<p>She’s a country singer (alright- crossover). She’s not on Broadway or singing opera. She carries a tune just fine. Cute and sweet is part of it- but it’s the songs that make her successful. I suspect your vocal teacher NYC friends are not big country music fans.</p>
<p>^^I don’t think it was staged. Ms. Swift changed outfits into the red dress (after the Kanye incident) in order to sing a live version of her video about half way through the telecast. She was still wearing that same red dress when Beyonce called her back out.</p>
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<p>I think this has a lot to do with it. Country music has a lot of vibrato, sliding from note to note, etc. Taylor is a crossover, but she also has a lot of country in her.</p>
<p>I have an immense respect for her as someone who was trained as a singer for just under 10 years and still dreams of being onstage someday. I think she has a lovely voice and is incredibly talented-writing songs that are so positive and classy in this society deserves some credit, if you ask me.</p>
<p>Swift can’t carry a tune?? I honestly don’t understand this comment, unless as MOWC says, it’s because she sings country. Swift writes her own music. She’s phenomenally talented. I’d love to be able to vocalize the way she does! But I went to college in the middle of corn and came to love country music.</p>
<p>You have to give her credit for keeping it together when K did his deed. She looked like she might cry for a moment there.</p>
<p>Remember ‘you’re so vain’? I’ll bet there’s a song in this experience, if she’s willing.</p>
<p>I agree Taylor writes cute songs and she’s certainly adorable. They obviously do a lot to tweak her voice in the studio, but I have heard her live on television several times and have looked at her on You Tube and she is flat pretty much throughout every song. I think she just doesn’t have a good ear. Faith Hill is tweaked a lot in the studio too. She has had some horrid live performances. Carrie Underwood, on the other hand, performs well live. Martina McBride - rarely an off note live. Dierks Bentley really struggles to stay on the right key too when he sings live, as does the lead singer for Rascal Flats. Lots of people don’t sing nearly as well live as they do in the recording studio. They often make up for it in other ways. </p>
<p>I’m watching Jay Leno now - we’ll see what Kanye has to say.</p>
<p>cartera–I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to cause an argument here, because I’m not. But a lot of that depends on different things. YouTube quality is almost always horrible, because of the screaming and the overall quality of whoever is recording.</p>
<p>As for TV…performers have off days, their monitor is off, they can’t hear the band…there are a myriad of things that can go wrong. </p>
<p>I’ll reserve judgment until I see her live for myself. But I will continue to belt out her music in my bedroom regardless.</p>
<p>My roommates keep threatening to videotape my singing along with Taylor and post it on YouTube for all to see.</p>
<p>I do agree that Carrie Underwood is incredible.</p>
<p>Kanye West ought to be banned from this particular ceremony next year. What an unmitigated prick.</p>
<p>I understand HisGrace - I’ve never heard anyone say that she is a great vocalist. When I first heard her live on television, I thought she was just having a bad night, but I have read scathing reviews of every live performance she has done, including from country music reviewers. There is no hiding being flat or sharp when you’re live. I think she is a pop singer all the way though - I don’t recognize much country there. I grew up listening to Brenda Lee. Compare Brenda singing “So Sorry” and Taylor’s version on the Grammy concert - ouch. </p>
<p>Rhianna on now with Jay Z and Kanye. There is only one person on the stage who can sing though.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that she’s more pop than country. I grew up listening to Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw. :)</p>
<p>everyone’s overreacting. It’s like this story in the news is taking priority over starving children and murders. Seriously, it’s not that big a deal. If the same story took place in a classroom environment, it would never even make the paper, let alone the news. take a chill pill and focus on what’s important. As far as I’mconcerned, the VMA’s don’t mean smack.</p>
<p>I’m older and grew up listening to Roy Acuff, Jimmie Rodgers, Lynn Anderson, Eddy Arnold, Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall and on and on. The only thing my parents listened to was country music. I liked the alternative country singers like Lyle Lovett, Roseanne Cash and Rodney Crowell -another one who can’t carry a tune, but I love him. I still like to hear Glenn Campbell though and Patsy Cline is hard to beat. </p>
<p>Jay didn’t give Kanye a chance to speak and Kanye elected not to grab the microphone from his hand.</p>
<p>I agree that the VMAs are meaningless. The directors and producers ought to actually receive them in most cases. But someone coming up on stage and actually taking the mic out of the hand of the person who recieved the award? And saying someone else should have won? That is appalling behavior for kindergarten, much less adulthood. I don’t think that anyone is over-reacting.</p>
<p>I’m not interested in arguing either but the opinions of the friends I mentioned have nothing to do with the fact that Taylor sings country music. The type of music is not the issue when it comes to poor breath control and pitch problems. Her recorded music is very obviously Autotuned in the studio. It appears that there are also country music fans who agree that she is not a great singer, judging by the links that people have sent to me via PM to some online country music discussions. Taylor clearly has a huge fanbase, so good for her and her success. :)</p>
<p>Talk about a fight I have no horse in – country music versus hip-hop. A pox on both their houses. This is not Kanye’s first erratic act at an award’s show and, as long as he brings in the pubilcity, it won’t be the last. I felt sorry for Taylor Swift when he stole her moment (she hasn’t looked so uncomfortable since she was forced to sing a duet with the painfully out-of-tune Miley Cyrus), but Beyonce handled it perfectly. So all’s well that ends well.</p>
<p>Northstarmom:
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<p>You must mean because of time and place, referring to a specific and recent incident. Can I assume that otherwise you would think it was OK to call any president a liar? What I am saying is, I hope your feeling that “there should be more expectation of courtesy in this world. One can disagree without being rude” was in place during the last administration as well. :)</p>
<p>While I do agree that it showed bad manners to interrupt a president’s speech in that context, since he is a politician I do not agree that it was a worse offense than humiliating an innocent young person in such a cruel and thoughtless way.</p>
<p>As for Taylor Swift and her singing, she is just a wonderful all-around package. She is a decent enough singer (no, not world-class), a good song writer, and a captivating, fun performer. On top of all that, a nice person. Kids have a blast at her concerts. No need to criticize her, especially on a day when she was coldcocked in front of millions of people.</p>
<p>I saw Kanye on Jay Leno’s show last night. He took a few minutes to sit with Jay and talk about the VMA incident. I guess he was trying to offer some sort of apology but there wasn’t one coherent sentence in his entire five minute appearance. It was all about him with little true understanding of what he did wrong. What a jerk.</p>
<p>I saw part of a “musical” number performed by Kanye, Jay-Z, and Rhianna. It sounded like 2 drunk frat boys arguing over who should get to drink the last beer. Talk about “no talent”…</p>
<p>patsmom, I just watched a clip of the Leno interview and I felt sorry for Kanye. Here is a man who is obviously on the edge. He made a huge mistake and now has to pay for it in front of the whole country. Everyone is talking about how rude he is and what a jerk he is. The Leno brings up his late Mother. To me it was a low blow to do that. I agree Kanye wasn’t particularly coherent but considering his background, etc. that isn’t surprising. If you watch interviews with a lot of these musicians they aren’t very coherent a lot of the time.</p>
<p>I have seen Taylor perform about 6 times (this past Sat night- which got a good review) and as part of awards shows and CMAFest. She wasn’t criticized for any of those performances. She isn’t the greatest vocalist that ever lived, but many people, including me, love her songs and her performances.<br>
Country music has changed somewhat. Imagine that!</p>