Taylor Swift

I was invited to see Miss Swift in concert this past weekend...as I work in radio it is a good thing to be able to discuss with your listeners when they ask. While I am not a fan...marketing versus music...it was an enjoyable evening overall. Her fans are loyal and it is refreshing to see and hear things that cannot be construed as offensive for our younger generation of girls. I would rather my daughter listen and see Taylor Swift than Lady Gaga or Courtney Love any day of the week. I believe that the audience was full of moms and dads who felt the same way.

First of all, This is not meant to be a downer; just my observations. Yes, you will find them "mean" if you are a fan but that is what makes this country great; we can all have a voice. Speech is still free...for awhile anyway; I am sure Obama has something coming up for that in the near future too.

Secondly, I have seen all of her live television singing and it has not been pretty. I doubted her ability to sing and while I can't say it publicly without being fired from my radio work, she has pitch problems and on television they are consistent. Singing correctly requires proper pitch. You can either match pitch or you can't. Singers need to do it consistently, minus the occasional bad night. Everyone has them and can be excused. In Miss Swift's case, the television performances are not one offs. I am a singer (15 years of professional voice lessons and numerous performances on stage) and have had several bad night's along the 100's of shows I have done. THAT is expected. Each and every time is not something that can be swept under the rug and continue the guise of being a singer.

I also believe her writing skills (she has my admiration for this ability...try it some time. It is not as easy as it looks) are solid but they are meant for pre-pubescent teenage girls. Again, there is nothing at all wrong with this; on the contrary, knowing ones audience is critical in any type of performance driven work. She knows and she delivers to this audience as evidenced by the number of less-than-20-year-old's in the audience and whose screams I can still hear today.

A couple of issues:

Phoniness: It is easy to spot and in her case it came across as very phony in places. For example, usually at the end of a number the lights come down and the act gets a moment or two to re-group for the next number. In this case, the lights go down on everyone else EXCEPT Miss Swift. She stands and basks in the raging glory of her fandom. Nothing against accepting gratitude for a job well done, however, there is a line that cannot be crossed between accepting gratitude and being completely arrogant and expecting the audience to keep screaming for you until YOU tell them it's ok to stop. It's phony, not needed in most cases as the performance stands on its own. After every song, she would stand and await her coming glory. Nobody wants to watch anyone masturbate on stage. AFter winning just about every award there is to win (some unjustly, imo) since coming on the scene, this is not new. This is not "shocking." This is not unusual. Accept the audiences love and gratitude with humbleness and class, not arrogance and entitlement.

Hair Flipping: Every song had choreographed hair flipping. It made no sense in the performance and felt very un-natural. Once is interesting; twice is ok but more than that and it becomes a crutch and tells an audience member you are "reaching." There is a time and place for everything and it is not after every verse of a song. Annoying.

Sexiness: Trying to be sexy leads to being phony. Every time she walked across the stage the walk felt forced and un-natural; the hips were completely being thrust about in a way that made it look ridiculous. She was trying to be sexy when she really has no clue (due to her age) about what sexy is all about. Miss Swift, be 20 and enjoy it. Sexy comes with age and maturity. You are a beautiful young woman. There is no need to try and force that which you are not to an audience.

Production: I had heard numerous times that this was going to be "huge" and "spectacular." Well, it wasn't. At least not what I would consider "huge" and "spectacular." KISS is "huge" and "spectacular." AC/DC is "huge" and "spectacular." Taylor Swift was "High Musical 5." Very predictable and quite sophomoric.

I have said this many times, if Miss Swift is still making "music" in 10 years I will be pleasantly surprised. If her writing does not grow with her maturity into her womanhood, the girls in the audience will fall by the wayside as they grow up and mature. Marketing is a very dangerous game and she is being marketed to all girls under the age of 20...whose buying power stems from the pocketbook of mom and dad. Again, this was evidenced by the large number of bags filled with paraphernalia carried around by mom and dad all night. I liken her to Leann Rimes in this instance. And I love Leann, however, she is trying to put her career back together after all the turbulence of being a young star and now because of her marital woes. She is still considered an act but I would bet her record contract falls by the wayside sooner rather than later.

Miss Swift and her music will continue to fill the airwaves, and rightly so; everyone has that ability in the free-est country on the planet...until PBO is finished with us. Make all the money you can and enjoy your work. Taylor Swift is definitely doing that.