Taylor Swift: 'Fifteen'

Why isn't Taylor Swift a bigger star this side of the Atlantic? Sure, she can sell out Wembley Arena and we all wanted to give her a cuddle when Kanye was a meanie at the VMAs, but she's yet to score a follow-up hit to 'Love Story' and her Fearless album – the blockbuster LP of 2008 across the pond, lest we forget – has sold solidly rather than spectacularly.

New single 'Fifteen' may offer a few clues. It's a typically well-crafted country-pop tune with a completely lovely melody, but Swift's depiction of freshman life in smalltown America comes off a touch wholesome to British ears. Here's how she describes her best mate putting out for a wrongun: "Abigail gave all she had to a boy who changed his mind and we both cried." It's sweet, it's sensitive... but is that how the teen necking Strongbow and "na na nai!"ing to N-Dubz at the back of the bus would say it?


> Click here to read our review of Taylor Swift's album