Taylor Swift to present top gongs at the ARIA's

Taylor Swift is in Australia to take part in the ARIA awards. Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: News Limited

Kathy McCabe, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Success may be the best revenge for heartbreak but Taylor Swift's lovelorn anthems have created an elite fan club of the world's top songwriters.

Swift, who is in Australia to perform at the ARIA awards on Thursday, said she sought out the world's hitmakers to help her compose the songs for her multi-platinum smash record Red.

But it turned out they were already lining up to work with her, including Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and Swedish legend Max Martin.

One of the first to approach her for a studio session was British balladeer Ed Sheeran, who has also penned songs for One Direction's two records.

''I decided I need to learn more and as a 22-year-old musician, I wanted to go and do almost like an apprenticeship with Max Martin and Shellback and Ed Sheeran and (Snow Patrol's) Gary Lightbody,'' she said.

''I heard Ed's music for the first time when I was on tour in Australia last year and when I got home I told my management I wanted to write with him and it turned out Ed and I were reaching out to each other at the same time.''

She met Lightbody through the ginger-haired hitmaker.

''Ed and I had hung out with my friends having jam sessions and singing Snow Patrol songs and he knew I was a huge fan.

''Then one day he asks if his friend Gary could come by and Gary Lightbody came by and listened to the song Ed and I had written and he said he wanted to work on the record too.

''And then I passed out.''

Swift somehow manages to keep herself together and not pass out when she enters the public eye.

Yet she said that big smile and poised grace is practised rather than perfection.

''To be honest, nothing ever really gets to feel normal about the massive amount of attention when you walk onto a red carpet, all the bright flashes and screams,'' she said.

''You get better at pretending like it's normal to you but it never feels like something that is just another Wednesday.

''It's always going to feel like 'Don't mess up, don't mess up, don't mess up.''

Swift said she is channeling the Mad Men style of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn in the vintage floral dresses which have become her uniform since releasing Red.

But fans can expect something with a little more bling when she rocks up to the ARIA Awards on Thursday night where she will be performing as well as presenting the major gongs.

Of course there will also be a lot more red lipstick, with Swift sharing the tips on how to keep it off your teeth.

''There's a trick to it. You put it on, blot one time, powder your lips and blot again, reapply the red lipstick and then cover with a tissue again and power through the tissue,'' she said.