Taylor Swift has eight nominations for this year’s CMA Awards, including one for album of the year for Red.  Since Taylor writes for about two years for each of her albums, it can be a challenge to narrow down the songs that make it onto each project, but Taylor says she has some methods for figuring out which songs make it and which songs don’t.  “The first rule that I always apply to a record is, ‘May the best song win.’  You determine that by the songs that your friends and family absolutely freak out over.  Because my friends and family, when I play them new songs and they go, ‘Oh it’s really good,’ I know that one’s not supposed to make the record.  Because unless they’re going, ‘Oh..My..God!  WHAT?!  Whoa!’  Unless they’re really losing it and asking me to hear it again, then it’s not good enough.”  Once a song passes the friends and family test, it has to pass Taylor’s personal test.  “I’m pretty harsh on my own songs and I listen to them over and over and over again.  The ones that I get tired of first, don’t make the record.”  Considering Red has reached number one in 50 countries and has sold over six million copies, her song selection instincts seem to be pretty good.

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Taylor Swift – how narrow down songs  :48

“Narrowing down the songs is a very difficult process because I write so much, we end up with extra songs here, extra songs there and you wonder where are they gonna have a life?  Where should we put them?  The first rule that I always apply to a record is, “May the best song win.”  You determine that by the songs that your friends and family absolutely freak out over.  Because my friends and family, when I play them new songs and they go, “Oh it’s really good,”  I know that one’s not supposed to make the record.  Because unless they’re going, “Oh..My..God!  WHAT?!  Whoa!”  Unless they’re really losing it and asking me to hear it again, then it’s not good enough.  I’m pretty harsh on my own songs and I listen to them over and over and over again.  The ones that I get tired of first, don’t make the record.”