Country singer says she doesn't want her image to take precedence over her work

Jan 18, 2012 18:41 GMT  ·  By

When other female stars are constantly striving for physical perfection, dieting and working out for (nearly) every waking hour, Taylor Swift isn't putting herself under this kind of pressure. She explains to Vogue why.

In the February 2012 issue of the magazine, the country singer stresses that she doesn't want the focus to fall on her physical appearance, to the detriment of her music.

Partly because of this, partly because she doesn't really like it at the gym, Taylor doesn't work out that much.

Sure, she says, she does get plenty of exercise but not because she has to, but rather because she has to stay healthy and in top shape for when she goes on tour.

“I don’t ever want to be that person whose self-image overtakes who they are. I am not a fan of working out that much. There’s no regimen. There’s no personal trainer,” the singer tells the publication.

“I love to go hiking because it’s an experience. If I need to gain stamina for a tour, I will run every single night on the treadmill, but I don’t necessarily like being at the gym,” Taylor adds.

Of course, her fans must know that she's also blessed with good genes: she's tall and slender and, most importantly, young. Staying healthy still means for her having a lot of fun.

In the same Vogue interview, Taylor also discusses her upcoming album (see here for our article on that) and finding fame at the tender age of 16.

She recalls a time when, in every interview, she had to answer questions about whether she liked to party, as if everybody expected her to fall out of clubs every night, like many other stars of her age.

“I think, for me, the bigger pitfall is losing your self-awareness. Even though I am at a place where my dresses are really pretty and the red carpets have a lot of bright lights and I get to play to thousands of people... you have to take that with a grain of salt,” Taylor says.

“The stakes are really high if you mess up, if you slack off and don't make a good record, if you make mistakes based on the idea that you are larger than life and you can just coast,” she adds.