“She always was writing poetry — always — even in music class, even when she shouldn’t,” Swift’s music teacher stated.

At People, Ingrid Vasquez writes digital news. Her Bachelor of Journalism degree came from The University of Texas at Austin. She served as an editor at FanSided and did celebrity and lifestyle work for Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, EW, and other publications before joining the team.

Making everyone proud is Taylor Swift!During the release of her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, two of Swift’s early professors told CBS Philadelphia that she had always loved music.Grammy winner Swift, 34, stated in second grade that she wanted to be a singer, according to Barbara Kolvek, her primary school music instructor, who spoke with the source.”She always was writing poetry — always — even in music class, even when she shouldn’t,” said Kolvek, adding that she gave Swift “her very first singing solo.”Singing the national anthem before a basketball game in April 2002 was Taylor Swift. JESSE D. GARRABRANT VIA GETTY’Fortnight’ Challenge: Taylor Swift Gives Fans a Look Behind the Scenes of Making TTPD ImagesSwift’s music instructor from first through fourth grade, the now-retired teacher informed the television station that they stayed in touch “for a while.””I think maybe I inspired or gave her a little push to carry on with what she was doing,” Kolvek remarked. Swift’s third-grade teacher, Heather Brown, said of her “special quality.”Taylor Swift Defines “Fortnight,” “Clara Bow,” and More Meanings Department of Tortured Poets TracksYou never forget a pupil because of their quality. People just gravitated to Taylor because of her quality, Brown told CBS Philadelphia. Though “she probably doesn’t get the messages anymore,” Brown told the newspaper, she still sends Swift a Christmas card every year. Noting that everything Swift touches “turns to gold,” she said, “I’m just so excited to see what comes next.”It seems, oh my gosh, like I was her teacher when she walks out on stage and everyone is yelling, “Taylor,” Brown remarked.Teachers of Swift in her early years should be really proud of her. Swift shattered several Spotify records after The Tortured Poets Department was released, including the record for most streams in a single day and the record for most albums streamed in a single day. Over 300 million streams were also attained by her latest album. “Fortnight,” its debut single, went on to become the song with the most streams in a single day in the history of the streaming service. Swift called the record, in an Instagram post commemorating its release, “an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions, and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.”The author has now closed and boarded up the chapter, marking the end of this phase of her life. Once injuries have healed, there is nothing to settle, nothing to exact revenge. Further thought revealed that a sizable portion of them were self-inflicted, Swift said. Never miss a story: to receive the best of PEOPLE’s content, including fascinating human interest stories and celebrity news, sign up for the free daily newsletter. This author firmly believes that when our tears turn into ink on a page, they become holy. We can let go of it once we have spoken our saddest story, she said. “And then tortured poetry is all that’s left behind.”