"singing" the Superbowl

[devilsadvocate]

I don't take offense, but I have to say I got irritated by Christina Aguilera's over sung version of the Star Spangled Banner at the Superbowl. I can forgive her missing or mumbling words, unprofessional as it was, but did she really have to use every note in the scale for each word? ( "see" has one syllable, not 20) I'm not a fan of her music, but she has an incredible voice, can be a chillingly good live performer and could have pulled off an awesome version, but instead decided to to be a self important diva.

Rosanne Barr's version grated less Actually I've stood next to quite a few people that sing it exactly like that without realizing how bad they sound.
On the other hand, the Black Eyed Peas appear to have the vocal talent of a herd of elephants when it comes to live performances and yet I confess I found myself pleasantly entertained
Eddie Izzard suggested we should just confirm and deny when we sing the National Anthem, on a related note he should stick to live performance and give up the acting




And yes I did intentionally put this in the drawing room

[IdolEyes787]

As Ricky Gervais said of his Golden Globe performance , " That's what I do , if you didn't want that then you really shouldn't have hired me".
Honestly ( presumably) knowing what you do of her and having seen the type of performances that she has excreted on The Grammys among other places , did you actually expect Aguilera not to over-sing and totally butcher the song?

Anyway the Super Bowl is so over-blown to the point of self parody already if anything I found that type of rendition to be truly fitting.

[megabyteme]

Speaking of heards...I've never understood the people who get excited to watch commercials. They are commercials, and nothing to look forward to. Big budgets, and all, people have been suckered into believing that it is a national phenomenom to watch AND discuss these.

Stupid people.

[clocker]

That type of "singing"- there's a technical term which I forget- is endemic these days.
My guess is that the performers can't actually hit any note properly, so they slide all over the place hoping to find it eventually.

As for Aguilera's performance in specific...I can't imagine not preparing for a performance that will be seen by a billion people.
I wonder if there was a clause in her contract that stipulated she didn't have to learn all the words.
'Cause, like, words are hard, man.

[IdolEyes787]

I read an article on that exact point saying that if anything ,besides the fact that they are incredibly familiar, the words to the U.S. national anthem should be among the hardest to get wrong because that "tell" a linear story.
Also it's not it was just some schmuck off the street up there singing, overwhelmed by nerves or anything.

[devilsadvocate]

As Ricky Gervais said of his Golden Globe performance , " That's what I do , if you didn't want that then you really shouldn't have hired me".
Honestly ( presumably) knowing what you do of her and having seen the type of performances that she has excreted on The Grammys among other places , did you actually expect Aguilera not to over-sing and totally butcher the song?

Anyway the Super Bowl is so over-blown to the point of self parody already if anything I found that type of rendition to be truly fitting.

I didn't hire her. If it were up to me I'd have one of the local school honor choirs lead the whole stadium in singing.

As for her other performances I can't say I watch things like the grammys, I have on occasion seen her sing her own songs live (on TV)

[devilsadvocate]

That type of "singing"- there's a technical term which I forget- is endemic these days.
My guess is that the performers can't actually hit any note properly, so they slide all over the place hoping to find it eventually.

As for Aguilera's performance in specific...I can't imagine not preparing for a performance that will be seen by a billion people.
I wonder if there was a clause in her contract that stipulated she didn't have to learn all the words.
'Cause, like, words are hard, man.

You're probably right for the most part, but Aguilera actually has an extremely talented singing voice.

It seems that mediocre singers like the Black eyed peas do well because of the showmanship and not their singing talent, yet talented singers like Aguilera ruin it by showing off. Yes we all know you have a fantastic vocal range, we don't need a sound test with every song.

[clocker]

... Aguilera actually has an extremely talented singing voice.

That may well be (I'm not familiar with her catalog) but, judging by yesterday's performance, she doesn't know how to use it.

When I first started racing, a future world champion told me that the difference between the fast guys and the winners is that the winners know how (and when) to go slow.
Same with singers, me thinks.
It's fine to have chops, just save them for that special moment...a whole song of "diva moments" is just too much.

My yardstick is the Welsh version of "Silent Night" by Enya (oh, shut up).
She hits every note perfectly, no sliding into or out of...it's eerily beautiful.

Personally, I blame American Idol.


For everything.

[IdolEyes787]

That type of "singing"- there's a technical term which I forget- is endemic these days.

Not the proper technical term but it's called doing runs which is kind of apropos seeing as it resembles vocal diarrhea .

[clocker]

To me, the horrific part of Christina Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem -- and "rendition" is an apt term for it, because she kidnapped the song and shipped it out to be tortured -- was not her mangling of the words, but her mangling of the tune itself: to paraphrase the great Chuck Berry, she "lost the beauty (such as it is) of the melody until it sounds just like a (godawful) symphony."

This is the same grotesque style -- 17 different notes for every vocal syllable -- that has so dominated the pop and R&B charts for years. Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston are relatively minor offenders, but singers like Aguilera -- who admittedly possesses a great instrument -- just don't seem to know when to stop, turning each song into an Olympic sport as they drain it of its implicit soul, as if running through the entire scale on every single word was somehow a token of sincerity.

It's called melisma -- the bending of syllables for bluesy or soulful effect -- and what's especially creepy about the way it's used now is that it perverts America's true genius for song, as evinced by its creators in the world of gospel and R&B, like Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.

You will hear more of this tonsil-twisting insincerity -- to your eternal sorrow -- if you watch any episode of American Idol.

The great Jerry Wexler -- who produced both Ray and Aretha -- coined a great term for it: "oversouling." He described it as "the gratuitous and confected melisma" that hollows out a song and drains it of meaning. Wexler, who knew more about soul than any producer before or since, said:

"Time and again I have found that flagrantly artificial attempts at melisma are either a substitute for real fire and passion or a cover-up for not knowing the melody... Please, learn the song first, and then sing it from the heart."

And Christina, he wasn't referring to the words.

So, the word is "melisma".