Memorial Day 2011

Today 

We 

Remember.

New Taylor Swift Music Videos

Two music videos released less than a month apart, an interesting move by country singer Taylor Swift. On May 6, 2011 the music video for her single "Mean" premiered on Country Music Television (CMT) and about 20 days later her "The Story of Us" music video premiers on her website at TaylorSwift.com. Is it just me or is Swift releasing singles and their accompanying videos way too fast? Regardless of how she and her record label choose to release singles, the music videos are out and ready for us to enjoy. 


"MEAN"-

"Mean" was supposedly written in response to a critic who constantly bombarded Taylor Swift with negative comments. Swift says, "[T]here's constructive criticism, there's professional criticism, and then there's just being mean [hence the title of the song]. And there's a line that you cross when you just start to attack everything about a person." However, Swift also hopes the song will help those who are the victims of bullying by showing them that this can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime and "dealing with that is all that you can control, how you handle it"(Swift). One of the things she is criticized for is the lack of a country sound to her music, or at least not enough. So what does Swift do? She makes a song in which she throws in some hand-clapping, fiddle, and a banjo. Her voice also takes the leading role in the song, not letting the instruments overpower her voice or overtake the song. A nice balance is created between the banjo, fiddle, clapping and her voice. Like a good country-folksy song, "Mean" lends itself to be sung because of its catchy lyrics and smooth, easy melody. The video also has a nice balance with the scenes being an old country house, locker room, locomotive tracks, and a Broadway stage. The song is portrayed well through the music video and the video is simply fun to watch. To watch the video click on the "Mean" image to the left. 

Summer Playlist

The country summer tunes playlist is out! To view it please click on the "Summer Playlist" link under "Pages" on the sidebar. Enjoy your summer and the music!

Kenny Chesney, Trace Adkins, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, and more!