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Post by Matt on Dec 14, 2014 14:02:02 GMT -5
Pretty fascinating this. I have been conscious of this over the last five or so years, and try to only see artists that I am near-sure are going to be performing live, and why I have so much respect for Mariah, Kylie, Elton, Whitney (RIP) (who have been around before 'Autotune') and any of the Idols/X-Factors, to name a few. Celine performed live when I saw her (as she was sick at the time), as did Garbage, Aqua, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Kelly Clarkson, Mandy Moore, Stacie Orrico, Pink, Mariah and Carrie Underwood (Or at least they fooled me well if that wasn't live). Artists who I'm near-sure mimed were Hilary Duff and One Direction, although it's hard to tell sometimes. Justin Bieber did some live, and some mimed, I believe. I'm such a critic at live gigs though! I absolutely refused to see Britney for that reason, although she only got caught out miming. I only knew for sure that Whitney and Mariah were live because of the critics saying how BAD their tours were (although I saw Mariah and, just, WOW). Katy Perry deliberately gets caught out miming and makes a joke out of it, which hey, is entertainment! This video is pretty eye-opening though, and it's a shame it's gone so far. We're all gonna have to stan for Indie artists soon
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Post by Jason on Dec 14, 2014 21:53:09 GMT -5
I have mixed feelings about lip synching. I feel like it's a necessary evil for live performances where there's a lot of complicated choreography to perform. During a mid-tempo or up-tempo song, who's just going to stand there on stage like a statue? That would be boring. But for slower songs, I think one should definitely sing live. I wholeheartedly believe that every single performer who has to do choreography does lip synch at some point in their live performance (though not necessarily the WHOLE show), even the people Matt listed above. I think most people know what they're getting when they buy tickets to see someone like Britney Spears live. Hearing the type of music she makes, it's kind of naive for anyone to think she could actually perform them live considering the amount of electronic effects you can hear have been applied to the song even when you hear it on the radio. The preceding opinion is predicated, of course, on the idea that the person lip synching can actually sing in the first place.
My issue is that the music industry has become very image-driven. You HAVE to be attractive. In some cases, it doesn't matter if you have a perfect voice. If you look homely, plain, or even just "average," you might as well be tone deaf, because you're most likely (aside from a few exceptions) not going to get a recording contract. I'm certain some of today's popular artists have gotten a record deal because they have "a marketable look" and the people at the record label have decided that they can make them sound good. It shouldn't be that way, but it's become a standard in the industry...and in a way, we're all to blame for it with all of our trash talk about the way some artists look. I don't think this aspect of the industry will change.
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Post by JessieLou on Dec 14, 2014 22:52:40 GMT -5
My issue is that the music industry has become very image-driven. You HAVE to be attractive. In some cases, it doesn't matter if you have a perfect voice. If you look homely, plain, or even just "average," you might as well be tone deaf, because you're most likely (aside from a few exceptions) not going to get a recording contract. I'm certain some of today's popular artists have gotten a record deal because they have "a marketable look" and the people at the record label have decided that they can make them sound good. It shouldn't be that way, but it's become a standard in the industry...and in a way, we're all to blame for it with all of our trash talk about the way some artists look. I don't think this aspect of the industry will change. agreed with this SO much.
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Post by Matt on Dec 15, 2014 10:54:26 GMT -5
I love how bitchy Elton John is in the above video when accepting the award for 'Best Live Artist' and he bags the shit out of Madonna for her nomination, "Madonna?! Best live act? Pffft, give me a ******** break! Since when is lip-syncing LIVE?" But as you alluded to, Jason, Elton isn't exactly the type of artist to swing himself around the stage to choreography, is he? He'd rather sit at a piano and wear really crazy sunglasses and a top-hat and let his voice command the show. Madonna on the other hand has physical choreography throughout the entire gig. Someone who I found fascinating watching live was Pink. I will assume I'm not the only one here whom has seen her live a few times, but I am sure that she did both - choreography (ie, swinging upside down, doing flips around the venue in the air) whilst belting out her songs live. I, and the whole audience, were just mesmerized by her! You could hear her catching her breath sometimes, but she was very professional and had the mic away from her after a song. It's only because I've become so critical that I notice these things. She is by far Australia's most famous live act these days (IMHO), and usually travels around the country three times to make sure everyone gets a chance to see her (and takes $14 Million from the country in the process). I mean, what other artist spends 3 months in one country?? As for artists looking attractive, I do mostly agree. I mean, definitely the boy bands aiming for the 'Tweenage' market and all their songs involving the word 'Girl' and 'You' to make them feel special. Pink wears very little on stage, and looks incredible. She has a massive lesbian following here I feel Katy Perry and Britney are perfect examples of looks-marketing. Looking at my current Top 10, all of them would be considered marketable artists based on looks. Unsure on 'Blue October' though And, at the risk of sounding like a judgemental cow, there are certain artists (as you also said) that come to mind for me as just being purely talented without the need for their looks, such as Meghan Trainor (jury's still out on that one haha), Macy Gray, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Sia (who has always said she'd rather be a sound than a sight) and Sam Smith for example (Oh sorry, there's that trash-talk). And most of those black-rappers look like they've smoked way too much meth (Oh, sorry again) but always seem to still be dominating the charts
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Post by JessieLou on Dec 15, 2014 14:32:33 GMT -5
I love Elton John to death and this isn't a dig at him, but seriously, what is all of this about Madonna lipsyncing? I mean, she's obviously done it before - like at the Superbowl (although you kind of have to there), and the 1990 VMA's, but I used to be a crazy ass Madonna fan who watched her live all the time and most of the time she sang live. She's definitely not one of the worst offenders.
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Post by Cody on Dec 15, 2014 23:08:37 GMT -5
As Fry from Futurama would say: "I thought the music industry was real like pro wrestling. Instead, it's fake like pro boxing "
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