ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've said you've written or cowritten about 200 songs. Looking back on those songs you wrote at 13 or 14, do you think ''Wow, those were immature,'' or were there actually some good ones?
TAYLOR SWIFT: Of course there are the songs where I'm like, ''Wow, that was in my experimental stage.'' But then there are other songs where I go back and I'm like, ''Well, I could change this, but that melody's really cool.'' I actually put a song on the album that I wrote when I was 12, and it's called ''The Outside.'' It's about what I was going through at the time. I was a complete outcast at school and never fit in, never felt like I belonged. A lot of times back then when I was 12 or 13, I would write songs about relationships, when I wasn't in relationships, because I would look at other people and try to observe what they were going through. But in the case of ''The Outside,'' I was writing exactly what I saw. I was writing from pain. And I've always felt so lucky, because I've never needed an escape like drinking or drugs or anything like that to escape from the bad days. Music has always been that escape for me.

Are all the songs on this album that autobiographical, or were some written in that early spirit of youthful conjecture?
There's one on the album called ''Tied Togerher With a Smile'' that I wrote about one of my friends, who is this beauty queen, pageant princess — a gorgeous, popular girl in high school. Every guy wanted to be with her, every girl wanted to be her. I wrote that song the day I found out she had an eating disorder. There are a couple songs on the album like that, that are just watching other people and making observations. But most of the songs on the album are about actual people that have been in my life. I tend to be kind of blatantly obvious, and with my songs, I'll even mention names a lot of times.

You use real names, and I'm sure even without names, people can figure out it's them.
Oh, definitely. The funny thing is, there are so many people in the town where I live, Hendersonville [outside of Nashville], that think they do have a song written about 'em. You go out into this big world and you go on tour with all these people, and you go back and it's still a small town and they still gossip about it. I think it's one of everybody's favorite things to talk about — who my songs are written about. [Laughs] There are definitely a few more people who think that I've written songs about them than there actually are.

There are so few singers of your age making it in country. In the pop world, it's more common for girls your age to have a success — but you always sense they're just chafing against the limits of propriety until they turn 18, and then the minute they do they'll start competing with the Pussycat Dolls like everybody else.
When I turn 18, I may do something crazy, like go out and vote or something. [Laughs] I'm just really more of a laid-back person. I've never been a party girl. I'd rather write a song about something or rather be doing something to further my career. I know that sounds like I'm a robot, but I honestly love this. Yesterday, I did five hours of radio remotes, which is where you walk around to all the different radio stations and you're interviewed by everybody. And I honestly love that. That was the most fun part of my day yesterday. And I guess a lot of people don't like that, but for me, I've just never been into going to parties as much as I've been into doing this. I guess I got used to having to make that choice when I was little. Because, you know, popular girls in school start partying when they're like 12. And I had to choose between being popular or not messing my life up. So I think making that choice has kind of made a permanent mark on me to be responsible. Also, when you put out a single, whether you like it or not, you're a role model, so you have to accept that.

So you don't try to dispel the role-model thing or put that out of your mind?
No. When I'm about to make decisions, my point of reference is the 6-year-old girl in the front row of my concert. I think about what she would think if she saw me do what I was considering doing. Then I go back and I think about her mom and what her mom would think if I did that.

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