Taylor Swift, currently on tour promoting her latest album ‘Speak Now,’ was recently on the cover of Philadelphia Magazine, which also featured an article on the 21 year old songwriter.  In it, Swift discusses her first concert, her songwriting habits and her fans.

Swift told Philadelphia Magazine that the first concert she ever attended was LeAnn Rimes performing in Atlantic City.

“I was totally freaked out,” she says of watching the country singer perform live. “Seeing this person who was my hero… it was just crazy.”

When asked about her writing, Philadelphia Magazine reports:

“I’ve heard the expression that when you’re a writer you have the toughest hours because you never stop working… every single day, all hours of the night,” says Swift, who wrote her very first song the same day that she learned to play three chords on a computer repairman’s guitar when she was 12 years old.

“I don’t really write songs in a structure. I write about my life. And it helps me to feel better about anything causing me pain or confusion. It’s a little addictive because it helps you figure things out in your life. If I think of a line that paints a picture, I’ll write it down. Some [songs] come four lines at a time and I’ll have a chorus. Other times I really have to work at it. But I have to say that my favorite songs were all written really quick.”

For Swift, the best part of being on tour is connecting with her fans. She says:

“I look out into the crowd and there are girls my age, women there with their moms and grandmothers—and I feel so lucky… The thing that connects us, at one point or another, is that we all dream about love, want to be in love, are hurt by love. Love and loss, and all that.”

You can read the whole article here and check out Swift on the cover of the current issue here!