Record Boss Taking Taylor Swift's Grammys Critics to Task

Label chief Scott Borchetta defends the big winner's widely panned performance with Stevie Nicks, says she's the "voice of a generation"

By Breanne L. Heldman Feb 04, 2010 3:59 PMTags

After taking home four trophies, it's hard to call Taylor Swift's Grammys experience an off night.

Still, many critics—albeit not us!—panned her duet with Stevie Nicks. The New York Times called her "painfully out of tune" and the San Diego Union-Tribune said, "her karaoke-level singing made a good argument in favor of using Auto-Tune." Ouch!

Well, Taylor's label chief, Scott Borchetta, thinks such reviews are way harsh and he is coming to her defense.

"I think [the critics] are missing the whole voice of a generation that is happening right in front of them," he declares to The Tennessean. Borchetta is so fired up about the haters, he's even challenging them to a duel!

"The critics are missing the bigger picture," he says. "This is what always happens and is the unfortunate part of the American dream—that we build these people up to watch the critics tear them down. Well, you better have more than what you've got now if you think you're going to get in the ring and fight with us."

As for the specific, Taylor-can't-sing complaints swirling around the interwebs, Borchetta says her success as an artist is not about that.

"The facts say she is the undisputed best communicator that we've got. When she says something, when she sings something, when she feels something, it affects more people than anybody else."

Presumably, he's not just referring to the monetary effect T.Swizzle's had on the music industry as a whole, but we digress.

"Maybe she's not the best technical singer, but she's probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don't seem to want more of it," he continues. "Everybody is not perfect on any given day. If you pick any of those artists that performed, I'm sure you can go online and find something where you go, 'Ew.'

"Maybe in that moment we didn't have the best night. But in the same breath, maybe we did. And nobody is arguing with the awards."

Snap!

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Relive some of Sunday night's most memorable moments in our 2010 Grammys: Big Moments From the Show gallery.