7:30 eastern, jennifer lawrence. a look at the young academy award winner and star of "hunger games." then at 8:00 eastern eastern, our celebration of the cnn heroes. thanks for being with me. it all begins right now. ♪ will will never, ever, ever, ever getting back together ♪ >> she's a multiplatinum power house. >> her ability to connect with people through songs is maybe better than anybody ever. ♪ trying to find a place >> who made her name in country music. ♪ and all you're ever going to be is mean ♪ >> she just had a charge in her that was twice her age. >> for a decade, she's been building an empire and an image. >> i think that you could make an argument that taylor is the anti-miley. >> from the branding, to the

boys. >> lautner, kennedy, styiles. >> she's as cute as a truck load of baby ducks. >> her advice in the love life? >> a shotgun. ♪ shake it off, shake it off >> shaking up the music world. >> i like to challenge myself musically. kind of push the envelope. ♪ welcome to new york no♪ >> tonight in the "cnn spotlight" the newly crowned princess of pop, taylor swift. ♪ our song is the way you laugh ♪ ♪ the first date man i didn't kiss her and i should have ♪ >> i can't even believe is real. >> country music awards november 2007. >> i can't even believe this. this is definitely the highlight of my senior year. thank you, cma. >> a big night and a big prize for taylor swift. nabbing the cma horizon award for best new artist.

>> i mean, i'm not even, like, an adult yet legally. it's really exciting. >> barely 18 years old, and owning country music. a cma win. a platinum record. and a grammy nomination. >> i mean, i never imagined that my life would be this magical. >> taylor allison swift has been writing her own fairytale since she was born. >> you want to see your daughter? >> yeah. >> she's all dolled up and ready -- >> oh, my god. >> here she is just a few days old. taylor posted the home video for fans who preordered her latest album, "1989" named for the year she was born. ♪ welcome to new york ♪ it's been waiting for you >> i don't want to ever hear from this kid that we never did anything for her. not ever. >> taylor had a privileged and idyllic childhood. both her parents had careers in finance, and she and her little

brother, austin, were raised on a 12 acre christmas tree farm in reading, pennsylvania. >> look. >> dolly moore and her son, andrew orth, lived next door to the swift family. dolly baby saturday l taylor fo. >> i didn't have a little granddaughter. she kind of filled that space for me. i loved her beautiful, almost white hair, and her little clear blue eyes. you just wanted to hug her because she really was such a sweetheart. >> she was a fantastically charismatic little child. >> orth, a professional photographer, snapped photo after photo of taylor for more than a decade. >> every time i took that camera and just pointed it at her, boom, boom, basebaoom, and that when i told her parents, this girl is going to be a superstar. >> taylor was a natural, and a ham. ♪ twinkle, twinkle little star

>> there are great videos of very, very young taylor swift just running around the house at 2, 3 years old singing pop and country hits. her hair is all over the place. you can even tell even at that young age that there was something special about her. >> i love the fact that she's got stars with her names. >> she had grade school teachers robin klein and nancy boyer at hello. >> i thought one day i'm going to read about her. one day i'm going to vote for her. one day she's going to perform open heart surgery. >> she was a very talented writer. used very colorful language. mature for a fifth grade writer. >> taylor performed in school plays. proving she had pipes. taking the lead in the local musical "bye-bye birdie." ♪ >> next, she took on the karaoke circuit.

local country singer pat garrett ran the contests. >> she was poised and handled the crowd quite well for an 11-year-old. i said when i was 11, i couldn't even tie my shoes, now get out of here. she got better as she went along. my name's johnny. in the finals she got to open the charlie daniels show. >> i'm the best there's ever been. >> next up -- ♪ star spangled >> the national anthem at a philadelphia 76ers game. >> i think that that probably gave her a little taste of what superstardom is like. >> looking around, tens of thousands of people and thinking, this is what i want to do with my life. >> taylor found an audience, but she struggled especially during her middle school years. >> i had this, you know, clique of girls i used to hang out with. all of a sudden they didn't want to hang out with me anymore. i don't know whether it was because every single weekend i was at songwriter acoustic nights or whether i was trying

to do something completely different than what they were trying to do, but all of a sudden the friends were gone. >> singing became her salvation in these painful years. she poured her heart into her music and relentlessly lobbied her mother to take her to music row. >> when i was 11, i came to nashville and just kind of knocked on doors of record labels. my mom was, like, waiting in the car. i had this little demo karaoke cd and would walk into every major record label and was like, hey, i'm taylor, i'm 11, i want a record deal, call me. >> the phone never rang. but taylor didn't stop. she mastered the guitar as seen here in her 2010 concert doc, then wrote and recorded her first song. ♪ angels above you ♪ so far away ♪ hey >> lucky you, she wrote it the day she learned how to play

guitar, and if you listen to that song, it is very characteristic of the way that taylor will write songs. it's about not fitting in at school. of being the outsider. ♪ somebody tells now >> turning hurts into hits would become her trademark. ♪ when you're 15 and your first kiss makes your head spin round ♪ coming up, taylor's unstoppable quest for fame. the swift family sells the farm. >> her dad said, well, we're going. i said, oh, yeah, where are you going? he said, nashville. i said, how long are you going for? he said, for the rest of our lives. i said, what?

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and big country dreams. >> i think at that move to nashville like the actresses in the '40s coming to lhollywood. step off the bus, big dreams, wide eyes. >> in taylor's case, she was also carrying some middle school angst she had turned into songs. >> i think everybody goes through a period of time like that where you're just so alone, and insteaded of letting it drag me down into a downward spiral, i let music lift me up. and i wrote songs about it. ♪ baby when i look at you with them baby blues ♪ >> even in a city full of talented performers, like duo big & rich, it quickly became clear that taylor swift had something special. ♪ baby when i look at you >> some artists just, they just got magnets on them, you know? you can just feel them when they come. >> she's got the it. she has the it. >> rca saw it, and heard it. signing her to a development deal which she walked away from

a year later. >> she had a collection of songs she really wanted to get out there and rca didn't think she was ready. >> she landed here, nashville's bluebird cafe. the place for aspiring singer/song wri singer/songwriters. she was heard and quickly signed by a music executive about to launch his own company. >> i ended up on a record label that let me write every song on my first album, and i'll never forget it. >> taylor swift's first single "tim mcgraw" dropped in june 2006. ♪ when you think tim mcgraw ♪ i hope you think my favorite song ♪ >> it was from her day beau album, "taylor swift." >> my album is selling like freakishly amounts of -- i can't even believe, like, the way that it's selling right now. ♪ and he says our song is a slamming screen door ♪ >> the single "our song" went to number one on the billboard hot country songs chart.

that made her the youngest person in the country to write and perform a country song. >> the first of many firsts. it was a platinum effort right out of the gate. she was just 16. >> taylor swift tapped into a young market that the country music industry was basically ignoring. and they were young girls. >> oh, my gosh. this is the best moment of my life. >> one thing that makes taylor swift unique is her relationships with fans. that's thanks in part to social media. >> myspace has been one of the things that launched me as an artist. >> she had an energy in social media that no one had really done up to that point, and yeah, she was connecting with her fans because she was on there talking to them all the time. >> currently hanging out with my band in downtown philadelphia. >> myspace morphed into video blogs. instagram. and twitter. >> if you follow her on twitter or on instagram, you feel like

you could be best friends with taylor swift. >> she works hard to connect with followers in the real world, too. hosting hour-long parties for randomly picked fans after every concert. >> she would go around to everybody in the room. she'd have a conversation with them. how did you like the show? >> frankie ballard toured with taylor in 2011 and says nobody connects with an audience like she does. >> oh, hi, nashville. >> you know, i went to taylor's show here in nashville a year or so ago. >> thank you for coming tonight. >> i've never seen anything like it. ♪ >> i swear a couple times i felt taylor was looking at me. the energy connection and the personal connection with her audience. i would compare it to springsteen, but it was a level above. the energy between her and the fans, it's phenomenal. >> good night, nashville. >> it helps that she has bruce

springsteen's songwriting skills. >> taylor's one of the greatest songwriters ever to put a pencil to a piece of paper. >> many nashville artists agree. >> i go back to the song "15" that she wrote. what a knockdown lyric that is. ♪ when you're 15 >> the first time i heard her sing it, it was a little writer's night in new york city several years ago. she sang that and i went -- it was vince gill, trisha yearwood, taylor swift and me. she hits "15" and vince is going, wow. trisha is saying, look at the lyric coming out of this girl. >> john rich co-wrote this song with taylor swift after she called him out of the blue. >> said, yeah, come on over. she pulls that guitar out and has some words already don. she starts tearing into this song. "the way i loved you." i said, damn, that's great.

she said, you like it? i said, yeah, let's work on the verses. ♪ that's the way i loved you >> the way i loved you" is about dating mr. right while loving mr. wrong. taylor said, i brought that idea, that title to john. he was able to relate to it. you know, he's that complicated, frustrating, messy kind of guy in a relationship. >> yeah. >> there you go, john. >> is it true? >> of course, it's true. yeah. ♪ that's the way i loved you >> that song, along with "15" are on "fearless."album. >> "fearless" had the second crossover hit which is "you belong with me." >> she became the first country star to ever win a vma. >> best female video goes to -- taylor swift. >> as she was accepting the award, kanye west bum rushed the stage, grabbed the mike away from her.

>> i'm really happy for you. i'm going to let you finish, but beyonce had one of the best videos of all-time. >> this became a media frenzy. >> what a jerk. >> he is a dope. >> i just think he's an idiot. he's just a waste. >> kanye got a little nuts last night. >> it's the night that she went supernova. even people who knew her in passing before really wanted to know who this artist was. >> tonight i saw kanye pull the mike out of her hand. i felt like somebody had just disrespected my little sister. >> wow. >> like i went, you know what, if i had been in that room i would have whooped his ass. i would have tried. ahead -- bad breakups have taylor seeing red. >> your advice to her then in the love life? >> a shotgun. a shotgun. if you take multiple medications, a dry mouth can be a common side effect. that's why there's biotene. it comes in oral rinse, spray or gel, so there's moisturizing relief for everyone. biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth. ♪

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♪ someday i'll be big enough so you can't hit me and all you're ever going to be is mean ♪ it was early 2012. taylor swift's worldwide tour was anything but mean. she just won her sixth grammy and had become one of the hottest country artists of the decade. >> there's something on that girl that is bigger than she is, and when she comes in the room, you go, who is that? >> then -- ♪ once upon a time a few mistakes ago ♪ >> six years after launching her career in country, swift releases "red." an album with a whole lot of pop. ♪ i guess you didn't care >> why test the waters there? you know, she's doing so great in country.

>> this had to be because she was being true to herself. >> she really diversified her sound which was not only a way for her to just expand her songwriting overall, but also a way to gain a new audience. ♪ i remember when we broke up the first time ♪ >> in true taylor swift style, the songs were personal and focused on her recent string of rocky romances. >> "red" is a breakup album. songs like "i knew you were trouble." ♪ i knew you were trouble when you walked in ♪ >> "we are never, ever getting back together." are quintessential taylor swift songs of her taking the heartbreaks from her relationships and putting a gray hook behind them and turning them into huge pop hits. >> the album's lead single was an instant success. ♪ we are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together ♪ >> becoming swift's first song

to ever hit number one on the billboard hot 100. >> the wordplay in those songs, they're sassy, they're meant to sort of sting a little bit. it was a little bit of a, like, "fu" to anyone who had gotten in her way or in her heart's way. >> brilliant, sassy and instantly relatable. >> you can only hope that what you are saying resonates with people and that you're saying something that maybe helps them get through what they're going through. ♪ i guess you didn't care and i guess i liked that ♪ >> her song "i knew you were trouble" where you're singing about i've fallen for the wrong person before, i've gotten my heartbroken, if your heart's broken right now, you're not alone. >> that message clearly resonated with fans. "red" sold 1.2 million copies in its first week becoming the fastest selling album in a decade. >> "red" was massive. she was no longer just

segregated to country radio. that was a really big sort of catalyst in just launching her to the stratosphere. >> but personal songs about the boys she dated -- >> john mayer, taylor lautner, connor kennedy, harry stiles. >> -- had its downside. >> she does have a tendency to have these relationships. she falls too hard, too fast sometimes for the wrong guy for short periods of time. >> yet the bumps with the boys didn't diminish the brand. >> you know how hard it would be to maintain such an image? or such a reputation? if you weren't that person? it would be damn near impossible. >> taylor swift hand picked country sensation frankie ballard to tour with her in 2011. >> when things go good, you get the credit. when things go bad, it's your

fault. so i still think about her in the back of my head and think, what would taylor do, you know? what would taylor do? >> wwtd. >> i got it tattooed on my chest. >> by 2014, swift was ready for reinvention. she moved from nashville to new york and swore off the boys. something john rich and big kennedy fully support. >> honestly, she's too young for a man in her life, anyway. >> listen -- >> she's too young. >> so your advice to her, then, in the love life? >> advice to her is a shotgun. ♪ players going to play, play, play, play ♪ ♪ haters going to hate, hate, hate ♪ >> swift released a new album "1989" trading country for straight pop. ♪ breakers going to break, break, break ♪ >> i think it's really important to evolve musically. i think it's easier to stay the same, but i really like to challenge myself musically and kind of push the envelope.

>> and if there was any risk in leaving nashville behind, it paid off the first week of the album's release. >> not only is it the biggest week for an album in over a decade, it's also taylor's third consecutive record to sell more than 1 million copies. and if that doesn't cement her as one of the biggest stars on the planet, i don't know what does. >> all of the fans she's had with her since the beginning, then she makes a record like "1989" and of course, all these people are growing up with her. >> but after her evolution to pop, country music was missing her. and she heard about it at the cmas. >> you can't turn on the tv or open up a newspaper or click on a website without being reminded of the epidemic we're all facing. >> and, of course, we're talking about post-partem taylor swift disorder. >> what do you say to the critic

who say, how can you leave country behind? >> can we just get off her back for a minute? she's an artist. she's a songwriter. let her make whatever music she wants to. >> and john rich says taylor swift is still country at heart. >> taylor swift can make a pop record all day long, but if you look at the lyrics, that is the way country songwriters write songs. she's a country songwriters. she knows what writing a song is all about. she knows what it means to, you know, not sand off the rough edges but put a magnifying glass on it. >> with her new single -- ♪ shake it off, shake it off >> -- swift told "good morning america" she has an entirely new message. >> people will find anything about you and twist it to where it's weird or wrong or annoying or strange or bad. you have to not only live your life in spite of people who don't understand you, you have to have more fun than they do. ♪ shake it off, shake it off

>> at the moment, taylor swift is having a whole lot of fun. and shaking it off just fine. exceptional talent. candid honesty. >> i have no idea what i'm doing here. this just feels insane. >> and a wicked sense of humor. >> what are you going to do if you lose? >> i'm just going to go, what? >> have catapulted jennifer lawrence to the top. >> it's absolutely incredible. i've been incredibly blessed. >> starring in the biggest hits. >> you can't really pigeon hole her into a certain type. >> winning the most prestigious awards. >> it's just so unexpected. it just kind of feels like you're, like, living in a dream. >> collecting one of the largest