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I realized with slight horror the other day that I had all of 7 tracks off the TV show Glee on my Ipod. Slight horror I had been taught to experience because of all the criticism the show gets for its audacity to release covers or “pop-ified” versions of certain classics and accusations that it’s only meant for female teenagers and homosexual men. (Both of who’ve sat through television tailored for heterosexual men for decades, just saying.) I share a strange relationship with the show itself. Its like one of those friendships where the negatives severely outweigh the positives, and most of the time you presume you won’t let yourself be a part of the relationship anymore, but without warning she/he says or does something so particularly attractive you decide to stick around a little longer just for another moment of wonder. But more about the show some other time.
Today we get back to its music. Glee music isn’t hip. I’m primarily a fan of singer/songwriter- folk music but what is it that brings me back each time? I think the vacuum Glee fills in today’s music scene is the one left empty when top-notch vocals started to be seen as less a part of musical artistry than writing or producing. Glee doesn’t have splendid vocals from all its cast (most victims of auto-tune) but specific members like ex-Broadway star Lea Michele have the kind of delivery that give you chills. It isn’t a charming croon, it isn’t breathy, beachy, husky or sounds good only when you’re on a narcotic induced high. Her voice has wonderful power, there’s no other way to put it. There is range and pitch-perfect delivery. Maybe it was all the Celine Dion I had to endure growing up in the 90s but I have a lot of love and respect for voices that can blow the roof off a place like that. This probably explains why I find myself watching American Idol some nights, looking (hopelessly) for those amazing voices. There’s also the fact that Glee brings in guest stars like Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff and Kristin Chenoweth to perform and…*dies*.
There isn’t as much appreciation for these kinds of vocals anymore outside of show tunes, theatre and a much ridiculed, slowly deteriorating, pop or country mainstream. (Slowly deteriorating probably due to people’s refusal to participate in mainstream pop culture and the gaining popularity of counter-cultures like the ill directed hipster movement, itself an unbeknownst darling of consumer culture and advertising. All this in a future post.) We’re seeing more and more song writers sing themselves, which is perfectly acceptable, and while most of them have good voices and each a unique style there is something to be said for technically sound vocals. And that is – sometimes I miss them.
Deborah
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i know what you mean. i guess the focus has shifted to lyrical delivery from vocal delivery. when today's listener listens to a song about heart-break, he/she wants to hear a heart-broken voice, which would ordinarily not be pitch perfect and so on. modern songwriters generally choose to sing their own songs as they feel that they alone can deliver the emotion that the song wants to convey.
ReplyDeletethis is in sharp contrast to songs that we now call 'oldies'. take the Carpenters, for example. all their songs are vocally perfect, regardless of the theme. even the so-called 'boy bands' (gasp) of the '90s and early '00s were vocally more sound than any of their rock band contemporaries.
discerning listeners such as yourself are actually a dwindling minority. the average listener wants more and more to be able to connect with the artist and finds it easier to do so with a tousled-haired singer/guitarist than an opera singer.:)
Sahil,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the lovely response. :) I agree with everything you've said. I was expecting a lot of flak for this post since music has become all about intellectual and emotional depth in contemporary consciousness so I'm glad to hear from someone who see's it the way I do.
Also, props for mentioning something I was too afraid to - some boy bands could even blow a lot of today's vocalists out of the water. It's just become such a taboo to associate them with anything positive lately.Something about them being too commercial and "produced". I don't think most people realize its equally likely that the tousled haired singer also exists thanks to a commercial demand. ;)
precisely.:)
ReplyDeletehey Deb.
ReplyDeletedunno if you're a jazz person but you should check out stuff by esperanza spalding (if you haven't already).
this is a song called little fly (based on a poem by william blake)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHRTCjPonOw
she was the big upset at this year's grammys (best new artist). perhaps there's hope for good vocal music after all.:)