Comments on: Is Mariah Carey's Voice Just Done For?

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:29:03 +0000

Nothing against her personally but I hate what her influence has done to pop and r&b singing these days. Watch American Idol and they're all doing these stupid vocal gymnastics with little trills and frills and runs everywhere while ignoring the bloody tune. And the show encourages this nonsense too.

By: VoxPopuli

VoxPopuli — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:06:16 +0000

I thought Jennifer Hudson was great. In fact, I just listened to it again to see if I was just remembering it better than it was, but I think she did well. The voiceover at the end was creepy, but that's not her doing.
Frankly, I always thought MJ's vocals on that song were too thin, so I thought she improved on the original. No offense to the dead!

By: VoxPopuli

VoxPopuli — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:59:40 +0000

The Emancipation of Mimi's Voice

By: skizdi

skizdi — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:02:30 +0000

Okay, so she does sound AWFUL, like she's all strangled and dry and like her vocal chords have been irresponsibly ravaged by years of SINGING THROUGH THEM.

BUT! If Liza can do it, so can she! See 8 mins 5 sec: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cr6h5fFEjI

Right? Right?

By: SarahHeartburn

SarahHeartburn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:46:34 +0000

As a non singer who loves to sing and has taken a lot of lessons: voices need a lot of warming up, more as you get older, emotions really do choke you up, and sadness really screws up a voice. I can't sing a note when I'm depressed or tense. and this was no ordinary funeral.

By: SarahHeartburn

SarahHeartburn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:34:38 +0000

My voice teacher said that she really has or had in her youth, a 4 octave range, and that her falsetto is (was)not like a normal falsetto – it was basically her upper register. But this was, uh, 12 years ago?

By: josh_speed

josh_speed — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:48:50 +0000

Interesting! So if one learns 'tricks' to surmount one's 'weaknesses', which in fact produce wonderful sounds, are they still weaknesses?

And Choire: a second question, less rhetorical: if one damages one's vocal chords, are they possible to rehab/repair at all? Seems to me that Julie Andrews is the living illustration of the answer being no. [sad.]

By: resipsaloquacious

resipsaloquacious — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:21:38 +0000

Choire, Quack to the Stars.

By: kitten_witawip

kitten_witawip — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:18:22 +0000

I just listened to that again and I would also bet that that was not arranged for her and that they used an old Jackson arrangement for the orchestra. I could be crazy though.

Oh boy, that Lexulous stuff looks highly addictive.

By: Abe Sauer

Abe Sauer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:11:43 +0000

Related: anyone see tommy motolla making the teevee rounds? Dude used to look like shiny cigars and limo cocaine; now he's getting that wrinkly thin old man look, like a dried fig in a suit.

By: mathnet

mathnet — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:07:19 +0000

If she'd started bawling, I'd understand.

But ignore me though; I'm just cranky because the boy I like owes me a Lexulous word.

By: kitten_witawip

kitten_witawip — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:03:45 +0000

Any musician will tell you there is a difference between knowing a piece and being able to perform it.

Anyway, I am cutting them all some slack for the occasion and the early hour. I was also underwhelmed by Jennifer Hudson's performance. But I, perhaps naively, think that most of the performers were deeply saddened by MJ's passing.

By: katiebakes

katiebakes — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:58:47 +0000

Good point, as anyone who has ever ignorantly selected a Mimi song at karaoke and subsequently destroyed friendships and/or windows can attest to.

By: katiebakes

katiebakes — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:56:11 +0000

Dreams are hard to follow, Choire. She won't let you or anyone take them away.

Hold on, Mariah. There will be tomorrow. In time we'll find a way.

But yeah, those final notes at the end yesterday made me wince, particularly because Mariah Carey's voice provided the soundtrack to approximately 95% of my middle-school era slow dances.

By: mathnet

mathnet — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:51:10 +0000

She knows that song. It sounded as if she hadn't warmed up. At all. In decades.

By: kitten_witawip

kitten_witawip — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:50:13 +0000

I don't think anyone performed all that great yesterday. No one really had all that much time to rehearse material that was not part of their repertoire in addition to it not being the most joyous occasion.

By: sunnyciegos

sunnyciegos — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:46:06 +0000

When I was a teenager, I decided the reason I wasnâ€™t Mariah-crazed was because you simply couldnâ€™t sing along with her songs, not even â€œHoneyâ€ or â€œAlways Be My Baby.â€ (Any Weezer song would do just nicely.)

So while I was never really a big fan, I was admittedly a bit sad when it was obvious she was lip-synching â€œTouch My Bodyâ€ in her various appearances last year. One of the worldâ€™s genuine vocal talents, reduced to auto-tune. Itâ€™s a shame.

By: brianvan

brianvan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:44:47 +0000

I watched that first clip without reading the title, and thought, "Well, not only does she look great but she sounds just fine!"

Whoops.

Then I saw the Jackson tribute clip, and basically, it's all over. She has Ashlee's voice now.

By: mathnet

mathnet — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:42:13 +0000

His falsetto is clearer and more pleasing than her trademark high-pitched sounds ever were. Major irreparable harm here. And not just to my ears.