Taylor Swift photo by Joseph Anthony Baker, courtesy of Big Machine Records.

And the final pairing brought two country forces of nature together in the same Music City studio. Taylor Swift, meet John Rich.

"It was always one of my goals to write with John," says Taylor. "I had heard so many things about him. I just wanted to see what it was like to get into a room with him because I know I’m a very opinionated writer and I knew he was a very opinionated writer. So I knew this was either going to be the best thing in the world or was just going to be a complete train wreck." Not only does the song they created stay on the tracks, it’s proof that two great cooks can rock a kitchen. Taylor and John clicked in a big way recording "The Way You Loved Me," a song about the age-old story of a good girl pining after a bad boy.

As if writing every song on the album and living the life of a country superstar wasn’t enough, Taylor added even more to her workload when recording FEARLESS. She joins Nathan Chapman, the main man behind the board for her debut album, as a co-producer on the record. "All the songs for the second record, it’s like they were already produced in my head," recalls Swift. "When I was writing a song, I knew what every instrument was doing. The strings, mandolin, banjo, or dobro. I heard it all. It was just really cool to have all those instruments I heard end up on the album."

But even as she experiments with new sounds and new directions for her music, Taylor Swift knows the power of a song begins and ends with its lyrics. And it is in two of the softer, more stripped down moments on FEARLESS – the tracks "Fifteen" and "Best Day" -- that Taylor’s extraordinary gift for writing shines the brightest as she remembers fondly moments from her past.

We’ve always known Taylor was an old soul, but songs with this level of reflection from someone still so young – they can leave you shaking your head in amazement. Then you remember she’s just a few years removed from her own freshman year - and you understand why her fans, including her over 1 million friends on her MySpace page, love her. She puts to music exactly what they are feeling.

"I want my fans to know – I’m the same girl I was when the first album came out," says Taylor. "I’m just not in high school and I have a different schedule. I feel the same things, I feel the same way. And my songs are where I’ll never hold back."

That is music to a Taylor Swift fan’s ears.