At age nine, Taylor Swift became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions. She also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. Taylor Swift later shifted her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain's songs, which made her want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything. She spent weekends performing at local festivals and events. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music. By the age of 10, Taylor Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old. To pursue her music career, Taylor Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. There she co-wrote songs and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, Taylor Swift and her family moved to nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, in an attempt to further Taylor Swift’s career. A stellar performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped Swift get a contract with Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Records. She released her first single, (Tim McGraw) in 2006, and the song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. It also appeared on her self-titled debut album in October of that same year, which went on to sell more than 5 million copies. More popular singles soon followed, including (Our Song) a No. 1 country music hit. (Teardrops on My Guitar), (Picture to Burn) and (Should've Said No) were also successful tracks. In 2009, Taylor Swift netted several awards for her work on Fearless, including Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for "Love Story" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards. That year, Taylor Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award's Best Female Video, for "You Belong With Me," making her the first country music star to earn a VMA. The win stirred controversy when rapper Kanye West leaped to the stage during Swift's speech, took the microphone and declared that R&B singer Beyoncé should have won Taylor Swift's award. The stunned Swift was unable to make her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the show. When Beyoncé accepted her award for Best Video of the Year later in the show, she called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately and made a public apology on The Jay Leno Show. Taylor Swift soon became an even hotter commodity. Her concert tickets began selling out in less than two minutes. Additionally, in 2010 she became the youngest artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, for Fearless. In February 2016, Taylor Swift opened up the 58th Annual Grammy Awards with another track from 1989, (Out of the Woods) Having received pre-telecast awards for Best Music Video and Best Pop Vocal Album, later in the evening, Swift won another Grammy for Album of the Year, making music history as the first woman to win the award twice. In what was seen as a sharp rebuke to a new West song in which he took credit for her fame, Swift used her acceptance speech to issue an empowerment statement. (I wanna say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame) she said. (But if you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who loved you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world). In June 2019, Taylor Swift revealed her dismay that her catalog of music from her first six albums, up to reputation, had been sold by her first label to a company owned by Scooter Braun, manager of artists like Bieber and Ariana Grande and a person she accused of bullying tactics. (Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy), she wrote on Tumblr. (Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it). Just before the August 23 release of Lover, Taylor Swift confirmed she would re-record her old music to regain artistic and financial control of her catalog which was sold once again, in October 2020, to Shamrock Holdings for around $300 million. On February 11, 2021, Swift announced that she will release her first re-recorded song, (Love Story) at midnight. The song is from her Fearless album, and Swift revealed that the full re-recorded album will be released later in 2021. On July 23, 2020, Swift announced on Instagram that she would be releasing her eighth studio album 'Folklore.' The 16-track album debuted the next day at midnight. On December 10, 2020, Swift once again announced that she was going to drop a surprise album at midnight titled (Evermore).(Folklore) went on to win Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammys. Swift also made history that year, becoming the only female solo artist to win that award three times. During her 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift won three awards including the Video of the Year (for All Too Well: The Short Film) for a record-breaking third time. In her acceptance speech, she announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, which was released on October 21. It broke the record for the most-streamed album in a single day on Spotify.