"I was excited to be achieving one of my goals of reaching a wider audience. I got some help reaching that goal during the summer of 2013 when I was asked to be the opening act for a huge artist I really admired, which was exactly the kind of opportunity I'd been hoping for. I have to tell you, though, when my managers told me who I'd be opening for, I couldn't believe it: Taylor Swift- who I'd always felt a real respect for, especially since she'd been so nice to me back in Nashville. Plus, I admire how she's grown her career and respect her talent. The first time we met backstage, I had to tell her where and how we'd met before. Of course, this time she knew I was a singer because I was her opener, and she smiled at me even bigger than before. "Hey, Taylor, we actually met once in Nashville a couple years ago," I said. "I came up to you in a coffee shop and told you I was a singer on YouTube." "I totally remember you," she said, laughing. "No way," I said. "No, I totally do." I wasn't sure I believed her. But it didn't matter. I was her support act on a lot of her dates that summer, and we always got along well. Plus, I got to meet and hang a little with Ed Sheeran, who was also on the tour. He's a cool guy and very talented. That tour was fun and amazing, and I learned so much from watching Taylor. She's always such a pro."

“I was in this coffee shop in Nashville when I looked up and saw this really tall, pretty girl who looked kind of familiar to me. It couldn't be. Only, yeah, it was: Taylor Swift. I had to go say hi to her. I walked up to her table, feeling kind of shy and dorky, but she looked up and gave me a big smile. "Are you Taylor?" I said. "Yeah," she said. "Hey, my name's Austin Mahone," I said. "I'm a singer on YouTube." Her smile got even bigger. "That's really cute," she said. "Keep up the hard work and never stop believing." "Thanks," I said. "Do you mind if I get a picture with you?" "Of course not," she said. We posed together and my mom took the picture. Little did I know at the time that we'd meet again a year later, under circumstances I couldn't have imagined then. Life is too crazy sometimes.”

“How could you not ?! I’ve met Taylor once, with Sarah Hyland, and there’s just nothing not to like about her. She’s beautiful, talented, hardworking, and she’s very genuine. It’s a terrible thing, I was actually very surprised! I had read all these nightmare stories, and when I met her I was very pleasantly surprised that she seemed like one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. As for having a thing for Taylor? That’s for me to know and for you to wonder about.”

“Taylor Swift is so flawless, and so unattainable, and I don't think it's breeding anything good in young girls.”

“Words, how little they mean when you're a little too late.”

“think when it's all over it just comes back in flashes, you know? It's like a kaleidoscope of memories; it just all comes back. But he never does. I think part of me knew the second I saw him that this would happen. It's not really anything he said, or anything he did ― it was the feeling that came along with it. Crazy thing is, I don't know if I'm ever going to feel that way again. But I don't know if I should. I knew his world moved too fast and burned too bright, but I just thought, 'How can the devil be pulling you toward someone who looks so much like an angel when he smiles at you?' Maybe he knew that when he saw me. I guess I just lost my balance. I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him. It was losing me.”

“We should love, not fall in love, because everything that falls, gets broken.”