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In our annual TIME 100 issue we name the people who most affect our world
Taylor Swift
By STEVIE NICKS
Time.com
4/29/10
When I first got the call from Taylor Swift about performing with her at this year's Grammy Awards, I really didn't want to do it. She's 20 years old, 5 ft. 11 in. and slender; I'm 40 years older and, to be frank, neither of the other two things! I was not about to stand next to this girl on national television. But her little face just lights up like a star, and I couldn't say no.
Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John. She sings, she writes, she performs, she plays great guitar. Taylor can do ballads that could be considered pop or rock and then switch back into country. When I turned 20 years old, I had just made the serious decision to never be a dental assistant. Taylor just turned 20, and she's won four Grammys.
I still walk around singing her song "Today Was a Fairytale." All of us girls want that boy to pick us up and think that we look beautiful even though we're in jeans and clogs. We want it at 14, and we want it at 60. Taylor is writing for the universal woman and for the man who wants to know her. The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business.
