Fans say “Yes” to Taylor Swift

On Friday, Sept. 2, Taylor Swift performed to a crowd full of people wearing cowboy hats, plaid shirts, leather boots and white dresses. Was this wannabe country crowd pleased with the much anticipated performance? It would seem so.

The country concert at the HP Pavillion was a colorful confection perfect for her audience of mostly young girls.  From the second the curtain was drawn, the screaming crowd was transported to a far away land of a fairytale and they never stopped dancing.

With half of a dozen dancers behind her and glitter falling from the ceiling, Swift certainly looked the part of a princess. She changed outfits at least every other song and each was gorgeous. At the start of the show, she wore a sparkling gold flapper dress to get the entire audience’s attention. Each following outfit, of course, was highly fashionable. However, the best one was the beautiful blue gown donned when she slowed down the concert by playing “Back to December” on the piano.

She started the night off strong, rising up through the bottom of the stage singing “Our Song,” a definite crowd pleaser. The second she began singing, the crowd did as well. Most of the playlist came from her latest album, “Speak Now,” released in 2010.She mixed in a few songs from her first album, however, it does not matter how old a Taylor Swift song is because it never actually ages.

Towards the end of the concert, Taylor walked across the pavilion to a slowly spinning platform where she sat and played songs solo. She was given a ukulele, instead of a guitar, and surprised the audience by singing “Good Riddance” by Green Day, which happened to be better than the original.

After “Good Riddance,” she performed the song “Better than Revenge,” which was possibly the most enjoyable song of the evening. As she sang, sparks lit up the stage. The crowd gave the applause that song deserved by cheering more than any of the other songs she performed. Following was the song “Speak Now,” which was appropriately acted out by playing a pretend wedding on stage.

Right before the encore, she belted the song “Long Live.,” which she explained to the audience was different than her other love songs. This particular song is about preforming for fans and how much she enjoys it. It was a good performance, but not good enough to convince the crowd that the show was officially over.

Almost the entire stadium stayed in their seats, cheering, after the song was sung. She came out again to nobody’s surprise and ended with “Love Story.” She ran around the stage while the dancers hung from the ceiling by ropes doing tricks. It was the perfect way to end such an amazing night.

Her connection to the audience and the genuineness of her words truly made the concert great. Each time a love song was performed, the audience could feel her pain, hate the men who made her cry and love the ones who made her smile. Swift sang her life away on that stage and it was noticeable. Her entire heart was put into making a great show and teaching girls to not make the same mistakes as she had.

Swift gave thanks continuously and showed much love to her fans. Unlike most other artists, she seemed to really mean it. Her embarrassed face every time the crowd roared let the audience form a connection. She was not just an incredibly famous star that night. She was a sincere and real person who everybody could relate to.

Even though her voice was naturally getting weaker as the concert went on, she never gave up trying to sing her hardest. When her voice got quieter, the crowd saved her. It seemed like every person in the pavilion knew every word to every song, even the old ones.

Taylor Swift’s fans seemed to be more than pleased at how the concert played out. She is an amazing performer and a dedicated singer. That night at the HP pavilion will always be remembered by nothing other than magical.

MTV Video Music Awards 2010

MTV’s annual Video Music Awards on September 19 showed signs that a new millennium has begun. A white carpet, light-up circular stage, a house DJ and an entire area that was capable of revolutionary graphics set the mood for the night.

Hosted by Chelsea Handler of E!’s “Chelsea Lately” at the Nokia Theater, the awards show featured performances by Deadmau5, Eminem, Rihanna, Travie McCoy, Justin Bieber, B.O.B, Bruno Mars, Paramore, Drake, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Florence + the Machine, Linkin Park and more. Over 11.4 million viewers tuned in, the largest audience for a VMA show since 2002.

Taylor Swift and Kanye West were the anticipated performances of the night, as people expected to hear their response to Kanye’s offensive interruption of Swift’s acceptance speech last year.

Swift’s song, “Innocent” was about forgiveness, saying, “32 and still growing up/Who you are is not what you did/You’re still innocent… Everyone of us has messed up too/Lives change like the weather/ I hope you remember.”

West’s “Runaway,” despite what people had expected, was not directed to Taylor. Instead it was a call out in general to his failed relationships with women, advising them to “runaway as fast as you can.” Response to the song from the public has been generally positive.

Additional guests included the Jackass crew, promoting their new movie Jackass 3D, as well as the cast of the Jersey Shore. Lady Gaga made headlines with her guests of honor, men and women of the armed services, who had been discharged from service due to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. She requested viewers to join her in support to repeal the amendment.

Lady Gaga took home eight out of the thirteen awards she was nominated for (a VMA record), and announced the title of her forthcoming album “Born this Way”, as she accepted her Video of the Year award at the end of the night.

The winners were as follows:

Video of the Year: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”

Best New Artist: Justin Bieber

Best Hip-Hop Video: Eminem, “Not Afraid”

Best Pop Video: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”

Best Male Video: Eminem, “Not Afraid”

Best Rock Video: 30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”

Best Female Video: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”

Best Collaboration: Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, “Telephone”

Best Dance Music Video: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”

Best Art Direction: Florence + The Machine, “Dog Days are Over” Art Direction by Louise Corcoran and Aldene Johnson

Best Choreography: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”, Choreographed by Laurieann Gibson

Best Cinematography: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”, Cinematography by John Perez

Best Direction: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance, Directed by Francis Lawrence

Best Editing: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance, Edited by Jarrett Fijal

Best Special Effects: Muse, “Uprising”, Special Effects by Humble

Best Breakthrough Video: The Black Keys, “Tighten Up”

Grammy Grievances

We get it. Beyonce and Taylor Swift are more than just slightly popular, but drilling this into the heads of music fans via over-nominations is not the most appropriate response . When does a few nominations become too much? Swift was nominated for an overwhelming amount of eight awards including Record of the Year (awarded for a single or for one track on an album) , Album of the Year (awarded for an entire album), Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance – it never ends. Sure, she deserves some credit, but aren’t her eight nominations and Beyonce’s ten a little much?

It has become a popular opinion of late that the Grammys are slightly out of touch and recognize some artists too much, while completely forgetting others. Of course, the Grammys are not responsible for being in touch with whatever is most popular or known, but they are definitely responsible for being in touch with quality music. The problem here is distinguishing between popular, commercially successful music and overall “good” music.

Many complaints have been floating around about the Best New Artist award, its nominees being the Zac Brown Band, Keri Hilson, MGMT, the Silversun Pickups and The Ting Tings. Upon listening to these artists, it’s not a question of whether or not they have talent. But…who are they? MGMT’s “Kids” and “Electric Feel” distinguished them among new alternative artists and were a great start to what will be a fantastic career, and the Zac Brown Band is the talented epitome of pure, old-fashioned country. Many complain of not knowing the Silversun Pickups, but their popular songs “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye” have been steadily drawing in fans since their release. Could it be that this award is actually going to be based off quality and not popularity?

If that is the case, somebody should have thought to include David Cook for Best New Artist. Though he was most likely overloooked because of a petty bias against American Idol, his absence has left a large number of Grammy viewers bitter and unsatisfied. In the Best New Album category, many would have liked to see Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix or Maxwell’s BLACKsummer Night. No one was surprised to see Kelly Clarkson’s nomination for Best Pop Album, although it was a shocking disappoint that it was her only one.The Dave Matthews Band pulled through for a nomination for Best Album, to the surprise, yet delight, of many fans.

There have been numerous complaints regarding Michael Jackson not being nominated this year; however, hopeful fans are in luck. His album This is It didn’t make the deadline, but it’s more than likely that we’ll see it in next year’s Grammys.

However, the 52nd Grammys were surprisingly entertaining. Lady Gaga opened the night with fun renditions of the popular “Poker Face” and “Speechless.” She ended her act with an unexpected original piano ballad with Elton John. Though the song was decent, it took away from the act and left audiences calmed down rather than pumped up.

Pink wowed audiences with a dangerous but incredibly beautiful acrobatic performance of “Glitter in the Air.” Suspended above the audience, she twisted and twirled on a single white sheet with a Cirque du Soleil-esque routine. Not only was it visually attractive but it was also an incredible vocal performance.

The other memorable performance was of “The Earth Song” by Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood, Usher, and Celine Dion. The only let down was the lack of attention on the 3D effects. Most of the televised audience was not prepared and it took away from the on-screen effect.

Beyonce took home a record number of six awards: Song of the Year and R&B Song for Single Ladies, Female Pop Vocal for Halo, and Female R&B Vocal, Traditional R&B Vocal, Traditional R&B Vocal and Contemporary R&B Album. That’s cool. Now maybe you and Taylor Swift can go away for a little bit and let us miss you.