Why do people sing "weird" these days??

[SoCalDem]

What causes me to ask this is this...

Oprah had a 12 yr old Hawaiian boy on who sang some Mariah Carey song, and it was just plain creepy.. I just don't understand all the vibrato..voice up and down during one word stuff..ick ick ick..

"Soul" singers used to sing and hold notes..words could actually be understood..

and the other creepy thing is LITTLE KIDS "belting out" adult songs... I keep having JonBenet flashbacks:(..

I guess I am just an old fogey :)

[enigmatic]

1. "American Idol" disease...

The more hysterical/histrionic, the better....

[Bluebear]

2. Thank you, Mariah Carey

Every note has to become 10.

[Skittles]

25. see that's the thing

just because you CAN hit a note doesn't mean you have to do it in every other line in EVERY F***ING SONG; AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[RadicalMom]

3. It's a damned shame! It drives me crazy! That whole style is stupid,

and now average people think they should attempt to sing that way. I sure hope that style goes away soon. It's meaningless, and doesn't allow for emotion or phrazing, blah, blah! I could spew at that all night.

[SoCalDem]

5. It's especially creepy when a pre-pubescent BOY sings a Mariah

Carey song :puke:..

[VOX]

4. Ohhh, ohhh, sayyy cannn eeeyou seeee, eee, e-e-e-eeeeeee, by th' dawn's..

earrrrrrrrlyyyyy li-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-iiiiiiiiiiight...etc.

And that's just before the average, run-of-the-mill ball game. :grr: Maybe these hack "vocalists" get bonus points for creating the maximum number of syllables out of each word in the lyrics? :evilfrown:

[LizW]

18. Dr. Z's article about the National Anthem is funny

I read this a while back and it made me laugh out loud. He times the National Anthem at every sporting even he attends, and has done so for years.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/dr_z/02/26/insider/

New York Metropolitan Opera baritone Robert Merrill has been a fixture at Yankee Games in the Stadium for years. He regularly clocked in at 1:10-1:12, nothing exciting either way. It would be exceedingly quick for a rock star, since they drag the song out to ungodly lengths, but about average for an operatic voice, since the serious singers are more concerned with musical correctness than ego. Then I covered a World Series game in 1981 and on opening night he came in at 1:17.8.

I saw him after the game in the press lounge, having a drink.

"Going Hollywood because it's the World Series, huh?" I said in my tactful way.

"Waddya mean?"

"Well, you came in almost at 1:18 and you're a regular 1:10-1:12." The guy went bonkers on me.

"Like you really know about singing, right? Like you really know anything about music?" And on and on. I just shrugged, but next night, once again, the guys had their watches out in the press box. He clocked 1:07-flat.

Five minutes later he came into the press box. "What was I?" he asked me. I told him 1:07.

"Awriiiight!" he yelled, pumping his fist in the air. :D

[Bunny]

6. I've felt this way for a long time.

Nothing ruins a song faster. I am very unimpressed with the vocal gymnastics.

[Nay]

7. Aaaaack! I hate this too! So overblown and creepy-sounding!

[unblock]

8. the triumph of technique over talent

music is all about conveying emotions. to this end, every chord change, every passing note, every hold, trill, turn, and flourish further paints a picture of the emotion that the singer is trying to convey.

the rampant disease, particularly among american idol performers, is that they fail to appreciate what singing is all about. they showcase their technical ability to execute these flourishes, but put them in inappropriately because they don't understand the role of such flourishes.

the result is a jarring mess. playful vocal acrobatics spoiling a somber moment, dramatic turns ruining pathos.

sigh. kids today....

[skypilot]

28. That sums it up beautifully.

*

[Kahuna]

9. The queen of that shit is Sherrelle Ferrell (sp? wgaf)..

I went to see an Al Jarreau concert a few years ago. Sherrell was one of the featured performers. She did that crap ad naseum on every single song. I'm talking ten fifteen minutes on each song of nothing but vocal gymnastics. :puke:

[DS1]

10. I posted the same question about a year ago and was

told, in essence, that I just don't appreciate music and the talent that it requires to sound like that.

Horseshit.

Glad to see more are coming around.

[realisticphish]

15. i've ALWAYS hated it

but have been kind of afraid to say it ("you just don't get R and B", etc)...

I too, am glad to see more 'coming out'

[Atlas Mugged]

11. They're called "runs"

No - you're not an old fogey. Singing with excessive runs has become a plague in the last decade and even the judges on American Idol are highly critical of it. As someone else on this thread pointed out we can thank Mariah Carey, but her big excuse is that her voice can cover so many octaves it's the only way she can showcase her skill (you may roll your eyes now). It has it's basis in jazz singing and, if well done, can be interesting; Yma Sumac turned it into a legitimate art form. But most untrained singers go overboard with it because they think it sounds sophisticated. If it makes you feel any better, the next time you're victimized by it you can sagely raise an eyebrow and dryly declare, "That singer has the runs". I know it makes me feel better. ;)

[Demit]

17. I like your username!

I didn't know what that technique was called, but it's unpleasant to listen to, I know that. To me, a visual analogy would be a woman wearing too many accessories, or a dress that has too many frills. It's not understanding the power a thing has comes from it being used sparingly.

[GCP]

12. I thought Whitney Houstaon started it

She made a dog's dinner of "I loooooove onleeeee yooooooooo" in the early 90s.

And does anyone remember the Simpsons episode when the guy singer made the anthem last all night at the baseball game - the moon was seen coming up and going down while he was still singing - great stuff.

[realisticphish]

14. i was

just thinking of that episode



note to self: never again search google images for "bleeding gums" :puke:

[Atlas Mugged]

16. As much as I loathe Whitney...

...I can't lay the blame on her for this. She did all the flourishes and arabesques in refrains and fades - NOT throughout whole verses like Mariah Carey does.

[dolo amber]

20. That's who I blame

for both 'the runs' (heh...thanks for that! :D) and the tendency of singers today to more *shout* than sing. I know Whitney's got a very powerful voice and all, but singing is (or should be, anyway) above and beyond everything about control.

[Magrittes Pipe]

21. In other words, you're more of a Janet Jackson girl.

Get it? "Control?"

:P

[dolo amber]

22. "Miss Jackson" if ya nasty

;)

[cleofus1]

13. yes it was whitney....

The distant sound of the Diva...so in love with her voice that it takes precedent above the song itself. Instead of interpreting the song and finding the story and the style...the Diva must hear her own voice and it's never ending warbling...

it makes me want to poke my eyes out with an icepick...
(sort of like the 36 glacier tour...after the first ten glaciers)

[radwriter0555]

19. I recommend Tuvan Throat singing for some really wierd stuff!

LOVE those guys!

[ScreamingMeemie]

23. I felt so bad for that poor girl on "The Osbournes" the other night.

She bid and won on a stay at their home...She sang for Ozzy and holy cow. It was sad. :(

[arwalden]

24. Vocal Gymnastics Are An Abomination... They Are Distracting.

When someone sings in this manner, the song loses its original tune and melody. Anyone who does this is only interested in "showing off" their vocal range... but the REAL bragging rights belong to the singer who can HIT the right note (first time-every time) and HOLD IT!

The tendency for pop singers to flit all around the ACTUAL tune and just INVENT a new tune as they go along makes it look like they don't even know the tune in the first place. Or... if they actually DO know the correct tune, their vocal acrobatics make it look as though they are incapable of hitting the notes, so they just pluck random notes until they think they've come close.

It's truly HORRID!

[Wat_Tyler]

26. I blame Whitney Houston.

Notes can be held, Whitney. They're not hot coals that you have to juggle about.

[Left Is Write]

27. Oh, thank goodness I'm not the only one!

That kind of singing has been bugging me for YEARS, and I thought it was just me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

29. Because they have no talent

And I think they sing weirdly, not "weird". Unless they really are singing "weird", but you didn't mention that. You talked about singing weirdly.

:spank:

(this was a humurous friendly grammar reminder, not a nasty one, so hopefully you are :7 and not :grr:)

[SoCalDem]

32. I sometimes take "cyber-liberties" with grammar

:evilgrin:

[Bouncy Ball]

30. I HATE HATE HATE RUNS IN SINGING

HATE IT.

It's stupid. It's fucking annoying. I've said it since the first time I really noticed them being used a lot.

GAWD. Just kill me now. One note turned into five freaking MILLION all over the scale.

Yuck. I'd rather have a bikini wax than listen to that shit.

[Bridget Burke]

31. "Melisma" is the name of the technique...

It's found in numerous singing styles around the world. In the US, gospel singers, blues singers & the old time honky-tonkers use it. (Go, George Jones!)

However, it can be used well or badly. Most of the recent examples mentioned on this thread are in the latter category.

[peekaloo]

33. little kids belting out adult songs

Pre-teen Michael Jackson used to do that with soul standards. At the time I liked it, even though the songs were way too mature for him, yet he had the gift of imitation if not the emotional maturity.

In retrospect it is rather creepy.

[Coventina]

34. Styles of singing come and go.

I can't wait for the one you speak of to go.
:puke: