Taylor Swift is a pro at handling unexpected mishaps on stage — the Eras Tour alone had the pop star accidentally swallowing bugs — and that calm demeanor is “Nothing New.”
As is well-known to fans heavily versed in Swiftian lore, when the “Fifteen” singer, now 35, was a teenager, she moved from her hometown in Pennsylvania to the Nashville area to start her professional career as a singer-songwriter. Once in Music City, she enrolled in Hendersonville High School, where she honed her talent both in school and outside of it. In fact, as Swift’s former teacher Lile Rogers told local outlet WJHL, the iconic musician even performed a rendition of “Our Song” at the high school talent show.
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Despite the track’s enduring popularity — after releasing it on her eponymous debut album in 2006, “Our Song” has since gone 4x platinum — back in school, Swift was just a student trying to get through the performance … especially when there was an audio fail.
“She was performing and the sound broke and we had no sound. She went and sat at the edge of the stage and picked her guitar and started playing and singing and wasn’t bothered at all,” Rogers remembered how Swift handled the technical problem. “After the show I ran up to her and said, ‘I’m so sorry’. She went, ‘Ms. Rogers it’s no big deal!’ That’s how professional she was, she was very professional, even at that age.”
Rogers further recalled that the future superstar was “very nice and very sweet and not a diva at all.”
Swift’s principal, however, admitted he had his doubts at first — just because he’s seen how many teens come to Nashville to try and break into the music scene.
“I said, ‘What brings you all to Hendersonville?’” Paul Decker, the former principal at Hendersonville High School, remembered asking Swift’s family upon enrolling the “Maroon” artist. He recalled that Taylor’s mom, Andrea Swift, saying, “‘Well, we’re going to try to get Taylor in the music business.’”
Decker, however, was skeptical at first.
“Being at Hendersonville High School and as much music as there is in this area, I thought, ‘You don’t know how many times I’ve heard that right here in this office,’” he shared. “But I did say, ‘Well, I hope it works out for you.’”
With fourteen Grammys and the distinction of having the highest-selling tour ever — among her many, many other accolades — it’s safe to say that a career in music has indeed worked out for Swift.
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