As long as we’re all still on the topic of her rise to world domination, anybody remember young Taylor Swift? She wasn’t always queen of the pop charts, you know. Once, she was just a Pennsylvania teenager with a guitar and a dream.
A newly uncovered local news story from 2005 shows young Taylor Swift being interviewed at her high school, where she discusses her hair volume and also meeting Toby Keith, who signed her to his record label. “I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I won’t see him and be like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Toby Keith!’” The video even includes a clip of 15-year-old Swift singing “Picture to Burn” in what looks like a high school classroom.
“Most people find out what they’re going to do when they’re in college, and that’s great. But, I guess for me it just came a little earlier.”
Who would have guessed that in a few short months, Swift would be on her way to becoming, you know, Taylor Freaking Swift. By 2006 she was at the Country Music Awards. By 2008 she was at the Met Gala. And by 2009 she was dating John Mayer.
So in honor of Swift’s rise from teen with a dream to global powerhouse who eats world records for breakfast, enjoy these photos of her early career.
