Watch 15-Year-Old Taylor Swift’s First TV Appearance, 20 Years Before ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Music artist Taylor Swift performs during the Academy of Country Music New Artists' Party for a Cause show at the MGM Grand Conference Center May 14, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Were you there for Taylor Swift‘s first era? You were if you watched local Nashville news back in the early 2000s. Long before Swift, 35 — who announced her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, on August 12 — became the biggest pop star in the world, she was a high school kid with dreams of making it big. But even then, her talent caught people’s attention — like Terry Bulger of local station WSMV 4.

Swift, a student at Hendersonville High School, appeared in a segment in 2005, “when we thought her talent was special.” WSMV interviewed her and let her play, giving the world the first televised appearance of Taylor Swift.

WSMV revisited Swift in 2006, ahead of the release of her debut album, Taylor Swift. Hair was on her mind (“I think it’s too thin. I need more hair”) as well as her gratitude to Toby Keith.

Keith, who died in 2024, discovered Swift and arranged a partnership with Scott Borchetta to sign the teenage star to Big Machine Records.

“You’re in the room with him and you can feel it, there’s a power there,” the teenage Swift said about the country star. “And you’re just like ‘oh my God.’ I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I don’t see him and am just like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Toby Keith.’”

Taylor stayed on Big Machine until  2019, when Borchetta sold Big Machine — along with Swift’s masters — to Scooter Braun. Swift re-recorded most of her old albums, dubbing them “Taylor’s Version.” In May, she acquired her masters for an undisclosed amount, per the BBC.

But in her original interview, such future music superstar angst is far from Swift’s mind. “Most people find out what they’re going to do in college and that’s great, you know?” a young Swift said in 2006. “But I guess, for me, I guess it came a little earlier, and I’m so thankful for that. Because this happens to be a dream come true for me.”

Swift’s dream continues. She announced her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, on Aug. 12.