As you all know, Taylor Swift can't sing. This was heard by millions watching the Grammy's as she shaked, wobbled, and missed all the right notes in a medley of her songs. Everyone can have an off night, but hearing her voice so raw and exposed revealed a huge lack of training and her performance left a lot to be desired. This point was solidified as Swift's idol, Stevie Nicks walked onto the stage to sing a duet with her. Nicks was calm, collected and on-point while Swift was jumping all over the place, her energy seemed to be a distraction from her short-comings.
As pop stars and teen sensations go, Taylor Swift does have singing talent. But as we all know, to be a pop star takes MUCH, MUCH more than singing talent. You have to be fierce, have an incomparable stage presence, demand attention, dance, connect with the music / crowd / band, and you have to sing. At this point, Taylor Swift needs to decide what she wants to be. A pop star? Or a singing artist? Because she doesn't have what it takes to be either right now, and she is stuck in the middle (it is a Grammy winning middle, but it is the middle none the less and will be fleeting).
The huge backlash against her performance has been heard from the major critics (The New York Times, Washington Post), TV News, Twitter, Youtube comments, blogs and more. The noise made its way all the way up to the big man at Taylor Swift's record label, Big Machine Records. His name is Scott Borchetta and he released a statement through the Tennessean which did not help her case.
"Maybe she's not the best technical singer, but she's probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don't seem to want more of it." Who are these people that don't want to see a technically perfect singer? Swift is billed as a SINGER.... shouldn't she be able to SING?
"This is not 'American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. ... It's not about that technically perfect performance."
She definitely did not sing the high notes... in fact she lowered all of them in comparison to what she sings on the CD, and she was still pitchy.
"I think (the critics) are missing the whole voice of a generation that is happening right in front of them. … She's an extraordinary songwriter and her vocal performances are getting better."
The voice of a generation?! Maybe. If the generation he is talking about is today's pre-teen girls. But does that equal staying power? True staying power? No. You have to have something. You have to be able to perform. In some sense of the word.
Kelly Clarkson has weighed in on this whole subject in her blog, and attacked Borchetta for his American Idol comments. "you know what, we not only hit the high notes, you forgot to mention we generally hit the ‘right’ notes as well. Every artist has a bad performance or two and that is understandable, but throwing blame will not make the situation at hand any better."
Ouch.
"Instead of lashing out at other artists (that in your 'humble' opinion lack true artistry), you should simply take a breath and realize that sometimes things won't go according to plan or work out and that's okay."
Thank you Kelly, for your words of wisdom.
She signed the blog "One of those contestants from American Idol who only made it because of her high notes
"In the end, Taylor Swift won 4 Grammys and is now the youngest artist to win the top prize of Album of the Year. But winning a Grammy does not equal staying power. To have that she's going to have do some major work.
Watch her Grammy performance below:
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