I may not have this anecdote exactly right but close enough to make the point I think.
uhh I kind of understand where Dan is coming from, elsewhere I had an argument w/ someone who claimed that the new Nelly Furtado single was better than Aaliyah's entire catalogue and I found this kind of ridiculous; of course they can prefer any song to any other if they want to, but the comparison still seemed to 'miss the point' of aaliyah's approach, which is a much more subtle vocal performance; where Nelly F. is about melody, Aaliyah is melody AND interpretation/style (i'm generalizing, really both artists do both but I think Aaliyah has more of a balance). Not that there's anything wrong with ignoring Aaliyah's subtle qualities, if you prefer the sleek production and cool melody-aspect of the new Furtado single thats cool, but to compare it to Aaliyah's entire catalogue just because its timbaland+singer misses some very significant aspects of R&B performance that I think are integral to MY appreciation of R&B.
uh i have no idea if that made sense.
― deej (deej), Thursday, 14 December 2006 15:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rodney and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay (Rodney J. Greene), Thursday, 14 December 2006 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matt Cibula (Formerly, the Haikunym), Thursday, 14 December 2006 17:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rodney and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay (Rodney J. Greene), Thursday, 14 December 2006 18:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matt Cibula (Formerly, the Haikunym), Thursday, 14 December 2006 18:14 (seventeen years ago) link
I've actually started listening to Loose again and noticing how nuanced some of the performances are
100% OTM; given the way everyone on ILM bigged up the club tracks and bashed everything that was ballady or mid-tempo, I was shocked both at how consistently good that whole album is AND by how much of a vocal an emotional chameleon Nelly is on the album (the vocals on "Showtime" sound like a completely different person from what she's doing on "Te Busque", which is totally different from "Say It Right" which is distinct from "Promiscuous" which sounds nothing like "Maneater", etc).
The Aaliyah comparison is interesting because I think both Aaliyaha and Tweet had much stronger vocal presence than Ciara (with Tweet being the strongest). My biggest problem with Ciara is that I feel like she's a completely uninteresting cypher; my enjoyment of her songs are solely tied to how much I like the beat as opposed to anything she's doing.
(The Marvin Gaye story falls down somewhat in this context when you remember that Marvin Gaye was a phenomenally flexible singer who did a bunch of different songs in a bunch of different styles, both strong and tender, whereas Ciara has made the beginnings of her career by singing every song put out for the public like Sade vocalizing into a pillow.)
― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Thursday, 14 December 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― deej (deej), Thursday, 14 December 2006 18:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Thursday, 14 December 2006 19:01 (seventeen years ago) link
And, y'know, obviously good vocal performance is a huge part of R&B and it goes towards why Teedra Moses > Aaliyah > Ciara. On a song by song basis though there's no necessary reason why vocal chops will push someone further over the line.
― Tim F (Tim F), Friday, 15 December 2006 23:52 (seventeen years ago) link