Taylor Swift Grammys Performance Inspired By Viral YouTube Cover

by amyellensoden | February 1, 2010 at 11:39 am

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Taylor Swift got to live out one of her dreams live on stage at the 2010 Grammys last night. She performed two songs along side musical legend Steve Nicks after a solo rendition of "Fairytale." Swift welcomed Nicks onto the stage and the two harmonized for a live performance of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" before launching into Swift's own song "You Belong With Me."

The live Grammy performance of "You Belong With Me" was noticeably different from the pop-stylings on the Fearless album and radio edit rock versions of the hit single. The origin of the Grammy stylings for the live performance came from an interesting source: producer and musician Butch Walker.

Walker, who has had a residency at LA's Hotel Cafe, had a fan favourite rendition of "You Belong With Me" with banjolin accompaniment and a sound that is less "pop". Walker's version of the song became popular after he recorded it, and the viral YouTube cover soon caught the attention of Taylor Swift. Swift even tweeted about the cover via her Twitter account @taylorswift13:

The musician whipped up a “making of” video — complete with pee breaks and subtitles — which became such a viral hit that in a mere two days Swift caught wind of the cover and tweeted enthusiastically, “@butchwalker covered You Belong With Me and I’m losing my MIND listening to it! Blown away.”

As a result, Walker got to rock out with the Grammy-award-winning Swift, as well as legend Stevie Nicks, at last night’s ceremony. This state of affairs truly shows social media’s ability to both bring people together and to foster creativity.

Swift was a big hit at the 52nd Grammy Awards last night winning awards for both Country Album and Album of the Year. The pop-country singer was shocked as she made her way up on stage to accept her awards last night. Swift seemed completely awestruck and told the audience that her Grammy wins were what felt like an impossible dream come true.