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Taylor Swift: I never dreamed success would come so quickly

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Taylor Swift, rising star
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Most satisfying thing is having every show in her tour sell out, she tells CNN
  • At 19 she is one of the most successful U.S. recording artists of the decade
  • On teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner, she says: "We're really close"

(CNN) -- Country music artist Taylor Swift has told CNN she never dreamed she would shoot to stardom so quickly.

At just 19 years old, she is one of the most successful recording artists of the decade in the United States.

Her album "Fearless" is certified quadruple platinum, and her 60-date tour of the U.S., UK and Australia sold out in minutes.

Talking to CNN's Becky Anderson, she said: "I think for me the most satisfying thing is going out with my first headlining tour and having every show sell out. That was something that I never dreamed would be so quick to happen.

"Putting Madison Square Garden on sale and having it be sold out in 59 seconds. Like I can't believe that. I'm still completely blown away by that.

"And I think my parents are most proud of the moment when where we were all sitting in the crowd at the CMA Awards and they heard my name announced as entertainer of the year.

"I think my parents cried more for that moment than any other moment."

She has had two number one albums in the Billboard Charts, and in 2009, Swift became the first country music artist ever to win an MTV Video Music Award.

Asked what she would have thought had someone told her 10 years ago that she would be famous by the age of 18, she said: "I thought I was going to do what my parents did. They went to college. They went into business and I loved music and I never imagined that I would actually get to do that as a job. It's wonderful."

Asked why it is that her songs are considered country music, she said: "I think that what categorizes country music, to me, in my head. I think a country song is when you are singing about being proud of your life.

"I sing about love and boys and that's my life. So that's what fascinates me, feelings, and so I think if you are singing and writing songs about the way that you live your life, that's a country song."

On reports that she is dating teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner, Swift said: "He's a great guy and we're really close."

But she refused to be drawn on her thoughts about Kanye West, who cut her off as she accepted the award for Best Female Song at the MTV Music Video Awards ceremony.

"I just haven't really changed my mind and that I don't like to talk about it," she said.