WaterInYourBath said:

DaniCalifornia said:

She's white and overweight. Nothing like you expected. Propably you have heard her music from radio without recognizing that voice belongs to Adele. IMO, Rolling in the deep is not that fresh as many people think. Gnarls Barkley's Crazy was fresh and Into deep reminds it a lot.

That's the first aspect the media always mentions when discussing Adele, which is why I don't think she'd be receiving this much attention if she was slim.

Actually, in my eyes she looks pretty normal. My only problem is, that her huge summer hit is now EVERYWHERE. I just came from my dance lession and our teachers made us dance SAMBA to Rolling Into Deep. It must be something in the water they drink...

^ Buy the album and skip Rolling, you'll be surprised. If not, oh well, it's not for you, I guess.

Unholyalliance said:

Gunsnhalen said:

Man even the good artists like Janelle & Adele get teared down on this bored for not having ''good voices'.

I don't know about a 'good voice,' but Adele sings 1000x better than Janelle Monae hands down. She is, at least, on key.

Agreed. Well not 1000x better but she is a superior vocalist. Range, control, pitch and excellent tone.

It's not even debateable at this point. Listen to any live clip of eithers....

mjscarousal said:

Unholyalliance said:

It's not about her singing voice, which I think is quite nice tbqh, but it's more of her technique. It is possible to sing a song and hit the notes correctly, especially when you are standing still and singing. If she can work on that I am pretty sure she will find way more success than she is right now, at least in the US. Right now I think she's all gimmick. Adele is less gimmicky and she sings better.

What makes you think she is all gimmick? The fact that when she does those great performances she is off key makes her gimmicky? Yea I agree sometimes she is off key when she performs but I dont understand how thats makes her all gimmick when her material obviously shows she is extremely talented, takes risks and is creative.

I can see how someone could see Janelle as gimicky. It's because everything she does over shadows the songwriting. I haven't heard a memorable, well written song from her yet, just flashy stuff. That's what many people look for in songs. Some people are just about the rhythm and those people could be enamoured wih Janelle. I for one though am waiting for a killer song to go with her killer performances. She is a SINGER after all, singing notes and not rapping.

That being said, I think Adele's songs leave something to be desired too. Amy had it all over her in the songwriting.

[Edited 9/22/11 11:45am]

.

[Edited 9/14/23 9:42am]

You trippin if you can't admit Adele is a very good vocalist.

You don't have to like her songs or her style to do that either.

nd33 said:

You trippin if you can't admit Adele is a very good vocalist.

You don't have to like her songs or her style to do that either.

People on this board complain about how there's no real singers anymore, then whenever some "real singer" does appear on the horizon and appear on the mainstream, people act like it's not good enough. They spent more time hating than appreciating something or at least finding something else that entertains them.

TotalAlisa said:

ButterscotchPimp said:

and your point?

Adele>98% of the crap that's out right now

please point out the money note, that she hit. How about listen to the Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston Duet then listen to Adele after.

she actually reminds me of Amy Whinehouse a little. I think they went to the same school

PLEASE tell me that you're kidding.

You are not with a straight face going to try and tell me that Mariah "9 million runs in a song must mean that I can sing" Carey and or Whitney "haven't been able to hit a high note since 1991" Houston are anywhere near a level of Adele who again CAN SING AND WRITE AND PLAY HER OWN SHIT.

Seriously. Stop.

Timmy84 said:

nd33 said:

You trippin if you can't admit Adele is a very good vocalist.

You don't have to like her songs or her style to do that either.

People on this board complain about how there's no real singers anymore, then whenever some "real singer" does appear on the horizon and appear on the mainstream, people act like it's not good enough. They spent more time hating than appreciating something or at least finding something else that entertains them.

Absolutely nothing!!!!!

ThreadBare said:

Chasing Pavements was overrated to me. But the woman's tone and technique get my attention. The gimmicky throwback production is OK. She Duffy and Winehouse might have gone too that well too many times, though. She'd be out-sung by most waitresses in Nashville, though. But that's usually the case.

Half the time who cares if someone can sing better then someone else. It's the personality, or the song itself or the production or image that people care about (or the songwriting but hey, this is pop music and most get co-writers in to do the ground work, not all, but most do).

1000's of people can sing great, but if you bring 0 charisma or originality etc.., then your just another good karoke singer or hopefully a session singer somewhere.

ButterscotchPimp said:

TotalAlisa said:

please point out the money note, that she hit. How about listen to the Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston Duet then listen to Adele after.

she actually reminds me of Amy Whinehouse a little. I think they went to the same school

PLEASE tell me that you're kidding.

You are not with a straight face going to try and tell me that Mariah "9 million runs in a song must mean that I can sing" Carey and or Whitney "haven't been able to hit a high note since 1991" Houston are anywhere near a level of Adele who again CAN SING AND WRITE AND PLAY HER OWN SHIT.

Seriously. Stop.

nd33 said:

mjscarousal said:

What makes you think she is all gimmick? The fact that when she does those great performances she is off key makes her gimmicky? Yea I agree sometimes she is off key when she performs but I dont understand how thats makes her all gimmick when her material obviously shows she is extremely talented, takes risks and is creative.

I can see how someone could see Janelle as gimicky. It's because everything she does over shadows the songwriting. I haven't heard a memorable, well written song from her yet, just flashy stuff. That's what many people look for in songs. Some people are just about the rhythm and those people could be enamoured wih Janelle. I for one though am waiting for a killer song to go with her killer performances. She is a SINGER after all, singing notes and not rapping.

That being said, I think Adele's songs leave something to be desired too. Amy had it all over her in the songwriting.

[Edited 9/22/11 11:45am]

Are you kidding me?

Sincerely Jane, Oh Maker, Locked Inside ??

There's nothing special about her.

mjscarousal said:

nd33 said:

I can see how someone could see Janelle as gimicky. It's because everything she does over shadows the songwriting. I haven't heard a memorable, well written song from her yet, just flashy stuff. That's what many people look for in songs. Some people are just about the rhythm and those people could be enamoured wih Janelle. I for one though am waiting for a killer song to go with her killer performances. She is a SINGER after all, singing notes and not rapping.

That being said, I think Adele's songs leave something to be desired too. Amy had it all over her in the songwriting.

[Edited 9/22/11 11:45am]

Are you kidding me?

Sincerely Jane, Oh Maker, Locked Inside ??

Just relistened to those three.

Sincerely Jane is pretty good and she's a good lyricist....

But Janelle's songs in general are just all so chaotic to me, and this is coming from someone who likes jazz. Doesn't make for memorable songs.

Maybe my songwriting standards are too high for what I like to listen to....

She's just so far off she doesn't register on the landscape of the great pop/r&b writers, people like:

Stevie Wonder

Steely Dan

Beatles

MJ

Elton John

Queen

Don't let me get you down though

^ You deserve a for comparing Janelle with the others.

Let her stand on the own and the legends too. And I wonder why I get tired of this side of the board sometimes. I love the legends too and call myself old school but folks can profess it overly over these parts!

[Edited 9/22/11 20:46pm]

nd33 said:

mjscarousal said:

Are you kidding me?

Sincerely Jane, Oh Maker, Locked Inside ??

Just relistened to those three.

Sincerely Jane is pretty good and she's a good lyricist....

But Janelle's songs in general are just all so chaotic to me, and this is coming from someone who likes jazz. Doesn't make for memorable songs.

Maybe my songwriting standards are too high for what I like to listen to....

She's just so far off she doesn't register on the landscape of the great pop/r&b writers, people like:

Stevie Wonder

Steely Dan

Beatles

MJ

Elton John

Queen

Don't let me get you down though

Oh trust my standards are high to and of course she doesnt compete with the greats. HOWEVER, Monae is a sunflower of talent in a ocean of donkeys... She is great at what she does and COMPARED to her peers she is a hell of lot more talented especially as an all around artist, she definitly deserves props.

thesexofit said:

What's so great about her?

She could sing.

ThreadBare said:

thesexofit said:

Half the time who cares if someone can sing better then someone else. It's the personality, or the song itself or the production or image that people care about (or the songwriting but hey, this is pop music and most get co-writers in to do the ground work, not all, but most do).

1000's of people can sing great, but if you bring 0 charisma or originality etc.., then your just another good karoke singer or hopefully a session singer somewhere.

I've seen some stellar singing waitresses here. I'm not sure how familiar you are with entertainment cities. But there's no shortage of charisma or stage presence here. In fact, "name" artists and/or their background singers can be spotted here... er, sometimes doing session work. But I digress... Saw Adele perform C.P. on SNL. Was bored to tears by her performance, singing and the song itself. And I'm one generally annoyed by vocal acrobatics. I think Adele is just OK. I'm glad she's around but I don't ascribe superlatives to her.

I see your point, and infact Iam not a fan of hers either really. Just saying its abit obvious to say theres people in Nashville (which is known worldwide as a very musical city) that could sing rings around her. Of course alot of them could. Adele came in on the Amy Winehouse bandwagon. Personally I dont see anything unique about her either, so maybe its the songs? I dont like the singles much but obviously they have struck a chord with some people?

As I said, Iam surprised the US has taken to her. Maybe her record label really pushed her in the US market this year who knows? Why wasn't Alison moyet big in America LOL? Timing, luck, marketing. For some reason, it has worked for her this year. Will it last? Who knows, but she won't reach this sales heights again I imagine

thesexofit said:

ThreadBare said:

thesexofit said: I've seen some stellar singing waitresses here. I'm not sure how familiar you are with entertainment cities. But there's no shortage of charisma or stage presence here. In fact, "name" artists and/or their background singers can be spotted here... er, sometimes doing session work. But I digress... Saw Adele perform C.P. on SNL. Was bored to tears by her performance, singing and the song itself. And I'm one generally annoyed by vocal acrobatics. I think Adele is just OK. I'm glad she's around but I don't ascribe superlatives to her.

I see your point, and infact Iam not a fan of hers either really. Just saying its abit obvious to say theres people in Nashville (which is known worldwide as a very musical city) that could sing rings around her. Of course alot of them could. Adele came in on the Amy Winehouse bandwagon. Personally I dont see anything unique about her either, so maybe its the songs? I dont like the singles much but obviously they have struck a chord with some people?

As I said, Iam surprised the US has taken to her. Maybe her record label really pushed her in the US market this year who knows? Why wasn't Alison moyet big in America LOL? Timing, luck, marketing. For some reason, it has worked for her this year. Will it last? Who knows, but she won't reach this sales heights again I imagine

Surprised? This is what this country loves mayne!

nd33 said:

mjscarousal said:

Are you kidding me?

Sincerely Jane, Oh Maker, Locked Inside ??

Just relistened to those three.

Sincerely Jane is pretty good and she's a good lyricist....

But Janelle's songs in general are just all so chaotic to me, and this is coming from someone who likes jazz. Doesn't make for memorable songs.

Maybe my songwriting standards are too high for what I like to listen to....

She's just so far off she doesn't register on the landscape of the great pop/r&b writers, people like:

Stevie Wonder

Steely Dan

Beatles

MJ

Elton John

Queen

Don't let me get you down though

Most of those people took 5 to 10 years to become good songwriters.

dalsh327 said:

mjscarousal said:

You mean James Brown moves??

I understand where your coming from but correct me if I'm wrong but what I got from your last post was that she sales here gimmick MORE than her talent and music which is completely not true. I can name 5 other artists that sales a gimmick MORE than their music.

Shes talented and she makes pretty good music. To me, she seems to sale that more and care about that more than her image. Because if she did just care about saling a gimmick her music would reflect that but it doesnt.

I don't really know how to explain it, so I will just try to be as honest as possible:

I think that even though you say that, I find her music to be weak overall. I don't think her singing is up to par with even Adele's. There are plenty of shit terrible singers who have had great songs. Imo, Janelle's lack something to make them memorable. I don't know if it's the lack of good hooks in the songs themselves or the fact that she is all over the place when she's singing. When she does the latter it really messes up the song, for me, at least. It also reflects poorly on her ability as a vocalist.

When people talk about her though, it's about her looks, her gimmick. She dresses quirky and her music, imo, is also quirky. Her music reflects the image she is selling imo. Her album is supposed to be embracing sci-fi themes which is different & quirky, if not slightly nerdy, for an aritst. That being said though, I just don't think that her music is as strong as her look. Her look is way more appealing than her music. That is a very bad thing.

Even with Adele, yeah she's white and a big girl, but she wasn't selling that as far as I knew. She was just singing blues/country inspired songs. Rolling in the Deep is a very strong song and it's memorable. Even Lady Gaga, with all of her crazy fashion and clothes who sells a gimmick just by breathing has the songs to back her crazy shit up. No one had even really heard of her even though she was still wearing some interesting clothes back when she first started, but it was her songs that got her noticed. (Her earlier work was really weak.) Her gimmicks are what keeps her in the public's eye at all times though. Even Janet is not that great of a singer, but she still had great songs.

Prince and Michael Jackson are notorious for their gimmicks, but they still had the music to back them up. Yeah Prince had a very hyper-sexualized image back in the day and he will forever be assciated with purple, but people still can still remember and swear by a lot of his great songs. With MJ it's the glove, the moonwalk, the military style jackets, and a whole plethora of things, but people will still mention the music. Rhianna sells sex. Rhianna isn't even that strong of a singer and I doubt she even has any role in creating music, but you know what? That girl has some really good music attached to her name. Same with Britney Spears who has a very influential album under her belt and one of the most memorable songs of the late 90s early 2000s. You can disagree with that, personally, but that is the truth of the matter.

With Janelle everyone talks about her look and how she's not selling sex as a female, but they barely mention her work, if ever. Imo, her songs are meh, as they are missing something essential. Her look, otoh, is far more interesting than her work as it gets mentioned constantly and it's been very influential.

I'm not even going to get into how she is butchering those dance moves though...

[Edited 9/24/11 5:56am]

Timmy84 said:

nd33 said:

You trippin if you can't admit Adele is a very good vocalist.

You don't have to like her songs or her style to do that either.

People on this board complain about how there's no real singers anymore, then whenever some "real singer" does appear on the horizon and appear on the mainstream, people act like it's not good enough. They spent more time hating than appreciating something or at least finding something else that entertains them.

I think people now just choose to say someone is a bad singer if they don't like their material or the person itself. If you really want to hear a bad singer, here you go:

As for Janelle, I tend to think of her as a much better performer than songwriter. Seeing her live is much better than listening to her CD, imho. Although i think she has written some amazing songs (Cold War anybody?) her CDs tend to be a bit self indulgent for my taste.

Ok, first I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only not really going crazy for Adele's music. I think sometimes certain soul singers are pushed because they are not black (please don't get angry, keep reading here). In other words, Adele is no Jill Scott, not even close but the good thing about Adele is that yes, she can sing, she obviously knows music and isn't as gimmicky. I think sometimes people get so "used to" terrible "singers" (think Rihanna, Katy Perry, Beyawnce) that when there's someone who comes along who isn't like that, they seem much better than perhaps what they really are.

That Rolling in the Deep song comes on during a commercial promoting a new CW show this season and this promo would air for EVERY SINGLE COMMERCIAL BREAK and so I quickly got sick of the song and never want to hear it again. Adele is a throwback but is she going to hold everyone's interest for a long time? Sadly, I think her record label is perhaps capitalizing off Amy W's death...

As far as Janelle goes, I really tried to like her but it seems like all her songs (that I've heard) sound alike and too far-reaching. I also think her attempt to brand her image by having the same look over and over again is what makes her seem redundant, she really should change it up a bit. Maybe even change genres of music to more rock or something would be more appropriate.

[Edited 9/24/11 6:44am]

RKJCNE said:

Timmy84 said:

People on this board complain about how there's no real singers anymore, then whenever some "real singer" does appear on the horizon and appear on the mainstream, people act like it's not good enough. They spent more time hating than appreciating something or at least finding something else that entertains them.

I think people now just choose to say someone is a bad singer if they don't like their material or the person itself. If you really want to hear a bad singer, here you go:

As for Janelle, I tend to think of her as a much better performer than songwriter. Seeing her live is much better than listening to her CD, imho. Although i think she has written some amazing songs (Cold War anybody?) her CDs tend to be a bit self indulgent for my taste.

Watch some people try to make excuses for William's ass. But I tend to agree. As for Janelle's material, doesn't hurt to see she's ambitious. Maybe she'll focus on a simple concept next album or at least the one after her final concept album about the "androids" lol

chamber said:

Every other year, the music industry finds some dowdy, decidely unsexy, underdog female singer, who is as pedestrian as sin, to rally behind and exploit in a bid to seem less shallow and more 'credible' than the year before. Susan Boyle, Amy Winehouse, Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones, Paula Cole, Joan Osbourne, etc., etc. Adele is just the latest in a long line of middle-of-the-road 'Plain Jane' coffee-house singers who the industry is trying to play Cinderella with for 15 minutes.

I'm not at all convinced that Adele isn't some passing fad, and that the majority of her 'fans' aren't lemmings who like her simply because she's 'the one to like' this year. That many of the comments supporting her have as much to do with her supposedly being 'refreshing' because she's isn't model-esque or sexy as her music tells me that it's as much about "image" for her supporters as it is about any other female singer.

[Edited 9/21/11 17:14pm]

Well, I don't care what she looks like. I never care what any artist looks like. If I dig the music, I dig it. If they happen to be as jawdroppingly handsome/sexy as Prince, that's just a bonus.

Actually, I wasn't aware that Adele was getting much media attention. I just remember seeing the video for Chasing Pavements late night on VH1 a couple of years ago, and it just stuck with me. I immediately went and purchased her album afterward, and found myself really liking several of the songs on 19. I loved Rolling in the Deep, the first single from 21, and went out and purchased that album as well. I don't think Adele is the greatest singer of all time, but I like her voice literally and figuratively when it comes to what she is writing/singing about.

As for the other Brit singers mentioned on this thread, I have NEVER liked Joss Stones' voice, style, or music. I haven't paid Duffy any attention. I liked some of Amy's stuff, but thought she was overrated and was done listening to her when I saw the video of her singing the racist soccer song. No one mentioned Estelle, but she is another Brit singer on the scene now, and I find her absolutely boring.

Mdizzles said:

Timmy84 said:

People on this board complain about how there's no real singers anymore, then whenever some "real singer" does appear on the horizon and appear on the mainstream, people act like it's not good enough. They spent more time hating than appreciating something or at least finding something else that entertains them.

OT - Thanks for this GIF, Dwayne is looking mighty fine in it!