Soundtrack Of The Day [Freshness Edition]: "Safe And Sound" - Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars

First off, let me just say I don't know what the fuck is going on in this trailer for The Hunger Games. I've not read the books so I don't know why Nazi Germany hired Dolores Umbridge's little sister and some bit rate storm troopers to train children to play Rollerball or whatever is going on. Don't worry, it'll be just like "Twilight" and I'll catch up on all the books after everyone else in the world has already read them.

Anyway, this is a music post and so we must get to the song! Taylor Swift should really hook up with The Civil Wars more often, or at least not always sing about some boy that broke her pretty blonde heart. This song is so lovely, so uplifting with such beautiful harmonies and a haunting melody. I love Taylor's music normally, but this is whole 'nother level. Also on another level? Her February Vogue cover. She is giving me Carly Simon realness here, and I am living for it.

Girls Like Us: Taylor Swift

Anyone who knows me knew that Taylor Swift was going to be one my modern day Girls Like Us. Despite being just 21, Taylor has been telling the stories of every young woman's life.

Bursting onto the country scene in 2006 with an debut album co-written by Swift with Lisa Rose. The album featured plenty of songs about young loves won and lost. Her first single, despite being named after country superstar Tim McGraw, is a universal tale of music transporting people back to place of romance.

But it was the follow up single, "Teardrops On My Guitar" that really took her onto the mainstream radar. A tragic tale of unrequited love, "Teardrops" tells the story of Taylor's crush on Drew. What could have been sappy and immature was instead, once again, universal and heart wrenching. Even as a 24-year-old man I knew exactly what she was talking about. "He says he's so in love, he's finally got it right. I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night." Who among us hasn't felt the sting of nonreciprocated emotion and knows that place Taylor is coming from.

Of Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, Taylor reminds me most of Carly Simon. Not just because she has dated a series of Hollywood hotties like Taylor Lautner, Jake Gyllenhal and Joe Jonas, but because she's not afraid to use her back story to create art. When her heart is broken, she writes angry songs like "Should've Said No" and "Forever And Always" or sad ones like "You're Not Sorry." When she's in love, beautiful emotion rolls off songs like "Love Story" and "Our Song." When she's secretly crushing, songs like "Teardrops" or "You Belong With Me" she speaks the same language as the rest of us - hurt, disbelief, hope and fear.

But even though she is so young, songs like "Back To December" show a mature woman realizing the mistakes she's made in a relationship, "White Horse" has her rejecting old stirrings brought on by a careless ex-lover in a startling grownup way and "Fifteen" finds Taylor counseling a young person to anticipate that things are not always what they seem in your youth - "in your life you'll do greater things than dating the boy on the football team, I didn't know it at fifteen."

I've said it before somewhat facetiously, but I actually mean it. Taylor Swift sings our lives. Like Loretta Lynn or Dolly Parton before, Taylor embodies what country music can do greatly - tell true stories about real life that we all know.

These are the songs of a Girl Like Us:
"White Horse" (from Fearless)


"Teardrops On My Guitar" (from Taylor Swift)


"Back To December" (from Speak Now)

The "It Gets Better" Playlist

In the wake of teen suicides nationwide, it's easy to wonder where these teens can turn. For the first time that I can recall, pop radio may hold the answer.

OK, I may be putting pop songs on a pedestal, but pop stars are releasing songs that people can dance and sing along with but also encourage young people who are bullied without being schmaltzy. And while these are not the newest themes, as Christina Aguilera and Cyndi Lauper would be quick to remind you, this is the first time I've seen a recurring theme of singles and album tracks that are directed at bullied youth (and LGBT ones in particular.)

That naughty trash-pop minx Ke$ha tells Entertainment Weekly that her mini-album Cannibal's lead single "We R Who We R" is intended to be a pride anthem, a "celebration of any sort of quirks or eccentricities." It's also a lot of fun to dance to, as well:



Meanwhile, Katy Perry's tumultuous relationship with the gay community takes a turn for the better with the "Fireworks" - a Jack Kerouac-referencing ditty of empowerment, with boys kissing in the video:



Over in P!nk's world, one of two news songs included on the US release of her Greatest Hits... So Far!!! album is "Raise Your Glass." Besides quoting the Joker, this anthem for underdogs and sundry other "dirty little freaks" continues P!nk's strong commitment to gay rights. She performs the song at a gay wedding in the video for the song:



The Facebook Generation's songwriter of record, Taylor Swift includes the song "Mean" on her platinum-selling disc Speak Now. It's a simple tale of childhood bullies left in the dust as Taylor goes on to selling a million-plus CDs in a week. "Someday I'll be big enough that you can't hit me" the country-pop cutie sings, and I pray that troubles kids are singing along. Because it's true!



I'm still on the fence about Eminem and Lil' Wayne's Haddaway-sampling single "No Love" The video is heartbreaking, but as usual Wayne and Em can't control their potty-mouth, including both racial and homosexual slurs in the rhymes. Thoughts?



Let's clean our ears out with some very positive music from Broadway cast members! The proceeds from the iTunes downloads of "It Gets Better" directly benefits The Trevor Project, the only national suicide prevention hotline for LGBT youth. It's very inspirational and catchy, too!



And we cannot forget the classics, Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" has been a source of inspiration for gay people for years. In support of the "It Gets Better" project, the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles performed the song. Truly beautiful!



Of course, you know Lady Gaga will be weighing in soon...

Why Did No One Tell Me Taylor Swift Did A Duet With Boys Like Girls?

Rude! I'd heard this beautifully slow burning duet on the radio the last week or so but the DJs never identified it. I kinda thought it might be Taylor Swift, but since I'd bought her last album and the song wasn't on it I figured I was wrong.

I was not wrong! (OK, I was wrong about being wrong, but that doesn't count.) My girl T-squeezy recorded a duet with emo-pop band Boys Like Girls for there latest disc Love Drunk, the lead single and title track of which is pretty hot. Not hot enough to provoke me into buying the album, which was a mistake because "Two Is Better Than One" is the shiz-nitty.

I love slow burning love ballads, they start cool and slow then rise in a spiral of crazy theatrics. And when it's a duet between one of the hottest young country starlets and a vocalist who can do great things (but oftimes fails, see "Thunder") it's epic. The soft guitar, the strings, Taylor's female vocal matching pace with lead singer Martin Johnson's, it like a poppier version of the duet from Once.

It's really brilliant, I almost thought it was a single from a new film soundtrack or something. Listen:

The VMAs Throw It Up For The "West Side"

I've kinda gotten over the whole MTV Video Music Awards thing, I'm not sure why a channel that shows approximately one hours worth of music videos a week is celebrating music videos. But I guess they have to have somewhere to show commercials for "The Hills."

The noms were fairly benign, I didn't even bother posting them this year. But, the promos are pretty cool. MTV is paying tribute to the VMAs returning to New York City this year by incorporating the most New York of Broadway shows into the commercials.

Nominees Cobra Starship, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry perform the "West Side Story" classic "Tonight" with altered lyrics. As much as I would rather hear it sung straight, I can't hate on a revival of the song in any way, shape or form. It's really cool that a classic Broadway song is making it on MTV, even just in promos. Even if Taylor Swift's voice sucked... (Did I just say that out loud?)

Cobra Starship - MTV Shows

Taylor Swift - MTV Shows

[Diva Week] Taylor Swift: Country Cutie Who Loves Perez Hilton

For Diva Week at Pictures & Conversations we will look at 4 modern gay icons as well a special look at the diva I've idealized and followed (and not really fully realized until I read My Diva) since childhood. And no, you won't find out who that is until Friday. Yes, I'm a tease... Day Two, Diva Two - teenage country diva Taylor Swift.

I first discovered Taylor Swift the old fashioned way. I heard her debut single "Tim McGraw" on a local country radio station. Thing is, I really didn't have much of an opinion about it, or the young blond girl singing it.

That all changed when the follow up single, the torchy unrequited love ballad "Teardrops On My Guitar", hit country radio and CMT. The country mixes, both the radio edit and the album version, are pure heartbreak. Don't even get me started on the pop mix! But more than the typical country heartache song, "Teardrops On My Guitar" perfectly exemplifies a gay man's crush on a straight man. You become friends with them, you listen to the ups and downs of their love lives and you dream. And you cry a little. It hurts, because...

He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only one whose got enough of me to break my heart



Taylor tackles every diva look she can. She's a feisty ex girlfriend tearing everything up (including his reputation) on "Picture To Burn" and classic fairytale princess in "Love Story." But I didn't she she could get any realer than when she reveals her unrequited crush like on "Teardrops" or current hit single "You Belong With Me." Then I hear "White Horse" - a tale so grown up, so in command as she plays a woman in love, but not crippled by it. She knows it's too late to forgive an errant ex because

I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm gonna find someone out there who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rearveiw mirror disappearing now

While Taylor might not have the gay clout that my other divas have, she did tell Blender magazine she'd love for Perez Hilton to be her date to prom. And her lyrics speak to my own experiences as a gay man, like every good diva's should. Plus, she's cute as a button!

T-Squeezy Knows It's A "Thug Story" (Baby, Just Say Yes)

Apparently Mariah Carey isn't the only lady looking to thug out these days. Hard core rapper Taylor Swift revealed her T-Pain collabo on last night's CMT Awards, and her rhymes are fire. "You out clubbin'? I just made Caramel Delights." That's fucking delicious. "You don't wanna fight me in my extra small white tee" - Hanes endorsement alert! Watch:




While we're on the topic of Miss Swift, I was just watching her video for "White Horse" the second Country single from last year's Fearless. Can I say it's one of the most grown-up break up songs I've heard in a good long while? Knowing that you still love someone, but that they aren't good for you and you really can't give them a second chance shows a far more mature understanding of love than most pop songs, let alone one written by an 18-year-old girl.

Let's Talk About Chicks, Man...

OK, I'm no David Cook, but I do wanna talk about chicks, man. Specifically new music from the ladies...

First, we have producer-to-the-stars Darkchild trying to out-dream The-Dream with an "Umbrella"-esque feel-good jam. Brandy is back with a new album December, and the lead single is war-time lullaby with a beat called "Right Here (Departed)" The video is ham-handed in it's message, (ala "Pocketful Of Sunshine") but the song is pure joy. The singer/actress releases Human on December 9th.

Speaking of singer/actresses, Beyonce's double disc I Am... Sasha Fierce releases tomorrow. I'm not crazy about the Chris Gaines style marketing ploy, but "If I Were A Boy" is an acoustic soul/pop hybrid. Addressing the double standard between the sexes is not a new pop idea, but Beyonce brings an emotional edge lacking from a track like Christina Aguilera's "Can't Hold Us Down" Others may be all about "Single Ladies" (which is a fantastic track in it's own right, plus gave us a brilliant SNL sketch with my other future boyfriend, Justin Timberlake) but I'm really in love with Beyonce as a boy. Of course, if she was a boy I'm doubting she would "drink beer with the guys" more I do believe she's a better man than I. (Oh, and I'm loving that she used her all-female band for the EMA performance of the song! It's more gender-queer than Katy Perry ever dreamed of being.)

"Can't Hold Us Down" is one of the few singles missing from Christina's Keeps Getting Better... A Decade Of Hits. But the album gives us two new songs, plus two new versions of prior hits. "Genie 2.0" was given a preview at the VMAs this year, and the full version is amazing. I just bought this military-style jacket from DC and when I'm driving down the highway in it and this uber-modern electronic song comes on I fell like a post-apocalyptic general weaving in between mobile storage units. I have to save my boyfriend (played by LL Cool J) and our puppy from a cyborg mad scientist on the way, too. I have a vivid imagination sometimes.


One other album track you should be checking out is from Taylor Swift's new album, Fearless. "White Horse" is the emotional opposite of my previous favorite off the new CD, "Love Story" In that song, Romeo sweeps in to save the day and whisks Juliet off in a storybook ending. "White Horse" is grounded in a more realistic emotional space. Against a light jazz piano, acoustic guitar and a country fiddle a story unfolds of childhood romantic fantasies crushed. But even though "I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale. I'm gonna find somebody someday who might actually treat me well... it's too late for you and your white horse to come around." Taylor Swift is growing into one of the most interesting songwriters in the business. "White Horse" actually made it's premiere on Grey's Anatomy, the launching pad for indie singer/songwriters like Ingrid Michealsen. She fully deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as country music's finest female writers like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain.

Taylor Swift's Regency Era "Love Story" Video

I didn't think it was possible to love Taylor Swift any more than I do. Her "Teardrops On My Guitar" is the story of my life, her sparkly guitar in the "Our Song" video makes for classic gay's-best-friend material and she covers Eminem's "Lose Yourself" as a concert opener. But then she channels Gweneth Paltrow in Emma in the video for the gorgeous single "Love Story" and I'm hooked. Sign me up, I wanna marry the girl! While her leading man is no Colin Firth, I get a serious Jane Austen vibe from the clip, and Taylor looks ten times better in period costume than in the modern scenes bookending it. Watch and prepare to melt...

My Favorite Country Girl!

I love Blender covergirl Taylor Swift, she's just so cute and super-talented. Not only does she have great voice, she wriote or co-wrote every song on her platinum debut album, including the amazing "Teardrops On My Guitar" one of my favorite tracks from last year. When I read at blender.com she was working with my most hated singer/songwriter, Colbie Caillat, I was worried, but seeing how she rocks a cover of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" live, I think she can sing any little thing, regardless of how bubbly that shit is. Watch:

She also covers "Irreplacable" and "Umbrella" live, which makes her my Favorite Country Girl Evs. (Sorry, Reba, you know I still love ya!) Plus I'm pretty sure she'd be a totally awesome hag, she wants to take Perez Hilton to prom, so you know she's down.