Taylor Swift is aglow over her four CMA wins.
“I feel like I’m walking around in a dream right now,” the star, just 19, told Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell backstage after the event. “It’s… the CMA Awards and four awards? I can’t even believe that!”
At the ceremony the teen picked up gongs for Album (for “Fearless”), Female Vocalist, Music Video (for “Love Story”) and Entertainer of the Year, but despite being the night’s big winner, Taylor was busy handing out gratitude wherever she went.
“I am just walking up to people and thanking them,” she told Nancy. “[I’m] just giving out hugs tonight to everybody from my second grade music teacher to my crew who put the stage together and take it down every single night. They’re all flashing through my head. I’m so excited.”
Taylor celebrated the night with her father, who broke into tears as his daughter picked up her Entertainer of the Year statue.
“I loved having my dad sitting next to me tonight,” she told Nancy. “Sometimes my 17-year-old brother comes with me, sometimes my mom will sit next to me a lot and tonight was my dad’s night. It was really cool to have him in the crowd… because he has been such an amazing cheerleader my whole life.”
When asked how she felt about the country music world showing her so much support at the event (Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood and Little Jimmy Dickens all took part in jabs aimed at Kanye West’s September VMA stage invasion of the singer), Taylor said it meant “everything.”
“You know, country music has been such an amazing presence in my life, it’s been everything to me since I was a kid,” she said. “Being a fan of country music and then actually being embraced by country music has been wonderful. When you [have] bad days, having my favorite people in the world and my heroes having my back has been wonderful.
“They have been amazing to me and honestly I can’t even form sentences correctly because I’m so excited because tonight, it felt like a dream,” she added.
And Dickens’ Kanye moment didn’t go unnoticed by the country princess.
“He’s adorable,” Taylor said. “I love him. He’s always been amazing to me.”
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