I watched the Nation Football League’s opening event, a show including live songs by Taylor Swift and the Dave Matthews Band. I’ll lay it on the line… Taylor Swift cannot sing live. Her pitch is all over the place. Not to take away her song writing ability, that is top notch, especially for a young person. There is a piece of software used in recording studios, Autotune. Next time you book time to record, you should be surprised if the studio manager does NOT ask if you want to use this. I’m guessing it is what makes this young country star (along with backing tracks) sound on pitch on her recordings. Again, I’m not saying this to pick on young Taylor, instead, call it a warning. The music industry has a problem and that is pushing out artists that lack talent to perform.
If you caught the show, you hopefully heard the difference between Taylor and Dave Matthews. He sings on pitch. It could be as simple as experience. He has been around a long time and worked his way through the ranks. It feels like the music industry took advantage of a young, great song writer by using her “cuteness” to sell records. I have now heard her several times sing live. The first shock came on this past years Grammys show. Why Stevie Nicks agreed to sing a duet with her, I don’t know. I don’t think Stevie knows either. She looked shell shocked hearing Taylor’s pitch waver all over.
Music needs to return to it’s roots. Finding talented singers to singer, writers to write and developing the talent pool instead of pushing out below average talent because they have “the look” and the record company can make some quick, big bucks.