Swift also recorded a number of side-projects. She released a cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl" through Rhapsody in 2009,[106] and made her stage entrance to Petty's recording of the song until 2013.[107] She contributed backing vocals to Mayer's "Half of My Heart", a single featured on his fourth album.[108] She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kellie Pickler[109] and co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack—"You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier"—with Martin Johnson and Robert Ellis Orrall, respectively.[110] Swift also provided vocals for Boys Like Girls's "Two Is Better Than One", written by Martin Johnson.[111] She contributed two songs—including "Today Was a Fairytale"—to the Valentine's Day soundtrack,[112] and recorded a cover of Better Than Ezra's "Breathless" for the Hope for Haiti Now album.[113]
Swift performing in Los Angeles during the Fearless Tour in 2010
Swift became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video in 2009.[114] Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents.[115] In the event's press room, Swift, a fan of West's music,[116] said that she did not have "any hard feelings" toward him.[117][118] The incident received much media attention and inspired many Internet memes.[119] A few days later, Swift told an interviewer that West offered her a personal apology, which she accepted: "He was very sincere."[114] She refused to discuss the incident in subsequent interviews so as not to make a "bigger deal" of it: "It happened on TV, so everybody saw what happened ... It's not something I feel like we need to keep talking about."[120] It has been said that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity."[121]
Swift won four Grammy Awards in 2010, from a total of eight nominations.[122] Fearless was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, while "White Horse" was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance.[123] She was the youngest ever artist to win Album of the Year.[124]
During the 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony, Swift sang "You Belong with Me" and "Rhiannon" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and sparked a widespread media backlash.[121][125] Her vocals were described variously as "badly off-key," "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched."[126][127] While Caramanica of The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years,"[124] music analyst Bob Lefsetz predicted that her career would end "overnight." He publicly appealed to Swift's father to hire a "crisis publicity agent" to manage the story because "Taylor's too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made."[128][129] Stevie Nicks, writing in Time, defended the singer:
Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John ... The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business.[130]
Fearless won many other accolades and has become the most-awarded album in country music history.[131] Swift became the youngest ever artist and one of only six women to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.[132] Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.[132] Swift was the youngest ever artist to win the Academy of Country Music's Album of the Year honor.[133] The American Music Awards honored Swift with Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album plaudits.[134] She was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame[135] and was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association.[136] Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.[137] Swift was included in Time 's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2010.[138]