T. Swift tells all! When Taylor Swift participated in Vogue’s famed “73 Questions” video series, she candidly — and cannily!— opened up about a wide range of topics. From the lighthearted (like where she stores her endless amount of awards) to the more serious (her feelings of being “slut-shamed” as a 19-year-old), the pop superstar, 26, answered the fashion magazine’s inquiries with no reservations.
Us Weekly has rounded up the 11 most surprising tidbits from the “New Romantics” singer’s chat with Vogue from her enviable L.A. abode.
1. Her Advice for Her Younger Self
The former Nashville darling opens up about the advice she would give her 19-year-old self. She says, without elaborating: “If I could talk to myself at 19, I would say, ‘Hey, you’re gonna date just like a normal 20-something should be allowed to, but you’re going to be a national lightning rod for slut-shaming.’”
2. Her Favorite Bites and Beverages
Asked what she loves to eat, Swift admits, “I mean if we’re saying, like, what I wish I could eat everyday if calories didn’t count is, like, chicken tenders.” The slim star then says that the last thing she made herself was “a gluten-free, dairy-free cake.” And just in case you ever have the chance to hit up a drive-thru with Swift, expect her to order a “cheeseburger, fries [and a] chocolate shake.”
When it comes to cocktails, the Diet Coke spokesperson naturally goes for “a vodka-Diet Coke.”
3. Her Ever-Loyal Girl Squad
“I’m pleasantly surprised by the fact that I tell my friends absolutely everything and it never ends up getting out,” Swift says of her “Bad Blood” besties such as Selena Gomez, Lorde, Karlie Kloss and Lily Aldridge. She adds: “I think filming the ‘Bad Blood’ video was my favorite memory.”
4. Her Super Sweet Relationship With Calvin Harris
In the video, Swift says that the best gift she’s ever received comes from Calvin Harris. “My boyfriend planted an olive tree in my yard for Christmas,” she gushes. As Buzzfeed pointed out, the “Love Story” songstress has plastered a picture of herself and her beau of over one year on her kitchen sink handle.
5. Her Backup Plan
If she hadn’t hit it big in the music industry, Swift can picture herself in the corporate world. “I might be in advertising,” she reflects. “Maybe like coming up with slogans and concepts is the same as hooks and songs.”
6. Her Songwriting Process
In the nearly 10-minute clip, Swift opens up about crafting her catalog of megahits. “I record a voice memo of myself singing it or I write it down in my notes,” she says, adding that there’s “lots of preparation. I write a lot of my ideas down before I get into the actual session.”
She also notes that her heartbreaking track “All Too Well” (from 2012’s Red) took her the longest to write “because it’s a really emotional song. I kept putting it down for months on end,” while her recent smash “Blank Space” took her the least amount of time to finish “’cause I’d written a lot of the lines down already in the year preceding the session.”
7. Where She Stashes Her Awards
Of her multiple industry accolades, the one-time country starlet says “they’re kind of everywhere” throughout her luxe California home. In fact, she keeps one of her six VMAs right next to her coffee maker. The Moon Man casually sits on her kitchen counter, and Swift jokes to the Vogue cameraman, “You can’t really take that, I don’t think,” before adding: “You could stir with it, though!”
Of all her awards, the Pennsylvania native says she cherishes her Grammy wins (all 10 of them) most.
8. Her Secret Talent
Aside from singing — and selling millions of records — Swift jokes that she can’t do much else. “I’m well aware that this is not a talent, but this is like the only thing that I can do. I have double-jointed elbows,” she says before extending her limber arms. “So they’re weird.”
9. What’s In Her Bag
“I have this lavender anti-bacterial hand spray that I have and whenever me and my friends are in a public bathroom,” she raves of her beloved handbag essential. “And we have to wait in line at the sink to wash our hands [and] I’m like, ‘No, check it out!’ And everybody’s like, ‘Thanks girl!’”
10. Her Biggest Fear — Which She Has Since Conquered
Asked to name her biggest fear, Swift simply states: “Coachella.” Well, this past Sunday, April 17, she faced the chaos of the famed music festival with a bevy of her BFFs as she took in Harris’ set — featuring Rihanna! — at this year’s event in Indio, California.
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11. Her Education Aspirations
Speaking about her checklist of personal goals, Swift explains that she “really [wants] an honorary doctorate degree because Ed Sheeran has one and I feel like he looks down on me now because I don’t have one.”
Watch the video above.
