Taylor Swift is an American singer and songwriter who hardly needs any introduction, but despite her widespread fame, there might be many facts about the 31-year-old country-pop star that her fans would not know about. Then again, one should not underestimate the dedication of all the Swifties out there.

While Taylor may have become one of the most successful artists of her generation, her journey to stardom was not always easy. Born the eldest child of Scott Kingsley Swift and Andrea Gardner Finlay on 13 December 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Taylor had to overcome numerous obstacles to achieve her dream. It even meant that her entire family had to make sacrifices.

Swift began expressing an interest in music at the age of nine, though it comes as little surprise since her parents named her after the singer and songwriter, James Taylor.

During those early years, Swift attended The Wyndcroft School, while performing in several Berks musical theatre plays. However, the family later moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where Swift enrolled into The Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. During that time, Swift also made regular trips to New York to receive training in vocals and acting, though after listening to Shania Twain, Swift changed her focus to country music.

Her newfound interest led her to perform at local festivals and musical events, earning Taylor her first exposure as a young artist. At the age of eleven, after gaining inspiration from Faith Hill’s life story, Swift and her mother travelled to Nashville, Tennessee, where they met with a local record label. Unfortunately, with so many people hoping to make a break into the country music industry, Swift’s demo tape collection of Dolly Parton and The Chicks cover songs was rejected.

Though disappointed, Swift refused to give up on her dreams, and began taking lessons in guitar and song-writing from Ronnie Cremer, and her parents consulted a New York-based talent agency. Though still small-time, through her new efforts, Swift landed exposure as a model for Abercrombie and Fitch, as well as recording a song for Maybelline’s compilation CD.

At the age of twelve, Taylor performed at the RCA Records showcasing, where she earned an artist development contract. This meant that she could return to Nashville and begin working on her career as a country singer. However, her hectic schedule caused a lot of trouble for her education and her family, forcing the family to relocate to Hendersonville, Tennessee.

There Swift attended Hendersonville High School, though later dropped out to complete her high school career from home. She matriculated a year early, and quickly started work on her first self-titled album.

After changing record labels, she released her debut album in 2006, and as they say, the rest kind of just became history.

Not only did her album achieve certified platinum status, but she also became the youngest artist to single-handedly write and perform a Billboard 100 chart-topper. This was, of course, her all-time great hit ‘Our Song’, with ‘Teardrops On My Guitar’ trailing not too far behind.

In 2008 she released her second album, ‘Fearless’, which played host to several record-breaking singles such as ‘Love Story’ and ‘You Belong With Me’, and did even better than the first; Taylor became the most talked about artist of the modern era. Her unique style, mixing pop and country and adding a dash of rock to the mix, not only enchanted her fans, but got the critics talking as well.

However, in recent years, it’s not only Swift’s brilliance that became a hot topic, but specifically her lyrics which, as many would know, have often been inspired by her tumultuous personal life and love interests……there have been quite a few!

Joe Jonas

Of course, everyone would remember Swift’s first public romance, even though she said she would quickly forget about it, but it was not exactly the relationship as much as the break-up that made the news. In 2008, around the time Taylor would release her second album, she dated Joe Jonas, though their time together happened to be a brief tie-up, lasting from July to October. According to Swift, it was Joe who ended the relationship in what many would consider the worst way possible. In November that year, Swift appeared on the Ellen Show, confirming what everyone suspected, stating that Joe broke-up with her over the phone, though she added that when she meets the right man for her, she will easily forget about the guy who broke up with her in twenty-five seconds over the phone!

Sadly, the world never seemed to forget it as it remains a topic of discussion to this day, and despite Swift’s resolve, it seemed that Joe definitely broke her heart.

She would mention the break-up again during her “Saturday Night Live” monologue but added that she was doing fine without him.

Then, in true Swift fashion, she released a song that many believe was inspired by Jonas – in the song ‘Forever and Always’, she calls the unknown recipient a scared little boy, and asks if she did something wrong. However, Swift has since apologised about putting Joe in the firing line, and it seems that she did, eventually, get over the way things ended between them.

Lucas Till

There is no certainty that this relationship actually happened, since Taylor never confirmed it, but according to Lucas Till, he had a short liaison with her. Lucas starred in Swift’s music video for ‘You Belong With Me’, later revealing to MTV in an interview that they had something romantic going on during the filming.

According to Till, this liaison took place between March and April of 2009, adding that things didn’t work out between them because he considered her more as a friend.

However, despite Tills claims, this relationship never attracted the attention of fans, was never confirmed by Swift, and she never made him the recipient of a song either, making things seem even more unlikely. As such, it is impossible to say it actually happened, though Taylor may be inclined to have a few secrets of her own.