Taylor Swift

The Month in Press Release Idiocy

You can keep your fancy-pants Pitchfork criticism. For my money -- and believe me, I have none of it -- the finest music prose isn't some college boy's flower-power review of the new long player by England's hottest beat group. It's not some hepcat rap blogger carving up Weezy's toots with a silver ... More >>

Taylor Swift - Prudential Center - 3/28/13

Better Than: Being trouble. Something happens when Taylor Swift does nothing. It doesn't matter whether doing nothing follows dressing up and dancing like a hipster, or flying over the crowd (while singing) on an elevated platform, or just a good old-fashioned strut across the stage. That's becau ... More >>

An Exclusive First Look At Some of Taylor Swift's Trashed Fan Mail

Of the many things that Taylor Swift is known for, her extremely dedicated fan-base has to be the most notorious (Haha it's totally not, and you know what is, but let's just go with it). Unfortunately for them, it was revealed earlier this week that instead of their fan mail reaching her beautiful b ... More >>

Buzz Off, Rihanna, Flo Rida, and Kesha! Here's Why I Hate Music!

This week's column is a blistering attack on all the things I can't stand about music! I name all the major names as I go through the current preponderance of illiterate lyrics, inane meldodies, annoying samples, and crafty attempts to chart a record that would never make the top 100 without some d ... More >>

'Z100 Jingle Ball'

Taylor Swift Pizza = Synergy? Ordering Red From Our Local Papa John's

By Jaime Lees When I found out that Taylor Swift's new album, Red, would be available via Papa John's Pizza delivery, I pretty much had the same thoughts I had upon hearing the first single off of Red: The fuck? Followed by: Mmmm. Tasty. Modern record labels are working hard to find new ways to ge ... More >>

Taylor Swift Is Playing Joni Mitchell

There's a movie in development based on Sheila Weller's book Girls Like Us, about various female singer/songwriters who helped shape the modern sound. Taylor Swift has been cast as Joni Mitchell, and the hissing of the summer lawns will have to drown out anyone's reservations about that. And here' ... More >>

Hot 100 Roundup: Taylor Swift's Kiss-Off To Country, Mumford & Sons' Folkie Rave, And More

Editors' note: Each week in this space, chart-watcher Robert Myers will offer his reactions to all the new entries on the Hot 100, Billboard's big board for popular songs. Late August on the pop charts used to be what I called the summer doldrums—almost the entire music industry went on vacat ... More >>

Who Should Tom Cruise's Next Wife Be? Some Suggestions

Just in case there are going to be a whole bunch of casting calls and auditions, the kids over at datalounge.com have some ideas of who should be hand-picked to play this, the most glamorous role since Scarlett O'Hara: Rihanna Nicki Minaj Taylor Swift

100 & Single: Answering Questions On Adam Lambert's Historic Chart-Topping Album

I've never been happier to be wrong about something. Two weeks ago, the last line of my column read: "Probably won't happen. But wouldn't it be fun if it did?" The event I didn't think could happen was Adam Lambert scoring a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart with his second disc, Trespas ... More >>

Who's Your Favorite Taylor?

These are your only choices. Mention another choice not listed here and you will be banned and ostracized from society.

Needtobreathe

Oddsmaking: Best Country Solo Performance, Where Ludacris's Stamp Of Approval Makes A Difference

As part of this year's larger reduction in genre-specific awards, 2012 will see the country portion of the Grammys streamlined to just four categories: Best Solo Performance (which swallows Male and Female Vocal Performance), Best Duo/Group Performance (which swallows Best Duo/Group Vocal Performanc ... More >>

Will Bon Iver Be The Arcade Fire Of 2012? And Other Pre-Grammy Nomination Show Questions

Tonight's Grammy nomination concert, airing at 10 p.m. on CBS, will not only jam-pack a bunch of performances by the likes of Lady Gaga and Jason Aldean into its 60 minutes, it'll also let us know which artists will be prostrating themselves in front of the globe and thanking their families and God ... More >>

Live-Blogging The 2011 American Music Awards: We Could Have Had It All (But Then Adele Had To Go Have A Vocal Cord Hemorrhage)

Welcome to Sound of the City's liveblog of the 2011 American Music Awards, the annual salute to the most popular popular music that exists in the American wild this year. While Lady Gaga and Adele and Beyoncé are absent, this year's show apparently has one performance that will cost $500,000 to pul ... More >>

FOREVER AND ALWAYS

Taylor Swift wraps the ‘Speak Now’ tour

The American Music Awards Nominations: Hey, Did You Know Adele Sold A Lot Of Albums This Year?

Have you bought your copy yet? (Give it time.) ​You can have your Grammys and your Mercury Prizes and your Polaris Prizes and whatever other musical prizes honor things like "talent" and "artistry"—the most honest awards show in pop music, though, is undoubtedly the American Music Awards ... More >>

Live: Taylor Swift Sparkles And Survives At The Prudential Center

Taylor Swift w/NeedToBreathe, Danny Gokey Prudential Center Tuesday, July 19 Better than: Bottling up your emotions. Before Taylor Swift took the stage last night, I was looking around the Prudential Center, marveling once again at the craftwork on display during an arena show. In contrast to Ka ... More >>

The Lost Youth of Avril Lavigne

Goodbye Lullaby finds our mall-punk malcontent having less fun than ever

Top 10 Super Bowl 2012 Halftime-Show Possibilities

Let's all do our best to keep this from happening​So another enjoyable terrible Super Bowl Halftime Show is in the books, and as we wash "I Gotta Feeling" out of our eyes and ears for the thousandth time, the question becomes: Who will grace the stage in 2012? How old will their most famous al ... More >>

Presenting Your 2011 Billboard #1s: Taylor Swift...Cake...the Decemberists?

We defy you not to laugh, really.​This morning, music industry executives awoke with a sigh of relief: the third full sales week of 2011 did not end with historic Soundscan lows. After Taylor Swift set a historical nadir by selling 52,000 copies of three-month-old record during one of the slow ... More >>

Everybody Panic: Taylor Swift's Speak Now Scores the Lowest-Selling Billboard #1, Ever

"Peace, suckers." Photo via MySpace.​Bad news for anyone hoping to make a living off of selling recorded music ever again: after 2010 brought us such lovely milestones as the worst week for music sales in all of SoundScan history and the Kanye West record that wouldn't go platinum, 2011 has al ... More >>

2011 In Review!

​Why wait all the way till the end of the year for all those inevitable-2011-in-review stories? As always, I'm wildly ahead of the curve and on top of the trend. So how has the year been so far? Well, as pop culture's most avid observer, I'm totally your man for the wrapup:

Top 25 Headlines Not As Weird As "Dave Sitek Joins Jane's Addiction"

Good luck learning all the chord changes in "Jane Says," dude​So TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek has joined Jane's Addiction, in some unspecified bassist/songwriter/possibly-non-touring-member capacity, which is super bizarre when you first hear about it, but is, upon reflection, not the stranges ... More >>

SUCK IT

An award show that honors 2010’s shitty moments

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? The Final Chapter: Katy Perry Is A Bad Feminist But We Are All Vulnerable Somehow

This has been Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We're sad to see it go. Sleigh Bells frontlady Alexis Krauss, you deserved your ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? LCD Soundsystem and Nostalgia's Creeping Scourge

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! James Murphy, pulling no punches.​Dear fellow illumin ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Bowling With Titus Andronicus and the Joy of the Work

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! Please, this holiday season, spare a thought for these mill ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? American Idol Wobbles, R&B Thrives, And The '90s Rise Again

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! At least one song on this record is really good!​Gent ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Defending Taylor Swift And Hailing The-Dream

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! Happier times for us all​My friends, It's the confl ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? House Music vs. Hashtag Rap

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! The most important artist of 2010.​Hi everybody! To ... More >>

Our Countdown of the 20 Worst Songs of 2010 Starts Today

TheFABLife​Last December, our F2K series counted down the 50 lousiest songs from the morass of mediocrity that accumulated between 2000 and 2009--and it was no easy task. The 9/11 tie-ins, the mawkish charity singles, the wan covers, Owl City, the continued existence of Nicole Scherzinger ... ... More >>

The Iceberg Songs of Taylor Swift

On the sneakily great Speak Now, the ultimate 'It Gets Better' campaign

Unhappy Hipsters Tumblr Likely for Book Deal and Laughs

Even after they built the concrete nature cell, it was impossible to entice him outdoors.​ Unhappy Hipsters will probably be the next tumblr to accomplish the goal of most Tumblrs--a lucrative book deal. The site pulls pictures from various design publications like Dwell magazine and captions ... More >>

The Bieber Bowl: The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards Live Blog

Just how awkward will the awkwardly staged moment between Kanye West and Taylor Swift be? Will Eminem deign to smile? Which uncomfortable pop star will B.o.B choose to bring up on stage with him? And how will your hosts, Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal and eMusic's Sean Fennessey, make it to midnight withou ... More >>

Kanye West's "OFFICIAL POWER REMIX" Has Arrived

​It's here. Jay-Z's on it. But Swizz Beatz runs away with it. Believe it.

Lauren Bacall's Worst Performance Ever

​It's a miracle that Lauren Bacall is still here after this version of "I'm Still Here" that pops up on Youtube. It's very informal--maybe a rehearsal or something she did in what might be her own living room, but it clearly should have stayed there.

Taylor Swift Isn't That Off-Key!

​I'm a little late to this picnic, but I finally caught up with the Grammy Awards (I was away) and prepared for the Taylor Swift trainwreck everyone had clucked about, expecting her to not come any closer to any of the notes than I have to Wasilla, Alaska.

Here Is An Uncensored Version of Drake, Lil Wayne, and Eminem's "Drop the World/Forever" From the Grammys Last Night

Those who watched the Grammys last night know that the evening's closing performance was censored by CBS with the avidity of Tipper Gore attempting to set a 2 Live Crew record on fire. Whoever was working the silence button worked it long and hard. Luckily, a renegade broadcast caught the uncensor ... More >>

Will You Watch "Hope for Haiti" Tomorrow Night?

​Just try and avoid it! It'll be on every channel except Boomerang, filling your brain with the sight of caring celebrities reaching out to get exposure for their new CDs--I mean for Haitian relief, while raising tons of dollars for that worthy cause through high-profile artistry and in-your- ... More >>

Susan Boyle Bypasses Young, Illegal Downloaders En Route To A Second #1

​527,000 copies. She is a commercial juggernaut no one can touch, not least because in all likelihood the vast majority of her fans have no idea how to pirate and/or steal I Dreamed a Dream--the 10th best-selling record of the year and rising fast. If you can find a demographic old enough, thi ... More >>

'Z100's Jingle Ball 2009'

Carrie Underwood's Play On Is #1

​To the tune of a stunning 318,000 copies sold, good for the "largest sales week for an album by a woman in 2009 and the second-best sales week for a country release," according to Billboard. Sorry Mariah! MJ's This Is It halved its sales and still held onto #2, clocking second week numbers at ... More >>

Which Was The Grossest Public Display?

​Screaming out rude, self righteous remarks for a mass audience seems to be all the rage these days, especially when said comments are shrieked while someone else already has the floor. Just recently, we've had the following sore-losery emissions of terrible manners:

Watch Candid Footage Of Taylor Swift Freaking Out Upon Learning Of Her Four CMA Nominations

In her pajamas, even. While it's somewhat disingenuous maybe for someone so wildly successful to feign shock at being short-listed for, say, Entertainer of the Year, that apparently unfeigned shock is nonetheless wildly entertaining. Unless you are one of her dogs, in which case it's a little dist ... More >>

Who's The Biggest Pop Diva of All?

Which glorious singer with female private parts do you feel reigns over all the other pretenders (and no, this has nothing to do with "Now that Jacko's gone...") The top diva choices are: Lady Gaga. Her three songs are fee-eerce. Will her future be so bright she still has to wear shades? Rihanna. ... More >>

Let the "Best of the Decade" Listmaking Bacchanal Begin

Seriously, when's the last time you thought about this. Look, I don't want to freak anyone out here, but is everyone aware that this decade ends in, like, six months or so? The whole thing? The 'Aughts, or whatever we're gonna call 'em? You realize what this means, right? Wanton rock-critic lis ... More >>

Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, Starring Fountains of Sticky, White Goo

Adventures in Taylor Swift Reviewing

Taylor Swift's Empty Life Chills USA Today Readers