Her label, in her defense, had this to say: "This is not 'American Idol,'" Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta told The Associated Press. "This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance." Uhhhh.... yes it is, jackwad. Kelly Clarkson (of AI fame) had this to twitter in rebut: "We (American Idol alum) not only hit the high notes, you forgot to mention we generally hit the 'right' notes as well. Every artist has a bad performance or two and that is understandable, but throwing blame will not make the situation at hand any better."
I didn't watch the Grammy's (because the state of modern music makes me cry in disappointment), but with all the hype, I expected it to be worse, since she always sucks. Somebody PLEASE, for the sake of the dogs shrieking in the alley, keep her away from a microphone. Now, her dress was awesome... maybe she can just write music, stand there and look pretty... that seems like a winning combination.
Agreed. That performance was horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThere are rare exceptions where singer and songwriter should be attributed to the same person. Some examples: Paul McCartney or John Lennon. There are very few examples among today's performers, however.
Last weekend I was getting my hair cut at GQ, and Cass, my regular stylist, was discussing karaoke. I said that there was no such thing as good karaoke. She insisted that with the technology available today anyone can be made to sound good through the use of pitch change, echo, reverb, etc.
I think that's the case with many of today's musical artists. In the studio their performance can be edited and manipulated into something that they can't possibly re-create in a live performance. It's been my experience that a live performance by a favorite artist is usually a huge disappointment for me. I generally refuse to shell out $50-75 per ticket just to see someone deliver a mediocre performance.
I think an artist should, in most cases, stick with what they do best; either singing or songwriting. Most can't do both well. Ultimately, I think it comes down to an exercise in ego.