Posted on 08 February 2010

Taylor Swift’s less-than-perfect performance at this year’s Grammy awards has seen the young starlet come under fire from heaps of music critics, claiming that her vocals were off-key. However, Scott Borchetta, CEO of Swift’s record label, Big Machine Records, has come out and defended his star’s voice.

In an interview with The Tennessean, Borchetta defended Taylor’s status as one of the most exciting talents in the music business at the moment. “Maybe she’s not the best technical singer”, Borchetta began, “but she’s probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don’t want to see more of it”.

How lucky Taylor is to have the backing of such a fiercely loyal and devoted manager! She must count her blessings that whenever her technical skills come under attack, Borchetta leaps to her defence by proudly damning the nay-sayers and proclaiming for all to hear that “she’s not the best technical singer”. And to hear that despite your sub-par technical skills, that you are “probably” the best emotional singer! Careful you don’t heap too much praise on her pretty little head, Borchetta, her ego’s likely to swell.

Swift went on to win Album Of The Year for Fearless, and the 20 year-old’s performance of three tracks, including hit single “You Belong With Me” and new release “Today Was A Fairytale” was just a footnote to her four wins on the night, but Borchetta’s shrewd comments to the press have re-introduced his singer’s much-criticised performance to the spotlight. One has to wonder if Borchetta perhaps has it in for our Taylor? Or is, perhaps, a moron.

Borchetta went on to say, to the AP, that “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 a writer and a communicator. I think [the critics] are missing the whole voice of a generation that is happening right in front of them. Maybe they are jealous or can’t understand that, but obviously the people that she talks to are engaged with her. No one is perfect on any given day.”

Taylor’s swift rise to the forefront of the pop music scene was marked with the gong for Best Album, which Borchetta points to as evidence of her quality; “The facts say she is the undisputed best communicator we’ve got. When she says something, when she sings something, when she feels something, it affects more people than anybody else”.

And I, for one, welcome our new music industry overlord. I’m with Borchetta on this one. I’m tired of seeing genuinely talented and naturally gifted singers perform technically perfect renditions of their songs. Swift’s tone-deaf and off-key performance was a nice change, and who cares about the quality of the music when her emotions are communicated so succinctly? Who wants good music when you can actually measure how sad she is that the hot boy doesn’t like her? I could get used to this new brand of low-quality but heartfelt pop music. It grows on you. Like a tumor.

Tom Hoare