It’s gotten to the point where I actually enjoy all of the cutaways to Taylor Swift in the audience during any given music awards show. Swifty is always seated front and center, usually surrounded by notable celebrity friends, and Swifty actually “performs” as Greek chorus for much of the night. At last night’s AMAs, Swifty was dancing, singing along, and at one point crying (at the Selena Gomez performance). Swifty was there with her BFF Karlie Kloss, but at various times, Selena, Lorde and others were invited in the little Swifty group. No boys allowed!
Swifty didn’t walk the AMA red carpet, probably because she did “Blank Space” as the first performance of the night. As soon as her performance was done, she changed into this green Michael Kors gown, which… eh. I like her in green. I think this would have been more interesting as a column dress rather than with the netting at the midsection.
Here’s the video of her performance – is it just me or was the sound quality really crappy for most of the performances? And I didn’t think this was the strongest performance for the start of the show.
Taylor Swift – Blank Space (Live at American… by uploaderdisney
Personally, I thought Lorde gave one of the best performances of the night – she performed “Yellow Flicker Beat.” Here you go:
Lorde – Yellow Flicker Beat (Live at American… by uploaderdisney
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
That dress is a disappointment. She usually has great fashion. And her hair is also quit flat and uninteresting. But I still love her.
She really needs to rethink her hairstyle — the bangs aren’t working for her, and when she does the side swept bangs, it’s such a middle-aged mom look (and no offense to middle-aged moms, cuz that’s what I am!). She has fabulous naturally curly hair and should work that!
The dress is boring.
I actually REALLY love the color. Even if it isn’t as much of a gamble as she could have done, she usually plays it safe with dresses. The color looks good with her skin and hair. Her hair could have gotten a bit more oomph though.
she should have stolen a dress from the blank space video and the stylist for her hair. Mr. Grimm (I made him watch the video as I thought it was funny) even said she looked sexy for once!
i dont even like this much illusion fabric on figure skating costumes
The dress and the talent are both overrated in this case.
+1 – it’s all so mehhhhh
THIS A MILLION TIMES OVER!
You got there before I did: Ann Veal in a green dress, but no biggie. What I don’t understand and what does bug me right now is that every musician in an interview is forced to talk about how amazing Taylor Swift’s new album (apparently) is. How obnoxious is that, that people who are trying to promote their own work have to waste their time talking about hers–as if someone needs to get the word out on her, or rescue her from ‘jealous haters’? Were I in that position, I’d be gracious on camera and kvetching in my brain, ‘You don’t care or want to talk about my work, so you’re going to make me talk about how awesome someone else’s is, underground indie artist that she is’. That would cheese me right off.
You and me both Pepsi presents…. Coke. I was happy for her at first but the whoring out the album and having celebs do it for her AND the never ending blatant and obvious insinuation of Harry Styles as the subject of her songs is too much.
After years of being in the business, she’s still a lackluster performer.
There is not much she can do with her voice. All she can do is take lessons to slightly improve, but I doubt by much. She can’t dance either, so there isn’t much she can do as a live performer other than have a lot of backup singers, dancers, and props.
and pull faces!
(God Her hair Is just The Worst!)
Exactly. Why do people flock to this woman? I guess because most of the “people” are actually “kids.”
It seemed like back in the day you were a solidly amazing dancer if you were a “singer.” Just think of Janet Jackson and Britney Spears. Now, her.
I am 26 (not a kid, and do not have kids) and I really enjoy her new album. Different people enjoy different things.
I would gladly take someone who actually seems in control of their own image, who writes a great deal of their music, and doesn’t seem to be on the path to destruction, than end up with another Britney Spears-esque meltdown.
Biggest difference I see between Taylor’s performances and Britney or Janet’s, is that she actually looks like she is enjoying herself. Brit and Janet had to be flawless when performing or they would be ripped apart for not being as good as they once were.
Expectations are much lower for Taylor because we know, and she knows, she isn’t a good dancer, or that strong of a singer. But she seems to have fun being dorky on stage and it has become endearing.
@Phie “Expectations are much lower for Taylor because we know, and she knows, she isn’t a good dancer, or that strong of a singer. But she seems to have fun being dorky on stage and it has become endearing.”
Wow, that’s the standard for arguably the most successful person in music these days? I, too, can be a dork on stage. I mean, Taylor was obviously lip syncing for a majority of her performance. I’d rather see Britney or Janet dance their asses off than Taylor flail around and pull cray cray faces. And can someone please explain to me why Taylor apparently gets so many passes because she “writes her own music”? They’re SINGERS. If they write their own music, good for them, but I don’t need them to write their own stuff to find them enjoyable.
Amen Moffa! I never understood this “writing their own music” catch-all that allows the general public to forgive artists with truly questionable talent like Taylor Swift while others like Britney, Janet Jackson, Cheryl Cole, J.Lo–talented ladies who can *really* dance and entertain with marginal vocal skills–get excoriated in the press for miming… Usually while they’re executing intricate and challenging choreography that any Tom, Dick, or Harry couldn’t just step on a stage and pull off.
Britney is a better dancer than Taylor Swift, but I don’t think she’s a better singer, even if her voice is more instantly recognizable when you hear it on the radio. Katy Perry is another singer who I feel is a little overrated, but she’s a much better visual artist than Taylor and has a few more songs that I like.
Haha agree! I’ve seen her live for the Red Tour and the arena was covered with kids and moms who looked uncomfortable. Taylor did a lot of surprised look, her version of sexy smirking (a LOT of those), kept sticking her arms out every 3 seconds (which apparently, is still a habit she has. Just watch the Welcome to New York video on Letterman, she does the exact thing.) Let me tell you, she is so much better on edited music videos, I stopped becoming a Swiftie after watching her concert.
Don’t like the dress at all.
She looks pasty in that dress, may be the bright light. Love the color of that dress though.
I do not like that dress. I like that “blank space” song but that crazy face she was making while performing was annoying.
Lorde was good but that first part where she was singing inside the box is corny and unnecessary. J.Lo’s dance performance at the end was very entertaining.
Not a fan of the dress. I feel she should’ve done something short and young for the AMAs. Also, it looks like the dress is a little long.
Michael Kors is overrated, in general. I feel like he is resting on his laurels of past success. I think the weight of the dress is pulling everything down on Taylor, but it is really unflattering while seated, where the see-through nylon material bunches like loose skin. Nice color for her, though.
The color is good, the netting is terrible. If you’re going to wear that own it and show some skin.
That shade of green looks stunning on her. Personally, i am so sick of cut outs and crop tops!
I loved the dress/skirt combo she wore for the opening number- she looked great in the copper-y/bronze tones.
The colour and top part of the dress is beautiful..the length is terrible and ruined it
I didn’t like the dress too much, but I think it brings out the colour of her eyes. The colour of the dress is gorgeous.
The sound was a mess during most of the performances, I agree
And I loved Taylor’s hughs and interactions with her friends, especially when she won that award and you could see that Karlie and Selena were proud of her
That is one of the worst things I have seen her wear. A swimsuit mated with an ice skating dress. They had an ugly baby. Hideous dress on someone who can wear anything she wants.
I love Swifty’s dress colour and shape, but I would have shortened it a little bit and made it cone-like.
Has she always lip synced or is it part of her new pop thing?
I’m officially an old fogey. I don’t hate the song Yellow Flicker Beat, but I’m completely confused by Lorde’s live performances. She lacks charisma and stage presence and it’s weird without being interesting (to me). Meh.
the picture of her holding the award -yikes!
I thought at first that her friendship with Karlie wouldn’t last tbh, but this is so cute: http://38.media.tumblr.com/3d79f2705f1ccb8e00e72873ec62451f/tumblr_nfj83e7EzD1r097udo1_400.gif
It looks like a romantic look shared between two people in a dating relationship vs friends
I had a Jasmine (from Aladdin) costume like this when I was 5 — mesh netting to cover my belly and all. That is all I think of when I see Taylor’s dress. And homegirl, step away from the bronzer. You’re sliding into Pippa Middleton levels of orange.
She seems like the type of woman who doesn’t want to grow up. She seems very comfortable as an eighteen year old, even though seven years have passed since that happened. I wasn’t impressed with her performance or lip synching. I realize they sing over the track, but she was way off. She claims she has written off boyfriends for awhile, perhaps that’s what she needs to give her a little inspiration for her next man hating album.
There she goes. Again didn’t show her belly button. Does she have one? I like the color and the dress isn’t bad
She does, and it’s… normal, and nothing to write home about? Maybe she forgot about this swimsuit, it was before she really leaned into that high-waisted vintage style she now rocks exclusively:
http://www.gotceleb.com/wp-content/uploads/celebrities/taylor-swift/bikini-in-perth-australia/Taylor%20Swift%20In%20Black%20and%20White%20bikini%20in%20Perth,%20Australia-03.jpg
Swifty’s dress is just bad. She has a nice figure but no one should ever wear a dress like that if she has to sit – look at the belly roll.
The older ones try to look younger by dressing younger than their age. The younger ones want to look older so they dress too sophisticated for their age. Go figure.
Thought the picture was of Nancy Sinatra.
Her spastic performance was painful and she seemed like the only one who lip sync he’d the entire song. There were parts where her voice was still going but her mouth stopped (no doubt being out of breath from her spastic-ness) I’ll never ever get the hype.
Not a good look on Taylor. The dress makes her look gangly.
Lorde wiping off her lipstick at the end of her performance…all hail!! This girl is going to be around for a long, long time. Love her.
I didn’t like Taylor’s dress plus she is much too thin. Great performer though.
I love Taylor but that dress is a huge bore! The colour looks amazing on her and I feel like it could have been so much more. That all being said, I’m ready to now admit that I am over her hair and she needs to change it. Like now. Not a good style – at all!
I’m getting shades of Gretchen Rossi……?
She looks so much better without red lips.
I liked this dress when I saw it on tv; I thought it was so cute. But in these pictures, it’s flat out ugly. And I hate the hair so much. Even on tv I thought it look atrocious. I like her look in the daily New York pap pictures much better. Those pictures had me thinking she improved her style.
Everything about this look was disappointing to me. I wish her stylist would just tell her to sh*t or get off the pot when it comes to risqué fashion. Either wear the damn dress the way it was meant, sans hideous body hose, or wear a different outfit.
Also, why WHY does her MUA insist on so much makeup. Her own makeup is far preferable to me than her show work. There’s always too much foundation and bronzer clouding her own features.
Lorde’s performance was a KILLER! The song was even better live !!!
There’s something about Taylor’s dress that reminds me of the Little Mermaid.
I think I was the only one annoyed at her whenever she would schmooze up and hug her celebrity friends for the cameras it just seemed so for show. Like when Jessie J grinder up next to her and when Jessie J went to Lorde, Taylor made sure she was still in the shot of the camera. Lorde, on the other hand, was just endearing and gave a much, MUCH better performance.