Nearly a decade before launching what is likely to be the highest-grossing tour ever and being named Time's "Person of the Year," global superstar Taylor Swift spoke with CTV News' Marcia MacMillan in 2014 about what living in the spotlight is like.
"I've been more fascinated with discovering who I actually am," Swift said on Canada AM, shortly after the release of her album 1989, an album she re-released earlier this fall. "What I actually want and living my life on my own terms."
FANS MAKE SWIFT "FEEL NORMAL"
Swift's devoted fandom of "Swifties" is regarded as one of the largest and most devoted groups in not only music, but pop culture --- key in the rise of the pop star.
She's played an important role in cultivating and "inserting myself into their online communities," because, according to Swift they make her "feel like my life is normal."
"There are so many abnormal circumstances surrounding my life that the only way I actually get to feel normal is when I go online and I read about their day at college."
"THE LIFE THAT I CHOSE"
However, despite a desire to feel "normal" Swift's life in the spotlight is obviously far from it.
The superstar is under the microscope when out in public and she's constantly being followed by camera crews and paparazzi – an experience she admitted can be "absolutely stifling and overwhelming."
How does she deal with that pressure? Swift said she tries to restore some sense of normalcy by not engaging in public, saying that she doesn't want to turn everyday moments "into a press conference."
She also said that she asks herself "how long did you dream about this" and uses the mental exercise to make the most of her stardom.
"When I'm outside the doors of my apartment, people are watching me," Swift reflected. "And that's the life that I chose."
"I'VE GOTTEN COMFORTABLE WITH BEING MYSELF"
Swift also talked about the release of her fifth studio album, 1989 – an award-winning release that was considered the singer-songwriter's official move from country to pop.
In 2014, Swift said the album "says a lot about where I am in my life" and defining what she wanted in her life and career with "no outside input."
"I've gotten comfortable with being myself," Swift said. "People know that I'm awkward sometimes, I'm not that cool and I'm not edgy."
Observers expect Kamala Harris to follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s roadmap for America’s relationship with Canada as she moves to secure the Democratic party's presidential nomination.
Nearly 40 million people were living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS last year, over nine million weren't getting any treatment, and the result was that every minute someone died of AIDS-related causes, the UN said in a new report launched Monday.
Many people believe that creating a will requires the services of a lawyer, but this isn't always the case. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew explains a lawyer's role when crafting your last will and testament.
In an episode of 'The Simpsons' from 2000, Lisa Simpson becomes U.S. president and wears an outfit strikingly similar to the one America’s first female Vice-President Kamala Harris wore to the 2021 inauguration
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signalled that a ceasefire deal that would free dozens of hostages from captivity in Gaza could be taking shape.
An evacuation order has been issued for the town of Jasper and anyone within Jasper National Park as a result of a wildfire burning south of the town.
Shoplifting and retail theft have become a $5 billion annual problem and the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) is concerned about thefts becoming more brazen and violent with weapons being used.
Canadian athletes attempting to reach the podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will also be looking fashionable for the entire world to see.
A pedestrian walkway in a massive housing project collapsed in the southern Italian city of Naples, killing two people and injuring a dozen others, Italian media reported Tuesday.
A Kelowna, B.C., man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on drug-trafficking charges following a years-long crackdown on the Throttle Lockers Motorcycle Club, according to the province's anti-organized crime task force.
Shoplifting and retail theft have become a $5 billion annual problem and the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) is concerned about thefts becoming more brazen and violent with weapons being used.
A gasoline spill in Nunavut prompted what some officials characterized as an evacuation, although the territory's government says no evacuation was ordered.
Men from Edmonton and Calgary are accused of threatening to kill some of Canada's top government leaders.
An evacuation order has been issued for the town of Jasper and anyone within Jasper National Park as a result of a wildfire burning south of the town.
Traffic on Highway 19 in Inverness County, Cape Breton has returned to normal, but the community remains in mourning following a collision that claimed the lives of three people, including two youths from the area.
At least 157 people were killed in mudslides in a remote part of Ethiopia that has been hit with heavy rainfall, many of them as they tried to rescue survivors of an earlier mudslide, local authorities said Tuesday.
Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a declaration in Beijing on ending a yearslong rift, the groups said Tuesday, taking a step toward resolving a deep divide which has lingered for years despite repeated attempts at unifying the sides.
A Missouri judge on Monday overturned the conviction of Christopher Dunn, who has spent more than 30 years in prison for a killing he has long contended he didn’t commit.
China has announced plans to raise some of the world’s lowest statutory retirement ages as it tries to cope with the consequences of a rapidly aging population and a pensions funding crisis.
U.S. President Joe Biden's 'symptoms have almost resolved completely' from COVID-19, according to his physician, as the president on Monday remained out of public view for the fifth straight day.
A pedestrian walkway in a massive housing project collapsed in the southern Italian city of Naples, killing two people and injuring a dozen others, Italian media reported Tuesday.
Observers expect Kamala Harris to follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s roadmap for America’s relationship with Canada as she moves to secure the Democratic party's presidential nomination.
Men from Edmonton and Calgary are accused of threatening to kill some of Canada's top government leaders.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the news that U.S. President Joe Biden won’t run for re-election Sunday, calling Biden a 'true friend.'
Nearly 40 million people were living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS last year, over nine million weren't getting any treatment, and the result was that every minute someone died of AIDS-related causes, the UN said in a new report launched Monday.
Wrestler Linda Morais is training hard to represent Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympics. But when she’s away from the mat, Morais lends her voice to a growing conversation among female athletes: menstruation.
A brand of baby cereal is being pulled from all in-store and online retailers in Canada due to possible Cronobacter contamination.
Google is planning to keep third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, it said on Monday, after years of pledging to phase out the tiny packets of code meant to track users on the internet.
Cybercriminals are already capitalizing on the chaos from Friday’s massive global tech outage by promoting fake websites filled with malicious software designed to compromise unsuspecting victims.
Businesses from airlines to hospitals have been grappling with a faulty software update that caused technological havoc worldwide on Friday, and its repercussions continued through the weekend.
In an episode of 'The Simpsons' from 2000, Lisa Simpson becomes U.S. president and wears an outfit strikingly similar to the one America’s first female Vice-President Kamala Harris wore to the 2021 inauguration
If you're trying to get up to speed on Vice President Kamala Harris' swift emergence as Democrats' possible nominee this fall, you really need to know your memes.
Movie stars Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett and Will Ferrell, as well as music superstars Pharrell Williams, Bruce Springsteen and Elton John are among the celebrities expected to walk the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival, a year after Hollywood strikes muted last year's event.
Hundreds of Ontario's liquor stores will reopen today following a strike that saw their doors close in early July.
Doing business across provincial lines is starting to get easier but progress is slow, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Are you one of the many Canadians struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments and trying to keep their home? CTVNews.ca wants to hear from you.
If you look around at your friends and family — and even at yourself — it is apparent that some people perceive the glass to be half full, while others view it as half empty. Which habits can you adopt to increase your level of happiness? A social psychologist has these five tips.
The name of Calgary’s new event centre was unveiled on Monday. The arena will be called Scotia Place.
Barcelona will raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours, the mayor said in an interview published on Sunday.
Canadian athletes attempting to reach the podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will also be looking fashionable for the entire world to see.
Charlie Woods, the 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods, shot a 12-over 82 on Monday in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills.
After tearful and shocking testimonies on Parliament Hill, and the admission there is a safe-sport crisis in Canada, how safer are athletes from abuse and maltreatment heading into the Paris Games?
Toronto's Deputy Mayor is calling on the city's staff to develop a plan to tackle the "critical" congestion levels in Liberty Village, made worse by a slew of summer construction and major events at nearby venues.
Gloucester-Southgate is the hot spot for vehicle thefts in Ottawa in 2024, with 95 vehicles reported stolen in the south Ottawa ward so far this year.
An Ottawa man says he’s been waiting nearly a year for his car to be repaired after it was damaged during a storm in August.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.
A well-known childhood prank known as 'nicky nicky nine doors,' or 'ding dong ditch,' has escalated into a more serious game that could lead to charges for some Surrey, B.C. teens.
It's been more than a month since their good friend was seriously hurt in an accident and two teens from Riverview, N.B., are still having a hard time dealing with it.
Halifax bridges have collected thousands of coins from around the world.
A donated clawfoot bathtub has become the preferred lounging spot for a pair of B.C. grizzly bears, who have been taking turns relaxing and reclining in it – with minimal sibling squabbling – for the past year.
A pair of cemetery investigators are cleaning and preserving as many gravestones they have permission to work on, as they conduct their research and document gravestones.
After more than three years, a B.C. woman has been reunited with a lost family heirloom.
As the province enters the heart of wildfire season, British Columbia communities threatened by flames are under extreme stress and facing a range of emotions with the uncertainty of whether they’ll have to flee their homes, and whether they’ll have anything to come back to.
For the second time in as many days, a woman's body was found near Vancouver's shoreline Monday.
Adam Perzow says bear encounters in his neighbourhood have become routine.
Toronto's Deputy Mayor is calling on the city's staff to develop a plan to tackle the "critical" congestion levels in Liberty Village, made worse by a slew of summer construction and major events at nearby venues.
The province’s police watchdog is investigating after a Toronto police cruiser was involved in a serious crash with an ATV in North York late Monday night.
Hundreds of Ontario's liquor stores will reopen today following a strike that saw their doors close in early July.
An evacuation order has been issued for the town of Jasper and anyone within Jasper National Park as a result of a wildfire burning south of the town.
Calgary police have identified a woman who was killed in a shooting in the community of Vista Heights over the weekend.
The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo will hold a new conference on Tuesday morning to reveal more details on the death of polar bear Baffin last week.
Work is underway to install 20 new photo radar cameras across the City of Ottawa, as the city continues to expand the automated speed enforcement program.
Ottawa Coun. Matthew Luloff is facing a charge of impaired driving, according to his lawyer. The Conservative Party tells CTV News Ottawa that Luloff resigned his candidacy on July 10 'due to a personal matter.'
It will be a mainly sunny, hot and humid day in Ottawa, but you may want to bring an umbrella if you have plans outdoors late this afternoon and this evening.
A Montreal-area mother is furious with Quebec's justice system because the man who killed her 25-year-old daughter in a 2022 hit-and-run was released from jail after only serving one-sixth of his sentence behind bars.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control will not require onerous forms for dog owners crossing the border from Canada this summer.
U.S. President Joe Biden is stepping aside as the Democratic candidate in that country's November election and throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris -- a Montreal-area high school graduate who spent several years in the city.
An evacuation order has been issued for the town of Jasper and anyone within Jasper National Park as a result of a wildfire burning south of the town.
Men from Edmonton and Calgary are accused of threatening to kill some of Canada's top government leaders.
The past week has been the hottest stretch of weather on record for the City of Edmonton.
Nova Scotia RCMP has identified one of the bodies found on Sable Island earlier this month.
Traffic on Highway 19 in Inverness County, Cape Breton has returned to normal, but the community remains in mourning following a collision that claimed the lives of three people, including two youths from the area.
A 14-year-old male died in a motorcycle crash in Murray River, P.E.I., on Saturday.
Residents in a south-Winnipeg neighbourhood are ready to take matters into their own hands following a rash of car break-ins late last week.
Now there is a plan to put the Rubin Block to use once again. Fisher River Cree Nation has purchased the building for housing. It will have 13 units of one, two, three, and four-bedroom suites for families.
The Manitoba government is dealing with another discovery of zebra mussels.
WestJet has announced some big changes to its flight schedules – allowing more options for travellers in Saskatchewan.
A Court of King's Bench judge has dismissed a challenge of Regina's new ward boundaries.
A funeral date has been set for Isabella Thomson – the social media starlet who compelled millions with her medical journey.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of Michael Ball, a convicted killer from Kitchener, who murdered his former girlfriend in 2013.
St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital are planning a new joint acute care hospital at the David Johnston Research + Technology Park (R+T Park).
If you're in the northern or central Saskatchewan, then you've likely been in the thick of the smoke – largely the result of fires burning across the province's north.
An air conditioning system shut down at St. Paul's Hospital caused heat exhaustion for some staff over the weekend, according to Service Employees International Union West (SEIU-West), which represents a number of healthcare workers.
WestJet has announced some big changes to its flight schedules – allowing more options for travellers in Saskatchewan.
The judge presiding in a murder case in Sudbury is allowing evidence to be introduced showing the accused had a knife in her possession shortly before the stabbing.
Two ATV drivers travelling with a group were charged with impaired driving after a single ATV crash in the North Bay area Sunday.
Emergency repairs to the Abitibi ferry north of Cochrane, Ont., has left dozens of people with only a heavily pitted, single-lane logging road as a means to leave the area.
The Owen Sound Transportation Company (OSTC) has issued a public notice, saying 2017 to 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid vehicles are no longer allowed on their ferries.
A serious collision between a motor vehicle and a horse-drawn buggy has sent one person to hospital.
The Sarnia Police Service (SPS) has arrested a 31-year-old woman after an assault with a weapon report.
A horse-drawn buggy was struck by a car on Grey Road 9.
A 23-year-old driver from Kingston, Ont., is charged with dangerous and impaired driving in a single-vehicle crash that killed three people and left a fourth with serious injuries east of Parry Sound on Saturday.
Conc. Road 3 in Tiny Twp. was closed while a truck fire was extinguished Monday.
The Owen Sound Transportation Company (OSTC) has issued a public notice, saying 2017 to 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid vehicles are no longer allowed on their ferries.
The Windsor Police Service has issued a warrant for a man wanted on numerous charges.
It’s an electrifying two weeks for watchers of the U.S. presidential race – especially for the thousands of Windsor residents eligible to vote stateside in November.
Crews are responding to a new wildfire that sparked in the Sooke Potholes Regional Park on Vancouver Island Monday afternoon.
More aggressive fire behaviour is expected Monday on the Shetland Creek Wildfire, which has destroyed structures, forced evacuations and led to the closure of a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in south-central B.C.
A Kelowna, B.C., man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on drug-trafficking charges following a years-long crackdown on the Throttle Lockers Motorcycle Club, according to the province's anti-organized crime task force.
Two people are dead after a serious crash that shut down Highway 1 near Sorrento, B.C. Saturday morning.
The number of wildfires in British Columbia has flared as more lightning storms bring the potential for further fire starts.
Standing on the edge of an open aircraft hatch, a smokejumper in a pale yellow suit steadies himself before rocking back then swinging out the door and vanishing as gravity takes over.
The trial of two men charged with conspiring to murder Mounties at the Coutts border blockade in Alberta is expected to hear more testimony today from one of the accused.
After a wetter-than-usual spring, wildfire season is starting to kick into high gear.
To maintain a healthy ecosystem in the Beaver Mines area, Calgary Wildlife rehabilitated and released a two-year-old female beaver Monday morning.
Two ATV drivers travelling with a group were charged with impaired driving after a single ATV crash in the North Bay area Sunday.
As the dog days of summer push on, Lifesaving Society Ontario has designated this week National Drowning Prevention Week.
Members of CUPE Local 894 who work at the Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie have voted in favour of a strike to back their contract demands and are scheduled to hit the picket lines July 26.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has sent investigators to Newfoundland to determine what caused a fire aboard a fishing boat that forced the crew to abandon the vessel for a life-raft, leaving them at the mercy of the waves for two days.
Labrador City residents who were ordered to evacuate last week after the reignition of a once-smouldering fire near the town were allowed to return home Monday.
There was a powerful word being repeated in the joyful Newfoundland community of New-Wes-Valley on Sunday: 'Miracle.'
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