Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Chat is also on MySpace.com/TaylorSwift & Facebook.com/TaylorSwift.Fans can submit questions into the liveUstream chat window on all sites.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Singer Taylor Swift will host a live chat to talk with fans about a new album.
Swift said she’s always getting questions from fans via the Internet and social networking sites. Next Tuesday she’ll be providing answers about her follow up to “Fearless” and more.
“I‘ve gotten so many questions from fans — on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, my website, everywhere really, and it’s so incredible to see how excited everybody is about what’s next,” Swift said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “I want them to be the first to know about my new music, and I can’t wait to talk to everybody as directly as I can!”
Swift will host the chat from Nashville at 5 p.m. EDT. Fans will be able to submit questions on Swift’s website, social networking platforms and Ustream.tv.
Swift was recently ranked No. 3 on Forbes’ list of the most powerful celebrities on social media. She has 7 million Facebook friends and 3.6 million Twitter followers.
“Fearless” was the top-selling album of 2009 and netted Swift every major award, including two Grammys.
New pictures have been released of Taylor filming the music video of her new single (rumour has it, it’s called ‘Mine’). I have added them to the gallery!
From Allie, Andrea & Jackie: Taylor Swift shooting her new music video in Cape Porpoise Maine on Thursday July 8. It was a blast to watch! Both Taylor and the guy in her video seemed to be having tons of fun and at one point where….he proposes and they kissed he looked up at the camera crew and said ‘She said no by the way.’ The scene lasted about 30 minutes and then they started filming in the house again.
X22HQ//Shooting Music Video (New Single released late-2010)
Here’s some more news about country weddings, but this time it’s only for a video: Taylor Swift got married at the Christ Church in Kennebunk, Maine, on Thursday (July
with Rev. Janet Leighninger presiding. And the groom? Who knows. Just some drop-dead gorgeous actor playing his part in Swift’s upcoming music video. Some of the folks on the scene said the song may be called “Mine,” but whatever the song is, it sounds like the video will be just as fairytale-like as some of Swift’s past work. The white-steepled church, built in 1827, was embellished with all kinds of ribbons and flowers and guest extras blowing bubbles at the “bride” and “groom.” Other scenes for the video were shot at a private estate in nearby Cape Elizabeth. According to the local news, the video should be on the air by the end of the year.
Not one to limit showing her gratitude to fans in a brief acceptance speech, Taylor Swift is going to devote an entire day to thanking her admirers.
At the June 13 CMA Music Festival, the country star will host a 13-hour meet and greet.
“My favorite thing about CMA Music Fest has always been getting to spend time with the fans,” Swift – whose Fearless tour wraps this Saturday at Boston’s Gillette Stadium – said in a statement. “So this year I waned to figure out a way to meet as many of them as possible.”
Her day will begin at 8 a.m. at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, followed by a short acoustic performance around 2 that afternoon. The event, which is free and open to the public, will wrap up at 9 p.m.
“Thirteen is my lucky number,” says Swift, 20, “and the 13th is during Music Fest, so I think spending 13 hours with my fans is going to be amazing!” (Source)
Don’t forget, Brooks & Dunn: The Last Rodeo airs tonight on CBS! The special starts at 8 pm eastern. Media will be posted for it tomorrow.
I’ve added some caps from various promos CBS has been airing this week to promote the special to the gallery.
Taylor Swift has installed a fireplace and treadmill on her tour bus.
The country music star, 20, says she was desperate to make her life on the road more comfortable and enjoyable so decorated her bus with some expensive items.
“I put in a fireplace, a flip-down treadmill and a really comfortable bed,” she said.
“I feel like I’m home whenever I’m on my tour bus.”
Taylor recently admitted she often feels like she leads a double life. “Sometimes I feel like I lead a double life. One minute I’ll be negotiating a contract and the next I’ll be at home with my friends,” she said earlier this month.
“It’s always been like that, even at school. I went to class, studied for tests and had crushes on boys, and then after school I’d go downtown to Music Row in Nashville and write songs.” (Source)
It was just announced that the 20-year-old songstress will be awarded the Hal David Starlight Award on Thursday, June 17!
The award honors songwriters at a high point in their careers who are impacting the industry with songs they’ve written themselves. Phil Collins (Lily’s dad) and music producer Phil Ramone also will receive special awards at the event. (Source)
Country music sensation Taylor Swift, who’s adept at reaching fans through social media, can also credit the Internet for connecting her with the backup singers who will be performing with her at this Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, to air on CBS.
After seeing a YouTube video of the University of California San Diego’s 16-voice choir, the Tritones, singing a version of her hit “You Belong With Me,” Swift, 20, tracked down the band’s manager and invited them to join her on stage for the show, Country Weekly reports.
Swift’s latest Web outreach illustrates just one way that a generation of up-and-coming country stars, who include Carrie Underwood and the trio Lady Antebellum, have helped put a bright new face on the industry.
Some music veterans are tapping into the power of the Internet, too: Fans of longtime duo Brooks & Dunn voted online for which song the duo will perform at the show.
Technology aside, competition should be fierce at this year’s awards, which has a strong representation of some of country music’s most iconic stars. Among them: Reba McEntire, who will host the show for the 12th time and is up for Top Female Vocalist; George Strait, nominated for Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist; and Brooks & Dunn, who are launching a farewell tour and will perform – possibly for the last time together at the ACM awards, according to some reports.
The spotlight is aimed on the younger set, however. Lady Antebellum, whose sophomore album, Need You Now, has sold 1.5 million copies, leads the field with seven nominations. Underwood is up for six awards – as is Miranda Lambert.
Swift, whose multiple trophies include entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards, follows with five nominations. She’s up against Underwood for Entertainer of the Year, a category that will be voted upon by fans.
But Strait, 57, could prove a formidable rival for that honor. With his latest single, “I Gotta Get To You,” Strait has had a Billboard Top 10 Hot Country hit every year for three decades. That’s a feat no other artist has accomplished in the history of any Billboard chart, according to Country Weekly. (Source)
Below I’ve embedded the Tritones versions of the song.
Taylor Swift makes her debut as the modern “flapper” in the May 2010 issue of Vogue (Sarah Jessica Parker is on the cover).
The country crooner will move into her own place in Nashville soon, have a new album by fall, and turn 21 in December. Of her new home, Taylor says, “It’s not giant. I didn’t want to have to MapQuest to get to the kitchen.”
Swift also admits, “Looking back on what these past two years have been for me, it feels like this magical dream of, Really? We toured all over the world? We played an arena in London? This is happening? Readjusting my goals and dreams has been something I’ve had to do a lot lately.” (Source)
Don’t let Naomi Judd catch you saying anything bad about Taylor Swift. The veteran country singer has jumped to Swift’s defense after she was heavily criticized for her performance at the Grammy Awards last month.
In a letter to the editor of The Tennessean, Judd, calls Swift a “dazzling performer” and lauds her for single-handedly introducing “country music to a much-welcomed younger demographic.”
She attributes Swift’s less-than-perfect Grammy duet with Stevie Nicks to having an off night. “Having sung many times at the Grammys, I can tell you that the stress and anxiety of performing in front of the world’s top artists in every genre of music is tortuous for even the most seasoned singer,” Judd writes.
The backlash against Swift began immediately after her Grammy night performance, which the New York Times called “painfully out of tune.”
Swift’s label head, Scott Borchetta, rushed to her defense last week, calling her “the voice of a generation” and blaming a technical problem as the culprit behind the pitchy performance.
Judd also praises Swift’s “smarts, manners and class” as qualities young people should admire and emulate.
“If there’s an award for being the best role model for her generation,” she writes, “I’d like to be the one to give it to Taylor Swift.”
(Source)
Taylor Swift was more than a little pitchy at the Grammys on Sunday, but the onslaught of criticism from viewers, fans and the media has ticked off the head of her record label. Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, went on a media offensive this week to respond to all the backlash over Swift’s multi-song performance, which included a cringe-worthy duet with Stevie Nicks, the young singer’s idol. But in defending Swift, did the label boss exacerbate the situation?
“Maybe she’s not the best technical singer,” he began in comments to The Tennessean, “but she’s probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don’t seem to want more of it.”
Borchetta slammed critics, which included the New York Times and the Washington Post among others, but also may have overreached in his description of the pop-country singer.“I think (the critics) are missing the whole voice of a generation that is happening right in front of them,” he told the paper.
Voice of a generation? Borchetta used the same phrase in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday, and added that Swift “speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her.”
“This is not ‘American Idol.’ This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It’s not about that technically perfect performance.”
Borchetta appears to be trying to lower expectations for Swift’s vocal abilities while at the same time raise her profile as the Bob Dylan or Kurt Cobain of Generation Y. (In a twisted way, it makes perfect sense: Dylan and Cobain are known more for their iconic songwriting than their actual vocals.)
Talk of Swift’s sub-par performance nearly overshadowed the fact that she beat album of the year favorites Beyonce and Lady Gaga. PopEater readers, who by and large are huge Swift-backers, agreed it wasn’t her best night. “Horrible … embarrassing” wrote one commenter about Swift’s live voice.
“It’s that classic thing that critics do of building something up and then wanting to tear it down,” Borchetta told the AP.
The label boss blamed a technical issue for throwing Swift off on Grammy night when singing ‘Rhiannon’ with Nicks, though The Recording Academy hasn’t revealed any such problem.
“We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn’t able to hear everything in the mix,” Borchetta said. “That’s just part of live TV. … So you’re going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn’t hear herself like she had in rehearsal.”
Swift’s ‘Fearless’ has sold over 5 million copies and was the top selling album of 2009. She is the youngest artist to ever win the Grammys’ top prize of album of the year. (Source)
