Country songstress Taylor Swift believes in fairytale romances and often feels "heartbroken" when the reality doesn't match up.

The stunning star has enjoyed a string of high-profile romances, and is currently dating One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles.

Swift - who regularly documents her colourful love life in her chart-topping songs - has been influenced by the fictional romances she read as a teenager.

According to Contact Music Taylor explained: ''It can be heartbreaking when you find out that your fairytale image of the world doesn't match the reality. I used to read fairytales when I was young and I grew up with such a vivid imagination, and all that has fuelled this little world of mine.

She added: ''I was pretty isolated in school. I had no place really to turn except inwards. We all want to believe in the ideal, even though we discover through bad relationships that it's a difficult thing to find.''

Swift - who has dated Jake Gyllenhaal and John Mayer in the past - now tries to have a more balanced view on love, revealing: ''I think you need to believe in the fairy tale otherwise you become cynical and close yourself off to love because you stop trusting those incredible feelings that come over you at the beginning.

She continued: "But as you grow older, you learn to try to balance that faith in the ideal with the practical knowledge it can be very tough and heartbreaking when things don't work out.'' Watch Taylor Swift's New Years Eve performance here: