captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> about a year ago we began to hear stories of a massive migration out of afghanistan. a journey being made by thousands of afghan children, some as young as nine-years-old. they often spend years on the road trying to make it to europe. to get there, however, they have to survive what might be one of the most difficult and dangerous journeys in the world. >> reporter: beverly and dereck joubert have made movies about lions, more than anyone alive.

they have documented some of the most dangerous and memorable moments of africa's big cats. they told us what keeps them in the bush after all these years is the thrill of making new discoveries. like the contribution to the discovery of these water loving super-lions. >> his physique started to change. you could see that they were getting huge pectoral muscles and huge necks. these lions were 15% larger than any other lions that we were working with. >> you are a role model and you know it? >> i think it is my responsibility to know it. >> well, good evening, los angeles! ( cheers and applause ) >> taylor swift is a role model to millions of fans who pack into arenas all over the world to hear her sing songs she writes herself. ♪ her shows are extravaganzas and we were allowed backstage to

watch taylor run in and out of quick change rooms, getting ready to hit the stage. ( cheers and applause ) >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm scott pelley, those stories and more tonight on this special edition of "60 minutes." [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day. there was this and this.

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>> cooper: in the 12 years american forces have been fighting in afghanistan, we've learned a lot about the war, but we haven't seen much about what life is like for ordinary afghans-- the violence, the poverty and the fear of the taliban. about a year ago, we began to hear stories of a massive migration out of afghanistan; a journey being made by thousands of afghan children, some as young as nine years old. they often spend years on the road, trying to make it to europe. to get there, however, they have to survive what might be one of the most difficult and dangerous journeys in the world. you see them all over europe; small groups of afghan boys, searching for a better life. tired and hungry, these afghan kids are on a greek island trying to find a bus to athens, just one more stop on a journey

that's already taken some of them years. police find them hidden under floorboards in vans or smuggled in secret compartments in trucks. kids fleeing afghanistan now make up one of the largest migrations of children in modern times. starting in afghanistan the boys go through pakistan, iran, then turkey and greece and onward to countries throughout europe, what can be a 10,000-mile journey across six mountain ranges and two seas. over the past year, we've interviewed dozens of afghan boys at various stages of their journey. though they come from all over afghanistan, their stories of why they're leaving are strikingly similar. >> hayat: in afghanistan, there are all bullets, guns, people used to kill people for no reason. >> tavab: i couldn't follow my dreams there. >> hamed: i didn't have any future, any future.

>> ali hassan: we are not safe in afghanistan. you know the condition. it is always there is a killing, bomb blastings. >> cooper: ali hassan's father was killed in afghanistan. he fled with his two sisters and brother when he was just 11 to iran, where he began working in a market. >> ali hassan: we go from pakistan to iran illegally-- me, my two sister and my small brother. >> cooper: he worked for two months in iran until the day he found out his siblings were caught by authorities and deported. >> ali hassan: my neighbors, they told me that police came here and took your family and they deport to afghanistan because we don't have any paper. so i'm nervous, i'm crying. >> cooper: you didn't know where they had been sent? >> ali hassan: i don't know anything. i was thinking if i go to europe, maybe one day i will find my family, and i will bring them here and we will live a better life. if a person lives with his

family, it's the best life ever. if a person lives lonely like me, like other boys, it's too difficult. >> cooper: he says an iranian man he worked for in the market paid a smuggler to bring him to europe. the journey would take four years. at one point, he was hidden in a refrigerated truck. >> ali hassan: we are in freezer. freezer. two days, two night and four hours, i was in container. after 52 hours, i'm totally freezed. i can't shake my hand, my foot. on that time, also, i was think that maybe i will die. >> cooper: you thought you were going to die? >> ali hassan: yes. we are like animals for this smuggler. they slapped us. "shut up, sit down. otherwise, i will kill you here, and no one knows." >> cooper: and you believed him? >> ali hassan: yes. they have big, big knives. they have guns. for money, they can do anything. for money. >> cooper: money fuels this migration.

some kids, like these afghan boys who are employed in a bakery in peshawar, pakistan, have to work for months or even years along the way to pay the smugglers. the trip can cost as much as $15,000. many of the boys who leave come from afghan families that have land they can sell to pay for the trip. >> alixandra fazzina: most of the world feels that after ten years of intervention in afghanistan, things have gotten so much better, whereas actually most children there don't do to school. they don't have any future. they don't see any hope. >> cooper: alixandra fazzina is a british photojournalist based in pakistan who's spent five years documenting these journeys. she's creating an ongoing photographic record of some of the thousands of boys who left afghanistan last year. >> alix fazzina: this journey they are embarking on, which is, of course, highly dangerous, is almost symbolic of just how desperate people are over there. all along the route, the boys are very, very vulnerable. they are robbed, they are kidnapped, but many of them are

actually being kept by some of the smugglers as sexual slaves. >> cooper: wazir gul's family sent him out of afghanistan at 13 to escape the taliban. he says he often saw smugglers sexually abusing boys. >> wazir gul: i haven't been raped, but other boys with me were raped. >> cooper: what would happen? >> wazir gul: the smugglers used to drag the boys out from the room and hit them with a pistol or with a knife. the boys couldn't do anything. the smuggler then would do whatever they wanted to do. >> cooper: hamed, who asked us not to use his real name, crossed iran with little food, and, at one point in the journey, hid underneath a moving truck. >> hamed: you remember everything in your life when you're in that moment, that you think that you're going to die. you remember everything. >> cooper: he was arrested in turkey for illegal entry and jailed when he was 15. so, you're 15 in an adult jail? >> hamed: yeah. >> cooper: what was the worst part? >> hamed: to not see outside.

i was about to go crazy in that jail. it felt so... i don't know how to describe. i felt like a dead person. >> cooper: he managed to escape and fled to greece. but getting into greece is one of the riskiest parts of the journey. smugglers save money and time by taking the boys, most of whom don't know how to swim, at night in small boats. >> stop the engine, here. >> cooper: this overcrowded boat was intercepted by the greek coast guard. many boys die on the crossing. several months ago, 21 afghans drowned off the greek island village of mytliene. their bodies and the few possessions they had washed ashore. we went to mytliene's cemetery and found their graves.

no one knew the boys' names, so they were simply assigned numbers. the sole survivor of the accident is a 17-year-old afghan named murtaza. it was his ninth attempt to cross into greece. >> murtaza: this what i would say to the boys still in afghanistan: don't come towards europe. it's 100% death. >> cooper: europe is not what many of the boys expect. in greece, where economic turmoil has fueled riots, there's little sympathy for unaccompanied afghan minors. the government rarely grants kids asylum. police routinely throw them into detention centers like these with adults. >> hayat: i was with adults bigger than me. >> cooper: hayat was just nine when he was detained in greece. >> hayat: they took us to a prison, and they took the other people's fingerprints. they didn't took mine. they told me, "you're too small

to take your fingerprints." >> cooper: after 60 days, he was released and told he needed to return to afghanistan. >> hayat: he gave us a sheet. he said, "you have to get out at this country and that day. if you don't, we can catch you again and then deport you." >> cooper: hayat managed to escape to england. he's now 11 and has been granted asylum. ali hassan got stuck in greece for months. he was never arrested but says he was beaten by police in the port city of patras. >> ali hassan: they beat us a lot. >> cooper: why did they beat you? >> ali hassan: "why are you here?" >> cooper: that's what they were asking? >> ali hassan: they are not thinking i'm a 14-, 15-year-old boy. i'm a small boy. they have big, big shoes. it's very heavy, and they are very big. they beat us a lot. >> cooper: as difficult as the journey is, very few ever willingly turn back, even when they're forced to scrounge for food and sleep in abandoned buildings and parks.

parents rarely learn the truth of what their children are going through. they can't tell them the truth? >> alix fazzina: no, the truth is very much hidden. when they do ever phone home, they would never tell their family "i'm really having a hard time here" because often the families have paid so much money and put everything they have-- their property, their land is at stake for the future of this one child-- that they're never going to tell them that "no, we're really in a bad condition and we need some help." if the boys can't prove their age or the details of their story, in many european countries, they'll be deported. wazir gul, who says he escaped afghanistan to flee the taliban, made it to england, but, unable to prove his age and details of his story, it's unlikely british authorities will allow him to stay. if the british government says you can't stay here, what will you do? >> wazir gul: i have no choice but to kill myself here.

>> cooper: you wouldn't go back? >> wazir gul: if i go back to afghanistan, i know i will be killed, so why wait? it's best to die here. >> cooper: the country that grants asylum to the highest percentage of unaccompanied afghan minors is sweden, a place that is about as far removed from afghanistan as possible. over the years, the journey for thousands of afghan teens has ended here in stockholm's central train station. moved by their plight, the swedish government has granted the teens asylum, giving them free accommodations, education, even financial support to begin new lives. last year, nearly 2,000 afghan minors were granted asylum here. hamed was one of them. he's now enrolled in high school. so is ali hassan, who's 15 and already fluent in swedish. after four years on the road, he now lives near stockholm in a government run group home with other afghan boys.

>> ali hassan: swedish people is for me the best people. for me. they feel us. >> cooper: they feel you? >> ali hassan: when they look, they are laughing. they're like, "hey, how are you?" this is the goodness of the swedish people. they are feeling us. >> cooper: ali hassan just discovered that his brother and sisters, deported from iran four years ago, are alive and living as refugees in pakistan. he doesn't want them to make the same difficult journey he made but hopes one day they'll all be reunited. >> ali hassan: i'm thinking that now i am alive. >> cooper: because? >> ali hassan: now i am alive, my heart is beating now because i hear that my family is alive. >> cooper: you felt alive because you knew for the first time that they were alive? >> ali hassan: yes. now, i'm going to school, and i'm trying to learn something, to do something for my family, for myself.

nothing else. >> cooper: it's nice to see you smile. >> ali hassan: thanks. ♪ i know a place before five old friends were once again the five fine fillies... before earning 1% cash back on all purchases... and 2% back on groceries... even before automatically earning 3% back on gas... red meg got a bankamericard cash rewards credit card and called little lilly to say, "it's time to rock." that's the sweet sound of rewarding connections. that's bank of america. ♪

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filming and living among lions in the wild than anyone alive today. the discoveries they've made over 30 years of filmmaking have challenged conventional wisdom about africa's big cats. they've made more than 20 films for national geographic, where they are explorers in residence. they live in botswana, in the heart of southern africa, a country about the size of texas. as we first reported in november, the jouberts often go long stretches without seeing another human being, but they made an exception for us and allowed us to join them in a wild place they call home. their films are known for these spectacular cinematic moments. but what distinguishes their work is their belief that all

the animals have untold stories, which they bring to life in their films. to get to the jouberts, we flew to this remote landing strip, but we couldn't land until these wild baboons were cleared from the runway. >> there she is. hi, lara, it's nice to meet you. how are you? >> logan: it didn't take us long to discover why they decided to make botswana's okavango delta their home. this is one of the last untouched places on earth, a labyrinth of watery channels and rolling savannas that are home to some of africa's most beautiful creatures. but it was the lions that drew the jouberts here, and for most of their lives, they have lived among these animals, making some of the greatest wildlife films ever made. >> dereck joubert: we've spent thousands and thousands of hours with them. we've spent more hours with lions than we've done at university, school, with either of our parents. so this is our family in many

ways. >> logan: dereck does the filming and writes the scripts for their movies. beverly records sound and takes pictures; she's a world-class photographer. each film takes years to make. they followed this lioness they call ma di tau for seven years, and they made a movie about her called, "the last lions." >> today, ma di tau, mother of lions, earns her name as protector of her young. >> logan: the film told the moving story of her battle to survive alone with her three cubs. >> beverly joubert: one thing that we have learned, and it's been a hard lesson, is that we can never predict what is going to happen. >> dereck joubert: first of all, a cub was taken by a crocodile. and then later on, sadly, another one was injured.

>> logan: stampeding buffalo had badly wounded the cub. just as any mother would, you see ma di tau go over to it. she tries to take it with her. but there's nothing she can do, and her survival instincts take over. >> dereck joubert: when we filmed it, i sort of said to beverly, "let's just cover this, because we'll never use this. this is too... too sad, and too..." >> beverly joubert: too traumatic at the time. i mean, it's too traumatic for us to even witness it. >> logan: tell me about that moment. >> beverly joubert: it broke our hearts in so many ways, because we knew that it was hopeless. i mean a little cub dragging its body, a broken back. what... what could she do? >> dereck joubert: she was struggling with what we can only assume is emotions and coming to terms with it. because after that, she blinks, she... she swallows, she looks around. and then she steps away from her cub for the last time. >> logan: dereck and beverly

took us deep into the delta to see the lions. first, we had to cross this bridge, which you can't see because it's mostly underwater. >> beverly joubert: think of crossing this at 4:00 in the morning in wintertime. >> logan: and it's pitch dark. >> beverly joubert: and it's pitch dark. >> logan: the channel is full of crocodiles. >> dereck joubert: and it's about four meters deep here, so if we tipped in now, we would lose the vehicle. >> logan: and how safe is this bridge? >> dereck joubert: no, it's not too good, ay? >> logan: water has claimed three of their trucks already. and out here, their vehicle is everything. it's where they work and often sleep, staking out the animals for months at a time, waiting for those rare moments that make their films so memorable. they have no doors and no protection. >> dereck joubert: we've been charged by lions a lot, but they've never scratched us. >> logan: what is it liked to be charged by a lion? >> dereck joubert: it's fairly dramatic, you know. we've had some where they come

out of nowhere, and it's roaring and... and fiery eyes and right in your face and flared up manes and kicking dust all over you. very dramatic. >> logan: they told us they never want to influence the lions' natural behavior, so they usually try to keep their distance. but as we found, you never really know what's going to happen. >> beverly joubert: she's coming to us for shade. yep. she's lying in our shade. >> logan: as dereck leaned down to get a closer shot... >> dereck joubert: can someone hang on to my belt? >> logan: ...his camera was staring straight into the young lion's face. >> dereck joubert: it's rare. we almost never get this top angle. >> logan: it takes you years, huh, to make these movies? >> dereck joubert: takes us forever. and it's slowly piecing together good scenes and good opportunities like this, unusual angles, and just getting to know the lions well and understanding

what they do. >> logan: they've been searching for stories in the african bush since they were in their 20s. early on, they decided to concentrate on documenting lions at night. for the next 15 years, they worked in the dark, and what they documented changed what we know about these wild animals. >> beverly joubert: the night opened up a veil of what was happening, and nobody had ever seen that in africa before. >> logan: they filmed these bloody nighttime battles between lions and hyenas, images that inspired the producers of "the lion king" and shattered the myth that hyenas were just scavengers. >> dereck joubert: and we were finding exactly the opposite. a lot of the time, hyenas were making the kills, and the lions were rushing in and scavenging from... from the hyenas. >> logan: in the middle of another hot summer night, they documented something else that surprised the scientific world.

>> beverly joubert: all of a sudden, i saw eight lions just move forward. >> dereck joubert: it was a spectacular scene. >> logan: a pride of lions attacked this fully grown elephant. >> ( elephant trumpeting ) >> dereck joubert: we'd never seen an elephant this size being attacked by lions. halfway through the sort of elation of... of us, bleary eyed, saying, "we're capturing something amazing here," i heard her start to say, "come on, get up." >> beverly joubert: "get up." >> dereck joubert: "now. get up now." so she started to root for the elephant. >> beverly joubert: yeah, the compassion towards that elephant, you know, i was filled with it. and i was just rooting for her. >> dereck joubert: i say that death begins in the eyes. and we've seen this so many times with animals where they... they give up hope. >> beverly joubert: and all of a sudden, you saw her swing her body and she rocked and rocked. and she fought for her life. she truly did. she pulled herself up. >> dereck joubert: and forces through, goes through that wall and survives. and... and then she charged off into the darkness.

>> logan: they still film at night when they need to, but most of the time, they work long days that begin before dawn. their refuge is their home, this tent sitting in the middle of nowhere, looking out over the delta. it's what they call "their paradise." it doesn't get better than this. no, you're right. no, this is fantastic. >> beverly joubert: this is our bedroom. >> dereck joubert: this is our bedroom and office, and sort of research area as well. >> logan: wow, it's beautiful. >> dereck joubert: so yeah, this is largely where we spend our time. >> logan: okay, so i'm being nosy now-- do you have a bathroom back here? >> beverly joubert: we have a bathroom. it's not necessarily what you would be used to. showering and bathing with nature all around you is just truly fantastic. >> logan: dereck and beverly have been together for 36 years, and most of the time, they're within about three feet of each other. >> dereck joubert: you know, we wanted to go out into africa. and we fell in love, and we fell in love with that lifestyle and

with this place. and that means together, not separately. and i think that's, in many ways, what defines us. >> logan: they told us what keeps them going after all these years is the thrill of making new discoveries. they were among the first to discover and document these large lions some call "super lions," who've learned how to live and hunt in water. it was thought that lions hated water? >> dereck joubert: yes, exactly. and rightly so. we've filmed lions in other areas that, after a rainstorm, they put their paw in and they hate it. they... you know what cats are like. >> logan: but not here? >> dereck joubert: but not... not in duba. and so we saw these lions swimming in deep, you know, just getting their noses out. >> beverly joubert: their physique started to change. you could see that they were getting huge pectoral muscles and huge necks. these lions were at least 15% larger than any other lions we had been working with. >> logan: it's not only lions

they film. they spent three years following this leopard, and captured one of the most extraordinary moments in wildlife filmmaking. this baby baboon's mother had just been killed by the leopard. instead of killing the baby, the leopard cared for it throughout the night, trying to keep it alive. >> dereck joubert: but another example of a scene that... that we were able to capture that nobody had ever seen before, nobody had ever heard about before, and is almost unimaginable. >> logan: before you documented it, no one would have believed that was possible. >> dereck joubert: i think that, very often, when we start talking about the things that we've filmed, we do get pushback from some scientists saying, "that's impossible." and thankfully, then you... you show the film and it advances science in many ways. >> logan: today, they feel an urgency to do more than make films. and they've teamed up with the national geographic society to create the big cats initiative, trying to draw attention to the fact that the number of big cats

in the wild is falling fast, particularly lions. >> dereck joubert: in our lifetimes, we've seen those numbers go down from 450,000 to just 20,000, so we are in fact filming the last of those lions. i mean, this could be the very last couple of generations of a species that's been on the planet for three and a half million years. >> logan: for their next film, dereck and beverly were going back to the story of their lioness, ma di tau, trying to find out what happened to her last surviving cub. this is him two years ago, the last time they saw him. when we joined them, they were starting to believe he might be dead. >> beverly joubert: it's physically hard and it's emotionally hard. because we're getting to know an animal, and then see some desperate, traumatic situation happening to it, and that is emotionally draining. >> logan: it's dereck's job to track, and on our second day, he spotted lion prints in the sand. beverly is constantly scanning

and searching the bush. >> beverly joubert: this might be our cub. oh, my gosh. this is giving me chills. >> dereck joubert: oh, this is him. this is him, all right. >> logan: they know it's him from his whisker pattern, which is like a fingerprint. >> dereck joubert: he's developing quite a mane. >> beverly joubert: yeah. >> dereck joubert: he's looking quite good. he's looking handsome as hell. >> logan: he is. he is handsome. >> dereck joubert: i had actually written him off. i thought that he was gone. and so, seeing him is a bit like reuniting with family. we spent a lot of hours with this guy. >> logan: as we watched, more lions wandered towards us and, we realized, we were exactly where the jouberts like to be. are we literally surrounded by lions in every direction, at this point? >> dereck joubert: we are, aren't we? >> beverly joubert: we are. >> dereck joubert: so we've got ma di tau and her cubs out there. >> beverly joubert: with another female.

>> dereck joubert: we've got the male and female here, the young male over there, and the little female out in that direction. so there's no way out of this one. ( laughter ) >> logan: how long can you two keep doing this? >> dereck joubert: i think forever. i think that this is our calling in life. i can't imagine doing anything different. giving this up and then what, living in new york? i don't think i'd fit in there. ( laughs ) as your life changes, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your investments as retirement gets closer. wherever you are today, fidelity's guidance can help you fine-tune your personal economy. start today with a free one-on-one review of your retirement plan.

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>> stahl: six years ago last fall, a 16-year-old girl released her debut country music album and dreamed of making it big. well, today, that girl is as big as it gets.

she has sold more albums in the u.s. over those six and a half years than any other artist in any genre. her latest album, "red," sold more copies in its first week than any album in more than a decade. taylor swift's has been a meteoric rise, and she seems to know, even at a young age, just the right notes to hit in her songwriting and in her business. in an era of declining record sales, taylor swift appeals to people who still pay a lot for music: girls and their moms. she has held onto her country fans even as she's gotten huge in pop. and then there's her image-- lots of publicity about her love life but never a drunken rampage, a public outburst or a scandalous photo. she's on the road now promoting her "red" album, but we first met taylor swift back in 2011 during her "speak now" tour.

( cheers and applause ) take a look at the crowd at the staples center in los angeles, where taylor swift sold out four shows within minutes. >> taylor swift: well, good evening, los angeles! ( fans screaming ) >> stahl: the decibel level here reminds you of the beatles. it's almost as if she's their spiritual leader, with her message that you can be a good girl, a nice person, and still have fun. taylor swift writes her own songs, about love and heartbreak and being the ordinary girl next door. she's been called "the poet laureate of puberty." >> ♪ what you're looking for has been here the whole time ♪ if you could see that i'm the one who understands you ♪ >> are they great songs, in your opinion? we spoke to bill werde,

editorial director of "billboard." >> bill werde: maybe if she looked different, like, let's say she wasn't young and cute. i think people would be talking about her as a great songwriter. >> stahl: so, you think that the persona and the fan base and all that almost diminishes... >> werde: yeah, i definitely think it does. you know, i think that it's hard for critics to look at an arena full of screaming 12-year-old girls and say, "this is really credible songwriting." >> stahl: but you say it? >> werde: oh, absolutely. yeah, no doubt. ♪ ♪ >> stahl: all taylor swift's songs are autobiographical. "love story" grew out of a teenage argument she had with her parents over a boy. they thought he was a creep. >> swift: and he was, but i, at the time, just thought he was amazing. >> stahl: she started thinking "shakespeare." >> swift: and i got this pre- chorus in my head that said, "you were romeo, you were throwing pebbles, and my daddy said 'stay away from juliet.'" ♪ ♪ >> stahl: she raced in to work out the chords on her bedroom floor.

>> swift: maybe it's... ♪ you were romeo, and you're just like, "oh, okay, well, that's that." ♪ you were romeo, you were throwing pebbles, ♪ and my daddy said 'stay away from juliet'... i had to fight for that song, because when i first played it for, you know, my family, a few people, they were just sort of like, "eh." >> stahl: but you believed in it. you trust yourself. >> swift: yeah, it's almost more fun that way when... when you have something to prove. >> stahl: "love story" went to number one on both "billboard's" country and pop songs charts, the first song ever to do that. proving doubters wrong is a big theme in the tale of taylor swift. she started singing when she was still a toddler. ♪ ♪ she fell in love with country music, and not as a coal miner's daughter from kentucky. she's a stockbroker's daughter from wyamissing, pennsylvania,

who, at age ten, began nagging her parents to take her to the mecca of country music. >> swift: it was just on repeat, just like a loop, constantly. like, "how about we go to nashville? can we go to nashville? can i take a trip to nashville? hey, so i looked up this tourist brochure about nashville. can we go see nashville?" >> stahl: spring break 2001, they finally gave in and headed to mecca, says her mother andrea. >> andrea swift: we started driving up and down music row. and at that point, she would say, "mom, mom, pull over. that's mercury records. let me out." >> stahl: she was 11, toting cds of herself singing karaoke songs. and she'd run in? >> andrea swift: she would walk up to the receptionist and hand them a demo cd, and say, "hi, i'm taylor. i'm 11. i want a record deal. call me." >> stahl: anyone call? >> andrea swift: no. sadly, no. ( laughter ) >> stahl: she spent the next few years performing every chance she got, even in a bar when she was 13. >> taylor swift: i remember

there was all these, like, rock- n-roll dudes and, like, biker guys. and i'm like, "this is a song that i wrote about the guy who sits next to me in class." and it was just like... ( laughs ) you know, sometimes i ended up in the wrong venue. but it was still... it was learning to talk to a crowd, regardless of whether it was the crowd that's going to be most susceptible to liking your music. >> stahl: somebody at rca records liked her music and offered her a one-year development deal. that's when the swifts moved to nashville. taylor was finally where she belonged. or so she thought. >> taylor swift: i would go and turn in songs, and more and more, i would just get suggestions that i write... that i sing other people's songs. and, you know, i just didn't want to. >> andrea swift: and at that point, she said, "my contract's coming up, mom. i need to just walk." and i thought, "you're kidding." >> stahl: how gutsy was that for a 14-year-old? >> scott borchetta: gutsy?

no. how about unheard of? >> stahl: scott borchetta was an executive at another label. >> borchetta: you don't have artists walking out of one of the biggest record companies and saying, "you know what? i don't think i need another year of development. i'm going to go." all right. >> stahl: she did it, though. >> borchetta: she absolutely did it, at 14. >> stahl: borchetta heard taylor, liked her songs, and offered to sign her as his first artist on a new label he was starting. she took the risk and it paid off. >> borchetta: as of this week, "speak now" has sold five million copies worldwide. ( cheers and applause ) >> stahl: "speak now" is her third multi-platinum album, and she's been on a worldwide 76- city tour to promote it. the show is an extravaganza, with aerialists and fireworks on stage... and frantic darting about below, as taylor runs in and out of quick-change rooms, and braces

herself inside this glass contraption, preparing to be tossed in the air. >> taylor swift: i'm praying that i'm not going to break my leg. i'm like, "dear god, i'm very clumsy. i'm not a gymnast, i'm not graceful. please don't let me break my leg." that's what's going on. ( cheers and applause ) >> stahl: like big-time musicians today, taylor makes a bundle on her tours. she's become a brand, with "merch," as they say, like t-shirts and show programs; product endorsements, like for cover girl. she even owns her own buses. taylor swift is big, big business. >> borchetta: yes, she is. >> stahl: i've seen figures. >> borchetta: they're big. >> stahl: $100 million to $120 million, just on this tour. >> borchetta: i've seen those figures. >> stahl: that's like a major corporation. >> borchetta: taylor swift is a major corporation. >> stahl: and who's at the helm? look who we found running the management meeting. >> taylor swift: it's like they messed with the color...

>> stahl: unlike other stars of her caliber who sign up with management companies, taylor created her own. as c.e.o., she manages herself. >> taylor swift: it's fine, just because it's subtle. >> stahl: but it's taylor's way of tirelessly courting her fans that may be the key to her success. remarkably, she spends an hour before every show meeting and greeting and charming. >> taylor swift: do you think it would be okay if i got a picture with you? >> stahl: and she's orchestrated her concerts, too, to get as close to her fans as any performer we've ever seen-- halfway through the show, she walks through the audience and sings three songs to the people in the back. all while members of her team search the crowd for the most enthusiastic fans and reward them with gold-- an invitation to hang out with taylor after the show. ( screaming ) >> stahl: then, taylor heads back to the stage through the

crowd, touching and hugging all over again. and when the crowd roars, her expression of awe, again and again, can be, well, hard to believe. are you really surprised, or are you just kind of putting it on? >> taylor swift: i'm really surprised every time i see a crowd like that, because i never thought i'd get to play to a crowd like that. >> stahl: so when you go... it's real? >> taylor swift: does it look like that? great. ( laughter ) >> stahl: one of the things her fans love about her is that she laughs at herself, as in this video with rapper t-pain... >> taylor swift: ♪ i knit sweaters, yo. >> stahl: ...poking fun at her squeaky clean image and turning her uncoolness into cool. >> taylor swift: ♪ you guys bleeped me and i didn't even swear. >> t-pain: ♪ she didn't even swear... >> stahl: taylor swift has won just about every music award there is, including the industry's highest honor, the grammy for album of the year in

2010. but the few setbacks in her meteoric career have come, ironically, on award nights, as when kanye west grabbed the mike from her... and the time she sang a live duet with stevie nicks at the grammys off-key. one nasty review said she had killed her career overnight, and was "too young and dumb to understand the mistake she'd made." >> taylor swift: the things that were said about me by this dude floored me and, like, leveled me. and i... i don't have thick skin. i hate reading criticisms. you never really, like, get past things hurting you. >> stahl: but then, taylor did her thing and turned the wound into a song... ♪ ♪ >> stahl: the hit single "mean." and in the music video, taylor

broadened it beyond herself to a boy in a locker room reading a fashion magazine, a girl who shows up wearing something different. the song has taken on a life of its own-- a sort of anti- bullying, anti-meanness anthem. ♪ ♪ ♪ there's a deep, deep connection here. as one of her fans told us, "taylor lets us know it's okay to be ourselves." >> ♪ and all you're ever go be is mean ♪ >> scott borchetta says she's a cultural leader and she knows it. >> taylor swift: well, i definitely think about a million people when i'm getting dressed in the morning. and that's just part of my life now and... >> stahl: you're a role model and you know it.

>> taylor swift: i think it's my responsibility to know it and to be conscious of it. and it would be really easy to say, you know, "i'm... i'm 21 now. i do what i want. you raise your kids." but it's... that's not the truth of it. the truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count. ♪ ♪ >> stahl: what's it like to achieve your dream so early? >> taylor swift: you know, it's great. ( laughter ) >> stahl: the answer is, "it's great." >> taylor swift: you know, it's not bad. and it just means that i have a lot of time to figure out how i'm going to prove myself over and over and over again, and i have time to do it. ♪ ♪ ( cheers and applause )

at university of phoenix we know the value of your education is where it can take you. (now arriving: city hospital) which is why we're proud to help connect our students with leading employers across the nation. (next stop: financial center) let's get to work. [ kids ] a bunch! ok. what would you buy with all this money you saved? i'd buy a changing machine so i could change my brother into a puppy. couldn't you just buy an actual puppy? yeah but if my brother's a puppy i could bring him to show and tell and say, "hey everybody, here's my puppy brother!" well when you say it like that it makes perfect sense. [ male announcer ] it's not complicated. saving is better. now at at&t, trade up to iphone 5.

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