OMFG! Taylor goes ghetto and girly and tuff in one breath.

[koganbot]

Finally saw a clip of Taylor Swift at the ACMs, and the staging is astonishing. She starts acoustic, with a wicked strum, in a hoodie and jeans, and then she jettisons the guitar, her homies join her, and then OMFG.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[koganbot]

And Jimmy points out that Taylor in hoodie with acoustic is coming on like 2004 Avril at the start, before her homies hit the stage. Also tells me that there are Abdul and Clarkson precedents for some of the subsequent maneuvers. But what impresses me most is the way Taylor deliberately mixes and confounds social markers, with complete assurance.

She does sing the song better on record. (It's her single by the way, best since "Tim McGraw.")

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

When she came out with the hoodie, I initially thought of Eminem. It was too plain (honest maybe?) to signify Avrilness.

As for the performance, awesome melding of a bunch of strains of teen confessional! And pointing the way toward the future with (1) Taylor herself (country appropriating this stuff) and (2) flashy spectacle (dance and R&B appropriating this stuff?).

[koganbot]

Well, I'm guessing that in making the Avril comparison Jimmy was probably thinking of the combination of hoodie and singer-songwriter acoustic guitar. What'd you think of "Take A Bow"? As I said a few days ago, I think Taylor's version beat Rihanna's. I wonder if she'll ever release one of those covers as a single. (Rissi Palmer's version of "No Air" isn't going to rise much more unless it gets a second wind; but Rissi doesn't have nearly the name recognition of Taylor.)

(Speaking of Taylor's social range, on rolling country I linked a duet of her and Kellie Pickler doing "Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue," for contrast. It was terrible. Xhuxk says he thinks he did a better version of that song himself at karaoke. The Taylor-Kellie version went over well with her audience, but I doubt that such jingoistic saber rattling would carry to many other audiences, and events over the last few years haven't helped the song's message any.)