A debate has spilled over from the Grammy Awards and is rattling around music circles like a dog with tin cans tied to its tail: Can Taylor Swift really sing?
Sure, the country phenom won four Grammy awards, including Album of the Year, but that has only fueled concerns, which center on her duet with former Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks.
Swift sang off key during her performance of “Rhiannon,” one of Fleetwood Mac’s signature hits.
Critics said she was also uneven during other parts of the show. Given the success Fearless only her second album, such talk might easily be dismissed as grousing.
But in an age when even top pop singers have been caught lip-syncing and Auto-Tune, a computer program that automatically corrects off key notes, can make a singer out of anybody, the debate forced Swift’s manager to respond.
In a newspaper article in the Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, Scott Borchetta, president and chief executive of her label, answered critics. But he seemed to only add fuel to the fire.
“The facts say she is the undisputed best communicator that we’ve got. When she says something, when she sings something, when she feels something, it affects more people than anybody else,” he wrote. But is communicating singing?
“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,” He added. Ouch.
It almost seemed like he was acknowledging that she has trouble singing.
“If you pick any of those artists that performed” on the Grammys broadcast, “I’m sure you can go online and find something where you go, ‘ew,’ ” he continued. “Maybe in that moment we didn’t have the best night. But in the same breath, maybe we did.”
In fact, he must of felt the same way, because Borchetta clarified his remarks in a follow-up interview with the Associated Press.
He said Swift had a technical problem during her duet with Nicks and was unable to hear the complete mix of the song as she performed it.
“And nobody is arguing with the awards,” he wrote.
At least he got that right.
Keith Girard four decades of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie’s and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN’s Washington Bureau and has written one book on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War.
It’s a shame how untalented she is the new Brittany she will age and be forgotten as soon as the next 17 year old comes alone. How sad Music is in the toliet.
I don’t get her appeal. Her voice is mediocre. Her songs are vapid and juvenile for a 20-something. And even her looks are beyond average, so what is the appeal?
So I’m guessing she cant hear during all of her performances because she always sounds horrible, Why are people just NOW realizing she cant sing?!
Usually i dont like to bash but kanye looks like a hero and believe me its hard for me to give him any love.her manager should stop now and tell her the truth.she cant sing end of story.this girl is so cocky thats why she wanted the contro to cont bye taylor.she cant even keep a man.
Yes, she absolutely can sing. All you have to do is spend a few minutes on Youtube to figure that out. Many of her performances are not great, but many of them are. That should be all the validation she needs for people to see she’s not faking anything with her studio recordings.
Really people???? She may not be the best singer vocally, but she sings with emotion and she is a great role model for the kids. Get off her back. She does a great job and I think she sounds great and so do millions of girls. It’s nice for the youth of today to have someone wholesome to look up to.
This article and many that have been written before this one are all part of the “backlash” problem. Nothing in this story deals with the truth. The fact of the matter is that Taylor is not a vocalist.
Many have asked why Taylor has been given the huge and I do mean huge promotion and push into the limelight. I must admit I too have been baffled at times.
It is a difficult concept to grasp. The only thing I can come up with is the “Elephant in the Room” theory.
Here’s a definition of that phrase:
Elephant in the room” (also “elephant in the sitting room”, “elephant in the living room”, “elephant in the parlor”, “elephant in the corner”, “elephant on the dinner table”, “elephant in the kitchen”, “elephant in the champagne room”, and “elephant on the coffee table”) is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem no one wants to discuss.[1]
It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there might be concerning themselves with relatively small and even irrelevant matters, compared to the looming big one.
Now I’m not saying that Taylor’s sales or expossure on both country and pop radio are small irrelevant matters, just that everyone has been fearful to speak the truth and avoid any discussion of her vocal abilities…..hence the Elephant in the Room theory. Taylor has remixed and rereleased her material often. That is never mentioned when her sale figures are reported. Who in the industry preys on their young fans in such a manner? I’m country, no I’m pop, buy my CD again with a bonus track!
Taylor has received many free passes. When the truth is all of her live performances have been no different then what we received from her this past Sunday.
Music critics have no difficulty doing their job with reviews of every other artist live performances. But for some strange reason, in the critic’s reviews of Taylor’s live tour, they talked about her hair flipping, her shower scenes, her Castles and smoke screens and screaming teens, but never once did they discuss her vocals.
The argument that “she’s a 20-year-old who got famous before coming into her own as a vocalist.” Give her some time.” makes little sense. Do any of these child artists ring a bell with you?
Charlotte Church,Tanya Tucker,Stevie Wonder,Judy Garland or Michael Jackson. Young people can sing in tune and have for generations.
The other popular argument I read over and over again is that she writes her own songs.Songwriting is a talent. Yes, songwriting is a talent, is…
“Today was a fairytale”
“I wore a dress”
talent?
Perhaps Taylor being out of the country at the moment is yet another big break for her. Taylor will obviously be painfully aware of the debate and the acknowledgment that people everywhere are proclaiming her lack of vocal abilities.
Thanks to an industry that built her up beyond her abilities and less than honestly to the general public I am left to ask…..
How in the world will she ever step foot on to a stage at another award show? That will take some extreme believe in herself.
Stevie Nicks did not sound any better singing Taylor Swifts song then Taylor sounded singing hers. They are both great singers in their own rite.
All the live videos on YouTube show that Taylor Swift cannot sing. It’s crazy that they picked her to receive vocal awards at the Grammys and CMAs. She cannot carry a tune and the record label better ‘fess up or it’s only going to get worse for them. Maybe she can write, who knows. She sure can’t sing.
Well i dont care what any body says she is smart, funny, and beautiful she has a great voice and can sing her little heart out. Its just a shame her haters have no life!
Who wrote this article? “In fact, he must of felt the same way…”???? It should be “he must HAVE felt the same way…”!!! And Josh, you talk too much. No one wants to read all of that drivel.
Taylor Swift is the most airheaded, disgusting, talentless thing to grace the stage. The fact that she earns so much acclaim just goes to show how the music industry has gone downhill. She talks all this crap about “dreams come true” but she needs to realize that to reach your dreams, you need to accomplish something worthwhile first.
I may be old school, but in my book. You are a true singer if you can perform live and with full voice. Taylor is an embarrassment to all the young people out there who have true “ON KEY” talent…and there are many. She needs to stick to song writing and let the real talent perform. The art world is critical and cruel but only the true artists survive. If Taylor wants to remain a performer then she’s going to need a really good singing coach, not a synthesizer.
Taylor is such a sweetheart. It’s lame that she was overlooked at the awards ceremony.
Those with no talent mock those with talents much greater than their own and appreciated by millions.
Sounds about right, this being the internet and all.
Write, sing, act, preforn and live on, young Miss Swift.
Oh, and get a new publicist. Naomi Judd comes to mind.
Hey Jeff, how much did Big Machine pay you?