Taylor Swift performs at the BankAtlantic Center. (Veda Jo Jenkins / sflimages.com)

I drove 50 miles south Thursday night and landed in the middle of Taylor Swift’s imagination.

Swift’s much anticipated Speak Now World Tour rocked the BankAtlantic Center, and there’s an encore performance tonight. If you’re on the fence about whether to go, get in the car. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, if I could, I’d drive another 100 miles to see it all again.

Not since Reba McEntire’s highly orchestrated tours in the ‘90s has there been such an incredible spectacle in country music. With at least five costume changes, several sets, eight dancers, her nine-piece band, fireworks, aerialists and other things I’ve probably already forgotten, there wasn’t a single slow moment. Never did my mind wander away from the show and not once did I think, When is this going to end?

Photos: Taylor Swift at BankAtlantic Center

The fact that all of this pomp and circumstance is created in the head of a 21-year-old girl — make that woman — is almost beyond comprehension. It reminds me of the line in her song that starts, “Take pictures in your mind.” It’s as though she’s got a video playing in her head and she’s actually able to translate that into reality. I already thought she was brilliant. Now I think she’s a genius.
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Taylor Swift will release her third album, “Speak Now,” worldwide in October.

She announced it to her fans Tuesday through a live web chat.

It’s been two years since Swift released her sophomore album “Fearless.” She says, “You’ve got to give yourself a little bit of time to live a lot of things so you can write about a lot of things.”

Swift explains that the title, “Speak Now,” is the theme, and that “track by track, each song is a different confession to a different person.”

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Beyonce performs at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles (AP)

Photos: Red carpet, on stage and backstage

All of Sunday’s winners

Beyonce became the most decorated female on a Grammy night as she collected six trophies, including song of the year for her anthem “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” but it was another diva — Taylor Swift — who nabbed the top honor, album of the year, for her best-selling “Fearless.”

Swift, who won a total of four awards, jumped around like the 20-year-old kid that she is when she beat out Beyonce, the Dave Matthews Band, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas for the honor.

“Oh wow — thank you so much! I just hope that you know how much this means to me…. that we get to take this back to Nashville,” said Swift, whose “Fearless” was last year’s best-selling album of any genre.

“Oh my God, our families are freaking out in their living rooms,” she added. “My dad and my little brother are losing their minds in the living room right now.”

Although Beyonce also lost out on record of the year, which went to the Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” the multihyphenate entertainer still owned the most awards of the evening.
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Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' narrowly edged Susan Boyle's 'I Dreamed A Dream' for top-selling LP. (AP)

Susan Boyle put up a strong challenge, but Taylor Swift ended 2009 with the year’s best-selling album.

Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks the nation’s album sales, says Swift’s “Fearless” sold 3.2 million copies last year. It was released in late 2008. Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” sold 3.1 million copies — and it only came out in late November.

Michael Jackson’s “Number Ones” was No. 3 with 2.3 million sold. “The Fame” by Lady Gaga was No. 4 with 2.2 million copies and Andrea Bocelli’s “My Christmas” also sold about 2.2 million copies to come in at No. 5.

Jackson was the year’s top-selling artist, selling 8.2 million records to Swift’s 4.6 million.

Music sales overall were up 2.1 percent from 2008, but album sales continued their decline, down 12.7 percent.

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Taylor Swift is nominated for eight Grammys, just behind Beyonce's 10. (AP)

Taylor Swift and Beyonce will perform at the Grammy Awards next month.

The Recording Academy said Tuesday that other performers will include the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Antebellum and Maxwell. Beyonce has 10 Grammy nominations; Swift has eight.

A stage-crashing Kanye West interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards to say Beyonce should have won for best female video instead. West later apologized.

The Grammys will be presented at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 31. The show will air on CBS.

The Recording Academy says additional performers will be announced at a later date.

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Kings of Leon's 'Only By The Night' led the iTunes album download charts for 2009.

The Kings of Leon are the kings of the iTunes album charts for 2009.

The Nashville, Tenn., rock group have the top-selling CD with “Only by the Night.” They are followed by the “Twilight” soundtrack, Lady Gaga’s “The Fame” and Taylor Swift’s “Fearless.”

The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” is iTunes’ best-selling single. Other songs in the top 10 include Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and another Black Eyed Peas’ hit “I Gotta Feeling.” Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” is No. 7 on the singles list.

“The Essential Michael Jackson” is No. 6 in the album top 10. ITunes declared Jackson its artist of the year.

ITunes released its year-end data — taken from December 2008 to this December — on Tuesday.

The Black Eyed Peas from left, apl.de.ap, will. i. am, Taboo, and Fergie, perform at the Grammy Nominations Concert on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Taylor Swift has won just about every top music award there is this year, but the possibility of winning not just one, but eight Grammys, had the 19-year-old screaming for joy as the nominations were announced.

“I started freaking out and jumping up and down,” Swift said in a telephone interview Wednesday night after learning of her nominations, which included album of the year for her sophomore CD “Fearless” and mentions for song and record of the year.

“I honestly never would have predicted this, eight nominations – I’m ecstatic, and blown away and so so thankful,” the stunned country sensation said.
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Swift takes home an armful of CMA Awards.

Full list of winners | Photos

It was a night for upsets at the Country Music Association’s Awards show last night.

The biggest was Lady Antebellum snagging two awards – Single of the Year for I Run to You, and even more shocking, the trio bested shoe-ins Rascal Flatts for Group of the Year.

Newsworthy but not so shocking: Taylor Swift walked away with several awards including the Entertainer of the Year award. At 19, she was the youngest nominee ever, and as a winner she’ll probably hold that record for a good long time.
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Taylor Swift reacts after winning Album of the Year for 'Fearless' as producer Nathan Chapman extends his thanks. (AP)

Janis Fontaine: Swift wins big, sings badly
Full list of winners | Photos

All four of the guys who lost to Taylor Swift for entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards made a tactical error: They asked the crossover sensation to open for them in their concerts.

Swift quickly shed her opener status and shook up the music world with an incredible year that included the best-selling album, a concert tour that sold out almost immediately and, now, a historic night at the CMAs that included becoming the youngest winner of the association’s highest honor.

“Yeah, next year we’re not going to take any opening acts out,” Brad Paisley said jokingly.

The CMA’s more than 5,000 members – often cited as a conservative bunch – seemed as taken with Swift as the rest of the music world has been. She won all four awards for which she was nominated, snapping Kenny Chesney’s streak of four entertainer wins in the last five years and Carrie Underwood’s three-year run as top female vocalist.
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This year’s CMA Awards will be broadcast live Wednesday from the Sommet Center in Nashville. You can watch from 8-11 p.m. on ABC.
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood return as hosts of the show for the second time.
Here’s a complete list of the nominees for the 2009 CMA Awards and my picks for the winners:
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