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Taylor Swift: Grammy’s Golden Child
If anything, the recent Grammy Awards ceremony held last January 31, 2010 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California proved the fact that a fresh-faced, twenty-something from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania has really dominated the scene with her brand of country love songs, marking off a new era in country music. With four major awards that she had won that night-edging out more experienced fellow country singers such as Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Womack, Keith Urban and the like, Taylor Swift proved that she is really Grammy’s golden child.
Bursting into the scene in 2006 with her self-titled debut album, Swift steadily acquired a solid fan base as she continued to win fans’ and critics’ approval for her songs, which she mostly wrote herself. In her early days, Swift was initially likened to fellow country singers such as Carrie Underwood and LeAnn Rimes. That is until late November of 2008, when Swift released her phenomenal studio album which debuted at the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 Album Charts, cementing her crossover appeal to both pop and country music fans and effectively stepping out of Underwood’s and Rimes’ shadows. More hit country love songs followed, along with various awards from the CMA, the VMAs, the AMAs, the Billboard Music Awards, the People’s Choice Awards and the Grammys, among many others.
Although she seems like an overnight success to most, things have not always been peachy for the young artist. She did languish for many years before asking popular songwriter Liz Rose to co-write with her when she was an unknown talent at that time. Fortunately, her risks paid off, and from a virtual nobody, she metamorphosed into one of the most bankable artists of the year, crossing over from country to pop and dominating both charts throughout 2009.
In one of the most touching moments of the night, in her acceptance speech for winning the Best Country Album award for “Fearless,” said, ‘“This is my first time walking up those stairs to accept a Grammy on national television. I just keep thinking back to like when you’re in second grade and you sing at your talent show for the first time. People joke around and they say, ‘Oh maybe we’ll see you at the Grammys someday.’ But that seems like an impossible dream,” she enthused, “And I just feel like I’m standing here accepting an impossible dream right now and I just thank you so much for that.”
Of course, throughout the night, her acceptance speeches remained uninterrupted unlike last year’s MTV VMA fiasco, during which she was rudely interrupted by Kanye West. As the rest of the Awards ceremony unfolded, Swift dazzled and shined, winning a total of four awards including trophies for Album Of The Year, Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song, and Best Country Album. Her wins were no easy achievements as she beat out more experienced country singers such as Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Underwood and Lee Ann Womack for Best Female Country Vocal Performance; as well as Trace Adkins, Jamey Johnson, Lady Antebellum and Billy Currington for Best Country Song; Zac Brown Band, George Strait and Keith Urban for Best Country Album; and Beyoncé Knowles, The Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and the Dave Matthews Band for the most important award for the night, Album of the Year.
Joe Hansen is a music expert, specialized in country songs reviews.
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