Taylor Swift

So lovely. So talented. So appallingly young. Can there be any doubt that Taylor Swift was sent to Earth to make the planet's collective over-20 population feel like a bunch of aging fuck-ups? Though more than a year shy of her first legal white-wine spritzer, the ethereal pop goddess has...

By Craig Outhier

May 21, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

So lovely. So talented. So appallingly young. Can there be any doubt that Taylor Swift was sent to Earth to make the planet's collective over-20 population feel like a bunch of aging fuck-ups? Though more than a year shy of her first legal white-wine spritzer, the ethereal pop goddess has already compiled a formidable country music legacy: two Top 10 albums (Taylor Swift and Fearless, both last year), myriad sold-out shows, a Grammy nomination, etc. In a glowing profile, the New York Times hailed the 19-year-old as "one of pop's finest songwriters" and "country music's foremost pragmatist," which is a polite way of saying that her shit doesn't pander to cowpokes. She is, potentially, one of the great all-time country crossover acts — a download-era Patsy Cline whose recent single "Love Story" became the first country song to top Billboard's airplay-focused Mainstream Top 40 chart. Swift's specialness was even obvious during her brief scene in Hannah Montana: The Movie — a thankless cross-promotional gimmick in which the singer's old-soul presence felt every bit as out-of-place as, say, Daniel Day-Lewis in a Dude, Where's My Car? cameo. So hands off, you Twitter-happy tweeners. She's ours.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.