[Diva Week] Taylor Swift: Country Cutie Who Loves Perez Hilton

For Diva Week at Pictures & Conversations we will look at 4 modern gay icons as well a special look at the diva I've idealized and followed (and not really fully realized until I read My Diva) since childhood. And no, you won't find out who that is until Friday. Yes, I'm a tease... Day Two, Diva Two - teenage country diva Taylor Swift.

I first discovered Taylor Swift the old fashioned way. I heard her debut single "Tim McGraw" on a local country radio station. Thing is, I really didn't have much of an opinion about it, or the young blond girl singing it.

That all changed when the follow up single, the torchy unrequited love ballad "Teardrops On My Guitar", hit country radio and CMT. The country mixes, both the radio edit and the album version, are pure heartbreak. Don't even get me started on the pop mix! But more than the typical country heartache song, "Teardrops On My Guitar" perfectly exemplifies a gay man's crush on a straight man. You become friends with them, you listen to the ups and downs of their love lives and you dream. And you cry a little. It hurts, because...

He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only one whose got enough of me to break my heart



Taylor tackles every diva look she can. She's a feisty ex girlfriend tearing everything up (including his reputation) on "Picture To Burn" and classic fairytale princess in "Love Story." But I didn't she she could get any realer than when she reveals her unrequited crush like on "Teardrops" or current hit single "You Belong With Me." Then I hear "White Horse" - a tale so grown up, so in command as she plays a woman in love, but not crippled by it. She knows it's too late to forgive an errant ex because

I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm gonna find someone out there who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rearveiw mirror disappearing now

While Taylor might not have the gay clout that my other divas have, she did tell Blender magazine she'd love for Perez Hilton to be her date to prom. And her lyrics speak to my own experiences as a gay man, like every good diva's should. Plus, she's cute as a button!