Best of Rock 2008's Best Country Lolita: Taylor Swift

"Pictures to Burn" has a lyric that perfectly captures the mindset of a teenage breakup: "Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay." Swift later modified that line so as not to give offense, but her songs are wittier and more evocative than the output of many writers twice her age. If she keeps maturing as a songwriter, she'll be a fearsome talent in a few years. "My favorite song on the record lyrically is called 'Cold As You,'" she says. "The hook is 'I've never been anywhere cold as you.' I love a line in a song where afterward you're just like? burn." Are her best songs burn songs? "Nah, I think my best songs are longing heartbreak songs." These days, Swift writes those songs largely from her imagination — she broke up with her last boyfriend two years ago so she could focus on her music. "I put these blinders on and I have not taken them off in two years. I don't even know if I would be good at dating now."

"I love soundcheck!" Swift says. At Spartanburg's Memorial Auditorium, the back hallways are not as glamorous as at TRL: no Carey, no Ashanti, no Christina Ricci. But Swift hits the stage with redoubled enthusiasm. She genuinely loves most parts of her job, even standing around for hours signing thousands of autographs, but soundcheck seems to inspire a higher level of excitement. Swift and the band work up a new cover for the encore: "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World, with a fiddle run taking the place of the guitar solo. Other non-country songs Swift has covered recently: Eminem's "Lose Yourself," Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Def Leppard's "Photograph." That last one didn't go over so well. "Kids born in '92 don't know it," Swift says. "I'm apparently the only Eighties freak of my generation."

Swift retires to her bus. Later that night, she'll have a crowd of two thousand, mostly teenage girls, screaming for her every move, but right now, she's got more work to do. She efficiently autographs a big stack of CD booklets — her merchandise table offers the signed albums at the show. "It sells a lot more CDs," she says, flashing a grin. "And I like being Number One."