"We're all keenly aware of what's going on in the economy," Borchetta said. "So the conversation really centers on the reality that the new album will do whatever the market will bear.
"But looking at the economy of scale, and at what a hugely successful record can do right now, it's already hugely successful. The first single is screaming. We've had a half-million paid downloads for 'Love Story,' and 'Fearless' is just opening up. What that means by the time Nov. 11 rolls around, we have to kind of wait and see."
For Swift, who also co-produced the new album, it's all about getting her material out to listeners.
"You have to hear the song we just recorded yesterday!" she tells a visitor. The song she's talking about, "Forever and Always," was born near the end of the recording process, and Swift pleaded with Borchetta to let her add it to the album a day before she had to turn in the final version.
"It's about watching somebody fade away in a relationship," she said. "They said they were going to be with you forever, that they loved you, and then something changed in the relationship and you don't know what it is, but you're watching them slowly drift. That emotion of rejection, for me, usually starts out sad and then gets mad. This song starts with this pretty melody that's easy to sing along with, then in the end . . . I'm bas- ically screaming it because I'm so mad. I'm really proud of that."
Although that might seem like a strange comment coming from a country singer, Swift said that she felt as though she achieved something authentic and raw.
"When I go into the studio, it's really more about portraying the song in a way that gets the feeling across, rather than every phrase being exactly perfect. . . . I think it's the writer in me that's a little more obsessed with the meaning of the song than the vocal technique. All that stuff is like math to me. Over-thinking vocals and stuff -- I never want to get to that point."
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Rare traits
Swift was a high school sophomore when her self-titled debut was released, and before long, she had exchanged public school for home schooling so she could keep up with the mushrooming demands on her time. She scored new artist honors from the Country Music Assn. and the Academy of Country Music and watched wide-eyed last December when her name was called among the nominees for the best new artist Grammy Award, a prize she ultimately lost to a much darker talent, Amy Winehouse.
