Taylor Swift

Two weeks after the European MTV awards it’s time for the 37th American Music Awards 2009. After a quick glimpse at the list of nominees, it seems clear the night could turn into (another) Michael Jackson tribute (nominated for best pop-rock AND soul-R&B album, best pop-rock male artist and best soul-R&B male artist). The night will also be a new GaGa – Beyoncé dispute for best female artist (will little miss spoilt GaGa turn up this time?). The rest of nominees are the usual: Black Eyed Peas, the American beloved Taylor Swift and the hip-hop / rap category 2009 trio Jay-Z, T.I. and Eminem for best album and artist.

I'm pretty sure many people have heard about the Kanye incident at this year's VMAs. Up for the award of Best Female Video were:

• Lady Gaga Poker Face
• Kelly Clarkson My Life Would Suck Without You
• Beyonce Single Ladies
• Taylor Swift You Belong With Me
• Katy Perry Hot N Cold
• Pink So What

Overall a great cross-section of pop songs and videos. And the winner of the award was Taylor Swift. We talked about Taylor Swift on this site before and I've read a lot of commentary about her on other sites as well. My own opinion of Taylor Swift, as I see her as a person and not relating to her music, is that for someone so young she's achieved a lot and is incredibly talented (she plays the ukelele!), clever and still appears as to be a nice person - she hasn't become a monster of her own success which can often happen with young stars. And, as RandomEnigma pointed out, she's pretty funny.

Yes, you may love her or hate her but Taylor Swift has teamed up with T-Pain to record a hilarious parody of her hit single Thug Story. I think the video shows that the girl doesn't take herself seriously and while some of her songs are a little needy and desperate, I still think she's one of the brightest musical stars to come out of the US in a long time. Basically, in short, I wanna marry her! But enjoy the video!

Song: Teardrops On My Guitar (International Radio Mix)

Artist: Taylor Swift

Album: Taylor Swift and Fearless

Release Date: 15 May 2009 (IRL), 18 May 2009 (UK)

Genre: Country pop

Peak Position: 57 (UK), TBA (IRL)

I'm not a feminist. At least I don't think I am. But I’ve noticed two distinct types of woman in pop music recently, and I’m wondering which is worse. I’d be interested to hear what you think on this topic.

The first portrayal is the obvious one: women as sexual objects. We’re not exactly stuck for examples here -  Lady GaGa riding an inflatable dolphin, Beyonce waggling her gusset around in the video for Single Ladies, and let’s not forget that dance video with all the babes exercising in lycra outfits.

The second treatment of women is less blatant. It’s embedded in the lyrics of songs. Let me quote Miss Taylor Swift as she approaches the climax of her Love Story video:

He knelt to the ground, pulled out a ring and said
”Marry me Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone
I love you and that’s all I really know”

What a classic lyric - marry me or you’ll get left on the shelf a lonely old hag. What a freakin’ charmer! Let’s have a look at Beyonce Knowles, surely the embodiment of the independent 21st Century woman? In Single Ladies, she’s telling the men that if they want to keep their women, they need to be marrying them, or at least show you’re serious through the universal currency of jewellery.

Okay just thought I'd give Irish viewers a round up of my opinions on the Top 50 Singles Chart in Ireland as of 3 April 2009. This is basically a rehash of last weeks charts but with any new entries added in afterwards.

50. Stuck With Each Other-Shontelle featuring Akon: A new entry into the Top 50, this is the second mid-tempo R&B single to be released by Shontelle. Soundtracking the Confessions Of A Shopaholic movie, this song drafts in Akon who just seems to be appearing everywhere these days like Timbaland was last year. Well this song is just as accessible, if not more so than previous hit T-Shirt, this is warm and comforting. Perfect for a rom-com really and Akon fits nicely in this track, ditching his signature nasal, Auto-Tune sound for some actual smooth vocals for once. Good but won't set the World alight. (3/5)

Okay just thought I'd give Irish viewers a round up of my opinions on the Top 50 Singles Chart in Ireland as of 27 March 2009. This is basically a rehash of last weeks charts but with any new entries added in afterwards.

50. Welcome To The Club-DJ Manian: I'm sorry to report this renewed Eurodance craze isn't going to go away soon. However that said, Welcome To The Club isn't completely awful, it's good for getting up and dancing to which I suppose is it's purpose really. Being one third of hit trio Cascada (yes, they're a trio!), Manian creates a rather infectious dance tune but if it's going to be played on the radio non-stop and no doubt it will, we're all going to get annoyed by it's repetitive nature. It will be a welcome change from Basshunter though. ***

Wow! White Horse reprises the fairytale imagery that Taylor Swift established in Love Story, but with none of the upbeat romance or indeed a happy ending.

Even those warm golden tones of the Love Story video subside to colder colours and a video which is interrupted by little bits of dialogue. Especially where Taylor’s girlfriend drops a bombshell on her: yes, her perfect man is cheating.

I keep referring to the previous single, because this makes me question the order the two singles were released in: surely White Horse - the sad, cynical ballad about broken hearts should have come first? Then she could have followed with Love Story and there’d have been a degree of redemption involved. One song about heartbreak followed by a song about true love.

Taylor Swift’s Love Story should have all my cynical senses tingling right now. You’ve got that Disney Princess dress Miss Swift is wearing in the video, the overblown sentimentality and the ballroom fantasy sequence. I could really choke on the lyrics: “Marry me, Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone.”

But - you knew there was going to be a ‘but’, didn’t you? - the slight country-rock vibe, the hints of a banjo being plucked somewhere in the background, and the idealistic but very cute video story.