Gossip & Stars

Taylor Swift in an “Associated Press” interview excerpts:

Does being under the microscope make you gun-shy about revealing so much? “You know I don’t really rebel in a lot of areas in my life. ..But the one place where I’m allowed to rebel, and the one place where I’m allowed to not worry about censoring myself is my music. I don’t need to edit names out of songs and I don’t need to edit details out of my songs because I’ve always been able to be honest with my music. That’s the one place where I’m never ever going to change how I do things.”

Are you less likely to date someone in the public eye now? “When I’m thinking about going on a date with some guy or considering liking him, it really doesn’t matter what they do or how that affects my career.. When you strategize a relationship too much, like, ”We’re not gonna be public about it, and we’re gonna say this in interviews”, when you think it all out, I think that complicates the relationship and I think that’s unfair for the relationship. I don’t look for boyfriends, I don’t really scour the awards shows for who I’m going to date (laughs), but I think love happens when you’re not looking for it, and when it happens, I’m not going to be the one to overthink it.”

What kind of camaraderie do you have with Selena and Miley? “I’ve always approached this from the place where I don’t compete with other girls. I don’t compete with other people in the industry, I compete with myself. If I looked at every other girl in the entertainment industry as competition, my life would be really lonely. I wouldn’t have some of the coolest friends that I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know over the last couple of years. ..It’s really awesome to get to hang out with those girls and to call them friends.”

What’s it like being on the road with one of your best friends (Kellie Pickler)? “We are just absolutely such close friends and almost like sisters at this point. She and I will like sit in the dressing room ’til 2 or 3 a.m. just talking and painting our nails. It’s so much fun to just have another person out on tour with you that you know you’re so close with and you’ve known you for a really long time, to the point where you really just feel like they’re family.”

Do you want to develop your acting? “My favorite thing in the world is telling stories, and most of what I do is telling stories through music. But when I get to tell a story through music videos or ‘CSI,’ that’s fun for me, too.. It’s all about finding the story that I want to tell, so I’m definitely open to acting roles, it just depends on the story.”

Has success been overwhelming? “Well, it’s really fun. I wanted this, since the time I was a little girl. I’ve always just wished that maybe someday people would care about the words that I wrote. I’m so lucky that my songs are basically my diary put to music. I’m so lucky that I get to write my own music and write my own stories, so every single time I look down in the audience and I see somebody singing the words back to me, it makes it all worth it.”

Taylor tries to make a smoothie: