Lauren Huff is a writer at Entertainment Weekly with over a decade of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em, Horns!), Lauren wrote about film, television, awards season, music, and more for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Us Weekly, Awards Circuit, and others before landing at EW in May 2019.
Even Taylor Swift herself couldn't have fathomed the heights that her career has reached in her life to date; in fact, when she was 21, the now 14-time Grammy winner got "overwhelmed" even thinking about it.
Swift opened up about it in previously unreleased footage from her 60 Minutes interview in 2011, which just debuted in the latest episode of the 60 Minutes: A Second Look podcast.
"Sometimes I get really overwhelmed when I think about, like 10 years from now I'll be 30 -- what's the sound then?" she told 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl at the time. "What am I doing then? What are the choices I've made at that point? Oh my god, what does my life look like? And then I get a little overwhelmed when I think about 10 years, 20 years, you know, building a life. A lifetime career isn't my job right now sitting here at 21."
She did, however, have some very insightful thoughts about what fueled her drive and success. When asked by Stahl what propels her, Swift said, "Deep wells of insecurities."
"I don't know if any of this would have happened if I ever felt completely settled and satisfied," she continued. "You can let the success cripple you, and you can let the fear just overtake you, or you can let it fuel you and realize that, yes, you have to rise to the occasion and, yes, you have to beat what you did last time."
At the time of the interview, the pop superstar had just released her first three albums. She's since become a billionaire, released eight more studio records and re-recorded four of her early albums, with two more still to come. The re-recorded albums, dubbed the Taylor's Versions, have been a huge success, with the re-release of 1989 selling even more copies than the original did. The podcast suggests this success is fueled by Swift's relationship to her fans, which she also discussed back in 2011.
When Stahl remarked that it feels like her fans are "giving you power" and asked Swift if that goes "into your head" and does "things to you up there," the singer denied it. "No, it just kind of feels like unconditional love, which is amazing," she said. "And what I've come to learn in this life is that you can never abuse unconditional love when you're lucky enough to have it. And you can't ever mistake someone's kindness for weakness. And you can't ever assume that because they love me right now, if I do something to betray their trust, they're still going to be there, because I know it's rare. And I know that it's here in this moment because of the choices I've made and the music I've written."
Elsewhere in the interview, she added that her fans were her biggest priority. "If you have to pick one priority, that's the fans. They're the ones who will keep you getting to do what you love, and I feel like they understand me, they've got my back, and feeling like you've got those people out there in the world is a wonderful feeling."
The quotes are particularly timely given that her latest studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, contains several songs about the toxicity inherent in any large fanbase, and dives into how her relationship to fandom has changed as her star has risen.
Another thing that has noticeably changed as her popularity has grown is Swift's hesitance to talk about politics in public or her music. Just last week, the singer-songwriter made headlines everywhere when she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Governor Tim Walz for president.
But as is covered heavily in the Miss Americana documentary, which charted Swift's journey to finding her voice and feeling empowered to share it, a young Swift felt very differently. "As far as politics and who I want to be making decisions for our country and all that, I don't really sing about that because I don't get melodies and ideas in my head that have to do with the issues of our, you know, economic climate," she told Stahl.
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Swift first started speaking out about politics in 2018, and has since shared her endorsements on social media, encouraged people to vote, and released political songs such as "Only the Young."