14 DAY TRIAL // Taylor Swift has had the most amazing year: she released a new album and it surpassed even the most optimistic expectations, her love life is no longer a mess (as per her own words, not mine), and she’s happy. Just as importantly, Taylor Swift has been having a lot of fun.
Fun is what her most recent performance on NBC’s The Voice was all about: Taylor performed her latest single, “Blank Space,” and while the rendition wasn’t even half as spectacular as it was a few nights ago, when she kicked off the American Music Awards 2014, it was still a pleasure to watch.
Except for one thing: she lip-synched her way through it and it was painfully obvious. There is no lag in this video, even if it might seem this way at first, which means that she wasn’t keeping up with the backing track: what you’re seeing is a very lazy lip-synch. She still sung, but the performance wasn’t what you might call live.
This out of the way, the performance was good. Many celebrities who appear on this kind of shows rely on a backing track because they don’t want to make fools of themselves in case they’re not feeling up to par or something goes wrong.
Pop music isn’t what it was a decade ago, when lip-synching or using a backing track was something to be ashamed of when called out on it. As sad as it might be, it’s actually common practice; Taylor herself did it, most infamously at the MTV Video Music Awards 2014 in August.
Her isolated vocals from the performance leaked online shortly after the gala and trust me, if you sounded like that, you too would want to avoid singing 100% live.
