Image Credit: Joseph Anthony BakerAm I the only one who didn’t know that Swift-T played the piano? In the midst of a dry-ice mist palace borrowed from the Phantom of the Opera set?
She may never hit every note live, but country music’s million-dollar baby offered a pretty, tremulous version of her bittersweet forgive-me ballad “Back to December” on the CMAs stage, demurely dressed in a winter-princess white gown and less-demure screen-siren-red lips. And it grew more assured as she went on, backed by a classical strings section, that piano, and little else.
Hard to tell, though, at the end, what that perplexed-looking “What?” she mouthed as the curtain came down was for. Theories, readers? I smell conspiracy! (Update: A rep for Swift tells EW, “She was just happy about the big standing ovation!”)
Watch the performance below.
More CMA coverage:
Best and Worst of the Broadcast
Gwyneth Paltrow sings her brains out at the CMA Awards
Full list of winners
I am dying to know! Maybe Taylor Lautner came up and proposed marriage.
is this song about Lautner? I don’t know the details of their relationship(and by “details” I mean what was reported on gossip sites I don’t read), but I got a feeling it was about him for some reason.
In the booklet that came with the album, the key word is “Tay” as the person the song was meant for. She calls Taylor Lautner Tay and he calls her “Swifty”. If you listen to the lyrics it talks about missing his “tan skin” and his “sweet smile” two of Taylor Lautner’s famous features. An the rest of the song details their relationship timeline which matches.
Lautner has a really funky looking nose. Like someone flattened it or something. I don’t see why Taylor would like him. Nice abs and body connected to a not so goodlooking face. JMO.
lol
Ian Somerhalder of the Vampire Diaries is so much hotter than the Twilight guys, it’s not even funny. Lautner is yucky.
it is bout lautner go to utube back to december lyric break down awesome stuff really cool :}
She was, as she is every single time performs live, horrible. Taylor Swift is a studio artist, and a studio artist only. As a live artist, she sounds worse than even the cheesiest of karaoke versions of her songs. Just a terrible live performer, who gives a terrible live performance every single time she steps on stage. I have never come across a single live performance where she didn’t sound horrible, and no one else has either.
You must be candidate for pain. You say she’s horrible yet you listen to her every single time she appears. You must be one of those closet fans who just can’t admit her music is addictive. C’mon c’mon come out of the closet.
That’s the thing I don’t understand. If I don’t like an artist, I usually turn down the volume or turn to another channel, but the Taylor bashers seem to enjoy subjecting themselves to her performances over and over again and then complain about her performance, which they already have judged beforehand. Maybe they’re like those Hellraiser monsters. sigh.
Pinhead? Yes that’s seems suitable for most of the haters. @@
I think they are more like the Cenobite “Chatterer”, with chops moving and up and down with nothing of substance coming out.
That must be the secret why Taylor sells so much of her music. Everyone’s able to sing it as good as or better than her. Isn’t that the truth? Just saying.
Perfection is soooooooooo overrated. We love Taylor because she real. Get it? Millions do.
Taylor’s all heart and I loved her flawed performance. Tone breaks and all.
There is no such thing as perfect. I think before you start saying that she’s terrible live, you should go try to do what she does, and then you can make comments about singing live.
Maybe someone in her earpiece said “You must kill the Queen.”
Hilarity!
Actually someone said “Let’s kill the haters”.
Her bandmate twetted an said she was reacting tothe standing O from the audience hope that clears things up
Her bandmate is clearly covering for her. Taylor’s face didn’t look shocked in a happy way. She looked upset about something. Also, I saw only a few people stand up for her but not the entire audience. Which is sad because she really gave a solid performance. And then the same audience stood up for that whiny, no-talent Gwyneth Paltrow. Pathetic. I loved the look on Miranda Lambert’s face…she was like, are you kidding me?
her face isn’t up happy. she starts to smile as the camera cuts away from her. She did the same thing at the end of her ACM performance because she got a standing ovation. Why is it so hard for people to believe the she really is genuinely appreciative for her success and the fact that she got a standing ovation? Its sad that celebs are so cold now of days that when a warm personality like Taylor comes along she is met with so much skepticism.
Miranda gave those same irritated “are you kidding me” looks when Taylor took home her historic CMA awards last year too. Well, I guess she should feel more vindicated this year since she got a few for herself even though her sales of Revolution didn’t exactly sparkle. It’s been out for more than a year now and has only sold 920k. Taylor’s already sold nearly 1.4 million of Speak Now in 2 weeks! I guess that makes her a shoo-in to grab all of next years CMA awards! Maybe that’ll bring the ratings up from this year’s sad telecast.
Kathleen – selling 920K to real country fans is huge. You’d have to be an actual country fan to know that. Here are the only 2 problems I have with Taylor Swift: She is in no way, shape, or form a country artist- she’s teen/Disney pop at best. And: she’s a horrible live artist. She’s a decent song-writer, but that shouldn’t override her terrible voice.
Yet you can’t wait to hear her performance every time she’s on the tube. Her BMI wins for Country song of the year 3 years in a row kind of substantiates her place amongst the country artist ranks and being the Youngest winner of Songwriter of the year just about says it all in regards to her songwriting ability being best amongst all artists. Her concert receipts say otherwise about her live singing. She’s dominating music right now and there’s no escape from her. Just a word of advice: Turn down the volume or turn the channel next time Taylor appears, but somehow I know for certainty you’ll be glued to the tube on the 21st this month when she appears at the AMAs.
There’s always collusion involved when it comes to Taylor and it seems the haters always have everything down pat about how things go down. @@
right, because after all of the fake standing O’s she’s received, they still shock her. Anyway- Great songwriters belong out of the spotlight, and she needs to step back and let someone else do her songs justice.
Why let others cover your songs when you’re the best selling digital artist in music history? You need to step back and look at the overall picture. Taylor rules.
Maybe if they step back far enough, the bashers will fall off that pedestal they’re on because if they tried singing on stage, they would probably blow worse than William Hung. Don’t criticize those who do if you can’t do better than them.
Usually the worst complainers are the ones that sound the worst themselves.
Kelly Clarkson would make her songs sound so much better. Look at all that power in her voice. Wowie!
Kelly makes anyone’s song sound better because she has the pipes to do anything she wants with her voice. You can’t compare Kelly’s versatile vocals to anyone else’s.
Her band mate tweeted that she was surprised by the standing ovation she received. The girl has received a lot of bashing for her performances. I guess she was just surprised that the audience liked it. By the way, Taylor has played the piano on her last tour. She’s pretty good. She even has said that she writes some of her songs on it.
Its what the industry called SPIN kids! Of course her band members have to do the dirty work and cover for her, cause then she wouldn’t look so sweet & gracious! Its nice that you are trying to answer the question posed, but clearly you’re looking at this with blinders. That is NOT a repsonse, surprise or not to a standing ovation. But, whatever happened, of course its going to be the SCANDAL discussed ad naseum tomorrow. *SIGH* Anything to keep her name on the music blogs…and complete sidenote, LOVE how EW’s Music Mix jumps the Country BandWAGON (literally) n goes all COUNTRY UP IN HERRRE Y’ALL cause the top 3 albums on today’s Billboard charts were country, CMAs or not.
Riighht…Because country music isn’t popular? EW can only review pop songs and award shows? No one else had a huge music awards show this week and last time i checked it was ENTERTAINMENT weekly…and the only people that make “scandals” out of dumb stuff like are people like you who are so “nauseated” by it, but seems like you feed off negativity apparently.
There are 46 states where Country is the #1 station, genre being sold, and has the most sold-out concerts. California, New York, Hawaii, and Florida (the only states where Country doesn’t dominate) do not represent the rest of the country.
California, New York, and Florida are where most of the US most rich and affluent live and probably represents a good amount of the population of music buyers in pop and hip hop. Maybe that’s why the HOT 100 is representative of usually pop and hip hop songs making it all the way to the top. Country doesn’t sell well at all to get up to the top rung there, all except Taylor. She’s the country artist that gets closest to the top and the rest struggle to get their songs even into the Top 20.
Taylor’s helped make country much more popular than it was just 2 years ago. Look at all the country acts getting the top debut of the week lately. Taylor’s reign on top surely has helped bring them more popularity. I think most of her peers are happy she has done that for them.
Even Taylor’s country peers know that she has been a beneficient artist to bring their genre to the pop mainstream. Country has become much more popular in the last several years because of Taylor’s influence.
I used to hate country until Taylor came along. I remember the first song I heard from her was Teardrops on my Guitar. So beautiful I cried.
It didn’t look like a happy expression.
I agree. She looked pretty p’od.
Everyone processes something differently. I thought she looked genuinely surprised at the audience response and no I don’t think she looked upset at all. It was a surprised look.
Maybe somebody asked her to really try singing?
Good one! If only she could
She’s selling it better than anyone else on the scene so she’s doing something right. Others want to know the secret but it’s even better kept than Victoria’s.
That’s a good one!
I’ve heard much worse than Taylor. She sung her song pretty good considering her limited range.
Maybe she heard someone call her name and she was trying to hear what they were saying.
I’m going with your theory. What is it about country singers saying “what?” at awards shows that throws people into a tizzy (remember Faith Hill?)
Remember what Brad Paisley said to the fans in his acceptance speech (I paraphrase): You aren’t just MY fans, you are fans of ALL the performers and behind-the-scenes people in country music. Well, sorry to tell you Brad, but you wouldn’t know it from some of the comments here and elsewhere I see. Not that we can’t comment on performers and their performances, but shouldn’t we all just enjoy all the performers for what they bring to the table, even those who aren’t our favorites?
I agree- problem is these people on here aren’t real country music fans. Just annoying opinionated bloggers.
Real country fans know what Taylor has brought to the genre and wouldn’t be dishing on her negatively. Taylor’s peers know her contribution and promptly awarded her the 4 biggest awards in one evening at last year’s CMA awards show. No one has ever won the 4 biggest prizes in one evening and Taylor did it and is the youngest one to win the Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year awards.
I was so happy to see her get those awards last year. Youngest person to win Entertainer and Albums of the Year. Terrific!
she sang live? are your ears still bleeding?
She sounded great.
Um, no she did not. Gwyneth Paltrow sounded WAY better than Taylor.
Are you kidding? Taylor sounded average but better than Gwyneth.
Maddy you need a hearing test. If it would not have been for the three singers harmonizing the entire song would have been off key.
That is so untrue. Taylor uses her own vocals to harmonize on her album. Other people’s vocals take away from her own voice. She sounds best harmonizing with herself. Love the harmonic interludes in “Mean”, one of her best country songs in all 3 cds. I just love it. It’ll be a huge hit on the country market.
“Mean” is one of the best songs on Speak Now.
she sang beautifully.
She was glowingly beautiful and sang Back To December in an emotionally charged way and she brings something new to her song every time she sings it and you know that you’re getting Taylor and not some pre-recorded tape with her lip synching.
It was her reaction to the standing O, because she’s been so bashed for her past performances. I thought she sounded fantastic- as good as concert (saw her in Philly.) The fact that she plays and sounded as well only increased my liking of it.
It didn’t look the kind of “What” that one would say in response to a standing ovation. That’s just my two cents.
didn’t watch it, but that sounds like a weird reaction to have to a standing O….
I happened to tune into the show during Taylor’s performance (thinking that Modern Family would be on). I thought she did really well, though I too was perplexed by her reaction at the end. It didn’t seem like a reaction to a standing ovation, but maybe she was just really surprised.
Somebody offstage whispered “terrible live singers always say ‘what’” and she fell for it asking “what?”.
To clarify, I have nothing against the girl, she seems very nice, I’ve just never seen a live performance of hers where she doesn’t miss every single note, she’s a terrible singer.
Go to her concerts LOL shell prove you wrong. Her concerts are great.
No, don’t go to her concerts. She isn’t magically able to sing at her concerts.
What?
Taylor is such an easy target for those that have no success to speak of, but find the time to pick on every facet of her performances. If you all don’t like her, why comment and why read the blogs about her? Can’t keep away from artists you don’t like? I think that’s the problem. Just itching to bring someone down for their enormous success. I think Madonna probably had the same problem too. Hateful people come out of the woodwork when you’re on top of the world because they are jealous of successful artists like
Taylor.
Most repeat offenders harping on her live performances are actually closet fans. They can’t help getting their Taylor fill and keep their eyes glued to the tube to catch her performances. They’re even more fanantical than true Taylor fans. Sad isn’t it?
Yeah ain’t that the truth.
Excellent comment Kathleen!
No she cannot roll her words when she sings, but she has a great style of her own. She works hard and designs the majority of everything she does from the stage sets to the music. If you hate the girl so much why do you go out of your way to look up sites about her and write horrible things. Do you really think you are going to sway people. You just sound like miserable people with nothing better to do.
Most of us are simply fans of much better singer/songwriters who get MAYBE 1/100th the press and media attention of Taylor. So naturally, we get a little frustrated everytime she blows 80% of the notes during a live performance.
Just for comparison’s sake, check out a few songs from Patty Griffin. She’s just as “country” as Taylor, plus she can sing (AND write) circles around her.
Who’s “most of us?”. You mean the million people who bought her album last week? Yup…her fans are totally in the minority here.
It’s music. People like her. I hate rap, but you dont see going on message boards about Eminem bashing him. I think you need to ignore Taylor. Focus on promoting these so called better artists, because by bashing Taylor, you’re just giving her more press.
I do appreciate that you recommended a lesser know singer. Most haters dont for some reason!
LOL so who’s “most of us?” LOL clearly millions of people care what she has to say whether you like her or not you can’t deny that.
So it’s taylor’s fault that many people love her so she by that she not worth it??? NOT!!!!!!!
@ Rich, then go somewhere a talk about Patty Griffin, why do you even bother giving Taylor more attention if you don’t like her, it’s not that Taylor fans care whether or not you think she’s great, it’s all the complaining about someone when you clearly have the choice to not listen too or comment on. it’s the old saying . . . if you don’t have anything nice to say then shut the hell up
Green eyed monster syndrome takes precedence here and the hateful posters are drawn to Taylor like a moth to a flame. They can’t help making a derogatory comment against her because it somehow reinforces their own notion that their negative comment somehow is true. Unfortunately for them, Taylor’s achievements and record breaking sales proves otherwise. Sorry haters, Taylor is here to stay for a long long time and if you don’t care for her, simply crawl back under your rock and seal it shut with super glue and perhaps you won’t hear about Taylor. She’s everywhere so too bad so sad for you all.
OMG, Patty Griffin is a living goddess. Taylor is wonderful is in her own right and deserves the respect of that audience but it’s not a fair comparison.
Who is Patty Griffin? Is she around Taylor’s age too?
Rich must be Patty Griffin’s promotional mgr. sigh.
@@
I’m a little bit country. She’s a little bit rock ‘n roll. hehe
You should promote your favorites so that they would get more exposure instead of dumping on Taylor. That won’t help your cause to give your favorites more press time.
I don’t hate her at all, I just think she can’t really sing and I don’t get how she got famous as a singer, it’s certainly not for deep, meaningful lyrics or anything so I guess it’s her looks.
She’s famous bec:
-she has brilliant, raw and honest music that many can relate.
-amazing personality
-she genuinely love her fans
-didn’t take anything for granted, she appreciates everything
- she awesome live, go to her concerts
-treats people with respect
-in charge in every aspect of her career
….I could go on and on if you want, if you people don’t like her, don’t waist your time bashing other people.
Popularity and fame – not necessarily earned on merit.
don’t hate the player, hate the game
@Vince, it’s definitely not her looks either.
@Rah, there’s nothing brilliant about her “music,” she seems immature/egotistical in any interview I’ve seen her in, she is absolutely dreadful live – and I mean DREADFUL – and I could go on and on……
Bleh, and I really just don’t like her face. But mostly it’s how insanely off-pitch she is with every singe note. Maybe that’s some sort of a talent…
I hope she never reads the comments. You guys are so awful! She did a great job, she’s never acted rude. She’s just a kid and she’s singing. Jeez!
Andrew, your distaste of Taylor may be due to the probability that you may be into guys and there’s perfectly nothing wrong with that, but even haters that are men come to the conclusion that Taylor is attractive and if you don’t see that then you might want to explore the reasons why. Your critique of her performance is so off base and I can only see it as being vindictive and nothing else.
Deep meaningful lyrics are for grown ups. Who wants seriousness when there’s enough of that in life? I’m happy with Taylor’s songs and they bring meaning to many of us. As a teenager, sometimes that’s all that is necessary. Nothing wrong with that.
Typical male chauvanistic oink comment. @@
She’s popular because she’s real and genuine. That enough? It’s means a lot to her fans that love her.
Vince, that’s a very condescending and insulting thing to say about Taylor. There’s lot of pretty girls in country music and if what you say were the case, there would be plenty selling their music like Taylor.
I thought this was one of her better live performances but good lord the girl can still not sing live…on the other hand Reba and even Kelly Clarkson can sings circles around her.
Why compare artists? That’s what Really irritates me. Clearly, she gives something to everybody that no artist can and vice versa. People have diff. Opinion of what’s the definition of “great singer” is. It depends on your preferrence.
I think Reba needs to bow out gracefully. Love the woman but that Beyonce cover was just weird. I like Kelly, and Reba and Taylor. I don’t know why people need to rank them. Oy.
What Taylor may lack in vocal delivery compared to Reba and Kelly, she more than makes us in crafting highly addictive songs that only she can sing with conviction and making it believable.
*up not us
Kelly’s an awesome singer, but Taylor’s one of the best songwriters in the game right now.
Not sure why ppl keep saying she got a standing O.. I saw everyone sitting and only 2 ppl standing. My first impression was that she was po’d that she didn’t get one. Just my observation.
Even though if it’s true that she didn’t get the standing o, she will not disrespect anybody. What if somebody said something to her in her ear piece and she didn’t expect it and she’s confused. Don’t jump into any conclusions.
Um, did you watch the show? Everybody was standing – youtube it.
It’s not so hard to believe Taylor would get a standing ovation. That was a great rendition of Back To December. I absolutely loved it and I’m glad she’s releasing it next.
I can’t believe something so much as a look from Taylor inspires so much speculation. Her music comes first and foremost and everything else shouldn’t matter.
Taylor doesn’t act that way at all. She doesn’t get po’d like you say. You don’t know how she’s like at all! Her rep said she was responding to the ovation she got so there you go.
Everyone seems to care way too much for a 5 second look from Taylor. I mean is that really a topic to discuss?
I agree wholeheartedly. What a dumb thing to argue about because she was so wonderful so who cares if the applause was accompanied by a standing O. Maybe next time they should pan out over the entire audience and make a head count.
If this were any other artist besides Taylor, no one would give a flying fig what “the look” was all about. @@
no kidding. No one believes Taylor can do well no matter how hard she tries.
I think she did wonderfully and I truly believed she got a standing ovation from many in the audience.