".

Big Machine Records was still in its infancy upon the release of the lead single "Tim McGraw" in June 2006, and Swift and her mother helped "stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio".She spent much of 2006 promoting Taylor Swift in a radio tour and later commented, "Radio tours for most artists last six weeks. Mine lasted six months."She made many television appearances, including on the Grand Ole Opry, Good Morning America, and TRL.Swift, a self-described "kid of the internet", used Myspace to build a fanbase.This was, at the time, "revolutionary in country music". Borchetta has said that his decision to sign a 16-year-old singer-songwriter initially raised eyebrows among his record industry peers but Swift tapped into a previously unknown market: teenage girls who listen to country music.

Following "Tim McGraw", four further singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All were highly successful on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" both reaching number one. "Our Song" made Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country song."Teardrops on My Guitar" became a minor pop hit; it reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.The album sold 39,000 copies during its first week of release and, as of March 2011, had sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide.Swift also released a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, in October 2007, and an EP, Beautiful Eyes, in July 2008.

Swift toured extensively in support of Taylor Swift. In addition to her own material, Swift played covers of songs by Beyoncé, Rihanna, John Waite, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Eminem.She conducted meet-and-greet sessions with fans before and after her concerts—these lasted for up to four hours.As well as festival and theater dates, Swift performed as an opening act for several country artists' concert tours. In late 2006, she opened for Rascal Flatts on the final nine dates of their Me & My Gang Tour, after the previous supporting act Eric Church was fired.In 2007, she served as the opening act for George Strait's tour,several dates on Kenny Chesney's Flip-Flop Summer Tour,selected dates on Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour and several dates for Tim McGraw and Hill's joint Soul2Soul II Tour.Swift also opened for Rascal Flatts on their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008.