Taylor Swift, at 18, poised to be pop superstar

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Taylor Swift remembers the day she walked into one of her writing sessions -- filled with anger.

The boy she liked was acting up, and the singer could barely get out a greeting before unloading her frustration on co-writer Liz Rose.

"I walked into Liz's house, and I said, 'I can't believe what's going on right now, I've gotta tell you about this.' I told her all about it," Swift said. "She goes, 'If you could say everything you were thinking to him right now, what would you start with?"'

So Swift began venting: "I would say to him, 'I'm sick and tired of your attitude, I feel like I don't even know you' ... and I just started rambling, and she was writing down everything that I was saying, and so, we turned it into a song."

That song, "Tell Me Why," on her hotly anticipated sophomore CD, "Fearless," is an example of why Swift is not only one of country music's brightest and most popular young stars, but is also poised to become pop's next superstar act.

"I think the reason why all of that has started happening is because I was writing about what was happening in my life and I don't hold back on details and I mention people's names and I like my songs really personal," Swift said.

Since Swift made her debut in 2006 with her self-titled CD, she's sold 3 million albums and scored country hits such as "Our Song" and "Picture to Burn." She has also become one of the few recent country singers whose celebrity has translated to a mainstream audience.

MTV tapped her to host a week on "TRL," and she was also the red-carpet reporter at the recent MTV Video Music Awards.

Swift has a line of dolls in her likeness, recently performed with Def Leppard, sang the national anthem during the World Series and is planning a line of sundresses for Wal-Mart.

But the teen, who was raised in Pennsylvania and now lives in the Nashville, Tenn., area with her parents and younger brother, doesn't play up her crossover success.

"I try to look at what has happened to my career less as crossover and more as spillover," Swift said.

"I'd like to think that country music is where I live, country music is who I am, but I'm lucky enough to have other people listening who aren't necessarily core country music fans," she said.

"The reason why all of that has started happening is because I was writing about what was happening in my life."

Like most 18-year-old girls, Swift is focused on boys and relationships. On "Fearless," released Tuesday, there are songs that touch on the dreams of that fairy-tale romance (like the current hit "Love Story,") the guy who doesn't know you exist ("You Belong With Me"), the bad guy you fall in love with ("The Way I Loved You") and, of course, the jerk ("You're Not Sorry").

"I'm very fascinated by boys and love and relationships, so the boys that came in and out of my life over the past two years definitely shaped this record," Swift said.