Taylor Swift Ties Into CMA Awards

Taylor Swift wins Horizon Award at "The 41st Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 7, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photographer: John Russell / CMA.

Aug. 11, 2008 — Taylor Swift fans will have to wait exactly three months to get their hands on her next album of all-new material. Titled Fearless, the album’s been tagged with a Nov. 11 release date, which dovetails nicely with one of the genre’s biggest events: The release comes the day before the 42nd annual Country Music Association Awards show.

Not that there isn’t plenty to keep Taylor’s fans occupied until then. For starters, her song "Change" has been adopted as a soundtrack to the daily highlights on the Olympics, and it can be downloaded via iTunes throughout the Olympics with the proceeds slated for Team USA. "Change" will be included on the Fearless CD, as will "Breathe," a duet with pop singer Colbie Caillat.

Starting Aug. 22, the album will be made available for pre-sale at a new site, TheTaylorNation.com, where the first 10,000 people to sign up for a deluxe version of the disc will also be able to have their own personal photo incorporated into a mosaic design in the album’s artwork.

With the album’s release still 90 days away, Taylor kept quite busy over the weekend. Friday she announced the donation of $100,000 to the Cedar Rapids chapter of the American Red Cross when she played in the city, which was recently devastated by a flood. That date came in between a pair of concerts where she was an opening act. She appeared Thursday at the We Fest in Minnesota, where 47,000 people saw a show that also featured Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean and Neal McCoy. On Saturday, she performed along with Flatts in Chicago for 25,000 fans. In addition, she was named a finalist over the weekend for Best New Artist in the MTV Video Music Awards, where her competition will include Miley Cyrus, Jordin Sparks and Katy Perry.