<p>The CMA after-party literally happened right behind my dorm. My roommate saw Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley from our window</p>
<p>My reasoning for saying that it ‘catapulted’ her to more fame is that there are probably a lot of people who had never really been exposed to her. After that incident, I really began to wonder who she was, what she was about and I took of notice my daughter humming her songs.</p>
<p>Yep, maybe I live under a rock - but, folks I work with sort of had the same revelation…sort of wow isn’t she cute, what does she sing, etc. </p>
<p>I am sure she was already very famous in a large community. We tend to follow more ‘indie’ in our house.</p>
<p>Am I the only person in the world who couldn’t name or identify a Taylor Swift song if her life depended on it? I just honestly have never heard one…I guess I am sadly out of touch.</p>
<p>It’s simple. If you listen to country music (at all) you know most of her songs and all about her. If you are a girl between the ages of 9 and 19 you know most of her songs and all about her. If you are a male between the ages of 17 and 23 you are in love with her. If you live in Nashville, you consider her a relative.</p>
<p>P.S. I don’t know anything about Kanye West. I knew the name, but until the boorish episode with Taylor, he was not on my radar.</p>
<p>MWC, you are good. D2 is 16, she knows most of Taylor’s songs. D1 is 20 and she is not interested.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Same here.</p>
<p>Yep. Me too. I heard of her only because of the Kanye incident. Then heard her perform on SNL She didn’t seem award-worthy on SNL at least.</p>
<p>Yesterday found out how Rheanna sings on 20/20. She sounds like a superb singer! I wouldn’t have known if I had not seen 20/20. Listening to Rheanna made me remember Whitney Houston’s songs in late 80s. I think she is a different caliber than Taylor.</p>
<p>I gauge Taylor to be 5 and Rheanna a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 in their singing ability. This has no bias of where either one comes from…because if I hear them on the radio or TV, I truly don’t care where they come from. I only want to hear good music.</p>
<p>My daughter (25) likes much of Taylor’s song-writing but doesn’t think her vocal ability is her strong point. Of course, my daughter is a vocalist herself and somewhat of a snob about those things. 
I like Taylor’s writing and singing, but I have no taste. I like “Bottle of Wine, Fruit of the Vine, When you gonna let me get sober”, too.<br>
I thought her first song, “Tim McGraw” was awesome and it is still one of my favorites. Lots of people don’t like or “get” country music. That’s fine. There is a lot of music I don’t like or get, too.</p>
<p>I think a large part of Taylor Swift’s appeal is that she is quite talented and successful for one so young. But then, much more than say rock, country music has a history of making stars out of very young women - recall Tanya Tucker and LeAnn Rimes.</p>
<p>I just pray she doesn’t shed her good girl ways and follow the steps of the other Hollywood pop tarts and become a scandal-ridden, drug-drenched party girl.</p>
<p>^^ I really don’t think she will. She is a straight arrow thus far and seems to be extremely level-headed. I know lots of people who know her and the family and she is the real deal. No dirt out there and I think it will stay that way.</p>
<p>MOWC–I couldn’t identify a Kanye song eiither. OTOH, I listen to alt country, but I don’t run into Taylor there.</p>
<p>I first learned about Taylor Swift several months ago while watching a Dateline story about her tour. There’s a link to the transcript here [On</a> tour with Taylor Swift - Newsmakers- msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31032270/ns/dateline_nbc-newsmakers/]On”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31032270/ns/dateline_nbc-newsmakers/)
I was really impressed with her maturity and level-headedness. And I think she’s adorable :)</p>