Was Taylor Swift Off Key with Stevie Nicks?
Poetic or Painful?
Would Simon Cowell have a field day with Taylor Swift in her duet with Stevie Nicks?
Taylor Swift sang with Stevie Nicks, one of the most famous women in music. Nicks is well known for her work with Fleetwood Mac, but she also launched a successful solo career. Her Bella Donna was critically acclaimed and hugely popular. Nicks is known not only for her stellar songwriting skills, but also for her unique, gravelly voice. It's not a voice like that of Carrie Underwood, yet it's a voice that is recognizable and respected. With Swift, her album is entertaining, and arguably entertaining enough to win awards, but when it comes to her voice, there is nothing unique about it. To make matters worse, many have said that Swift's voice sounds horrible live.
Claire Suddath, of Time magazine, writes, "Swift doesn't sound her best, especially in comparison to Stevie Nicks, her duet partner." A commenter at PopEater writes, "Ok, Taylor is cute and blonde and all, but she just can't sing live! Simon Cowell would have a field day with her."
If Swift's voice sounds better in the studio, is that what's most important?
"Her voice isn't strong like Celine, she doesn't dance like Beyonce and she's not really pushing any envelopes like Gaga," says a University of Michigan student at College Candy. Taylor Swift sang with Stevie Nicks and some say she didn't sound good. However, when you buy Fearless, you're buying the collection. You're not buying a live performance with Swift. If her vocals sound good enough on the CD, is that enough? Does it make since to expect great vocals from the pop, country singer in a live performance?
It all comes down to popularity?
Pairing Taylor Swift with Stevie Nicks may not have been the best move, despite how much Swift admires Nicks. However, many people have found Fearless entertaining with millions of copies sold.
Who decides what's good and what's not? For the Grammys, as with all major award shows, much of it comes down to popularity. The Grammys has never been a place where every artist is considered. The awards go to those who are most mainstream and highest on the food chain.
Sources:
Luisa Metcalfe, Taylor Swift: Singing with Stevie Nicks is "A Fairy Tale", OK
Claire Suddath, Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks, Time
Stevie Nicks Sings Backup for Taylor Swift at Grammy Awards, PopEater
Lauren, University of Michigan, Taylor Swift is Overrated, College Candy
Published by Jolie du Pre - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Jolie du Pre is a full-time freelance writer, a published author and editor and a Featured Celebrity News Contributor. Contact her at joliedupre@gmail.com. View profile
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21 Comments
Post a CommentShe simply wouldn't have any career if didn't have modern digital signal processing to carry a tune that she can't carry herself. She just yells and yells. That only works because her vocal has all the life compressed out it. It sounds very mechanical and inhuman.
I've heard cats fighting at night in my backyard that sound better than Taylor Swift. She's horrible! Why she gets so much praise and wins all these awards I have no idea! There are far more talented singers in this world than Taylor Swift!
I felt embarrassed for Taylor pretending to be Stevie "singing" Rhiannon. She was yelling the song, not singing smoothly, shaking voice and acting cheesy. Stevie is a pro but I bet she is more selective in her duet partners in the future after the Grammy clinkers Taylor dropped. Taylor needs to mature now. Quit giving her awards for being "cute." She is just a girl who got too many breaks.
Why do they keep letting Taylor Swift sing on live performance shows?? Why does she keep winning all these awards when she is obviously a product of studio tweeking? Please for the sanity of us all who actually like good music, no more Taylor Swift live performances!
I thought the Taylor Swift Duet was awful. The two should have never been put together. Their voices didn't blend and at times sounded like a scratchy record. Swift's immaturity as a seasoned performer became very obvious when put next to Nicks. I thought Nicks was very gracious, letting Swift take in the limelight during the majority of the performance.
Not everyone is going to be Celine Dion or Andrea Bocelli live, but I think singers should have *some* skills live. I've heard a lot of bad Taylor Swift performances on shows like this--she has an unimpressive little girl voice, and even on her albums, there's really nothing that distinctive. If kids like her, that's fine; as yet she seems a better role model than a lot of pop/country stars out there, so at least there's that. But to pair her with Stevie Nicks was a terrible idea. Harmonizing with Stevie's unique tone is tough enough for singers with skills--for someone like Swift it was a disaster. Simon Cowell indeed would have had a field day. I found it disturbing that many of the major news outlets talked about what an amazing performance it was. Obviously they need to keep on the record companies' good side.
I agree with Nissa. It wasn't a matter of Taylor Swift letting Stevie Nicks take the lead, but a matter of Taylor Swift singing painfully off-key. Her popularity, of course, isn't totally based on the Kanye West's awards ceremony blunder, but that incident certainly increased Swift's popularity!
You can't be serious. Why would you hold back and let someone else "take the lead" when it suppose to be a performance like this? And taking the lead has nothing to do with singing off key. You must be a Swift family member.
I don't consdier Taylor Swift(less) much of a singer and even less of a country singer. Many true country fans, and the singers themselves, feel the same way.
A lot of pre-teens mom's bought the cd for them. She is hyped on the Disney channel which is going to attract a lot of young listeners. My daughters have her cd. TS was singing live on an awards program and one of my girls asked who was singing so awful from another room. I find her music not appealing, but she reaches a really young audience.