Taylor Swift’s Fearless won big at the MTV VMAs and the Grammys but on June 9th, the 20-year-old singer got no love from her country brethren. Instead, Carrie Underwood was crowned the queen of the night at the CMT Music Awards, while Swift went home empty handed.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is inducting some great songwriters of our generation for the year 2010. David Foster’s written every other ballad for most pop stars, Leonard Cohen penned the magical “Hallelujah” and just about everyone knows who Earth, Wind and Fire is (Maurice White will be inducted). However, we’re a little surprised to hear that pop-country sweetie (depending on how you spin your connotation on the latter term) Taylor Swift is included in this year’s mix as she is only 20 years old.
Citizens of Nashville, Tennessee are still suffering from a massive flood which occurred last weekend. As a major music city, there are also currently many musicians who are currently suffering from the damage the water has done to their instruments and and gear. It’s surprising to finally hear the media talking about this natural disaster since the nation has done everything we could for Haiti’s earthquake. However, people are finally giving what they can to those in need.
Reuters reports that global music sales are continuing their steady decline, with worldwide sales dropping an additional 7% in 2009 (the numbers dropped 8% in 2008) to a total of $17 billion. The world’s two largest music markets, the United States and Japan, marked the largest drop in sales, while digital downloads continued to cautiously grow despite wildly rampant illegal downloading.
And the cherry on the cake for yet another miserable year for the music industry? The bestselling record was Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream, followed by discs by the Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. My goodness—how could the industry possibly be in decline when its top-tier names are such artistic visionaries as a band with Fergie in it?
Taylor Swift may have been one of the most successful artists in 2009, but the majority of both music critics and general music fans still can’t shake off her unsteady performance from The Grammys. First, there was a debate on whether or not Swift was singing out of key during her set with Stevie Nicks. Secondly, Scott Borchetta, the head of her record label Big Machine Records has fired back at critics for expressing their unhappiness with Swift’s pitchy-ness during live shows.
One of the big storylines coming out of Sunday night’s 52nd Grammy Awards was Taylor Swift’s underwhelming duet with Stevie Nicks on Swift’s “Today Was a Fairytale” and “You Belong with Me” sandwiching the Fleetwood Mac hit, “Rhiannon.” The wave of criticism following Swift’s mediocre performance quickly morphed into an intense backlash against the singer; her winning Album of the Year definitely irked plenty of music fans.
All this negativity directed at the young singer has Scott Borchetta, the head of Swift’s record label, really pissed off. Check below to read his rather intense comments regarding the Grammy incident and subsequent backlash, courtesy of the Tennessean.
Last night was the big night for the music industry. The 52nd Grammy Awards were held in Los Angeles’ Staples Center and everyone from Justin Beiber to Jeff Beck showed up for the special event. Also, like usual, they managed to cram in 16 performances into a three hour show.
Although, we have to admit, with the exception of Lady Gaga, Beyonce, The 3-D Michael Jackson tribute, and Mary J. Blige/Andrea Bocelli duet, the show didn’t live up to the hype last night. Whether you tuned in or missed out last night, we’ve got all the performances for you to watch below!
Although Beyoncé took the top honors with her record breaking 6 Grammy awards last night for female history, Taylor Swift had a big night by winning Best female country vocal performance, Best Country Album of the year, and Best Album of the year. We commend the now 20-year-old for actually writing all her own songs and succeeding in the industry by doing things her way.
However, even as a decent songwriter, her vocals in her live performances always seem to fall short of expectations based on how she sounds in her recordings. She had the great opportunity of performing with the legendary Stevie Nicks last night but anyone with a musical ear noticed that there were some serious pitch issues going on in those harmonies and we don’t think it was on Nicks’ part.
The time is almost here for viewers who favor the Grammys over the American Music Awards. On January 31, the prestigious music awards will air with many acts who are also nominees. Although nearly two months after the AMAs, will all the performances crammed into three hours trump the ones we saw from Janet Jackson, Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, and Rihanna?
Check the Grammy Awards’ lineup out so far below!