--- title: Taylor Swift TIME Interview in 2009: Questions From Fans Answered description: The singer took questions from fans at the start of her first headlining tour canonical: https://time.com/3581386/taylor-swifts-10-questions/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-13T12:45:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:02.239Z article:section: History og:title: Watch Taylor Swift's Q&A With TIME in 2009 og:description: The singer took questions from fans at the start of her first headlining tour og:url: https://time.com/3581386/taylor-swifts-10-questions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76408734bce7aafa/69876890a988ca78a76aab55/taylor-swift5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Walt Disney Pictures' "Hannah Montana The Movie" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Taylor Swift's Q&A With TIME in 2009 twitter:description: The singer took questions from fans at the start of her first headlining tour twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76408734bce7aafa/69876890a988ca78a76aab55/taylor-swift5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See How Far Taylor Swift Has Come Since 2009 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=9a5594dc-ed1b-4d70-b4e3-dfac295f6275&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=9a5594dc-ed1b-4d70-b4e3-dfac295f6275&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Taylor Swift 10 qs [Watch (HLS stream): Taylor Swift 10 qs](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hvYKOaxZ.m3u8) (6:11)  _Published 2014-11-13. Taylor Swift 10 qs_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 13, 2014 12:45 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 13, 2014 12:45 PM UTC Back in 2009, Taylor Swift was already a star — hits like “Our Song” and “Love Story” had proved her power — but she wasn’t yet a global musical phenomenon. Rather, she was thoroughly country, just starting her first headlining tour and her fans had lots of unanswered questions. That May, she sat down with TIME to answer some of them, dispensing advice for aspiring songwriters and dishing about the real-life inspirations for her songs (and, at one point, talking about how much she loves John Mayer, to whom she would later be romantically linked). Watch that interview here. **_Read TIME’s new cover story about the singer:_** [The Power of Taylor Swift](http://time.com/3583129/power-of-taylor-swift-cover/?pcd=hp-magmod) ## Transcript I'm Rebecca Kegan with Taylor Swift, who's taking questions from time readers. From an RV on Hollywood Boulevard. Yes. Hi Taylor, how are you? I'm doing great, how are you? I'm good. I have a bunch of questions for you from time readers from all over the world. This first question comes from Stacey Klemstein in Johnsburg Illinois, who asks, How long does it take you to write a song? It depends. I've written songs in 15 minutes, and also, on the other end of the spectrum, I've take a year to finish a song. But most of the time, songs that I write end up being finished in 30 minutes or less, you know. All the songs that I've had that have been singles, like Love Story. I wrote that on my bedroom floor. In about 20 minutes. So usually when I get on a roll with something it's really hard for me to put it down unfinished. How do you manage to appear so genuinely happy when according to your songs you've suffered so much heartbreak? I have ways of channeling the heartbreak that I've gone through at the right moments. A lot of times. You don't allow yourself to feel things to their full extent because you have to go on with things. But there are moments when i'm writing songs, that's when I let myself feel it the most. So it's all about really knowing when you've gotta feel those things. And then knowing when you gotta just. Go about your day, in spite of it. Also it's been a really awesome year. There's been a lot to be happy about. So, I get so excited when I go to an aw, awards show and I get to perform and I get to do a performance I've always wanted to do since middle school. And I get so excited when a song that I wrote about something really personal to me goes number one. And I look down and I see people singing the words back to me. THat makes me so much happier than than anything could really ever bring me brown. So it's like you've got channelling that hurt when, when it's the right time to and also just the fact that life has been really good. Where do you find the inspiration for your songs? I find inspiration in human emotion. The way that we treat each other, the way that we make each other fell and the pattern of it and how, you know, it repeats itself so often but we never learn from it. Just all the different things that you learn from relationships whether it be friends or family or love, mostly love. I just love watching people and. And how we react to feelings. So I think love is always gonna be a number one contributor to the inspiration department for me. This question comes from Kathmandu. Awesome. [ LAUGH ] And the reader asks. I grew up listening to heavy metal and rock yet I find your songs very catchy. What sort of music do you listen to? I love Def Leppard. I've always loved Def Leppard ever since I was little. My mom has always listened to Def Leppard so they were my favorite band. From the time I was a little kid to now. Milo Victor in the Philippines asks what advice do you have for young and aspiring song writers? Songwriters. I would say my advice to songwriters is to write your songs not for a specific demographic or for getting on the radio or for anything commercial like that. Write your songs to the person that you're writing that song about. That's the mindset that I go into when I sit down to write a song. I think to myself, okay, who's this about? Fill in the blank. And then I think, what would I say to him right now if I could and if I had the nerve to, what would I say? And then you think of some rhymes and you put it all together. Earl Worthington in Chicago wants to know, what other artists would you like to do a duet with? I would like to do a duet with Taylor Hanson. Because I have loved Hanson since I was 8 and it's like never gonna end, I'm never gonna stop loving them. And Taylor Hanson has an amazing voice and. And also, you know, we're both named Taylor. You both have great hair. Thank you! You ha, you share the blondeness. Thank you so much. Huh? John Mayer. I love John Mayer. But I say that in other interviews. You know, I say that in like, every interview. So I figured I'd switch it up. Mixing it up. We wanna have the Hanson scoop, people. I love Hanson. [ LAUGH ]. How do you find balance between your personal and professional life? Finding balance between my personal and professional life is kind of interesting because they bleed together. You know I write songs about the guy that sat next to me in class in tenth grade or the person that I saw yesterday that we made eye contact for a split second, but it was enough to inspire a song. And for me I just try not too get to territorial about what's personal time and what's professional time because. If I'm sitting at home, in my home town, and it's my one day off in three months. And I'm sitting there, and I'm at a restaurant and a line forms in front of my table, that winds around the entire restaurant, I'm not going to say hey this is my day off, I won't sign your autographs. Because. This is what I've asked for for my entire life. This is the one thing that I wanted and the fact that I actually get to do that one thing that I've always wanted, I just, I don't think I'm ever gonna wanna complain about it. Kati Rutherford in Washington, DC wants to know, do you plan on getting your college degree? If so, what are you interested in studying? College is something that I always thought I was gonna do, and then I discovered music, and I still thought I was going to go to college, because I never really actually thought I'd get to do this. You know, I worked really hard for it, but I didn't ever expect that it was going to be a possibility for me, and then. I started getting further with it. Later on I would love to take college classes and getting the college experience is something I'm planning on doing pretty soon because I'm going to go visit my friend Abigail in college and see what that's like. But you know, no matter what path you choose you're gonna miss something. 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