52nd GRAMMY AWARDS - Televised Award Ceremony

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Damn, I kinda feel bad for her. I mean, I don't support bad live performances at all, but the backlash she is getting right now is a bit extreme, especially for AOTY win. She doesn't have a pissy attitude. She seems likable and sincere. Wow! I think a break is the best thing for her. I would like to hear her side of things.

[as485y]

Feb 4, 2010 22:43:27 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Damn, I kinda feel bad for her. I mean, I don't support bad live performances at all, but the backlash she is getting right now is a bit extreme, especially for AOTY win. She doesn't have a pissy attitude. She seems likable and sincere. Wow! I think a break is the best thing for her. I would like to hear her side of things.

I think the AOTY win is why shes catching hell. It seems like there rewarding someone who cant sing worth a damn

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Well, AOTY is not about who has the best live vocals. That's the thing that's getting me. Her album clearly had the best reviews and sales out of everyone in the bunch. Most pundits, and some celebs, were predicting a win for her. She totally deserved her win over the others. I find it laughable that people were saying Gaga should have won when barely no one predicted her ass from the beginning.

[vandj4ever]

Well I'm not someone who thinks it was so wrong she won AOTY. I've disagreed with the Grammy's several times, infact I have little respect for them, but wouldn't say I find others in the category overwhelmingly more deserving then hers. I don't own any of the albums they nominated in the category but I've heard parts of them. Her album did very well commercially, it was comparable critically to those nominated. By the Grammy's usual standards it wasn't out of left field.

I do think there may be some backlash due to her receiving everything so soon and that award was just the final straw. I'd argue more with her vocalist awards myself.

I don't think she should just disappear but I do think her management needs to recognize the time when she could do no wrong is coming to an end. It's a tough business and there will be people trying to take her down now because like Taylor they want to be #1 too. The way to respond to that is not to attempt to diminish accomplishments or talents of others in her field. He was out of line there.

For Taylor's sake though it wouldn't hurt to work on her voice some more. If you are going to be one of the most recognized ambassadors for music (like it or not) it doesn't help anyone to have so many sub par vocal performances at awards shows. All anyone is really asking is that she sing in tune. Of course I recognize she isn't the only one in the music industry right now that has that problem.

[d.t.m]

^^That's not true. We may not have official numbers, but I'm sure Gaga got a lot of wind there by being unjustly shut out for BNA. Most voters decided Beyonce was already winning 6, so I doubt voters had much of a push for her there in the end, but people were predicting Gaga or DMB as solid alternatives. You can argue all you want, but had Kanye not "attacked" Taylor she wouldn't have gotten nearly as many votes as she did.

I've never seen a recent AOTY winner get slammed so much and while some of it may be unwarranted I think the bottom line is that people(even in the industry) are finding Taylor overrated and on Grammy night she just didn't live up to the hype. Sure, she still has a lot of supporters and is the current It girl, but last Sunday a lot of people were even questioning their original stance on Kanye's outburst.

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Honey, most of these pundits were predicting Beyonce, Taylor and DMB, mainly Taylor and DMB. Only a small percentage actually was stupid enough to think GaGa had a chance there. She didn't. And if Kanye's "attack" would have been that influential, Taylor would have won all of her awards. She only went home with half of them. Taylor was big before that incident, and so was her album.

[Tanisha Thomas.]

And Kanye's "outburst" was about Beyonce's video, not about Taylor being overrated. And what "important" people questioned their original stance about Kanye? I think the general concensus is that he is still a prick. I doubt Taylor performing horribly at the Grammys will change the way many people feel about Kanye's and b!tch fits.

[what]

Feb 4, 2010 23:03:39 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Well, AOTY is not about who has the best live vocals. That's the thing that's getting me. Her album clearly had the best reviews and sales out of everyone in the bunch. Most pundits, and some celebs, were predicting a win for her. She totally deserved her win over the others. I find it laughable that people were saying Gaga should have won when barely no one predicted her ass from the beginning.

its not. but would we have all this if taylor hadnt won the aoty? if it went to beyonce or gaga, the conversation would just stop at the fact that she gave one of the more horrible performances of the night. no one would have questioned her other grammy wins as much. but bec she won the nights biggest award, coupled with her shaky performance, it opened her to a whole lot of new cirticism and nitpicking. its just the way it is, whether its fair or not,

of course, this also wouldnt have happened if she won the AOTY AND at least gave a solid, even if not spectacular, performance. then the general public will see why she won the award and whats the fuss all about.

i mean, grammys is supposedly music's biggest night, so its just normal that all the performances, coupled with whoever won whatever, are more scrutinized to death than usual. if taylor had given the same horrible perofrmance at say, the ama's, and she won all the awards there, the backlash wouldnt be this bad or big.

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Feb 4, 2010 23:39:55 GMT -5 what said:

Feb 4, 2010 23:03:39 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Well, AOTY is not about who has the best live vocals. That's the thing that's getting me. Her album clearly had the best reviews and sales out of everyone in the bunch. Most pundits, and some celebs, were predicting a win for her. She totally deserved her win over the others. I find it laughable that people were saying Gaga should have won when barely no one predicted her ass from the beginning.

its not. but would we have all this if taylor hadnt won the aoty? if it went to beyonce or gaga, the conversation would just stop at the fact that she gave one of the more horrible performances of the night. no one would have questioned her other grammy wins as much. but bec she won the nights biggest award, coupled with her shaky performance, it opened her to a whole lot of new cirticism and nitpicking. its just the way it is, whether its fair or not,

of course, this also wouldnt have happened if she won the AOTY AND at least gave a solid, even if not spectacular, performance. then the general public will see why she won the award and whats the fuss all about.

This is true. But now people are saying that other folks deserved it just because Taylor gave a bad performance. That's laughable to me. But I do agree with you.

[d.t.m]

Feb 4, 2010 23:35:47 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Honey, most of these pundits were predicting Beyonce, Taylor and DMB, mainly Taylor and DMB. Only a small percentage actually was stupid enough to think GaGa had a chance there. She didn't. And if Kanye's "attack" would have been that influential, Taylor would have won all of her awards. She only went home with half of them. Taylor was big before that incident, and so was her album.

The combination of the timing of Gaga's latest album's success, industry respect and widely publicized BNA shutout led some to think she'd snag either ROTY or AOTY as a major Grammy.

Yes, Taylor was popular before the MTV Awards, but Kanye's outburst did help propel Taylor to a win in AOTY, the most important award of the evening, and a category the academy made a strong effort to exclude him from unlike they had before.

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Oh well. That's just life. Next time he will know when to shut up. The sad thing about the whole thing is that Kanye has been itching for an AOTY win. Now, Taylor got it. Po Ye.

[starr]

None of the R&B categories were on the televised Grammy Awards show.

[d.t.m]

If Kanye learns to eat a big piece of humble pie and continues making good music, I'm sure they will eventually give in and award it to him one day.

[Typo]

Borchetta and Clarkson's comments are on the front page of CMT.

He should've never spoke, this is becoming bigger than it every should have.

[jamrock16]

LOL. Yeah seriously, he's just drawing more attention to the whole issue. Now even more people are aware that she gave a lacklustre performance.

[KingB]

yasssssssssssssss kelly .. speak on it.. put him in his place.. how dare he take shots at carrie when she sings CIRCLES around taylor.

[libri]

"She is the voice of this generation....," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview.

LOL. Is that you, Joe1240?

Feb 4, 2010 23:03:39 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Well, AOTY is not about who has the best live vocals. That's the thing that's getting me. Her album clearly had the best reviews and sales out of everyone in the bunch. Most pundits, and some celebs, were predicting a win for her. She totally deserved her win over the others. I find it laughable that people were saying Gaga should have won when barely no one predicted her ass from the beginning.

Heh, I love how you made it seem like Gaga had zero chance. Just like you tried to make Kanye's album out to be a critical and commercial failure.

You dismissed as insignificant the fact that Fearless' metacritic score was a few points lower than 808s & Heartbreak's. Well, guess what, The Fame's score is also just a bit lower than Fearless'. And I wonder how much their respective reviews were affected by factors other than quality such as Taylor's age (as usual) and Gaga's genre.

Taylor may have sold more albums so far, but that doesn't mean she has more listeners. The singles from Gaga's CD outsold Fearless', and here's the list of last.fm most listened to artists:

1) Lady GaGa – The Fame – 18,487,185
2) The Killers – Day & Age – 12,471,571
3) Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You – 10,522,633
4) The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die – 8,900,264
5) Franz Ferdinand – Tonight – 8,795,186
6) Beyoncé – I Am… Sasha Fierce – 8,642,704
7) Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion – 7,630,636
8) Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown – 7,607,636
9) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! – 6,855,404
10) Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak – 6,615,339

Taylor is #13 btw @ 5.5mil (yes, she's behind Kanye too LOL).
Their respective demo and genre have a lot to do with their sales and listening pattern IMO.

If you read the grammy predictions, most of them put Taylor and DMB as frontrunners not because they think those 2 were more deserving, but because of past voting patterns that tend to reward the veterans and "safe" mainstream acts, while acts like Gaga are at a disadvantage because of their genre. And in Taylor's case, it also had to do with the fact that she'd been given awards left and right including ones that she clearly didn't deserve such as vocalist and entertainer OTY. And as I said, she has Kanye partly to thank for that.

I've actually been quite surprised at how much acceptance Gaga has had from her peers. As it had been noted, it had not come easily for acts such as Madonna and Britney. Madonna, Sting, Janet, Alicia Keys attended her concert. A wide range of artists had complimented her. Samples:

Madonna

I think Lady Gaga is great. When we saw her, I actually felt a kind of recognition. I thought, 'She's got something.' There's something quirky about her. She's fearless and funny, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded intelligent and clever. She's unique.
I am very flattered by the comparisons to her. I can see myself in Lady Gaga. In the early part of my career, for sure. When I saw her, she didn't have a lot of money for her production, she's got holes in her fishnets, and there's mistakes everywhere. It was kind of a mess, but I can see that she's got that "it" factor. It's nice to see that at a raw stage.

Marilyn Manson

I was most impressed by her paparazzi photos. I thought that it looked the way that rock stars should look, as exciting as something that Warhol or Dali would do.
And I don't consider her to be similar to her contemporaries - the other girls that do pop music - simply because she knows exactly what she's doing. She's very smart, she's not selling out, she's a great musician, she's a great singer, and she's laughing when she's doing it, the same way that I am.

Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)

She's a good artist. She's a risk-taker. She's an original. She's pretty awesome!

Matt Bellamy (Muse)

Q: What bands are you listening to?
A: There's a band called White Lies. They are pretty good. The Horrors. I'm really into Lady Gaga (laughs). She's such a brilliant performer.

Shirley Manson (Garbage)

I love that she's out there doing what she's doing and taking chances and sort of living outside the mainstream in some way but still managing to infiltrate it. I'm so grateful to her for being out there and not being afraid to be laughed at and taking chances and risks.

Vampre Weekend

During a conversation that spanned several topics, host Jenny Eliscu asked the Vampire boys who their favorite secret music indulgence was, and keyboardist/guitairst Rostam Batmanglij offered up a rather surprising (for him!), answer: “Pretty much everything by Lady Gaga,” Batmanglij said.

Smokey Robinson

I think that Lady Gaga is so different and she has taken the world by storm, I enjoy her music. So I think that she's unique, unique always has a chance.

Barry Manilow

When it came to new performers, the man who began recording in the 1970s and is known for Grammy-winning nightclub standard "Copacabana (At the Copa)" said it was pop diva Lady Gaga who made him sit up and take notice.
I think Lady Gaga is very original. I really think she's got something going for her.

Enrique Iglesias

The Fame is a brilliant, brilliant album.
We're labelmates. We actually were going to do something but then at the end... but she's brilliant. I like her because she's original and it's good to have someone that's original nowadays in music.

www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31913612/grammy_faceoff_2010_artists_predict_the_big_winners

Artists Predict the Big Grammy Winners (Rolling Stone)
P!nk, ?uestlove, Keri Hilson, and Silversun Pickups' Brian Aubert share their picks for the big awards.

Pink
I think I'd have to go with Lady Gaga because she really, really just took over this year. She was everywhere. She's fearless when it comes to fashion and videos and I think a lot of other people play it really safe. I think she's been a total breath of fresh air. I love her videos. In some ways I think she's the most interesting without seeming to try to hard since Madonna. I think I'm able to like her because I don't see any of myself in her. And for awhile, I think, after Missundaztood came out, it was like, "Oh, everybody wants to be a rock star now." But with her, I don't know, I think she's marching to the beat of her own drum. And I really, really like that.

?uestlove
This is kinda hard. Each of these artists has their own story. The post-Kanye pity thing is about to end this year, so Taylor Swift will have to stand on her own two legs. But you can't ignore Lady Gaga's power and that she was so ubiquitous this year and influential, in song and image. Of course, Beyoncé is my favorite. I'd actually give "Single Ladies" the Record of the Year. It would be nice to see her get it for sentimental reasons, but I'm gonna go against my sentimental heart and give it to Lady Gaga. Her record captured the mood of 2009.

Brian Aubert
I'm going to say In Rainbows by Radiohead. They were robbed last year. But if I have to stick with this year's nominees, I'll say Lady Gaga. I just saw her play, and if any of those artists are working half as hard as she is when she's performing, I should check it out. I think she's smart as hell. I think she created this uber-superhero. There doesn't seem to be anyone in that universe doing the Grace Jones kind of thing, taking things to such an extreme. And clearly she has a massive wink. She knows what she's doing.

Keri Hilson
The winner should be someone whose song resonated around the world, and I have to say, no matter where I went I heard "Poker Face" — in Japan, Europe, Africa. It was in the clubs and on the radio. People were singing it at night in the street. It seemed like it was more than just a video and more than just a club record — it was more like a lifestyle, more like a movement for her. It's been a while since we had an artist push the boundaries visually, and I think that, for her, is her biggest asset. You know she's coming with some kind of creative, very avant-garde stuff across the board.

Next time he will know when to shut up.

Don't hold your breath. Kanye allegedly threw a bit of a bitchy fit at the airport after the grammy. LOL

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Chile. I swear this newbie is thirsty. Posting last.fm stats to prove a point?

I hope these mods make a limit to how many words a posters can use in his or her posts. These essays are ridiculous.

Anywho, fact of tha matter is. Taylor won AOTY. Not Kanye. Not Gaga. Taylor. Get over it.

[libri]

Apologies. I do have this habit of providing data to support my arguments. Unlike some people who seem to prefer to state unsupported assertions as if they're the words of god or something. Or to tell people who disagree with them to get over it. LOL

[timberlake]

Taylor is just a critically acclaimed Britney Spears.

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Feb 5, 2010 8:20:08 GMT -5 libri said:

Apologies. I do have this habit of providing data to support my arguments. Unlike some people who seem to prefer to state unsupported assertions as if they're the words of god or something. Or to tell people who disagree with them to get over it. LOL

No, hun. I just don't have the time to search last.fm stats to prove my case. Bew.

[wallace]

Feb 5, 2010 8:49:37 GMT -5 timberlake said:

Taylor is just a critically acclaimed Britney Spears.

Puh-leeze. Apples and oranges. Taylor doesn't have Britney's dance moves or naughty-sex-symbol status, Britney doesn't have Taylor's writing chops, doesn't play an instrument and doesn't have Taylor's good-girl appeal.

I'm no Taylor fan but the hate on her vocals is so overblown. She's a sweet kid with a nice voice but very limited range. So what? Paul Simon had limited range and had a gazillion hit singles and decades of critical acclaim. She is what she is.

[tsharky]

^ right but then don't give vocal related awards to someone who is not a good vocalist. Give her songwriting awards, and I for one would not object.

[KingB]

Feb 5, 2010 11:11:29 GMT -5 wallace said:

Feb 5, 2010 8:49:37 GMT -5 timberlake said:

Taylor is just a critically acclaimed Britney Spears.

Puh-leeze. Apples and oranges. Taylor doesn't have Britney's dance moves or naughty-sex-symbol status, Britney doesn't have Taylor's writing chops, doesn't play an instrument and doesn't have Taylor's good-girl appeal.

I'm no Taylor fan but the hate on her vocals is so overblown. She's a sweet kid with a nice voice but very limited range. So what? Paul Simon had limited range and had a gazillion hit singles and decades of critical acclaim. She is what she is.

Britney plays the piano ..JUST as basic as Taylor's guitar skills!
and "Everytime" sh!ts on ANYTHING that came out of Taylor's when I was 13 y.o. diary material.

[Joe1240]

Feb 5, 2010 8:49:37 GMT -5 timberlake said:

Taylor is just a critically acclaimed Britney Spears.

Taylor is far more talented than anything Britney has ever done her whole career. Taylor's writing on her music is far better than Britney's writing. Taylor has the talent and skill to sustain a long career and will still be around for many years to come. Taylor has made country music mainstream again for first time in a decade.

[gin]

Feb 5, 2010 12:22:06 GMT -5 KingB said:

Feb 5, 2010 11:11:29 GMT -5 wallace said:

Puh-leeze. Apples and oranges. Taylor doesn't have Britney's dance moves or naughty-sex-symbol status, Britney doesn't have Taylor's writing chops, doesn't play an instrument and doesn't have Taylor's good-girl appeal.

I'm no Taylor fan but the hate on her vocals is so overblown. She's a sweet kid with a nice voice but very limited range. So what? Paul Simon had limited range and had a gazillion hit singles and decades of critical acclaim. She is what she is.

Britney plays the piano ..JUST as basic as Taylor's guitar skills!
and "Everytime" sh!ts on ANYTHING that came out of Taylor's when I was 13 y.o. diary material.

This.

[yaya]

Feb 5, 2010 15:33:16 GMT -5 gin said:

Feb 5, 2010 12:22:06 GMT -5 KingB said:

Britney plays the piano ..JUST as basic as Taylor's guitar skills!
and "Everytime" sh!ts on ANYTHING that came out of Taylor's when I was 13 y.o. diary material.

This.

+1

[musicjunky318]

Kentucky Chicken needs to mind her own business. She always gotta throw in her 2 cenets.

[nsfb17]

Feb 5, 2010 15:21:33 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

Feb 5, 2010 8:49:37 GMT -5 timberlake said:

Taylor is just a critically acclaimed Britney Spears.

Taylor is far more talented than anything Britney has ever done her whole career. Taylor's writing on her music is far better than Britney's writing.

'Everytime' and 'Someday' alone are much better than anything in Taylor's catalog. I like Taylor, but come on. Let's not act as though she's suddenly the best thing since sliced bread just because she won a few Grammys.

[PDC1987]

Feb 5, 2010 15:21:33 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

Feb 5, 2010 8:49:37 GMT -5 timberlake said:

Taylor is just a critically acclaimed Britney Spears.

Taylor is far more talented than anything Britney has ever done her whole career. Taylor's writing on her music is far better than Britney's writing. Taylor has the talent and skill to sustain a long career and will still be around for many years to come. Taylor has made country music mainstream again for first time in a decade.

This is like arguing who's the better filmmaker between Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay.

Just drop it.