On November 5, 2011, Minute Maid park hosted one of the most famous young country artists, Taylor Swift.  Over 42,000 ecstatic fans gathered together to sing, dance and have a great night.  Houston was the last stop on her 2010-2011 Speak Now tour.  Taylor said “Houston has to be one of my most favorite places to perform because ya’ll are just so dang enthusiastic.”  Taylor sang all of her songs from her Speak now album that was released in late October of last year along with some of the old favorites.  Every song was performed beautifully; she made the lyrics come to life on the stage as dancers acted out each song.  This made the concert not only amazing vocally but, visually also.

The thing that Taylor’s fans love is how she paints the number 13 on her hand before every concert.  She does this because 13 is her lucky number.  Taylor told MTV that “The significance of the number 13 on her hand… I paint this on my hand before every show because it is my lucky number for a lot of reasons. I was born on the 13^th, I turned 13 on Friday the 13^th.  My first album went gold in 13 weeks, and my first #1 song had a 13 second intro. “ She also said that “ Every time I win an award I am seated in either the 13^th seat, the 13^th section, or row M which is the 13^th letter of the alphabet.” Taylor inspires millions of girls with her music every day. Almost every girl at the concert had 13 painted on her hand or had a sign. “This makes me speechless” Taylor told the crowd.

Taylor took a moment to sit down with Just Jared JR. and tell them the story behind her song Speak Now.  She told them, “ My child-hood sweetheart-crush guy and I went our separate ways when we got to high school, I thought that we were going to get back together.  But he met this other girl who was a horrible person, she made him stop talking to his friends, and he got cut off from his family.  She made him so isolated.  They were going to get married, and I still loved him so I decided I should speak now.” This is the song that got the whole album started, because if you don’t speak up for something you believe in.  You will never get that chance again.

At her Minute Maid performance the moment that go the crowd going crazy was the seconds before Taylor appeared on stage. Her intro video, it was sort of an inspirational speech. She said, “Real life is a funny thing, you know. In real life, saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial, in fact, that most of us start to hesitate, for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately what I've begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything. 

I think most of us fear reaching the end of our life, and looking back regretting the moments we didn't speak up. When we didn't say 'I love you.' When we should've said 'I'm sorry.' When we didn't stand up for ourselves or someone who needed help.” This opened the eyes of many young girls who look up to Swift, she inspires so many young and old hearts and minds.

Even though Houston was the last stop on the Speak now tour, Taylor continues to write music and follow her dreams to inspire and be a great role model.  She plans to release he next album sometime in August of 2012.