Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

About those Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood rumors

Jeffrey Remz  |  February 12, 2013

Don't you just love those rumors about who's friends with who? Who's dating whom? Who broke up with whom? It seems that Taylor Swift is part and parcel of all of them.

The latest was that she and Carrie Underwood hate each other. As the authoritative US said in its headline on Friday, "Exclusive: Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood "Hate Each Other," Will Avoid Each Other at Grammys."

The story went onto say, "A source tells Us Weekly that the country stars are planning to avoid each other at Sunday's 2013 Grammy Awards. According to the insider, Grammy execs were ordered to keep Swift, 23, and Underwood, 29, "from crossing paths" at the Feb. 10 show "since they hate each other!"

Says a Swift pal, "Taylor feels Carrie is always rude to her, so she steer clear of her." (A Grammy rep counters, "No requests were received from either artist.")

The story, in effect, wondered whether there was a relationship snafu thanks to last year's Country Music Association Awards in Nashville when co-hosts Underwood and Brad Paisley joked about Swift's recent split with Conor Kennedy. "The greatest trade of the year had to be the Kennedy family. They somehow traded Arnold Schwarzenegger for Taylor Swift," Paisley joked about Swift dating Arnold's nephew through marriage. "I mean, what they got for that..."

Underwood interrupted Paisley, telling her they were no longer a item. "What? Why don't I ever hear about these things?" Paisley asked. "I'm the last one to know. Are they ever gonna get back together?"

"Never, never, never," Underwood replied, referring to Swift's megahit, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. "Never ever."

So, if you ask Underwood, this just isn't true. An interview with CBS This Morning on Wednesday will make that clear. When asked by Gayle King if the two were feuding, Underwood said, "No. Not that I know of at least."

Underwood said so-called "sources" were to blame. "In every magazine, in pretty much every (sic) newspaper or on gossip TV shows, they can just get away with it by saying 'a source said' or 'a friend said' or 'an insider said,'" she said. "I've read the most ridiculous things about myself when people do that."

And her favorite Swift song? "My favorite Taylor Swift song, oh my gosh. I really like I Knew You Were Trouble. It sounded a lot different for her. I liked the branching out, trying some different sounds."

Maybe Swift and Underwood are not best friends. That would not surprise me. They seem like very different personalities at very different stages in life. There's no requirement that they must be friends either folks. But what difference does it make? Rest assured since both are part of the Nashville establishment, they're not going to go after each other.

It just gets silly though when the sources tell you how smart they are about these meaningless "news" items. The whole thing is just plain dumb.