Swiftly Responding
Kelly Clarkson, the world’s first American Idol, is creating quite a bit of buzz over a post on her blog earlier today. The post inspired by comments made by Big Machine Records CEO, Scott Borchetta. Borchetta became defensive over the critically slammed performance by Taylor Swift at Sunday’s Grammy’s ceremony. Swift, a Big Machine recording artist, choked her way through a duet with the legendary Stevie Nicks, leaving critics and fans unimpressed and questioning why the artist continues to receive praise for her work. Borchetta was quoted, saying:
“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. The facts say she is the undisputed best communicator that we’ve got. When she says something, when she sings something, when she feels something, it affects more people than anybody else. Maybe she’s not the best technical singer, 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. If you pick any of those artists that performed [at the Grammys], I’m sure you can go online and find something where you go, ‘ew.’ Maybe in that moment we didn’t have the best night. But in the same breath, maybe we did. And nobody is arguing with the awards.”
Umm…I am. Taylor Swift continues to get recognized for her work as a vocalist and her own camp can’t even defend her horrible “technical” ability. I’ll give her this, she writes a mean pop/country song, but from what I’ve seen so far, that’s where it ends. The girl should stay in the backdrop because one more screeching performance from her could ruin my awards watching experiences for good.
But enough about me, it was Kelly Clarkson who did not take kindly to the American Idol comment, leading her to post this on her blog:
“Wow …..Dear Scott Borchetta,
I understand defending your artist obviously because I have done the same in the past for artists I like, including Taylor, so you might see why its upsetting to read you attacking American Idol for producing simply vocalists that hit ‘the high notes’. Thank you for that ‘Captain Obvious’ sense of humor because you know what, we not only hit the high notes, you forgot to mention we generally hit the ‘right’ notes as well. Every artist has a bad performance or two and that is understandable, but throwing blame will not make the situation at hand any better. I have been criticized left and right for having shaky performances before (and they were shaky) and what my manager or label executives say to me and the public is “I’ll kick butt next time” or “every performance isn’t going to be perfect”. I bring this up because you should take a lesson from these people and instead of lashing out at other artists (that in your ‘humble’ opinion lack true artistry), you should simply take a breath and realize that sometimes things won’t go according to plan or work out and that’s okay.
Sincerely,
One of those contestants from American Idol who only made it because of her high notes“
The internet pubs, blogs, and twitters went wild with the news trying to pit Clarkson against Swift, but it was the Texas native that came to Taylor’s defense when Kanye West took her award at last year’s VMA’s. Sources close to Borchetta are saying that he was not trying to attack all of the Idols, instead focusing on just one – Carrie Underwood, who is probably the best technical singer currently in the genre.
