THEN AND NOW: How Taylor Swift went from tween country wannabe to global pop superstar

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For the past 10 years, Taylor Swift's career hasn't slowed down for a moment.

The 26-year-old singer has released five albums, sold out numerous world tours, won hundreds of awards — including 10 Grammys — and broken countless records. But after all of her success, the singer is now ready to step back from it all and take a break.

She told Vogue in her cover story for the May issue, "Honestly, I never relax, and I'm excited about being able to relax for the first time in ten years."

As Swift takes a breather from her ambitious career, here's a look back at how exactly the Pennsylvania-raised Swift made her way from country hopeful to country star, only to then conquer pop music around the globe.

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, and grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

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Source: The New Yorker

When she was 10, Swift watched a program about how Faith Hill became a country singer and decided that she wanted to do the same. After persistent pestering, she traveled to Nashville and handed CDs of covers she recorded to producers along Music Row. She was 11.

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Source: CMT

She didn't get the attention she wanted, but rather than give up, the aspiring singer began to write her own music and learned how to play guitar.

Source: CMT