14 DAY TRIAL // Reports say Taylor Swift refused to do a duet with Kanye West for the 2010 Video Music Awards, and chose instead to perform a song she’d written with him in mind. MTV executives were not at all happy with her decision.
As some of you may remember, a year ago, Kanye rushed to the stage as Taylor was accepting her award for Best Female Video, took the mic from her hand and told the crowd that she didn’t deserve to win.
Because of his rude gesture and because Taylor happens to be ever so popular, Kanye took a lot of heat in the media, which forced him to lay low for about an entire year.
Rumors said VMA producers had convinced him to duet with Taylor on the night of the awards, thus bury the hatchet for good, while also getting lots of media for it.
Instead, Taylor took to the stage, alone, barefoot and standing in what looked like a derelict house, and sang about someone who’s 32 and still growing up, and who’s not what he’s done.
Producers were not at all happy with the singer’s choice, because it was a direct diss to Kanye, Ted Casablanca of E! Online’s The Awful Truth writes.
“Certain MTV execs were not pleased with Ms. Swift’s performance – or lack-there-of, as it might be. Not only did her appearance leave some viewers scratching their heads, but Tay also shied away from a proposed duet between the two superstars,” Casablanca writes.
“Trust us, folks in the Nokia Theatre, where the VMAs were held, were just as confused listening to T.Swift – wandering around her bizarre broken down home set sans shoes and singing a little ditty that everyone knew was addressed to the Kanye – as we’re sure you viewers at home were,” the columnist goes on to say.
Though the message of the song is a positive one, the ending also coming with a sunrise (symbolic of new beginnings), the way it was rendered was simply too much for a singer who’s known for being rather “normal,” for lack of a better term.
“The whole performance was over-the-top melodramatic – Taylor’s signature style, natch – for an incident that, in retrospect, really wasn’t a big deal. And from a gal who is supposedly totally over the whole ordeal, no less,” Casablanca points out.
The fact that she had last year’s scene / interruption play in grainy images before her new song started only added to the melodramatic moment – and didn’t score Taylor any points with the same executives, the report further says.
Then again, there are also those who say Taylor is only singing about forgiveness and how everybody makes serious mistakes at some point in their life. The rest is just what people WANT to see in her new song.
Here is Taylor Swift’s performance at the 2010 Video Music Awards. Judge for yourself.