Taylor Swift

Lady Antebellum and Brandy Clark Headline a Night of Country Concerts

Better Than: This divided by two. Let it go into record that for once, on the night of May 7 in the year 2013, Manhattan had too many good country—country referring to popular country, as imported from Nashville—shows to attend, overlapping bookings that could have both been the highlight ... More >>

We Should Be Less Cynical About Albums That (Want to) Change The World

One of the most talked about songs on Taylor Swift's Speak Now was a ditty called "Mean," which my BFF Theon Weber focused on in-depth in his review for this paper. "It's chipper and funny, because the narrator is predicting escape from someone she dislikes: 'Some day, I'll be living in a big ol' ... More >>

How Random Are NFL Drug Tests? Is Your Grandmother's House Random Enough For You?

Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins probably thought his most embarrassing moment in sports was losing the 2011 Capital One Bowl to Alabama, 49-7. That was until the NFL made him take a urine test in his grandmother's house. Naturally, this odd arraingment has inspired a veritable golden s ... More >>

Taylor Swift Nose Job? Penelope Cruz Diastatsis Recti? Expert Available!

One of the joys of my job is being continually pitched experts who want to talk on the record about some hoohaha in the gossip news so they can offer their wisdoms while enhancing their brands. Here are three recent pitches that came my glorious way on the heels of celebrity stories that made some ... More >>

THE PLUS SIDE

Meet Britain’s Ed Sheeran 
at Radio City

Buzz Off, Rihanna, Flo Rida, and Ke$ha! Here's Why I Hate Music!

If I sang this column onstage, you would make a shitty phone video of it

The Least Likely Music Headlines of 2013

For the last six months, the Sound of the City Supercomputer (a 1998 Compaq Presario) has been analyzing the structure and content of every pop news headline in the world in order to create a highly detailed predictive model of the music industry. While this project has important practical uses, suc ... More >>

Fuck A Critic: What Does A Dog Think of New Releases From Meek Mill, Taylor Swift, Aerosmith, and More?

That's Francie, above. The greatest pug in the history of pugs. She's 9. And she loves music. Lives for it. She especially likes electronic music, with all the bleeps and bloops, the thwooooooshhhhes and zhhhrrmmmm and so forth. Anything Warp Records, she's all over that shit like it's a bowl full o ... More >>

Studies Look At What The Internet Can Do To And For Kids

via​There was a period in history when we assume being a teenage girl or a girl on the verge of teenagedom must have meant listening to a Joni Mitchell record while writing in a diary. Now, there's Taylor Swift, blogs, Facebook, texting and the like. It's all so confusing. So two recent studie ... More >>

Live: Taylor Swift Brings Selena Gomez And James Taylor To Madison Square Garden

Taylor Swift w/ NeedToBreathe, Danny Gokey Madison Square Garden Tuesday, November 22 Better than: Singing along alone in the office. Taylor Swift closed her Fearless tour before a sold-out football stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where she performed her encore under artificial rain and gave Ju ... More >>

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

The Band Perry, Taylor Swift Win Big At Last Night's Country Music Awards

Last night, country music's biggest stars (not to mention welcome outsiders like Lionel Richie and Kenny Loggins, who joined Male Vocalist of the Year Blake Shelton for a performance of "Footloose") convened in Nashville for the CMA's annual awards show. By the time hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Un ... More >>

Weird Al Yankovic

Fall Arts: Music Picks

Will An Army Of Beyoncés Save "Run The World (Girls)" From Chart Oblivion?

​Last night's Billboard Music Awards handed out popularity-contest trophies to the likes of Eminem, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry, all of whom were rewarded for the copious amounts of radio play and sales they racked up in recent months. But the evening's real winner was probably Beyoncé, who ... More >>

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit+Caitlin Rose

Pazz & Jop Voter Comments: From Kanye West to The Suburbs

Week in Review: Top Train-Wreck Bloggers

Presenting... burger-core. Pic by Puja Patel.​In the week we spent holed up in Sound of the City headquarters preparing Pazz & Jop results, we still found time to report back from shows by former Talking Heads members Tom Tom Club, former Deee-Lite member, Lady Miss Kier, former the Pack membe ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Death To Chris Brown

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! America's preeminent lady-beater weeps. Photo via Word Up!& ... More >>

Week In Review: You Know We Were Kidding About That Best Year Ever Thing, Right?

A thing that happened. Photo by Phil Freeman.​In the week we debated whether 2010 was the best year for music ever (you guys know that was a joke, right?), we pitted Chris Brown against Katy Perry, Titus Andronicus against LCD Soundsystem, Taylor Swift against M.I.A., and house music against h ... More >>

After Only Three Weeks, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Is Out of the Top 10--What Happened?

Four weeks ago, Kanye West stood on a Bowery Ballroom stage and, in a far ranging and now thoroughly documented speech, cited "perfect scores across the board" for his album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and made an ill-advised prediction: "To be slated to do 600,000 in the first week--and I ... More >>

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Throw Taylor Swift In A Well

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! Pay Rich Juzwiak what you owe him, Jay Leno. Twitpic by Dav ... More >>

Jay Leno Rips Off Taylor Swift Montage, Semi-Apologizes

Screenshot by Sir Itzkoff, just to give credit where credit's due​So friend-of-SOTC and general sweet Internet dude Rich Juzwiak recently co-engineered a fantastic montage of Taylor Swift feigning shock when she is given awards; hatched alongside his online cohort Kate Spencer, the clip attra ... More >>

Carlos Santana Needs To Be Stopped

​If you happened to watch last night's American Music Awards, well, I'm very sorry. If you didn't, our good friend Maura provides an in-depth live-blog summary over at the Awl, but here's the gist: Justin Bieber reigned supreme, Katy Perry wandered so far off key she made Taylor Swift sound li ... More >>

Lloyd Banks Also Has A New Album Out This Week, Everybody

​As previously noted with regards to Nicki Minaj, this is an absolutely terrible week to put out a record if you are anyone other than Kanye West, who with his 10.0 reviews and $3.99 Amazon sales will be hogging every last bit of the spotlight in his (failed, ultimately, probably?) quest to ou ... More >>

A Gallery Of Twitter Responses To Pitchfork's 10.0 Kanye West Review

So the big whoop today is that Pitchfork bestowed its first 10.0 review in nearly a decade on Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ; penned by a dear friend of ours, rest assured this opinion has generated, in turn, a wide variety of online opinions -- outraged, bemused, intrigued, confu ... More >>

Week in Review: Weezy Freed

Welcome to my life, Weezy.​So Lil Wayne is finally a free man. Perhaps a lonely free man, but a free man nonetheless. It's been a hell of a two weeks for the law around here, in all honesty. After last week's barrage of club closings, this week brought news of yet more: 171 Lombardy was raided ... More >>

This Week's Voice: Weezer's Pinkerton, Taylor Swift, AfroCubism, and More

Weezer in simpler times, or maybe not ​In this week's Village Voice, Mike Powell hails the reissue of Weezer's Pinkerton, Theon Weber reviews Taylor Swift's sneakily great Speak Now, and Tad Hendrickson chronicles the belated emergence of the Mali-Cuba connection finally captured on AfroCubism ... More >>

The Ten Best Quotes From Kanye West's Epic Hot 97 Interview With Funkmaster Flex

Left to right: Pusha T, Funkmaster Flex, Kanye West. Photo via In Flex We Trust​It is a measure of Kanye West's proximity to the heart of the zeitgeist that even on the day after a disastrous midterm election, his name is front and center in the news cycle. The Internet is aflame today with th ... More >>

Best/Worst Heavy Metal Hair Ever!

​It belonged to Whitesnake! I have no idea who they are or why they ruled -- I assume the '80s had a lot to do with it -- but there's no question that these guys had the most luscious hair in music history, and that includes the Spice Girls, Taylor Swift, and even Mr. Michael Jackson. It's j ... More >>

Q&A: Yo Gabba Gabba! Creators Christian Jacobs and Scott Shultz Explain Why Indie Rock Is Good For Children

Ben Clark/NickelodeonBottom row: Christian Jacobs, DJ Lance Rock, and Scott Shultz. Top row: Brobee, Muno, Plex.​The characters of the Nickelodeon preschool children's show, Yo Gabba Gabba!, recently barbecued with riff-rockers Them Crooked Vultures: picture a gap-toothed cyclops (Muno), a pin ... More >>

Presenting The Hilarious Music-Related April Fool's Joke Probability Index

​Tough day on the Internet: Everyone is both probably lying to you and totally hilarious. As we grapple with this whole Fucked Up getting sued thing, let us examine today's other remarkable music-biz announcements and rate them on a) believability and b) amusement.

Can You Name Anyone Who's Not In Valentine's Day?

​Valentine's Day--aka Love, American Style, the Movie--is one of those criss-crossing ensemble pieces starring literally everyone alive who's ever walked the earth and ended up in front of a camera. In an attempt to satisfy every possible demographic, it has young people, old people, whites, ... More >>

Eric Church

Michael Jackson and Hip-Hop

Guess which one of those things didn't die this year

Week in Review: Let Us Soak in Positive Forces

New Year's Eve...no idea, basically. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In the week we learned that Animal Collective's manager is apparently endowed with a baby leg, in the one dark place where that would be a meaningful statement, we did our best to otherwise cleanse the ol' SOTC soul, apologizing to ... More >>

Teen Stars Break Up Over Eating Habits; Food Trucks Bring the South to Brooklyn

​Torrisi Italian Specialties opens today in Little Italy selling Italian foods made in America. Owners Richard Torrisi and Mario Carbone, both chefs, cure their own anchovies and olives, and will start offering prix-fixe dinners in February. [NY Times] Teen stars Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautn ... More >>

Susan Boyle Now Making a Run at Taylor Swift for 2009's #1 in Sales

Because we just couldn't look at that Boyle record again​Yes that's right America, you've purchased a whopping 2,465,000 copies of Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream in just four short weeks. How close is that to Taylor Swift, industry darling and seemingly uncontested 2009 sales titan? Pretty cl ... More >>

NAUGHTY AUGHTIES

The OHP gang sings goodbye to the ’00s

Bondage Lambert, Dead Michael Jackson Enliven American Music Awards

In entertainment news, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert performed simulated bondage sex, including fellatio and reverse buttsecks ("This was not family entertainment"), and engaged in lascivious melisma during the American Music Awards, which gave four prizes (Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Fa ... More >>

May Saturday's Taylor Swift-Hosted SNL Contain Only This One Kanye West Joke

Because "I'mma Let You Finish" was a bright shining star but its moment is gone gone gone. Also, it's not like Taylor Swift needs the help, guys. "I want to look nothing like myself," she told MTV News. "I told all the writers, 'Don't count anything out.' I want to go completely, 100 percent in. I ... More >>

Week in Review: ZOWEE

Photo of Ida Maria plus models by David Wentworth.​In the week "I'mma Let You Finish" became the new "WAZZUP!" (see how well that one aged!), we leaned back, helpless as the Maxwell Man (our references are old today, huh?) as Kanye annihilated his own website and the hopes and dreams of a 19-y ... More >>

News Roundup: Taylor Swift Speaks on the Whole Kanye Thing, Deerhunter Announce Hiatus, Islands Stream Vapours, and Ladyhawke Play the Apple Store Tonight

​--Taylor Swift was on The View this morning, talking about what it was like to be the other person on that infamous VMA stage: "I think my overall thought process went something like: 'Wow, I can't believe I won... This is awesome... Don't trip and fall... I'm gonna get to thank the fans, thi ... More >>

Why Taylor Swift Ain't a Mess

​AOL's Popeater blog just asked me for quotes about why that pretty little Taylor Swift hasn't fallen into the "hot mess" trap that some other young stars, a la Lindsay/Britney/Xtina/Miley, have flirted with. My stunning reply: "Unlike so many young stars who've turned into walking train wre ... More >>

Week in Review: I've Never Seen So Many Sick Weirdos Gathered in One Place

Rebecca Smeyne In the week one of us had to publicly defend himself against the crime of using the phrase "Fey Highwayman," we watched with amusement as close SOTC affiliate Christopher R. Weingarten became a viral video poster boy for the death of music criticism. Poetic choice of t-shirts, Chris! ... More >>

On Taylor Swift and T-Pain's "Thug Story"

The above video, which depicts T-Pain and Taylor Swift rapping together, frankly falls into We Probably Need to Mention This, But Damned If We Have the Slightest Idea What to Say About It category. As an experiment in whether Swift's critic-wooing adorability can survive something this atrocious, ... More >>

Interview: "Alien Vs. Predator" Poet Michael Robbins

After the New Yorker, a real press photo, maybe. The poet Michael Robbins lives in Chicago, quotes both Lil Wayne and Paul Muldoon fluently, and studs his criticism with punchlines like "This sort of thing is why punk rock had to be invented." His January 12 debut in the New Yorker, "Alien Vs. Pre ... More >>

This Week's Voice: The Killers, Disco Inferno, Toni Morrison's A Mercy, Terry Winters, and More

Taylor Swift's Teenage Country-Star Tales, Spiked With Actual Wisdom

The CMAs: A Running Diary