Taylor Swift totally wants to be your friend

We shot Taylor Swift for the March cover on a really snowy day last December in Nashville. It shouldn’t have been as fun as it was. It was a long day, everyone was worried about their flights and stressed about upcoming holidays, but that all went away every time Taylor was in the room, because the girl is like a beam of sunshine. She was so infectiously excited and engaged with the shoot – her first “grownup” cover shoot — that it was impossible to not get excited right along with her.

One of the cutest parts of the day was when I introduced her to Ken Paves, hair guru to Jessica Simpson and Eva Longoria (and one of the nicest, most talented people we work with) and she greeted him with a hug and a squeal of “you’re famous!” to which he responded “no, you’re famous!” squeal, big hug. Adorable!

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Before the actual shooting could begin, Taylor wanted to create a playlist for the day. I grabbed my iPod and we sat down together at a Mac and went to work pulling her favorite songs. I started at the controls, but I swear, she was like Neo from The Matrix with the iTunes—she moved so quickly on it I barely saw what she was doing. Check out our video diary of the day (that’s me making the playlist with her!).

I was so taken with how effervescent and friendly Taylor was and it totally made sense to me how much her success has been bolstered by her online Friending and MySpacing of millions. She talked a lot in our cover story (on newsstands now) about her fans and network online and how much those connections mean to her. Her parents stopped by the shoot and any preconceived ideas you might have had about scary showbiz parents went right out the window. They were so calm and comfortable and clearly just super proud of their gorgeous daughter.

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We ended the day with a Shirley Temple toast to her 19th birthday and when we headed out into the snow, it really felt like we’d all made friends with the multi-platinum pixie. I look forward to many more shoots with her as she continues to rocket!

By Laura Brounstein, Entertainment Director, SELF magazine

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