Live: Taylor Swift at the Staples Center

About a third of the way through the young country-pop singer Taylor Swift’s Friday night set, she transformed the stage at a sold-out Staples Center into a high school library. While projections of bookshelves lighted up the two-tiered set, Swift sat at a table with a scruffy, square-jawed dreamboat and, in an endearing monologue, lamented his dudely inability to see the obvious.

“Every day, like clockwork, he would sit down and talk to me … about his girlfriend,” Swift said, to peals of commiseration from the heavily teenaged and female crowd. “But I wrote a song about him.”

The song was “Teardrops on My Guitar,” from her self-titled 2006 debut, and whoever this “Drew” was in the lyrics who didn’t return Swift’s affections then, it’s a safe bet he’s kicking himself now.

That kind of real and immediate identification with her audience’s specific travails is a big reason why Swift was the top selling artist of 2008, on the strength of her debut and its 2008 follow-up “Fearless.” Plenty of contemporary country singers mine high school memories for material, but the 19-year-old Swift is documenting them in something close to real time.

Her fans don’t just believe in her savvy songwriting and gracious, magnetic stage presence. They trust her as a peer. And if the unerring pleasures of her set -- and the crowd’s Beatles-sized reactions -- were any indication, they’ll be trusting her for a long time.

Unbelievably, the Staples show was part of her first headlining tour. She’s been pulling the rug out from under headliners like Rascal Flatts as an opening act for some time now, and sales like Swift’s affords a young singer an enviable production budget. There may never be another singer who can re-create an entire Edwardian castle scene (from her video for “Love Story”) for just one song on her debut top-billed tour.

But while Britney Spears, another recent Staples guest, dissolved into the mania of her “Circus” getup, Swift had a preternatural command over her spectacle. Much of this is due to the very adult strength of her writing. There’s a Loretta Lynn insouciance to vinegary singles like “Should’ve Said No” and “Picture to Burn.”

Her identification with similar sentiments in pop and R&B peers like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake (she covered his hit "What Goes Around... / ... Comes Around" in a witty mid-song interlude) is a telling generational trait. When John Mayer arrived for a brief cameo to duet with Swift on his dorm-seduction staple “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” nothing felt particularly amiss, even if Swift’s originals were much smarter.

Swift has obviously studied the examples of classic country’s first ladies. The narrator of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” would have recognized her own predicament in more pained singles like “White Horse” and might have applauded Swift for having the good sense to move on already. But Swift ultimately is a romantic, reveling in lyrical details like the feel of a “balcony in summer air” and her frustration at the bloodless love of someone who “talks business with my father.”

Swift’s only real competition on the 2008 album charts, the rapper Lil Wayne, is an interesting foil for her. While Wayne has turned his erratic, hyper-productive brilliance into performance art, Swift’s success is a reminder that the old rules of songwriting and performance hold as true as ever.

When she stood beneath a cascading waterfall to close her encore, she looked every bit the pop star, but also every bit a teenager -- drenched, giddy and with a bit of explaining to do when she gets home past curfew.

 -- August Brown

Photo: Taylor Swift at an earlier stop on her 2009 tour. Credit: Getty Images

Comments

[Boogar]

she cant sing. her melodys are almost aways off and sound flat most of the time. adam sings much more on key than she ever will... and hes way cuter

[Francesco Sinibaldi]

Summer resort.

You live
in the youth
of a summer
resort, your
delicate voice
appears in
my mind like
a winged creature,
and even a
pleasure describes
in a moment
a bright sensibility.

Francesco Sinibaldi

[randy m]

Phone System Seattle

Taylor is so hot!!! Very cute performer

[Kristen]

Taylor is sweet and true to her fans

[Zim]

One of the best shows ever. We brought our 11 year old daughter. Taylor is the real deal! The only criticism was John Mayer's intrusion. He's a great player but not an inappropriate interloper on this magical night. Stay away form Taylor!! BTW: 90% of the audience wore braces and sang every word standing and full throated. It was like Elvis or The Beatles in their original prime.

[Catherine]

I really hope she tours the UK!!

[alexamarieeeeem95]

I love Taylor Swift.I hope I can get tickets for her show in Chicago, which will probably sell out FAST, but she deserves it. She's one of those singers who can relate to her audience like they're her best friend. At least one song in her 2 albums can relate to any girl. I have a couple. My friends have a couple. Her albums are the story of my life which is why girls of all ages love her. I hope she makes music for a long time and I hope it will be just as good as her songs before. Taylor matured from her album before but in a good way. She didn't try to be someone who she isn't, she just grew up and I think her audience did too. I can go on about Taylor and how great she writes her songs and how she performs in concert. I haven't been to a show but even in video I can tell she really loves it and likes to do what she does.

[rahrah]

I love Taylor Swift. Her concert at the Staples Center was truly amazing. Everything about that night, including the opening acts and the special appearance from John Mayer, was wonderful. Her songs are so relateable and they make her fans happy. She is so extremely talented and beautiful. She is very grounded and sticks to her beliefs. She is a great role model. It is impossible to hate her, unless it's out of jealousy. She is a great song writer and I think the fact that she uses the actual names of guys is incredibly brave and adds more personality to the song. I loved that she acted out scenes and talked to her fans a lot. And I thought it was so genuinely humble when she stood on stage for a good 2 minutes with her hand over her mouth and chest just listening to the audience scream and taking it all in. You can tell she really appreciated all her fans that came to support her and how much she cared. She is truly extraordinary and will go so far because she has the most beautiful heart ever.

[Jamie K.]

I'm a new Taylor Swift fan. I've been observing a talent and greatness in her that few others have. Now, it's gratifying to know that my observations were correct in this glowing and at times brutally honest review of Taylor Swift at her Staples arena concert by a very astute, long time music insider. Taylor Swift is the next big music superstar. Lefsetz (the author) even compares her to the Beatles. Read for youreslf. http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/05/24/taylor-swift-at-staples/

[Diva]

I think Kanye blew it, but he has really done his best to apologize. Prediction: country rap cross-over with Kanye and Taylor.