History Making CMA Awards

Taylor Swift made history at the 2009 CMA Awards on Wednesday when the 19-year-old became the youngest artist ever to win the Entertainer of the Year award.  Swift also won the other three awards she was nominated for: Best Female Vocalist, Album of the Year and Video of the Year.

"I'll never forget this moment because in this moment everything that I have ever wanted has just happened to me," Swift said through tears.  

"Every single person in that category let me open up for them this year.  Thank you all so much. I love you."

Darius Rucker also made history when he became only the second African-American to win a major individual CMA for his first country album, "Learn to Live".  Rucker, the frontman of one of my personal all-time favorite bands Hootie and the Blowfish was a fan favorite, running into the crowd during his performance of "Alright."

"First of all, to the fans, thank y'all for accepting me," Rucker said in his acceptance speech. "And I think most importantly, to country radio, you took a chance on a pop singer from Charleston, S.C. Thank you so much for that!"

Some of the other CMA performers included George Straight, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, the Zac Brown Band with their reved-up version of Charlie Daniel's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and Brooks & Dunn in their allegedly last-ever performance featuring ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons.

Brad Paisley, who co-hosted the event with Carrie Underwood, led the nominees with seven, and won two awards, including Best Male Vocalist of the Year for the third year in a row. 

"This was the best time I've ever had at an awards show," Paisley said.  

The country duo got lots of laughs throughout the night, especially when they opened the show with a few new songs of their own, including "Swine Flu" a parody of LeAnn Rime's "Blue," and a spoof of Kanye West for his interruption of Swift's VMA acceptance speech with "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be Kanye." 

Later in the show, the joke continued when country singer Little Jimmy Dickens interrupted Paisley after Underwood told him that "Welcome to the Future" was one of her favorite videos.

"Excuse me sir, excuse me. I'll let you finish later. Now, Brad Paisley, I know you had a nice video, but Taylor Swift made the best video in her time. You go girl," Dickens said.

I think it's great that Taylor Swift finally got the respect and undivided (uninterrupted) attention she deserves for her musical accomplishments, while at the same time getting the last laugh over West.  I think Dickens summed it up best; You go girl!

 

Hollywood-style Halloween

Hollywood music artists are constantly being praised and critiqued on their wardrobe choices and Halloween is no exception. Many celebrity musicians were photographed at parties and fundraisers this weekend, while others were caught out running errands dressed up or trick-or-treating.

Mariah Carey, who hosted a celeb-studded party with her husband Nick Cannon dressed up as an angel, while Rihanna wore a sexy tiger costume.
Christina Aguilera was phographed Saturday trick-or-treating with her son Max wearing matching skeleton outfits.

Perez Hilton had one of my favorite celebrity Halloween costumes with his custom-made Lady Gaga sequin dress and signature blonde wig complete with bow. According to his blog, the self-proclaimed queen of all media sent Lady Gaga a picture message of him in costume and she loved it.

Miley Cyrus's little sister Noah (and her parents) received some criticism over her "mature" Halloween costume. The 10-year-old dressed up as a witch with a very short side-tie dress with knee high boots. While I don't think the tween was trying to dress slutty or inappropriate, it sure turned out pretty scandalous. Hopefully next year she'll wear something a little more age-appropriate so she won't have to deal with any negative publicity at a young age again.

Rihanna versus Chris Brown: Round 2

Rihanna and Chris Brown both made headlines this week but thankfully this time it was for the right reason, their music.

 

Rihanna released the first single off her new album "Rated R" that hits stores Nov. 23.  Her new album cover was also released this week, taken by iconic photographer Ellen von Unwerth.  "She's so beautiful, sweet and tough at the same time... and a pleasure to shoot" said von Unwerth of the pop princess.  "I loved taking her beauty and finding a new dramatic look.  She's fantastic to work with, very creative and involved in every aspect of the shoot, and ready to push the boundaries."

The single, "Russian Roulette" was written and produced by fellow Def Jam artist Ne-Yo.  The song is dark and dramatic with lyrics such as, "And I'm terrified but I'm not leaving, know that I must pass this test," which sounds like it was inspired by her domestic violence disputes with Chris Brown.

And speaking of Chris Brown, he announced he will be heading out on a 19 city fan appreciation tour on Tuesday - the same day Rihanna released "Russian Roulette".  Then on Wednesday he released the second single "Crawl" from his upcoming album "Graffiti," which sounds like it's about Rihanna. So is all this timing a coincidence? I think not.

Brown's record label, Jive Records, announced that the singer will play in small venues to thank his fans for their support.  A portion of the proceeds from the tour will be donated to a Los Angeles domestic violence intervention charity called the Jenesse Center and Best Buddies International, an organization providing support for people with developmental disabilities.

Rihanna's new single and Brown's tour announcement were both firsts since their violent fight and resulting break-up in February. Domestic violence is definitely still a theme prevalent in their music careers but hopefully they can both grow from their horrible dispute. 

So since it is supposed to be about the music, whose new single are you liking more?  

Big Week For New Music

This week was a big week for all genres of music with many artists releasing new albums.  

One anticipated album is "The Remix Suite" by Michael Jackson.  The album includes popular favorites "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Dancing Machine" remixed by artists like the Neptunes and

 dozens more.  The songs were originally being released in 5-song-installments, but due to popular demand, have been complied into one CD that all types of fans are sure to love.

Tim McGraw also released his new album "Southern Voice" which already has both critics and fans talking about a potential album of the year award.  His new single "It's a Business Doing Pleasure With You" was co-written by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback and has quirky-catchy lyrics that I'm sure will be on millions of playlist's soon.

And Christmas has come early for Twilight fans, with the New Moon Soundtrack being released four days earlier and in stores now. The soundtrack includes songs by The Killers, OK Go, and Muse.  The first single 

for the album is "Meet Me on the Equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie.  

Summit Entertainment has been doing numerous things to promote the New Moon Soundtrack like allowing fans to listen to it before the release date on MySpace.   The soundtrack also has its own website with blogs and previews of many of the songs.  Twilight fans can also enjoy free iTunes music from the soundtrack by pre-ordering their New Moon tickets online from Fandango or MovieTickets.com.

Joss Stone also released a new album this week entitled "Colour Me Free" with songs featuring Nas and David Sanborn.  The album was written and recorded in only about a week at her mom's live music venue in the UK.  Stone told Billboard the album's "very, very raw... basically a bunch of musicians, writers, and myself just jamming. The album was not dictated or forced. It was an organic process where each musician was given the freedom to create their sound." The CD is only available for physical purchase at Target and online via iTunes but fans can of course preview it online.

Taylor Swift Will Get Last Laugh as SNL Host

Taylor Swift is calling the chance to host "Saturday Night Live" on Nov. 7 "mind-blowing" and I'm sure her millions of fans can't wait for her to get some comical revenge on Kanye West.

I think we're all looking forward to seeing Swift spoof the scene at the MTV Video Music Awards where West interrupted her acceptance speech. While it was completely rude of West to interrupt Swift when she became the first country singer to win best female video, I'm sure the hilarious SNL skit will make for great TV. (And what better way to show that even 13 years his junior, Swift is the bigger person and is getting the last laugh, literally.)

"I've been thinking about skit ideas for a long time," Swift said. "There are definitely some hilarious things that have happened to me over the past couple of months that I think will be pretty substantial skits."

Swift was asked by NBC producers in the summer to host the show and she says it's been difficult to keep it a secret for so long. Swift said she loved her SNL experience when she performed as a musical guest in January, and will again perform when she hosts in November.

Swift hopes to collaborate with SNL cast member Andy Samberg on a digital short music video like the popular and hilarious song "Motherlover" with Justin Timberlake.

"Of course I've been such a fan for a long time, but I've gone back and re-watched everything over the past couple of months and digital shorts would be so much fun to do, because they've been done so well. Andy Samberg is hilarious," Swift said.

I hope Swift and Samberg make a digital short too since I can only imagine how great her voice and his histerical lyrics will make a country music video. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing Taylor Swift host and perform on "Saturday Night Live" in what's sure to be an entertaining episode.