<p id=”par-1_55″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/taylor-swift/?swcfpc=1″>Taylor Swift</a> has been relentlessly pursuing a successful <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/music/”>music</a> career since childhood. The singer and songwriter has known for decades that she wanted to be a musical artist. If that hadn’t worked out, though, she might have followed a completely different path. Swift once shared what she might have liked to do instead of music.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-taylor-swift-said-she-might-have-followed-a-different-career-path-if-music-didn-t-work-out”>Taylor Swift said she might have followed a different career path if music didn’t work out</h2>
<p id=”par-2_25″>Swift hasn’t strayed from her path to be a singer. While she was always confident in her abilities, she admitted she had a backup plan.</p>
<p id=”par-3_44″>“If I wasn’t <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-opens-up-about-leaving-country-music-behind.html/”>in country music</a>, I would be in forensics. Like crime scene stuff,” she said in a 2007 Q&A for <a href=”https://web.archive.org/web/20090904141832/http://blogs.gactv.com:80/gactv/asktheartist/taylorswift/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>GAC</a>. “I’m so obsessed with crime scenes. It’s really weird, I admit it. I have been in criminal justice classes for years.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Taylor-Swift.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Taylor Swift wears a white dress and stands in front of a microphone with a guitar.” class=”wp-image-3784474″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Taylor Swift | Jason Squires/WireImage</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-4_23″>She said her second choice in career <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-started-writing-songs-getting-demo-feedback.html/”>would be songwriting</a>, but she would go into law enforcement if that didn’t pan out either.</p>
<p id=”par-5_72″>“If I wasn’t [a singer], songwriter would be my second choice,” she said. “If somehow, music fell through completely, I would go to college and learn how to be in forensics because I am really into that sort of thing — crime scenes and figuring out how things happen and putting situations together. It is something I am really passionate about … I would be some sort of cop or forensics detective.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-taylor-swift-has-been-pursuing-a-music-career-since-childhood”>Taylor Swift has been pursuing a music career since childhood</h2>
<p id=”par-6_24″>Swift always liked to sing, but she knew she wanted to make music a career after she heard LeAnn Rimes for the first time.</p>
<p id=”par-7_60″>“I was just dead set, that’s what I’m going to be, I’m going to be like her,” Swift told <a target=”_blank” href=”https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnlyinAmerica/story?id=226431&page=1″ rel=”noreferrer noopener”>ABC News</a>. “I’m always going to be so close to my family; I’m always going to love my friends; but number one is always going to be music, because it’s just kind of always been a part of me. It’s awesome.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-shared-her-advice-for-other-young-artists”>She shared her advice for other young artists</h2>
<p id=”par-8_35″>Swift said that when she first <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-detailed-nashville-guide-gives-celebrities.html/”>arrived in Nashville</a>, she realized countless other young artists were hoping to make it. She realized that she needed to find a way to set herself apart from them.</p>
<p id=”par-9_65″>“I had to figure out a way to stand out,” she said, adding, “I picked up a guitar and started to write songs and play my own music. I figured, if I could walk into a room and play my own guitar and sing songs that I’ve written, they can’t touch that. I can literally not depend on anyone, creatively. That’s exactly what I did.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Taylor-Swift-2-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Taylor Swift wears a blue dress and holds a guitar.” class=”wp-image-3787396″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Taylor Swift | Michael Buckner/ACMA/Getty Images for ACMA</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-10_21″>She also encouraged young artists not to compare themselves to others. Swift believed it was important to forge one’s own path.</p>
<p id=”par-11_104″>“There are hundreds of country artists and I can pretty much vouch for the fact that nobody ‘makes it’ the same way. It’s always different,” she said. “The way that I made it was that I was a songwriter first. I moved to Nashville and got a publishing deal with Sony, so I was a paid songwriter before I was a singer with a record deal. My advice is to just figure out who you are as an artist and what you bring. If you sound just like another artist, that’s not what you are looking for. You need to sound exactly like you.”</p>