Taylor Swift Turns Bad Day Into ‘Mean’-ingful Moment

For Taylor Swift, even the darkest cloud has a silver lining -- and in her case, a CMA Award nomination, as well. The 21-year-old superstar is nominated for her first CMA trophy for Song of the Year, for her Top 10 hit, 'Mean,' which is her poignant, yet light-hearted, response to her critics.

"Getting a CMA nomination for 'Mean' was definitely a jumping-up-and-down moment for me, because this song is really close to my heart," Taylor tells the Associated Press. "I'm so thrilled it was nominated for Song of the Year because it's a song that I wrote on a really, really bad day, but it has produced so many happy days for me since."

Fellow singer-songwriter (and six-time nominee in the category) Brad Paisley says Taylor would be well worth the honor. "There's no 18-year-old in the world who doesn't relate to some of her lyrics," he explains (quote via the San Francisco Chronicle). "And in that sense, she's laughing all the way to the bank, as the voters might be saying, 'Well, you know, that's not for me.' That's not fair. In some ways, it's even more groundbreaking what she's done. I'm proud of what she's done."

Taylor, whose trophy case boasts dozens of awards already, including a Grammy for Best Country Song (for 'White Horse'), admits she spent most of her younger years dreaming about this kind of acknowledgement. "I would think about how lucky I would be if people cared about the words I wrote," Taylor tells The Boot of her childhood aspirations. "I would think about how lucky I would be if one day I was walking through a mall and saw a little girl with my face on her T-shirt. I would think that if one day anyone lined up to ask me to sign something of theirs, that would be a good day!"

Taylor is nominated for a total of five CMA Awards, including the night's top honor: Entertainer of the Year. The 45th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, will air live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on November 9, 2011 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.