November 13, 2009

The "E" In EOTY Stands For....












Economics and Empathy.

Never before has an EOTY win elicited so much backlash. Why? Well because Taylor Swift as talented as she is, did not deserve the award. Youth has nothing to do with it. Only one headlining tour under your belt has nothing to do with it.

Let's work our way backwards to see what does matter.

Taylor Swift was also nominated for Female Vocalist Of The Year. Other women in the category were artists known for their vocal prowess like Martina McBride. In fact, McBride is nominated practically every year and has only won 3 times. No one in their right mind could say that Taylor Swift is a better singer or even on par with Martina and the other nominees. It's not just the quality of her voice. You may or may not think it's pleasant (see Kenny Chesney), but she cannot sing in tune live. And yet she won. Can you think of a single act that has won EOTY that cannot sing live? Even Shania Twain whose abilities were questioned and proven legitimate didn't win until the rumors were put to rest. So the next line of thinking is....if Taylor Swift isn't up to par with her female colleagues how could she possibly be a candidate for EOTY? If you have any doubts, her live performances at the CMA's proved she has some work to do. Would this be acceptable from a 30 year old artist? No way Jose.

Then there's the Kanye West factor. The empathy vote. It cannot be denied it didn't get her some sympathy. STS believes it's fine to show your support for someone who was in fact "done wrong" by making a statement in support of her on your website, in interviews giving her a shout out. There's various ways of telling the world West left his manners at home. But to vote for the highest award in country music because of that or even sympathy over the fact she's a woman and "they never win these things" is disrespectful all the way around.

So let's go all the way back to 2005. They year Keith Urban won EOTY. This is also the year the skeptics say he deserved it. Well let's look at the stats. In 2005 Keith Urban did not cross over into pop and become a teen sensation. In 2005 Keith Urban did not have the biggest selling country tour, Kenny Chesney did. It wasn't even in the top 10. In 2005, Keith Urban did not have the biggest selling country album, Rascal Flatts did. In 2005 only one of Keith's singles was in the Top 10 for that year. So how did he win? Well consummate musicianship for one and undeniable talent to boot. He combined the best of everything and brought it to the ticket buying public. It wasn't about stats or money. It was about the chance Keith Urban finally had with a headlining show to bring what he had brought every night at places like The Exit/In, and an album that had songs that will stand the test of country music time. Keith Urban had that this year, Brad Paisley had it this year. So what went wrong?

If we go back to CMA night 2009 it's clear Carrie Underwood's previous fan-voted ACM win had an influence on the outcome. Viewers who weren't Underwood devotees were angered. But at least the girl could sing live, even if it was at times bombastic. There was no consolation that night. Voters decided to go where the money was at and give it all to Taylor Swift. After she won FMOTY her EOTY win was a lock and I think every viewer watching their tv and those in the audience knew it. maclen proclaiming Swift as his dark horse was a joke because everyone knew it was to be her night. Headlines such as "CMA's Taylor-made for Swift" and Tim McGraw of all people presenting the EOTY award foretold the outcome. Even in her acceptance speech Taylor thanked all the other nominees for "letting me" open for them. Everything pointed to a night where a teen dream was to take it all even if she wasn't at the set standards.

Now the skeptics are becoming more hypocritical by the post. nomorefan months ago was obsessed with pushing Brad Paisley and yet she's defending Taylor's win. She commends her for putting alot into the stage presentation. Ha! Didn't that used to be her criticism of Urban? That he's got too many bells and whistles because the music sucks? And of course her complaint that Keith doesn't deserve it because he's worked hard this year according to some other skeptics. Yes nomorefan, the award is only for this year, not 1977. Then there's Mimosa who thinks she's "objective" when it comes to KU. She can analyze his addiction problems from a state over. She's a miracle worker. And of course there's erniesmom who is on her way to a dead end with the Hope For Derailment Campaign. It's the dumb following the dumber.


This award is for the act displaying the greatest competence in all aspects of the entertainment field.

The bottom line is EOTY should above all never be awarded to someone who cannot sing or play well live. That should be the cornerstone of the award. Even Kenny Chesney who has a nasal tenor accomplishes this.

But there is one skeptic who at least has a few brain cells left and that's imahick. If you look at the after-effect of the CMA's being Swiftered here's the truth. Almost everyone was more of a loser than a winner. At least imahick can see that. And even nomorefan's pretend new favorite, Darius Rucker, couldn't beat out Swift if he was headlining.


Brad Paisley, 7 nominations and only 2 wins
Kenny Chesney, 3 nominations and zero wins
Keith Urban, 5 nominations and only 1 win
George Strait, 3 nominations and zero wins
Reba, 2 nominations and zero wins
Martina McBride, 1 nomination and no win
Carrie Underwood, 2 nominations and zero wins



Sane people can't ignore the stats. The skeptics will though and they'll come out looking stupid like they usually do which is fine with this blog. The artists going home with less than they should have will be fine too. For you the haters, ignorance is bliss I guess.



So readers stay tuned! Our next blog is all about things that the skeptics will really hate!

15 Comments:

SkewerMistress said...

To the anonymous poster who responded...I am very sorry. I approved your comment and it has disappeared. Feel free to resubmit it if you like.

For everyone else the gist of her post was that she disagreed with me over Swift winning EOTY. She quoted Brad Paisley where he said she deserved it and did not like the fact I stood behind imahick.

So my response to that is....

We can disagree can't we? I disagree with you and Brad and yes even Wynonna. Let her have the award if she has done all that and can actually sing live. Admittedly I am no Swift fan, but I have given her chance after chance as a viewer of her performances to get it right. Artists have less than perfect performances from time to time, but what Swift has given us is not acceptable and make no mistake, she would not have been opening on any of the tours or headlining without the teen market behind her. She simply wouldn't cut it.

As for imahick I know she is nuts when it comes to KUNK, but I would not call you a skeptic for disagreeing with me. I do agree with her on the EOTY issue. At least she can see the forest for the tress on this. She's blind as a bat when it comes to Keith's family and I'm in no way praising her for that. But it is good to see someone giving the craziest of the crazy a little bit of hell over their so-called objectivity. Mimosa and nomorefan have none and it is great seeing one of their own tell them so. The crumbling state of the skeptics is down to two things: The fact they don't really know anything about KUNK and they don't trust each other. The destruction comes from within.

Anonymous said...

I'm the poster who made the original comment and all I can say is - whatever. I find it interesting that you would suddenly give imahick a high five merely because she suddenly agrees with you and according to you "sees the forest for the trees". I don't see your objectivity any different than theirs in this case. It's not that you and I disagree about Taylor Swift and the EOTY award. It's your assumption that those of us who do think she's deserving are somehow not sane and ignorant. I'm not a skeptic but I'm objective enough to see other artists are just as deserving of awards and praise as Keith is. I guess you can always start a TAYLOR SWIFT - THE NEGATIVE THREAD on E and call people names if we don't agree with you. Disappointed.

Anonymous said...

I think we can disagree! That's why this blog is so refreshing! I agree with you, Skewer. I can't stand Taylor Swift. She won't be around in 3 years. I'm surprised you think Imahick/Notahick has a few brain cells left though. All I see is endless, boring repeating of what SHE thinks and SHE thinks she's right about everything. If she had any brain cells, she'd see the tiny group of haters she associates with are full of #hit. She'd also have to give up her moderating job on Lost Brain Cell Central, Urban Myths. Bahaha!

SkewerMistress said...

Agree or disagree, this blog has an opinion.

Please show me where anyone was called insane for thinking Swift deserved the award. And please note this blog said Brad Paisley had a year worthy of taking it too. The skeptics are hyping up Taylor simply to put down Keith Urban. That's what they do with other artists who are also currently successful. They don't care about her at all. In that regard they are insane. More about that will be covered in the next blog entry.

Imahick, regardless of her motivations, is saying something this blog agrees with. Maybe she's saying so because she's obsessed with him and hasn't gone the hateful route like nomorefan. But she's still saying it and that's the point. nmf hates everyone and everything associated with Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. imahick can see Keith is still a great performer regardless of who his spouse is.

If you have read this blog for any length of time you'll know we have never forsaken all others in music or film to praise KUNK. In fact the contrary. But that does not mean a negative opinion about some things cannot be expressed here either.

SkewerMistress said...

I will say this...I think Taylor is an extraordinary talent but not in the performing arena. There's a possibility she could turn into a singer/songwriter/performer worthy in my opinion of the EOTY. We shall see if that day ever comes.

When it comes to the skeptics they all endlessly repeat themselves. Some with their opinions that have no merit, some with kooky conspiracies, and some with outright lies. Imahick may be a skeptic but she's saying something sane fans and the country music industry are saying too.

Anonymous said...

Continue on with your Imaahick love fest then but you won't get it from me. She's just as hateful as the rest of them. As the comment above says, she's a moderator of a hate board and blog that does nothing but hate on the woman Keith loves and the mother of his child. Time to cut down a few of those trees yourself, SM. The pitbull might wag his tail once in a while but that doesn't mean he won't rip your leg off. Hate is hate and imahick is as guilty of it as any of the other clowns. If you're going to start picking and choosing what skeptics are sane, I'm on the wrong blog. They're all nuts or they wouldn't keep this up on a daily basis. And you asked to show you where anyone was called insane for thinking Swift deserved the award? Try reading your last comment. "Imahick may be a skeptic but she's saying something SANE fans and the country music industry are saying too." Excuse me but there's plenty of us SANE fans and county music industry people who do agree with the award. After all, it was the country music industry who voted. It's your blog and you can do what you like but you promoted it to be about facts, specifically facts the skeptics choose to ignore, not opinions and I'd be disappointed if you keep building their already inflated egos.

SkewerMistress said...

I'm obviously not going to change your mind. Yes this blog has facts but it also has opinion. That is inevitable and again if you've read this blog then you've known that for some time.

I have not said imahick is not hateful.

When I wrote my thoughts I contrasted sane country music fans as opposed to the skeptics who say they are fans. There are sane country music fans who wanted and were glad Swift one. Sanity and happiness for Swift are not mutually exclusive.

Anonymous said...

SM,

I am not writing about this post but need to comment anyway. Have you read the insanity that is called the CMT blog in the last 2 weeks since the NK GQ interview came out? I was a member of that board for years but finally i just couldn't take it anymore. Lots of others have left in the last 6-8 month and unfortunately it's a board ruled by psychos like 27, sweetness and cougar. I'm hardly a NK fan (think her acting is mediocre at best and suffers greatly from her botoxing etc) but Keith is obviously happy and deeply in love and as a KU fan that makes me extremely happy for him. I wish them only the best, wish we could all find a love like theirs.

Back to the point, someone needs to hammer back at 27's ridiculous posts (she and sweetness think every like thing Keith does is some secret message to them...27 goes as far as to imply NK is a substitute for her because they are both geminis and have the same haircolor!) and in a voice of reason but as relentless as she is. Recent posts are out of control and now she's back to her delusional
"Good Morning Keith" posts!

HELP!

Anonymous said...

The commenters who lump all E posters into one big pile are no saner than they are. It's their inability to pick and choose who to ignore and who to have discussion with that left the board with mostly nutsmorefan and mimosa who says she worked in pysch but who sounds like she got most of her info from her time as an inpatient. Oh, and crazy o leery. Plus their sockpuppets. Skewermistress is right, some are more objective than others, but most like imahick have been chased away. only the core nutjobs don't care about being called names.

And Taylor won because the country music industry wants big teen numbers. The industry voted and they got what they wanted.

SkewerMistress said...

Dear HELP!,

I think if 1urbanfan27 could be booted off of CMT she would have by now. Unfortunately there's nothing against their rules about posting creepy messages to artists. She does have a screw loose and loves to wallow in her own self-pity. What can you do?

If we give her, for one moment, the benefit of the doubt and say she really did know Keith Urban what does all this say about her.

1) Thank God Keith escaped her moody madness

and

2) He's a married man and doesn't need to associate with woman that off-center who thinks she's in love. What she is is neck-deep in obsession.

Now if you are like many of us and think her "relationship" with Keith is all in her head (beyond concerts and fan encounters at gigs) then the personal posts on CMT make sense. Why, if she really knew the man and wasn't a nut job, would she be reduced to sending love notes on a message board. She insists he reads them. If he really wanted urbanfan27 she wouldn't need to do that.

For the record I do read the CMT Keith board and have for a long time. I know urbanfan27's m.o. well. So do others and every attempt they've tried to "Stop The Madness!" as Susan Powter used to say hasn't worked. Nomorefan and Mimosa are shameless and I'd put urbanfan27 in that category as well. She wants to bash Keith Urban's wife on his own fan board. She must think that's love.

countrycat said...

I'll say I agree with you guys on Taylor and leave it at that.

I used to post off and on at CMT but now I just read. Everything is a battle with 27. It's not even worth it to go there because she's got blinders on when it comes to Keith. Posters have have outright told her to get help and it's only gotten worse. I've been reading since the days of lauke and nobody got her to leave, she went on her own. God knows where she is now.

I think you posted this quote SMistress but the one that's frightening to me was where she went off on Nicole for wearing red, her favorite color and she said "How considerate". I can laugh at some of what she says like her Kangol hat obsession, but that made me take pause. If anybody had any doubts about 27's illness that's the proof right there. She's living in another world.

Anonymous said...

countrycat (forgive me SM for replying to a poster on your board)

I too was a poster from way way way back in the days and I know this has always been 27's way but to me the recent posts seem worse, more shamelessly outrightly nutty and specific. (oddly as Keith is out and about everywhere loving life with his girls?!)

The dress comment is exactly what I'm talking about and Lord every time she writes "King of Kangol" it makes me throw up a little.
I think Sweetness is practically as bad, she thinks Keith notices her at every show and she has constantly doubts every image of Keith and Nicole smiling and laughing but at least she hasn't been around much. HUH?!

SM : I think 27 was a one or two night stand of Keith's and has never let him go while he has obviously moved on for years now. Of course she can't contact him, are you kidding me? Any phone number he used to have before he met NK is I'm sure gone, as his general level of security has been upped in recent years.
Just because I think she "knew" him doesn't mean I think her insanity is justified, get a life, move on. It's all so pathetic but more than that, it's unfair to other CMT posters. It's a public board and the vast majority of posters just want to cheer Keith on and chat about other stuff and her insanity dominates the board. It used to be more balanced because she was more outnumbered but now her voice is only one of like 7 regular poster and 2 of those encourage her!

what a drag.
thanks for replying.

Anonymous said...

@anonymous 9:10, I don't want to get into who deserves EOTY but are you crazy??? Imahick IS NOT objective and she certainly hasn't been chased away from E. She's logged on every single day babbling on and on. Then she goes to Urban Myths and repeats everything she just said on E. She's obsessed with Keith and thinks he was tricked into marriage, is being told what to say and thinks Sunday was born to someone else and snuck into the hospital ward!! I'm telling ya, she's an old freak. I'm a vegetarian, Hitler was a vegetarian. I wouldn't call him sane or objective just because we agree on a topic. I'm not the other poster but I lump them together and I'm very sane, thank you. I have the ability to pick and choose and ignore and I choose to ignore anyone who refuses to stand up against the disgusting hateful posts of the Nomorefans and Mimosas or crazy women who create relationships with Keith in their head or the ninnys who believe them - but still post on a NEGATIVE THREAD anyway, telling themselves they aren't as bad. BHaaaa! To that, I give the one finger salute.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:17

I am no crazier than you are, you just proved my point. Extreme opinions like yours sound just as nuts as the skeptics.

Anon 9:10

SkewerMistress said...

Okay everyone, I think every side of the issue has been heard. Let's consider the topic closed. If you would like to comment on anything else here feel free but this will not turn into a fight. If STS loses readers over this so be it, but it cannot continue.

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