Over-singing and loosing the melody in a wave of unnecessary runs would have been one thing, but Christina added insult to already battered ears by mixing up the words for the American National Anthem. Gasp!
However, I'm not going to be posting the Superbowl performance and instead, to balance out the universe and spread some positivity, I thought I would send out some love for the singer by creating a post which highlights some of her better live performances.
Perhaps it'll remind people why she is considered the voice of a generation by many.
You Lost me (live on Vh1 story tellers): This performance demonstrates, during the verses, how soft and sweet Christina's voice can sound in its low to mid range. Her control over this part of the range is great, and the tone and timbre of her voice is exquisite.
Beautiful Live at AOL session: A relaxed and dressed down Christina Aguilera leaves it to her voice to impress.
(The following videos I've created separate posts for previously but as one illustrates Christina's best vocal and the other her best live routine they had to be included.)
Lift Me up (Hope For Haiti benefit): Perfectly executed vocals that keep Christina's chest belting almost entirely within her comfortable range, thus creating a pleasurable and breathtaking listening experience.
Bionic/ Not myself tonight/ Woohoo medley (at the Mtv music awards): Finally here is Christina Aguilera the consummate performer. A brilliant and well executed musical production that displayed her ability to sing and perform at the same time. This amazing performance should have lifted sales of the Bionic album.
I have to admit, when she stays in her range she can be amazing.
ReplyDeleteWish I could sing like her. Best vocalist period!
ReplyDeleteShe does have an amazing voice but uses too many melissimas & runs as well as often changes lyrics/words. Seriously though as someone who did sing the US anthem A LOT as a "choir kid" (including once as part of a kids choir at the Superbowl [XIX]) it really irritates me when Americans don't know the anthem, other countries have harder anthems & still the majority know the lyrics by heart! Not so here :'(
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ReplyDeleteSome fantastic performances here. Christina has had a tough time recently, and hopefully thing will settle for her soon. When she's hot, she's smoking!
ReplyDeleteyou are her worst fan ever. lift me up was the only good preformance here. this is her best preformance.
ReplyDelete1-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg3wyv5iflk
2-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJX27o7v0A4
3-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEmdn9G9hDo
4-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb-2mgr46hA
5-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igFHsUTNqsE
1-it's man's world grammys
ReplyDelete2-impossible today show
3-beautiful on ellen
4-hurt rockefeller centre
5-ain't no other man mtv
I think this is why there is so much confusion amongst Christina fans. One set love the over the top vocals, the other think its done at the expense of the song and her voice. Let me try explain why I didn't choose those songs:
ReplyDeleteThe performances you've linked to contain some of the reasons why I don't like Christina. Mans world probably has one of her biggest cracks in it when she reaches for her
2) Impossible has her tone sounding weaker and thinner than usual. The lustre of her voice is present in the lower range, but is missing on the top notes, that sound pulled. She also finishes the song with a clichéd unnecessary, showy vocal run.
3) Beautiful: I can not believe how much her tone has changed from here to her most recent live voice in Moves Like Jagger. Although I can see what the performance was going for with its simplistic backing ,it comes off flat and contrived to me. Also the loose and unstructured vocal doesn't do a show-boating singer like Christina any favours as it gives her way too much space to fill with ad libbing, and as such she resorts to her usual vocal ticks--that are never really sympathetic to the song hence them usually being the same whenever she does then. Its a bad habit that even Linda Perry- who worked on the original track- didn't like and would stop the recording every times Christina started to do them. She then commits one of my cardinal vocal sins, singing " NO NO NO NO , YEES" . (3.26 sec)
4)It's a man's world: This is probably the most divisive Christina video out there amongst fans. One set of her fans LOVE it, the other- me included- hate it. To me, it show the worst qualities- which some think are the good parts- of her singing: out of control melisma, hollering and the most almighty crack in the voice at 2.03 is symbolic of her overextending her range via bad technique.
5) Hurt:This was a nice performances though I found the fluctuating dynamics a bit much. The contrast between her soft head voice and the bombastic chest voice is too much and It shows she's shouting those top notes out. A great singer learns to control dynamics without having to move the mic further from their mouth. The timing was out in places too.
6)ain't no other man: I actually loved this performance. This shows her voice working in the context of the music and in great condition- though there is some yelling. That opening slide was brilliant. The other performances had Christina trying too hard to prove she is a "vocalist", but her voice works best when she's not trying too hard to prove a point and is working with the production instead of trying to outshine it.
I'm sure there will be tons of fans who will love your suggestions and call me a non-fan, but whatever. I don't need to lie about liking someone if I don't. Thanks for your suggestions. Its shows just how subjective music is.
this performance is better then all the others you put here (except lift me up).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DlaZ4jRmkI&feature=player_embedded
That was a great performance, I'd never seen it before!
ReplyDeletewhen in her comfort range is her best .just like lift me up
ReplyDeleteThis is the most outstanding performance of Hurt she has ever performed and is the closest she has ever been to doing a song exactly like the recording. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjgi15EaSnU&feature=g-all&context=G2622c60FAAAAAAAAAAA
ReplyDeleteuggh she knows what she needs to work on yet she doesn't
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic! I also love how Letterman makes his guests actually sing live...I wish it was shown over here, I would definitely tune in!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIoPIBl_1Cg
ReplyDeleteSomos Novios with Andrea Bocelli. But I'm sure you'll find some tiny flaw in her voice too (like she's shouting or whatever)
To me, her voice is strong and clear. Unmatched.
What about I Loves You Porgy?
ReplyDeleteHer best performance, without a doubt for me, was "I am Ok" on VH1 Storytellers
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUxn5WpYX7o