Fresh off her recent four-Grammy-win, Taylor Swift's name has been everywhere the last few days. Unfortunately for the young star, that may not be such a good thing.
Performing 'Rhiannon' and 'You Belong With Me' with rock legend Stevie Nicks during the Grammy ceremony, fans and critics alike wasted no time in sharing their opinions about Taylor's performance. In spite of taking home the trophy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, the overwhelming consensus on this particular night was that the famous singer wasn't singing her best.
"Swift gave a strikingly bad vocal performance at Staples Center on Sunday," the LA Times wrote (quote via Nashville's Tennessean), "sounding tinny and rhythmically flat-footed as she shared the microphone with the distinctive Stevie Nicks."
The Washington Post agreed: "A night in the charmed life of Taylor Swift: Give an incredibly wretched vocal performance, go on to win the biggest Grammy of 2010 anyway."
Nashville's Tennessean also criticized the performance, offering that "Maybe a smidge of Jamie Foxx's autotune wouldn't be such a bad idea for this duet."
While most agree that her performance was not one of her best, the president and CEO of her label, Big Machine, is quick to defend her abilities.
"The facts say she is the undisputed best communicator that we've got," Scott Borchetta says. "So when she says something or feels something it affects more people than anybody else. Maybe she's not the best technical singer, but she is the best emotional singer. Everybody gets up there and is technically perfect people don't seem to want more of it. There's not an artist in any other format that people want more of than they want of Taylor. I think [the critics] are missing the whole voice of a generation that is happening right in front of them. Maybe they are jealous or can't understand that. But obviously the people that she talks to are engaged with her. No one is perfect on any given day. Maybe in that moment we didn't have the best night, but in the same breath, maybe we did."
Scott isn't the only one singing her praises. OK! magazine referred to it as a "fun, memorable performance," calling Taylor the "standout star of the evening." Butch Walker, who joined Taylor and Stevie on stage, says to Entertainment Weekly, "I think a lot of people give her unnecessary grief. Her appeal is not in [having] some big diva voice ... Taylor comes from country. It's a different approach to singing."
Whether or not she is the best singer, Taylor is the best-selling artist of the past year. Currently in Australia with her 'Fearless' tour, she will return to performing stateside March 4.
Reader Comments(1 of 1)
Jedi DeliaEddieat 2-02-2010
OMG!!! Give the girl a break! She was up there singing with STEVIE NICKS, for God's sake!She was probably experiencing nervousness and excitement! It was a fun combo song that they sang together.
Personally, I think they should record something together. That would be the proof that they can BOTH sing!
wo0t!at 2-03-2010
Why should we give her a break when she's being shoved down out throats and she can't sing a note in tune? In the REAL world, she wouldn't be getting very far. Ofcourse her record label will defend her, she's the MONKEYMAKER..it's all about money to these people. This wasn't one bad performance...In general, she is a very very mediocre singer and doesn't deserve these big awards! Her songs are vapid, very juvenile for a 20 going on 21 year old. She's being handed all this prestige and attention TOO FAST, TOO soon...It's not fair to the truly talented artists out there.
jechandleat 2-04-2010
I felt bad for Stevie trying to sing onstage with someone who's lack of musical talent has been exposed, first on SNL, now here.
Maybe she and her songs are cute, but she would have been better off to take a page out of Ashley Simpson's book.
It was truly painful.
With some of the wonderful voices that so many have never heard, the late Eva Cassidy for one, to have someone like this in the forefront of the music industry is a travesty.
dhowl58at 2-04-2010
It wasn't just the Grammys. She sucks every time she sings live. When these 12 year olds that worship her now grow up she won't have a career left.
raytrippat 2-05-2010
i love her and her performances and always have a good time watching her perform, shes a blast!
Skyeat 2-06-2010
Everytime I've heard Taylor sing live, she's sucked! A lot of mixing going on in the studio!
kyblossomat 2-06-2010
It totally amazes me what has happened to country music. I expect it from pop music but when country music awards this young girl with no voice and very little talent, Entertainer of the Year. When you look at the competition in that category from those singers who can carry a tune, I am totally amazed and have lost alot of respect for those who vote on these awards.
This one had to be fixed
la_la64at 2-07-2010
Rhiannon was always my favorite Stevie Nicks song, I would rather watch her with Fleetwood Mac any given day, and have since I was 13...
bonnieat 2-07-2010
taylor had a great deal of courage to sing with some one that has been in the music business for years and stevie seemed like she was impressed with her and that is saying something i think taylor is abreathe of fresh air
colormecoloradoat 2-09-2010
UGH - swift is painfully off key. Where are all the good singers at? Why do we only have the old great singers to enjoy? these young superstars aren't so super...
sweet gloryat 2-09-2010
Lets just say taylor is an entertainer and a good songwriter that appeals to young girls. She should not have won the grammys. Bottom line she is not a singer...... she beat out PinK and Beyonce? How the hell did that happen?
shirleee6at 2-09-2010
taylor is a horrible singer i wouldnt waste my money on her cds terrible ,cant sing on tune
jamieat 2-10-2010
Okay, Taylor is not the best singer, obviously, but clearly something about her is appealing to BILLIONS of people. Yeah most of her fan base is aged 5-15 and have no sense of tone or pitch, but half of them can't even access a computer and had no way of voting for her. She didn't win because little girls were excited to see their role model on stage, she won because fully developed adults voted for her, a million times. She must be doing something right, and she is! She got to where she is because of how devoted and talented she is, granted, yeah she's not the best vocalist, but she fills out in every other area 100 fold. She sells out stadiums in seconds and outsold everyone else this year, those numbers dont come from nowhere. The bottom line is that she beat out some of the toughest competition in the world, regardless of what issues she may have, and won fair and square.
Guyat 2-14-2010
Taylor is fantastically talented as a song-writer and she connects so well with people. However, she does seem to have relied on the auto-tuner. Nothing wrong with that, as it helps her to turn an ordinary singing performance into a really enjoyable and memorable one. I wonder, though, whether the use of this gadget actually harms one's own singing voice, as it must be difficult to produce the correct pitch when the feedback is not real. At the moment, my advice to Taylor is to make sure that the engineers are fully up-to-scratch with the auto-tune and are making it work. When she can afford to take a break and come out of the limelight for a while, she can train her natural voice. I am sure that, in any case, she has a long singing career ahead of her.
vsullivanat 2-15-2010
My advice to Taylor is go ahead and be happy for your time in the sun and put up money for retirement. Stevie Nicks has been a icon for a very long time and will continue to be but Taylor is a icon of the now. I don't see new artist winning the same awards 20 or 30 years from now asking her to sing one of her songs with them.