Taylor Swift won the major award at the GRAMMYS earlier this week - the award for Album of the Year, as well as three other awards, but her vocal performance with Stevie Nicks has been widely critized.
Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said, "Even though Swift was the big winner Sunday night, she has largely been derided by critics and is viewed as a youthful enthusiasm, not a serious artist. (If you watched the show, you may have noticed that while she has lovely hair, she can barely sing).
And popular online music critic Bob Leftez said, "Taylor Swift shortened her career last night. And since she says she calls all her own shots, she has to shoulder the blame. Yes, her dream came true, she made it, she's a star, but the real test is longevity. Elton John can play with GaGa decades later. Will Taylor Swift be duetting with the stars of the 2030s? Doubtful."
Scott Borchetta, the head of Swifts record label, Big Machine Records responded to the critics in the The Tennessean by saying...
“The facts say she is the undisputed best communicator that we’ve got," Borchetta said.
"So when she says something or feels something it affects more people than anybody else. Maybe she’s not the best technical singer, but she is the best emotional singer. Everybody gets up there and is technically perfect people don’t seem to want more of it. There’s not an artist in any other format that people want more of than they want of Taylor. I think (the critics) are missing the whole voice of a generation that is happening right in front of them. Maybe they are jealous or can’t understand that. But obviously the people that she talks to are engaged with her. No one is perfect on any given day. Maybe in that moment we didn’t have the best night, but in the same breath, maybe we did.”
In a phone intoerview to Billboard, Borchetta went on to say, "This is not 'American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."
And that prompted a response from American Idol's first winner, Kelly Clarkson on her online blog.
"I understand defending your artist obviously because I have done the same in the past for artists I like, including Taylor, so you might see why its upsetting to read you attacking American Idol for producing simply vocalists that hit ‘the high notes’. Thank you for that ‘Captain Obvious’ sense of humor because 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. I have been criticized left and right for having shaky performances before (and they were shaky) and what my manager or label executives say to me and the public is “I’ll kick butt next time” or “every performance isn’t going to be perfect” ……I bring this up because you should take a lesson from these people and 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," said Clarkson.
Swift takes to stage on Saturday night at Acer Arena to a sold out crowd in Sydney. There's no doubt her longevity as an artist will have everything with her ability to continue to record hit songs and remain relevant to her world-wide army of fans, as opposed to the reaction to her GRAMMY performance.
