I ask this question because we really could have used him last night during Taylor Swift’s performance on the Grammy awards. Had Simon, Randy and Kara been there, Swift would’ve been greeted with something like this:
Simon(before the song was even halfway over): “Thank you. That’s enough. Randy?”
Randy: “Yeah Dawg, ya know, I like your look, but you really need to work on your tone. It was really pitchy dawg, really pitchy…”
Kara: “Taylor, you’re really pretty, and you’ve got a great personality. Your songs are catchy but you really need to work on your voice. It’s just not quite ready.”
Guest Judge Kanye West: “Yo Taylor, I woulda let you finish, but you sing almost as bad as I do.”
Simon: “Taylor, I ask you this in the nicest way possible, are you tone-deaf? I mean it, you were as flat as Michael Jackson’s EKG. Let’s vote then, Randy?”
Randy: ” I gotta say no”
Kara: “I’m afraid I’ve gotta say no Taylor, but keep writing”
Kanye: “She’s no Beyonce’. Jay-Z told me to say that”
Simon: “Well then, I’m afraid it’s four ”No’s”, Taylor. Thank you.”
It would’ve made last night so much more bearable. This girl who was honored with three awards including Album of the Freaking Year, carries a tune like it was a concealed weapon. I’ve seen pretty much every live performance she’s done on television this year and she can’t sing live. She’s a studio creation. While this, in itself, isn’t anything new in the music business, it isn’t generally awarded album of the year. So the Grammy’s are a sales contest, this too is 
nothing new. I just find it particularly galling that after performances last night by Jennifer Nettles, and Carrie Underwood, it’s Swift that’s recognized as being this great singer. And that was just the country singers. Hell, even Stephen Colbert was more in tune than Swift. And then to add insult to injury, one of the most distinctive voices in all of rock and roll, Stevie Nicks, comes out, and is insulted by the awful cover of “Rhiannon” perpetrated by Swift.
I’ll give Swift props for writing her own songs. That’s great, really, it is. David Foster is a great songwriter too but has enough sense to know someone else should be singing his songs. Somebody in Swift’s camp needs to tell her the ugly truth. Put away the studio tricks, take some singing lessons, or sell your songs to other artists, because last night was an embarrassment.
