When Taylor Swift's Mom Was Just a Mom
Right before the release of Fearless, I interviewed Taylor Swift. Her mom, Andrea, sat with us on the bus. And when I asked about the song, "The Best Day," Taylor was talking, but I wasn't really listening. I was watching the tears pool in her mom's eyes. Then I cried because that's the bond of motherhood.
Taylor was going on and on, saying, "See, the thing is I didn't think that that song would get much attention because it's such a personal song to me. I just wrote it about my childhood, and I didn't know how that would read on an album. But it's been everybody's favorite song. I didn't tell my mom. It was a total secret. So I wrote it in secret and then decided to record it secretly, so she had no idea that the song was recorded. My producers sent me the track and I synched it up to all my baby videos and I played it for her one Christmas Eve, and she bawled her eyes out. She didn't even think that it was my song. She didn't think there was any way for me to record a song without her knowing."
So while I was half-listening to Taylor's answers to my questions, I was fully seeing her mom as just Andrea. Just a mom who had been loving this girl for 19 years. Not the person she is now: Taylor Swift's mom. And when you watch the video for "The Best Day," that's the mom you'll see. The one who takes movies of her daughter's every move, the one who takes her horseback riding, the one who invites her big girl to climb onto the hospital bed to greet the new baby boy in the family, the one who kisses her head and holds her hand.
There's no denying Taylor was an adorable little girl with frizzy pigtails and ballerina outfits. But this time, I think fans will get a chance to see where that beauty really comes from -- motherly love that was born on Taylor's birthday.
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
Melissa says:
Taylor truly has wonderful parents. They’re both very supportive and grounded. I think they did a great job raising Taylor. The song is adorable and I love that she takes the time to recognize all that they’ve done for her. That shows a lot about Taylor’s character.
MiaT says:
WOW! I am sure her mom is sooooo proud of her. What a mothers day gift that would be. Great job Mom…you have raised a remarkable daughter! ( also, I will send out props to Dad also!)
MiaT says:
BTW: Alison this was a really great article. I love how when you were in the mist of Taylor you took note of her mom. I love to read about their families.
goldie says:
way to go taylor’s parents you raised a very caring and thoughtfull daughter, she cares about her fans soooooooooooooooo much and it show’s what a great job you both did with taylor!!!
star says:
great video for mother’s day!!!
trink says:
I think she’s alot like her mom how nice to see them so close and getting along so well at such a age when teenagers most of the time think about theirselves.Way to go Taylors Mom for raising such a lovely and talented Daughter.HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ALL!
Jenny says:
I’m sure “average” people have the same type of relationship with their MOMS also. This is so stupid as usual Alison. MORON!
CJT says:
Alison can you go one day without writing about Taylor I think you are obsessed. Most of the stars adore there mothers why is she different.
Always Right says:
If Taylor Swift’s mother was any mother at all, she would tell her daughter that she can’t sing!
kaye says:
Well even after a Firefox download to improve my ability to post on the CMT Blogs, I just keep working at getting things to post.
Hello everyone! I wanted to go on ‘record’ as stating I am not a ‘Taylor Hater’ just to keep things clear here and I can’t post this to the original Taylor blog of May 1st by Chris Parton because it won’t accept my posting. I admire the fact that Taylor has carved a career out for herself at such a young age and that she writes her own tunes.
Taylor is one of the HOT artists right now. The point I was trying to make was about the CMT Blogs and when does ’saturation coverage of one particular artist become ‘over-saturated’ or, even, does it ‘ever’? (The AMOUNT/VOLUME of blog space devoted to one subject.) The response I got from solongsowrong in part pretty much describes it all, “…..and one of these days the newest latest and greatest will come along to soak up all the attention. That’s how it works.”
I wasn’t condemning or suspect of the content of Chris Parton’s blog except it was once again on a ‘Taylor subject’. I do wish each and everyone of you a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
I am a fan of a lot of artists, some old time and some newer and everyday right here at CMT I listen and find out more of the new ones I didn’t know before. So I’m not ‘locked in’ to one style or era of music, especially ‘country music’.
Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts both as a group and individuals, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Rodney Atkins, Jason Aldean and a few others all had multiple CMT blog features during the month of April, 2009. Even with that, they couldn’t hold a candle to the AMOUNT of ‘Taylor coverage’. To me who comes over once a day to read or graze the CMT Blogs, it was very noticeable.
And as if to ‘add insult to injury’ (even if not intended), Alison B. comes right back with yet a second Taylor blog devoted to Mother’s Day! So this is enough of this subject with me and I will leave it alone for now. I thought I would at least make an attempt to let you know where I was coming from as a blog reader and observer.
* * *
My original posting from May 1st as follows…..
A CMT quick count (meaning counted quickly and in the ballpark) of blogs for April of 2009 is around 132 total. A quick count of blogs by Alison Bonaquro for the month of April is about 88. Of those 88 blogs directly related to Taylor Swift or which have a related story with Taylor Swift’s name or photograph prominently featured or within the body of the story by Alison are 10. (Does not include TAG mentions at all - they are numerous.)
In addition in April we had one Taylor Swift blog feature by Annemarie Blanco and we had one Taylor Swift blog feature by a fan who got a CMT Music Pass. AND I didn’t count in the one about Kellie Pickler and her shared song with Taylor..”Best Days Of Your Life”.
Total Taylor Swift blogs for April 2009 - 12 which averages about THREE PER WEEK.
Now Taylor is beautiful, young, high energy performer, established fan base that BUYS all her stuff, selling well….and her music may not be my music….but is the Taylor Swift ‘train’ all there is to blog about around here? Just asking!
hello! says:
I agree! Taylor swift has 239 blogs and in just about every story on cmt! My question is when is going to stop! Dont you think the more you shove taylor down our throats the more people you are going to lose! PLEASE GET OFF THE TAYLOR SWIFT TRAIN!!
trink says:
Get over it there’s going to be more and more news about her she is a star and if you can’t accept it to bad.Taylor has many many fans on here so just don’t read it if you don’t like her go past her name oh wait you people can’t do that if you see her name you have to jump in and start your crap GROW UP.If you don’t like her don’t read her articles.Her fans love the articles thanks Alison keep up the great work.
trink says:
Oh and just one other thing I know that everyone probably loves their Mom but do they write a song for her when they are 19 shes a young lady thanking her Mom for everything she has done for her and not only that she made the video for her sorry that doesn’t happen everyday. Your a great Daughter Taylor.
Jamey says:
So she wrote about 11% of her blog articles on Taylor and you all think that’s a bad thing? Taylor is everywhere so that I would have thought the number of blogs devoted to her would be higher. I think this blog just reports what’s going on in the world and as they say don’t shoot the messenger.
hello! says:
WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
hello! says:
As I said before ALOT of us is tried of her and the more she is shoved down our throats, the more I am against her. And will be doing something about HER!!!!
hannah says:
i love taylors songs but all of the songs that i heard have to do with love
sleepyfellow says:
All these people(or is it one disturbed person)that go onto every single blog about Taylor and accuse the blogger of being obsessed with Taylor, need to take a look in the mirror. They are the ones obsessed and cannot leave a single article or blog about Taylor unread or uncommented on. I’m glad that there is such a bigger percentage of good intelligent healthy-minded individuals that recognize and appreciate Taylor for what she is, a very nice and very down-to-earth but determined girl who has more than the average talent in rhyme and melody construction, and a tremendous amount of charisma. But we also recognize she is just a human being as well, and that in itself helps to endear her to us. Thanks Allison for reporting interesting facts and perspectives on Taylor AND on other popular musical artists.
dana says:
hey,taylor you sing good but there just love songs.you look like your mom and you act like her.your to overated about boys.i mean your petty but not how pretty you think you are.so promise dont forget what i told you.
JM01 says:
I like Taylor Swift’s music but everytime I turn CMT on or the radio on it is ALWAYS her! She is a great country artist but there are several other great country artist out there that I would love to see on CMT or on the radio. She isn’t the only country artist out there. It was great of her to write a song for her mother and make a video for her. I just get tired of seeing and hearing the same thing over and over and over! She isn’t the only one I am tired of seeing everywhere. There are some others. She is just high on the list.
dimond says:
Iam sorry but everytime I turn on the radio or cmt it is always carrie. except for this weekend I think it is about time taylor gets her time in the lime light like carrie has since ai. so I say go taylor keep on being yourself no matter what others (bashers) want to say!
emily says:
hey taylor i love ur muisc so wats up taylor r u writing some songs. when r ucoming to cleveland oh so write back if u can love emily
Anna says:
Hey Taylor,
Your music is soo cool..
You are very good at making songs.
Write back if you can..
~Anna~
ivanasiddik says:
aww! i loove that song!
nevada scott says:
omg i love that song and taylor does have the best parents and she is got the best lyrics when she makes a song and she one of the best singers by far out of alot of these female singers that’s what i think but i taylor your music is so cool and u need to keep making your songs and can u write back if u get a chance i love all of your songs taylor u are the best.
Miley Cyrus says:
Hi Taylor ya no me Miley come own !!!!! lol i lv ya music i told you that anyway but you rock my mom said come to my house tmrw if you want … see ya babez xxxxxxxx <3
TV says:
As a widowed father of a 17 year old daughter, all I can say is that it’s REALLY scarey out here, competing with pop culture and the media blasting “nothing is wrong, just different” mentality. THEN, along comes Taylor. What a Godsend!
Taylor is more than her music, although her lyrics say a lot. She is “good” when their a lack of goodness, and plenty of the other. She is a girl who loves her family, who worked hard to make her dreams come true, who didn’t take the easy route and put on something a little skimpier. She doesn’t cheapen herself to be attractive, which makes her more beautiful.
We like her music, read her lyrics, watch her videos on youtube, go to her concerts, and talk about who Taylor is, she has added much to our family, and given us something positive to share.
Thank you Miss Swift.
Lt.Col. Daddy
G says:
Well written article. I loved it….. and I love the song too.
Ashlee says:
This is kind of embarrasing, but that song actually made me cry. I was reading the lyrics and listening, and suddenly I got what it was about. You can tell how much it would mean to her family. I started reading the lyrics to my sister out loud and my voice broke. (Haha) She was like ‘Are you crying??’ I was like ‘Nooo… Of course not…’ with tears running down my face. I feel like I’m made of marshmallow sometimes…
But that song is so sweet and I love it. Love Taylor, love her songs, love her voice, LOVE IT!
- A
Ashlee says:
I can’t believe how many people commented that Taylor is ‘being shoved down our throats’ and ‘is on the radio every time I turn it on’. Imagine you are a 19 year old girl from a small town. You have huge talent, and have just been discovered. You are shocked at how many fans you have, and you are new in the music business. You would be extremely happy to be so successful, and you can’t blame Taylor for having lots of fans!
So what if her songs are popular? I bet it means so much to her that she has a huge amount of fans all over the world, and I’ll bet her family are extremely proud of her!
Taylor isn’t the one who decides if her songs are on the radio. It is the people who decide that. So can’t you people just be happy that such a sweet, kind 19 year old has been introduced into Hollywood? Maybe she can give some of the awful girls in Hollywood a lesson in being good? That is part of the reason Taylor has so many fans. She is so sweet and good, a great rolemodel for today’s youth.
I’m just saying: don’t bash Taylor Swift (or her fans). She has raw talent, and if it takes a whole lot of fans to appreciate that, then let them and get on with your own life. If you have a problem with her, go make a ‘We hate Taylor Swift’ blog or something. Whatever. Ok, rant over. That’s better.
- A
kailani says:
hi taylor!