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Taylor Swift

In Defense of Taylor Swift

by Joi on February 4, 2010

Taylor Swift at the Grammys

There’s a little controversy surrounding Taylor Swift’s wins at that Grammy’s. There’s a little controversy surrounding Taylor Swift’s performance at the Grammy’s. There’s a little controversy surrounding the fact that there’s a little controversy.

Are there better, pure, natural singers out there? Sure. Taylor doesn’t quite own the range or perfection that the vocal gods saved for…. say, Martina McBride, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill or Carrie Underwood. However, lets give the young lady her dues: She writes just about all of her own material (and is a wonderful songwriter, especially considering the fact that she has only 19 years of experience to draw upon), she sings from the heart, there is nothing at all fake about her, and she has a wonderful girl-next-door quality that I hope and pray she never loses.

If you’re one of the ones who questions her dues, look at record sales. The girl is outselling everyone – how are you going to question that? Maybe, just maybe, what most of us want isn’t necessarily a perfect voice (whatever that is) or a perfect pitch (oooh, exciting). Maybe we want someone who sings the song like the song means something to them. Maybe we’re all tired of the overly-pampered, ridiculous holier-than-thou divas with their lists of demands and notebooks filled with what the world owes them. Maybe we’re totally over the trashy, good for absolutely nothing trouble makers who only amuse themselves.

Maybe we’re looking for someone who we actually like and we want to listen to.

The next time someone gets bent out of shape over Taylor Swift, I challenge them to swing around their radio dial and listen to some of the other popular artists (male and female from every genre). The bottom line is, Taylor sounds as good as any of them and better than a lot. She’s as apt to suffer jitters in live performances as anyone…. she’s 19!

Personally, I think she’s experiencing something that the Yankees, Microsoft, UK Basketball, the Lakers, and McDonald’s experience. When you’re on top, people come after you with magnifying glasses and criticism. Why not just realize that if someone’s on top, they didn’t get there by making a wish. They worked for it, they paid their dues, they have fan bases in the millions, and they earned it. Enjoy them!

Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys Taylor Swift at the Grammys

Taylor Swift Pictures

by Joi on December 31, 2009

Below are a few beautiful photographs of Taylor Swift from All Posters. Great pics!  Talent, beauty, style… and she appears to be one of the sweetest, most down to earth entertainers as well.  Who couldn’t be a fan of Taylor Swift?!?!

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Photo

Buy at AllPosters.com

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Photo
Buy at AllPosters.com

Taylor Swift

When I think of the name George Jones, I think of him belting out the lyrics, “I don’t need no rocking chair!….”

With all due respect, maybe he does.

He recently lashed out at two of the freshest stars in Country music, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.  He told the Associated Press, “they’ve stolen our identity.” And, he maintains, they need to give it back and move on to another genre. “They had to use something that was established already, and that’s traditional country music. So what they need to do really, I think, is find their own title, because they’re definitely not traditional country music.”

In another recent interview, he lashed  out at country radio – again, it doesn’t have what he wants to hear.  He said, “It’s good to know that we still do traditional country music. Alan Jackson still does it, so does George Strait. We still have it, and there’s quite a few of us that are going to hope that it comes back one of these days.

The best I can figure is that George Jones and others like him wanted Country Music to keep on “crying in it’s beer” while, thankfully, in reality, it has gotten up off of the stool, dried its tears, and headed out for the dance floor.

If it had stayed the way he wanted, it would make about as much sense as he does these days.

Carrie Underwood

Thank You, Jay Z, You Nailed It

by Joi on November 4, 2009

Jay-Z

In a recent interview, Jay Z summed up what everyone else has been trying to get their minds around for weeks. When asked in an interview about his friend, Kanye West’s infamous “I’m gonna let you finish…” broo ha ha – Jay Z (who said that Kanye was like a little brother to him) said that it was rude of Kanye to do what he did. He also said that it was Taylor Swift’s moment and he shouldn’t have taken it away from her.

Jay Z pointed out that no one was harmed, no one was killed, so that it’s time to move on… Amen!

I love his quote (below):

“At the end of the day, we’re going to celebrate him for his passion more than vilify him. Because his passion is the same thing that causes him to make Graduation and all these great records… and it’s the thing that causes him to step out of line sometimes.” – Jay Z about Kanye West

Taylor Swift - Fearless

For the third week in a row, Fearless by Taylor Swift is Number 1 on Billboard’s album chart with 330,000 in sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In second place is A Different Me by Keyshia Cole. “A Different Me” sold 322,000 in its first week!

Jamie Foxx’s Intuition reached No. 3 with 265,000, (impressive) while Fall Out Boy’s newFolie A Deux debuted at No. 8 with 150,000.

Each of these are supposedly amazing albums. The only one I’ve listened to, so far, is Taylor’s – and it is, front to back, all it’s cracked up to be.

I’m going to pick up Keyshia’s today and I’ll grab Jamie’s and F.O.B.’s next week. I’ll let you know how great they are. I know they will be!

Elsewhere on Billboard’s chart, Britney Spears’s Circus, surprisingly, dropped two spots to No. 4 with 196,000 sales. It’s some of Britney’s best work yet. Unusual You, My Baby, Womanizer, and Circus are addictively good.

Beyoncé’s I Am…Sasha Fierce (Deluxe Edition) sits at No. 5 with 195,000 and Nickelback’s Dark Horse is at No. 6 with 194,000.

Click HERE for more Taylor Swift.

Click HERE for more Taylor Swift.

Click HERE for more Beyonce.

Click HERE for more Britney.

The itunes top 10:

1. If I Were a Boy
Beyonce

2. You’re Not Sorry
Taylor Swift

3. Womanizer
Britney Spears

4. Live Your Life (feat. Rihanna)
T.I.

5. So What
Pink

6. Hot N Cold
Katy Perry

7. Let It Rock
Kevin Rudolf & Lil wayne

8. Right Now (Na Na Na)
Akon

9. I’m Yours
Jason Mraz

10. Whatever You Like
T.J.

I love seeing Beyonce, Britney, and Akon back on top again. Does every song Akon touches have to be so addictive? I’m guessing yes (na na na).

My only beef with this list is, where in the world’s Kanye? Please, a top 10 without Kanye West isn’t a legit top 10 – it’s a… well, it’s a top 10 with 1 shmuck or shmuckette who jumped in his spot.

Sigh. I love myself some Taylor Swift.

What’s Hot on iTunes

by Joi on March 3, 2008

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple iTunes

Taylor Swift Video – Our Song!

by Joi on February 5, 2008

This is one of the most addictive songs ever. I love this girl’s voice!

The Good:

Country sweetheart Taylor Swift is one of the few stars who’s actually as sweet as they look. Her record label president gave her a new hot pink truck on her 18th birthday. She has donated the truck to one of the coolest charities on the planet: the Victory Junction Gang, a charity that helps children with terminal illnesses.

Taylor also is actually laughing off a bizarre fan encounter that would have most stars speed-dialing their lawyers at best, knocking teeth out at worst. A fan apparently ran into the back of her car … and then asked for her autograph.

“Somebody hit my car and then asked me to sign a broken piece of my taillight,” she told the Canadian news site canoe.ca.

Then things got crazier as the first accident caused another one.

“It was crazy,” said Swift. “Five minutes later, this other woman saw me on the side of the road and decided that she wanted to get an autograph for her daughter. So she pulled over to get my autograph and then somebody hit her car. It was quite the experience!”

The Bad

I have received so many e-mails about Britney Spears. People ask me if I like her music (I have liked a lot of her old songs – they were fun, catchy, the girl has a good voice.), if I hate her (I honestly don’t hate anyone), and what I think of her train wreck of a life. I feel sorry for her, because personally I think she’s pretty messed up. If I were going to hate anyone, it’d be people who would take advantage of someone like Britney….like K-fed and a long list of others.

I think that, like most people, this whole thing ceased being even mildly amusing when she locked herself in a room with her two innocent little boys and refused to give them back. Reports say that the youngest, Jaden, even has a bruise where she was holding him so tight, refusing to let go of him.

The reports are probably blown way out of reason – just like the media has done to Britney’s entire life.

It seems to me that it’s like there are two Britneys. There’s the one that’s plasetered all over the internet, always doing stupid things and looking like a wild child. Then there’s the one that OK! magazine photographer Dani Brubaker photographed a few weeks ago with Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, for the latest issue. During the photo shoot, Brubaker says that the singer was focused on her sons. “She was very loving,” Brubaker recalls. “She told me she loved her children and that they are her life.”

Reportedly, Britney found Brubaker’s photos so powerful that she became emotional. “I’m told that when she saw the photographs she literally cried for over an hour and stared at them all night long,” says Brubaker.

A friend of Britney’s told the magazine that she is “inconsolable.” “Those boys are her everything, and she’s said repeatedly that life isn’t worth living if she can’t have her babies with her,” says the friend, who adds.”"Britney has always said, ‘I would die for my boys if that’s what it took to prove I loved them. I’d do anything for them.”

Like I said, two Britneys. But the problem is, they both are in the public eye and they both need help. Stat! I want to see Britney make it safely to the other side of this nightmare. I hope she gets the help she needs, gets her act together, and even gets on top of the recording industry. Mostly, I hope that she realizes how lucky she is to have those two beautiful little boys and becomes the mommy they need.

The Ugly

Jessica Sierra was sentenced Monday to a yearlong stint at a California rehabilitation clinic and three years’ probation. Sierra, who is just 22, was arrested last month for disorderly intoxication and resisting officers. She remained jailed Tuesday in Tampa.

Circuit Judge David Perry said he doesn’t “want anybody glamorizing the fact that she’s a drug addict.” He also said he didn’t want the sentence to be another screen test for Sierra.

How’s he going to stop the glamorizing thing – I mean, look at her picture, if that’s not glamorous, what is?

The What Took so Long?

Finally, from the Taylor on top (the Swift) to the Taylor on bottom (the Hick) – Taylor Hicks has apparently been dropped by J Records.

*** Apparently, after the photographer skank sold videos/pics of him and Britney to the tabloids, Britney kicked him to the curb. Well played, Brit.

Apple iTunes