Congratulations to Taylor Swift on here five Billboard Music Awards nominations! She is nominated for ‘Top Artist,’ ‘Top Female Artist,’ ‘Top Billboard 200 Artist,’ ‘Top Billboard 200 Album’ and ‘Top Selling Album.’ Few! That’s quite the list of accomplishments! Swift holds the record for most Billboard Music Awards wins with 21. Here’s hoping she racks up a few more to further secure that honor!
The awards air on Sunday, May 20th at 8pm ET/5pm PT on NBC.
If Red is your favorite Taylor Swift album, then you are really going to love this news! A song Swift wrote for Red is being released on April 20 before the release of the new Sugarland album. Swift is featured on the song as well!
Not only is it the only feature on their Bigger album, but it’s also the only song the duo didn’t write together! It’s their first album in 8 years!
The song is called “Babe” and was written by Swift and Train‘s Pat Monahan back in 2012. The song ultimately didn’t make it onto the album or the deluxe version. Pat told ABC News back in 2013:
Embed from Getty Images“It’s a song called ‘Babe’ so it’s her song; I was just lucky enough to be a part of it with her, and I’m gonna ask the same of her in the future. She’s very talented, she’s a no-nonsense young kid. Y’know, she’s, like, a serious thing. I’m not going through different relationships and breakups and all the stuff that young people do, so her perspective is very fresh. And I think that that’s what I admire the most [about her].”
Red is definitely one of the most emotional albums Swift has written that includes ballad and fan favorite “All Too Well.” It will be interesting to see if Babe is a song in the “breakup” stage or the “in love” stage. Since most of Red was about Swift’s past relationships, it’s possible it could be a happier song that just didn’t fit the album. Or maybe, it’s another emotional ballad that would have just made the album seem too sad. Either way, we can’t wait to hear it, it’s bound to be a single, and maybe Swift will invite Sugarland out on tour so they can all perform it together!
Pat also joined Swift on her Red Tour and they performed his song “Drive By”
If some of Taylor Swift‘s Reputation Stadium Tour dancers look familiar, it’s because 8 of them are returning from the 1989 Tour along with the Red Tour! It’s pretty incredible that some of these dancers have been on tour with her for three tours now! The previous tour only had male dancers, but the Reputation Tour will also feature female dancers!
Returning to the stage are: Maho Udo, Kim ‘Toshi’ Davidson, Jake Kodish, Robert Green, Giuseppe Giofre, Mark Villaver, Christian Owens and Christian Henderson.
New to the stage are: Yorelis Apolinario, Maria Wada, Gracie Stewart, Jazz Smith, Jake Landgrebe, Nadine Olmo, Stephanie Mincone and Grant “Atwiao” Gilmore.
The Reputation Tour kicks off in Glendale, AZ on May 8 which is right around the corner! Swift shared a preview of what’s to come with some behind the scene photos! We can’t wait to see what she has in store!
She also shared photos of her dancers, band members (The Agency) and back up singers (The Starlights). We are so excited to have them all back on tour again!
You can follow the list of dancers here: Dancers
Great news Swifties, the Country Taylor Swift has Risen! Swift performed as a surprise guest at the Bluebird Cafe, (where she was first discovered 14 years ago), as part of a documentary to celebrate the historical 35 years of the establishment.
Swift sat alongside Chris Wiseman and told a story of their first co-write together. She came in with some ideas that he didn’t really understand, but she went home and finished the song anyway, that song was “Love Story” and it’s the song that crossed her over from Country to Pop right from the beginning. “Love Story” became Swift’s first number one on Billboard Pop Songs, marking the highest peak by a country song on the chart since Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One”. It is her best-selling single to date! She couldn’t help but play it for the intimate crowd at the Bluebird.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Bluebird is known for it’s Writers’ Rounds where singer/songwriters perform songs that they have written, even if they aren’t the ones who sing it on the radio. Swift shared how normally she doesn’t have those chances until Little Big Town recorded her song “Better Man.”
“I wanted to say a big thank you to the Bluebird Cafe. I think any songwriter in town would echo my sentiments and say that this is kind of the only place where this exists – this particular place where you get to come and hear the writer’s take on the songs they’ve put out into the world. When I would play writers nights … I didn’t have the experience of a writer, writing something and then it going out into the world and you earing it from someone else’s perspective until recently. Little Big Town gave me the opportunity to feel that way … to be at the Bluebird and play a song you’ve maybe heard on the radio. I will always be forever grateful to them for that.”
WATCH TAYLOR SWIFT PERFORM “BETTER MAN” AT THE BLUEBIRD CAFE”
Swift also performed “Shake It Off”
CMA Fest Budweiser Forever Country Stage Performers Announced!
CMA Fest is just over two months away and the Budweiser Forever Country Stage has been announced!
Thursday, June 7th, 2018
11:00am-11:30am Billy Dean
11:45am-12:15pm Shenandoah
12:30pm-1:00pm Bellamy Brothers
1:15pm-1:45pm Little Texas
2:00pm-2:30pm Lonestar
2:45pm-3:15pm Restless Heart
3:30pm-4:00pm Terri Clark
4:15pm-4:45pm Lorrie Morgan
Friday, June 8th, 2018
11:00am-11:30am Wade Hayes
11:45am-12:15pm Keith Anderson
12:30pm-1:00pm Ty Herndon
1:15pm-1:45pm Larry Gatlin
2:00pm-2:30pm Michelle Wright
2:45pm-3:15pm Heidi Newfield
3:30pm-4:00pm Darryl Worley
4:15pm-4:45pm Lee Roy Parnell
Saturday, June 9th, 2018
11:00am-12:15pm Honky Tonkin’ with Tracy Lawrence
12:30pm-1:00pm Mila Mason
1:15pm-1:45pm John Berry
2:00pm-2:30pm Jamie O’Neal
2:45pm-3:15pm Doug Supernaw
3:30pm-4:45pm Forever Country, Never Forgotten
Sunday, June 10th, 2018
11:00am-11:30am Terry McBride
11:45am-12:15pm Andy Griggs
12:30pm-1:00pm Exile
1:15pm-1:45pm Mark Wills
2:00pm-2:30pm David Ball
2:45pm – 3:15pm Joe Diffie
3:30pm-4:00pm Mark Collie
4:15pm-4:45pm Blackhawk
