Taylor Swift-lash hits new heights
Where has all the love gone for Taylor Swift? The Taylor Swift-lash has hit new heights, exploding in the blogosphere--fueled by a her label’s delusional response insisting she is "the voice of a generation." The label goes on to belittle American Idol for producing singers that can hit hight notes and blames Taylor’s live performance nightmare on technical difficulties.
Kelly Clarkson rightfully took some umbrage with the Idol comments and gave Taylor’s label a verbal whiplashing. You go girl!
People seem downright outraged that Taylor Swift won "Album of the Year," the most prestigious award at the Grammys, over some of the music industry’s heaviest hitters: Beyonce, Black Eye Peas, Lady Gaga and the Dave Mathews Band.
To recap the whole brouhaha, it began when Taylor Swift failed to hit one note in her entire performance with Stevie Nicks at the Grammys and then went on to win the Grammy’s biggest prize of the night.
What was odd about the Grammys this year was that the "Album of they Year" category was dominated by artists with large young fan bases and they know how to flood the internet with their twits and tweets. The chirping was so deafening, it could barely drowned out Kanya’s "I told you so."
Can Taylor Swift sing?
The battle came down to the Country Fans (Swift) vs. the Pop/Dance Fans (Beyonce, Peas, Gaga). It didn’t help poor Taylor’s cause that she obliterated her live performance.
Her management claimed she couldn’t "hear herself." Artists use all sorts of electronic trickery to nail a live performance, including Auto-Tune Pitch Correcting software that can correct an artist’s pitch in real time. So I am going to take her management’s word on the "technical difficulties"; even Helen Keller could have identified there was a major problem and wouldn’t have let her go on.
Can Taylor Swift sing? Of course Taylor Swift can carry a tune, and she has legions of fans that loves her "pretty girl/I’m a nerd persona," perky personality, wispy voice and bubblegum lyrics. I think she is genuine and charming. I just don’t like her music.
Do her musical abilities, persona, originality and creativity deserve the music industry top prize? Of course not.
Should she have been nominated? Maybe.
Her first two albums sold over 10 million records. That’s deserving of something. Country artists do get slighted by the Academy, so much so that they had to create their own award show to get some respect.
The only category consider by the Academy to be a bigger bastard then John Edwards’ love child or country music is the dance/pop genre. Lets take a look at Taylor’s musical doppelganger--Ms. Britney Spears.
La Spears has sold over 90 million records worldwide and has never been honored with a nomination for the top prize at the Grammys. Doesn’t she deserve a nod? Of course!
She has successfully worked with producers to generate mega-hit songs with hot beats that light up the clubs. Her concerts were sold out worldwide generating, one of the highest grossing tours of 2010.
Why hasn’t she been nominated for "Album of the Year"? Maybe because they consider her voice weak, or she doesn’t sing it live. Her team creates songs over and over again that resonate with million of fans; she is no one hit wonder.
Maybe Taylor Swift’s management had it right when they said it’s not just about "hitting the high note." Could it be the originality, the lyrics, the beats, the voice, the tone, the mixing, an artist persona, showmanship?
A number of factors could determine why we love our music, not just the person that can hit the highest note. That just might explain why American Idol has had so many dudes. Idol may need consider more then one factor when finding a potential pop star.
Then there’s this enticing scenario: Were the Grammys fixed, so no other outcome but Taylor was possible? The academy probably has a fair amount of mature voters who probably don’t get artist like Gaga and the Peas, which is unfortunate because their songs dominated the summer for their uniqueness and originality.
The younger or more hip academy member had to split their vote between, Beyoncé, Gaga and the Peas. So the only possible winner of the night could have been Swift. The Academy voters who favor country only had one choice, so it was a no brainer Taylor would be taking home the prize.
So maybe we should stop knocking Taylor and demand the Academy change its practices. Including having a range of members representing all age groups and all genres.
The winning artist should have to garner over 50 percent of the vote. The lowest vote getter should be knocked off each round until one artist gets a majority of the vote. Simple measure like these would ensure the most deserving artist wins each year and bring back some respect back to the Grammys.
Watch Taylor Swift win her Grammy Award (but she still can’t sing).
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Mark Russo is a part-time computer software engineer and full-time pop-culture maven.
