Hiley, the only reason I brought up Taylor’s name was because you mentioned her in your original comment. I never actually said that I don’t mind if other artists do the same thing.

I actually am a fan of Taylor’s music. I like Speak Now purely as a Pop album (it is one of the better Pop albums last year IMO), I just don’t agree with it being named “Country” album nominee when the music is hardly Country IMO.

I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other on this particular track though.

2. I enjoy Swift’s music a lot, especially as she’s grown, but I don’t think I’ve ever suggested that she’s innovative. And I said above that I don’t like her remixes, either, though I do find them less jarring than this one (because, again, her songs are basically pop to begin with, whereas “If I Die Young” really, really isn’t).

With all due respect, the militant pro-Carrie-anti-Taylor stuff (and the reverse, I’m sure) gets sillier by the day. They’re very different artists, and I bet they have nothing but respect for one another’s distinct strengths.

(Incidentally, I do give props for the “Before He Cheats” thing, and would like for other artists/labels to follow that course. Then again, it’s not like “Before He Cheats” is all that devoid of pop influence itself.)

I used to be hung up about genre lines myself, and didn’t like that certain artists seemed to be “derailing” country music. But the more I’ve studied pop music history, the more the current state of things makes sense to me. The pop music marketed chiefly as country, the traditionalists popping up and reminding people why “old” was once “cool” – it’s all happened before. Some of it does seem to be at extremes right now (Swift, Sugarland, Jason Aldean, et al), but history will find the order and reason in it all eventually.

As for the ‘remix,’ I liked it much better than I thought I would. I’ll always prefer the country mix in cases like this, but I thought the integrity of the song was maintained. Though it may seem further from the original than the remixes of “Need You Now” or “Love Story,” the “If I Die Young” remix does not get on my nerves like the others did. Probably because every trace of it ever had been marketed as country has not been removed. I guess having a singer that actually sounds somewhat country makes that a little more difficult.

If Taylor is really who she is, then what is she still doing in the Country format? Her latest album is basically a Pop album, with like… 2-3 country tracks max. Her past albums might be on the borderline of pop and country, but I don’t know if anyone could still deny that songs like “Haunted”, “Better Than Revenge”, “Dear John” etc aren’t even remotely country.

So why are we applauding Taylor for straddling the genre line (to the point of false advertisement of country) and bringing new audience to country, but now we frown upon The Band Perry’s remix? It’s just ONE remix for a song that seemed to have connected with a lot audience outside of country music, so I don’t see what is wrong with an effort to bring these new listeners into the genre.
Although I’m not a fan of remixes as well, but since Before He Cheats, pop radio won’t seem to play a country song if it’s not remixed. So I’m not going to hold it against TBP for that.