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 TAYLOR SWIFT For the past decade, the term singer/songwriter has been liberally applied to hot young artists who rely on more experienced collaborators to hone their tunes, and to provide the savvy production that usually upstages the melody and lyrics anyway. But Taylor Swift cut her creative teeth in Nashville, where storytelling still matters; and for her sophomore album, Fearless, she wrote more than half the songs independently and clearly had a big hand in the rest. You just can't fake the kind of innocence and wonder that ring through the glowing title track and the moonstruck single Love Story, or the guileless urgency and unmannered precociousness marking more bittersweet songs such as Fifteen and White Horse. Swift's grainy-sweet vocals have a similar freshness, even on the less memorable cuts. It's a pleasure to hear a gifted teenager who sounds like a gifted teenager, rather than a mouthpiece for a bunch of older pros' collective notion of adolescent yearning.
Related StoriesA-Lil-Dumaani-wins-at-Hollywood-Park A Lil Dumaani rallied from far off the pace to win the $39,000 feature race at Hollywood Park by a half-length over Swift Demand on Wednesday. A Lil Dumaani, ridden by Michael Baze and carrying 118 pounds, covered six furlongs in 1:08.03 and paid $8.40, $4.40 and $3. The win in the allowance optional claiming race for 3-year-olds and up was the third in seven lifetime starts for A Lil Dumaani and was worth $23,400, raising the career earnings of the 3-year-old son of Dumaani to $60,880. Swift Demand returned $4 and $3. Spot the Diplomat, the 22-10 favorite in a field of nine, finished third and paid $2.60 to show. more Phone-breakup--Say-it-aint-so,-Joe  Taylor Swift is doing some gabbing about her breakup with Joe Jonas. On Ryan Seacrest's radio show Wednesday, the country star revealed that she penned the tune "Always and Forever" about their October split. "I've written about [the breakup], and I write about my life ... that's just how I deal with things," she said, per Us Weekly. "It's tough, and it's been tough." In a new video on her MySpace page, she pokes a little fun at Jonas, who reportedly dumped her over the phone. more Kaka-is-old-and-deaf! The irrepressible M Sathyanarayana Rao has done it again. He was reacting to the statement of senior congress leader G Venkataswamy. The two had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh some time back. MSR had claimed that the PM had told them that it was chief minister Y S Rajashkar Reddy who was standing in the way of separate Telangana. Now Kaka says that he met the PM along with MSR but did not hear PM saying anything about YSR and Telangana. The young at heart, MSR said that it was perfectly plausible that Kaka may not have heard what the PM has said. Kaka is too old now and he is also not keeping good health. Kaka is also suffering from a hearing impairment. As such he should be excused for not being able to hear what the PM had s more Chiru-to-surprise-everyone  The talk now doing the rounds in knowledgeable circles is that megastar Chiranjeevi has not finalized work on his party. Most of the work has been completed. The date given by his camp for launching his political party – August 22 is only tentative. It is also to confuse the congress party. If the congress government decides to pre-empt him by advancing the polls in the state, then Chiranjeevi will also advance his political entry suitably. He is ready to surprise everyone with his swift acti more Amitabh-enjoys-working-with-Rani-Mukherjee Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who has been paired with actress Rani Mukherjee in a number of recent roles, says it is a pleasure working with her as they bring out the best of each other's acting talents, a news report said on Wednesday. Bachchan, 64, and Mukherjee, 28, played teacher and pupil in the Bollywood hit ``Black'' a year ago. The rising star Mukherjee was Bachchan's daughter-in-law in the recently released ``Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna,'' or ``Never Say Goodbye.'' In the upcoming film ``Babul,'' Bachchan plays a father-in-law who is determined to marry-off his widowed daughter-in-law, Mukherjee. ``I guess we're lucky to have our acting talents being tested in unusual ways,'' he told the Mumbai Mirr more Why-is-Vidya-Balan-puzzled-  Vidya Balan is basking in the success of Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Pareenita, Heyy Babyy, Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Halla Bol. Now, we hear that she has even become film-maker Aziz Mirza’s darling! Ever since they started shooting for Mirza’s Kismet Connection, Mirza, we hear is pampering Vidya to the hilt. “Vidya and Shahid are like my children,” says Mirza. But all this has not gone to Vidya’s head. “I am still perplexed as to what works in Bollywood,” says this practical lass. &nb more Two-Crores!-I-love-to-hear-it:-Genelia  In a recent press meet held at Hyderabad bubbly girl Genelia said that she is still in beginning stage of her film career. “Because of my film ‘Bommarillu’ success, I become noted person in Southern film industry otherwise I would be roaming around the film studios asking for chance. Luckily, Bhaskar ji gave me an excellent launch pad in the Tollywood with his film. I am really grateful to him forever. Even though, you all think that I become big heroine, I still feel as a beginner.” When she was asked by a media pers more Kareena’s-boring-chore! This gal is going easy on the film signing spree, but that doesn’t mean there’s a dearth of work for a talent like her. There are scripts galore, and dozens of producers making a beeline for Ms.Kapoor, but this time around she’s not gonna give the green signal so easily. Working with the likes of Mani Ratnam and Vishal Bharadwaj has been like an eye-opener for her. Kareena knows what she wants to do, and what not to do. “I hear all the scripts that are narrated to me; I never know I might stumble upon something gripping that would go unnoticed. But most of what I hear doesn’t really hold my attention - halfway through I am disinterested. My assistant quickly wakes me up so that I can go through the rest of it,” says Kareena in a lighter vei more Andhra-Pamela-Anderson!  Hear, Hear! A top Tollywood actress is all set to enhance her breasts in a bid to raise her appeal both among the producers and also her fans. The heroine in question is said to be Ileana. It is said that a senior person from the industry advised her to try and enhance her breasts. The reason? They are too small and she cannot compete with the like of Nayanatara and other well endowed beauties with her small breasts. And so the hour glass figure who is already the heartthrob of youngsters and old people alike is n more Abhishek-exclusive-from-Namibia  It's not just the pleasure of working with his favourite co-star—alright, second-favourite co-star after wife Aishwarya—that made the latest Abhishek-Rani film Laaga Chunari Mein Daag special. Enthuses Abhishek from Namibia where he's shooting for Goldie Behl's Drona, “I got to work with mom (Jaya). I had done a cameo in a Bengali film as her son. Mom and Pa are two different actors and human beings, they’re both unique actors. It's a sheer pleasure to share screen space with mom. I hope to do as many films wit more |
