The fallout from Swift’s horrific performance has played out relatively predictably – it took only a matter of minutes for bloggers to jump all over the poor lass. Major outlets were no more kind as the night wore on and Monday morning broke. Four Grammys aside, the consensus was that Swift was shown up by every other artist who took the stage.

And now the cycle continues, with Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta stepping up to defend his starlet. Let’s have a little walk through his comments….

“We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn’t able to hear everything in the mix,” Borchetta said. “That’s just part of live TV. … So you’re going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn’t hear herself like she had in rehearsal.”

Yes! The technical difficulty argument! We were waiting for this one. It doesn’t work - most of Taylor’s flattest notes came well within a phrase, when she would reach for a high puncher or attempt some sort of trill. She started on key. She just didn’t finish there. Good vocalists, when starting in the right key, can stay there, even if their in-ear monitors have moved 1/16th turn of a dial since rehearsal.

“This is not ‘American Idol.’ This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It’s not about that technically perfect performance.” 

 Okay, if this isn’t American Idol, answer this: why, 15 minutes after The Flatness Heard ‘Round The Staples Center, did a former American Idol (Carrie Underwood) get on stage as part of the Michael Jackson tribute and kill it? Swift isn’t above American Idol. She was owned by one. Underwood took the biggest stage – the same stage as Swift – and delivered a great performance.

 ”If you haven’t seen her live performance, you’re welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it’s amazing. You can see her in her element. There’s a reason tickets are selling like they are.”

No, Scott. Here’s the reason tickets are selling like they are. To borrow from Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”  For our purposes, people (or music consumers) are all too-often susceptible to the mind-numbing effects of mainstream radio. If you cram Taylor Swift down throats across the country all day, you’ll find enough people to buy tickets. And if she’s as good as you say she is, she should be able to make any stage “her element.”

Lets be clear: I don’t have anything against Taylor Swift. She’s really good looking and I keep her music away from me. So by and large, we have no issues. But don’t present me with a bad performance and then blame me for not apparently “knowing better” about her live shows.Don’t blame the monitors. Don’t blame her nerves. And sure as hell don’t vilify us for not having seen her before. That’s one huge part of the Grammys – it’s a showcase. If we’ve missed an artists live show, we’re supposed to see it them perform the night of the Grammys and feel like we’ve missed out.  I’m not gonna hold my breath for someone to tell me they feel that way about Taylor Swift.

- Alec Wooden

(On a personal side note, a big congratulations is owed to my good buddy Joe Bleakley, who found out over the weekend that he’s headed out on the road as part of Swift’s road crew. Don’t care how you feel about her as an artist, that’s a big deal for a young guy who wants to be in production!)

Six things we learned from the 2010 Grammy Award-Winners:

1 – Shady’s Back!

2 – 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire refuses to back down.

3 – Kanye can relax, even though Beyonce didn’t get the best music video award, she killed in almost everything else.

more . . .

4 – Phoenix proved that one incredible song (“1904”), can bring in enough fans to make you Grammy-certified. (The Cadillac endorsement probably helped a bit as well.)

5 – Taylor Swift never leaves an award show empty-handed

6 – The Lady’s reign over the pop sector (GaGa & Antebellum)

For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of the Grammy Award winners from last night’s show!

Album of the Year

Fearless- Taylor Swift

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

“Halo”- Beyoncé

Song of the Year

“Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” — Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Best Solo Rock Performance

“Working on a Dream” — Bruce Springsteen

Record of the Year

“Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

Best Country Album

Fearless — Taylor Swift

Best Rock Album

21st Century Breakdown — Green Day

Best Hard Rock Performance

“War Machine” — AC/DC

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

“Run This Town” — Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West

Best Dance Recording

“Poker Face” — Lady Gaga

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

“Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

Best New Artist

Zac Brown Band

Best Electronic/Dance Album

The Fame — Lady Gaga

Best Alternative Music Album

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — Phoenix

Best Contemporary R&B Album

I Am… Sasha Fierce — Beyoncé

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance

“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” — Beyoncé

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

“I Gotta Feeling” — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Rock Song

“Use Somebody” — Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)

Best Pop Vocal Album

The E.N.D. — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

“Pretty Wings” — Maxwell

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

“Blame It” — Jamie Foxx & T-Pain

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance

“At Last” — Beyoncé

Best Rock Instrumental Performance

“A Day in the Life” — Jeff Beck

Best Urban/Alternative Performance

“Pearls” — India.Arie & Dobet Gnahore

Best R&B Song

“Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” — Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Best Rap Solo Performance

“D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)” — Jay-Z

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group

“Crack a Bottle” — Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent

Best Rap Song

“Run This Town” — Jeff Bhasker, Shawn Carter, Robyn Fenty, Kanye West & Ernest Wilson, songwriters (Athanasios Alatas, songwriter) (Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West)

Best Rap Album

Relapse — Eminem

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

“Make It Mine” — Jason Mraz

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals

“Lucky” — Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat

Best Female Country Vocal Performance

“White Horse” — Taylor Swift

Best Male Country Vocal Performance

“Sweet Thing” — Keith Urban

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden — Michael Bublé

Best Metal Performance

“Dissident Aggressor” — Judas Priest

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

“I Run to You” — Lady Antebellum

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals

“I Told You So” — Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis

Best Country Song

“White Horse” — Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Best Americana Album

Electric Dirt — Levon Helm

Best Contemporary Blues Album

Already Free — The Derek Trucks Band

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media

Slumdog Millionaire — Various Artists, A.R. Rahman, producer

Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media

“Jai Ho” (From Slumdog Millionaire) — Gulzar, A.R. Rahman & Tanvi Shah, songwriters (A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer & Vijay Prakash)

Best Recording Package

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today — Stefan Sagmeister, art director (David Byrne & Brian Eno)

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package

Neil Young Archives Vol. I (1963-1972) — Gary Burden, Jenice Heo & Neil Young, art directors (Neil Young)

Best Short Form Music Video

“Boom Boom Pow” — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Long Form Music Video

“The Beatles Love – All Together Now” — (Various Artists)

Best Comedy Album

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All! — Stephen Colbert

- Jessica Cole

Currently Listening to: “Sundown, Sundown” by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood

Jay-Z and U2 will perform a song at a London venue for the special, which will be available for purchase on iTunes soon, reports MTV.  The event will be co-hosted by George Clooney, Anderson Cooper and Wyclef Jean.

Expect performances from Dave Matthews Band, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Sting, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and Mary J. Blige.  Springsteen, Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Shakira and Rihanna will also be participating in the event.  MTV reports that more than 100 stars have signed on to the special.

All of the proceeds raised will go towards Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Wycelf’s Yele Haiti Foundation.

The special sounds like a great effort by the celebrity community, and hopefully it will raise an awesome amount of money to help those suffering in Haiti.  Remember, it airs tomorrow night at 8pm ET/PT and you should be able to catch it on several networks.

-Maggie Summers

currently listening to “Volcano” by Beck