Taylor Swift keeps her ''wits about her'' to avoid having a meltdown.

The 23-year-old pop star has admitted to studying the rise and fall of other successful singers in an attempt to avoid the pitfalls of fame.

When asked how she has managed to stay sane, when many other teen stars are going off the rails, Taylor said: ''I've been a student of people's careers. Ever since I was a kid I used to watch this show, 'Behind the Music' on VH1, where they would profile the career heights or a band and, then, why everything fell apart. And one thing I noticed is that it's very simple. You keep yourself in check. You keep your wits about you and you keep your head ... That's the key. This could go away in five seconds.''

However, the 'Shake it Off' hitmaker knows she can't control everything.

She added to Britain's Vogue magazine: ''No one is past being taken down. And the only thing that we have that's in our control is keeping our mind right. And the thing that's out of our control is luck.''