Taylor Swift

Biography: (2008-2010) Fearless and Acting

2008–2010: Fearless and acting

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008. The lead single, "Love Story", was released in September 2008. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one in Australia. Four more singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two. The album debuted at number one on Billboard 200 and was the top-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album received promotion from Swift's first concert tour, Fearless Tour, which grossed over $63 million. Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless, a concert film, was aired on televesion and later released on DVD and Blu-ray. Swift also performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban's Escape Together World Tour.

In 2009, the music video for "You Belong with Me" was named MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West. The incident was the subject of controversy and frequent media attention, resulting in many Internet memes. James Montgomery of MTV argued that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity". Also that year, she won five American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album. Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.

Swift also won accolades for Fearless in 2010. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, Fearless was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and "White Horse" was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Swift was the youngest artist ever to win Album of the Year. During the ceremony, Swift sang "You Belong with Me" and "Rhiannon" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and a media backlash. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years". Swift became the youngest ever artist to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.

Swift contributed backing vocals to John Mayer's "Half of My Heart", a single featured on his fourth album, Battle Studies (2009). She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kellie Pickler, and co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack—"You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier". Swift also provided vocals for Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One". She contributed two songs to the Valentine's Day soundtrack, including "Today Was a Fairytale", which became her first number one on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.

Swift made her acting debut in a 2009 episode of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing a rebellious teenager. The New York Times noted that the character allowed Swift to be "a little bit naughty, and credibly so". Later that year, Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for an episode of Saturday Night Live. Entertainment Weekly described her as "this season's best Saturday Night Live host so far", noting that she "was always up for the challenge, seemed to be having fun, and helped the rest of the cast nail the punchlines". While filming Valentine's Day in October 2009—Swift's feature film acting debut—she began a romantic relationship with co-star Taylor Lautner; however, they broke up later that year. The romantic comedy, released the following year, saw her play the ditzy girlfriend of a high school jock, a role in which Los Angeles Times found "serious comedic potential". In a scathing review, the critic for Variety deemed her "entirely undirected", arguing that "she needs to find a skilled director to tamp her down and channel her obviously abundant energy". Later in 2010, she briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal.