Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

Hey Taylor Swift: the way you wish to be a star - be careful

Jeffrey Remz  |  December 17, 2010

Be careful what you wish for.

Some musicians may have thought they were pursuing a music career, but success tends to breed something else for some - a bunch of gawkers following their every step.

Taylor Swift sure better used to it - and in a hurry. Now, every single move she makes seems to be fodder for the web. The big question these days, of course, is her relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake told inquiring minds earlier this week that he was not "not rushing" things with Swift. Before him, there was Taylor Lautner. And then one of those three Jonas Brothers with whom she got into a "he said, she said" pissing match. Where you stood depended on which musician you liked more.

Swift, of course, is not alone in being the object of a bit too much affection. LeAnn Rimes has had her fair share thanks to splitting with her husband and shacking up with an actor following shooting a film together.

Every negative incident involving Mindy McCready was all over the press, although in her case they were legitimate news stories as opposed to pure gossip. I will say that I felt bad for McCready's continuous downfall. Yes, she had to take responsibility, but it was painful to have to keep reading and writing about her misdeeds.

Swift has pretty much weathered the public intrusion into her private life - so far. About the worst thing I remember reading about her is she yelled at someone while in Australia or maybe Japan. I can't even remember why she supposedly laced into someone either.

Swift was also smart enough to stay out of the brouhaha over the negativity over her poor singing job at an awards show. She was fortunate to have her label head Scott Borchetta put his huge foot in his even bigger mouth until someone (maybe he self-policed) told him to shut up instead of inflaming the story. Thank you Kelly Clarkson.

It is not easy being a superstar these days with so much attention give to the concept of being a star. Don't necessarily blame the press either. In this day of Twitter and Facebook, anyone and everyone can tweet or post about your comings and goings and with whom and take photos and post them immediately online. That includes fans, of course.

A few folks like George Strait and Alan Jackson, for example, tend to keep very low profiles. You just don't hear all that much about their private lives. Maybe it's because they don't have that much of a public life.

To all the Taylor Swifts out there, good luck. You may need it because there are always those out there ready, willing and able to put you down - for non-musical reasons (critiquing someone good or bad for their music is definitely fair game as long as done with a modicum of intelligence). Unfortunately, it's not always about the music, is it?

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