Now, Lana, you know I love your sound, your recording voice, and your ability to write an engaging song. In fact your album, Born To Die, is still up there with my favourite releases of the year. I've also tried to see the positives in all your shaky, live performances. After all, you are a new artist. But your latest rendition of Blue Jeans on The Voice was just so bad I'm not even going to try defending it.
You are supposed to be getting better with all the practice, not worse!
I fucken love this girl but...I don't even have the words...Why was she trying to sing so deep???
ReplyDeleteI found it not that bad, vocally... well maybe i'm wrong, don't know, but i saw worse from her. And, well... i think the judges intimidated her.
ReplyDeleteHa! Short and pithy, DD!
ReplyDeleteI have already said this in the chatbox, but...
1.Too much reverb, creating that swimmy sound
2. Awful Diction on her part
3. They have her vocal too low in the mix. What was the sound engineer thinking?!
Also my boyfriend (who had never heard of her before) turned to me at one point and said "I've not got a word of this so far!" lol!
ReplyDeleteLana is like Rihanna, in a way. The vocal quirks that give them such amazingly unique, successful recording voices also mean that they are terrible live performers. They are on the borderline between being singers and non-singers.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a general thing with her, she isn't entirely comfortable in front of crowds that aren't fans. Either she needs to work on this, and move past it, or just stick to recording records/making videos and singing when and where she feels comfortable. These sketchy performances are doing her more damage than good.
ReplyDeleteI watched it yesterday and couldn't quite believe what i was seeing. I was praying it would get better but it didn't. :( I was considering mentioning you in the post, but i thought perhaps you'd seen the light regarding her (recording) greatness....
ReplyDeleteIt's just sad that her cd is so amazing. She appears to make such effort to sound deep that ruins the lyrics and makes impossible to understand what's she's singing.
ReplyDeleteShe gave this performance some days ago > http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NC4CjG7OvBQ thoughts?
ReplyDeleteisn't that the same performance?
ReplyDeleteThat's the same performance.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was awesome.
ReplyDeleteHer voice is so unstable because she is forcing her low notes which is in the range she likes to sing in the most. Its a shame. She has so much potential but she won't get there until she sings the way thats best for her voice.
ReplyDeleteDoes she has singing lessons? I imagine that her producers have spent so much time and money with her, I believe that through lessons she could get better control of her breathing and vocal range. She has so much potential! Just makes me sad when I see her embarrassing herself like this.
ReplyDeleteShe sounds as if Madonna was her coach... did she swallow a ball or something?
ReplyDeleteShe said she sings low because people take her more seriously that way (even though it's heard to believe with that performance as well as the SNL ones). Have you ever hear Off To the Races by her? In most of that song she sings in a natural way. Also in Radio, Lolita, and Diet Mtn Diew. It's a very little girlish voice.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why she gets attacked so aggressively about her vocals, I really don't get it. My only guess is because she doesn't look that confident performing makes her an easy target for people to think she's the worst when there are WAY worse singers.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I heard of her she tries to do something she lacks the ability for. I do like how and what she seems to try for but she'd probably be better off if she sang within her abilities.
ReplyDeleteI think her songwriting is interesting and maybe her skill there is greater than her singing skills and she should simply not sing her own songs when they are out of her range?There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, I've heard Bacharach sing and I dare say, if he had insisted on singing his own songs, we wouldn't all know them today. ;)
I heard her SNL performances and this one and everything seems fine, not perfect at all but it got blown way out of proportion. I like her trills/temolo's especially. what's the big deal?
ReplyDeleteYou've heard how Blue Jeans is supposed to sound right? But don't get me wrong, I LOVE her music.
ReplyDeleteI've heard the studio version yes. I'm just enjoying her music and voice not worried if every note is the same as the studio version. She did some things live that she didn't do in the studio version that I liked and then she did some things live that I didn't like as much and I'm fine with that because overall I like it. =)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like the song too. Here's a good live rendition if you haven't heard it yet. It's a very stripped down version.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_W5EGMHdBE
That was good! Thank you! Do all live performances that you like have to be 99.99% perfect for them to be your favorite? I don't mind a few flubs here and there as long as I feel the music ya know?
ReplyDeleteMy confliction of this performance is tearing me up a little bit, I really enjoyed how she projected and played with the higher parts but on the other hand the rest sounded flat and a little bit lazy! The inconsistency also speaks volumes for me and one thing is that I get the feeling that she is genuinely singing out of her natural and comfortable range, maybe if she raised her tone and tried to ditch the whole 'trying to sound different' gig she would actually improve on her live performances. But then I love her current sound so again I am torn there.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of this gig or even that horrid SNL performance I will still listen to and enjoy her work, but I would really appreciate if she locked herself away for a while with a good coach (one who also specialises in stage fright - which she also clearly has issues with) and sort it out.
She is a smart woman and should realise that with a debut she needs to bring it all to the table, something that worries me in terms of her longevity if she continues to deliver sub-standard renditions. Hopefully she will quash my cynical side when the festival season kicks in and will rock it, or at least here is hoping!!!
I can see what you're saying jason, but I try to look at things objectively, like as if I'm neutral about a performer. I can't cut someone some slack if they've gone on a show entitled "the Voice" and where the contestants, who aren't even signed, are singing at a much higher standard than the signed and successful act.
ReplyDeleteI still love lana though, and tbh this vulnerability only makes me dig her more. But if i gave her a pass on this performance I know it would only be because I'm biased towards her....lol
yeah, shes already admitted to being a "studio singer" . So she recognises it too.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense.
ReplyDeletetotally, she needs to polish it and reign her voice in. I'd love her whatever, but she's not trying to appeal to, or get sales from people who already like her. Performances like this only make it easier for people who slate her to do so even more. :(
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head, and thats the dangerous thing. The last thing she needs is to give those extra venemous critics anymore ammo! But like us I am sure others will still love her regardless, I just hope for her sake it lasts :/
ReplyDeleteI DEFINITELY look at it neutrally and objectively because I'm not even like a huge fan of hers or anything and I was really feeling this performance. I don't watch the voice but but if I did I wouldn't compare the contestants the the guest performer. She doesn't need to be desperate and hit every note perfectly to impress judges, she needs people to feel her music and I was FEELING IT.
ReplyDeleteI DEFINITELY look at it neutrally and objectively because I'm not even
ReplyDeletelike a huge fan of hers or anything and I was really feeling this
performance. I don't watch the voice but but if I did I wouldn't compare
the contestants to the guest performer. She doesn't need to be
desperate and hit every note perfectly to impress judges, she needs
people to feel her music and I was FEELING IT.
I suppose that's the beauty of music, its a totally subjective, personal experience.
ReplyDelete@Diva Devotee I don't think she was trying to make it sound like the studio version. Those trills/tremolos were done on purpose and they were beautiful and they're not on the studio version. She's gonna get attacked because of her vulnerability and she doesn't look confident so once she got bullied by viewers and critics ect it opened up a can of worms for more bullies to attack her for something that really isn't bad. At least she's getting attention, the truth will come out eventually that she's not as bad as a lot of ppl think she is.
ReplyDeleteYou said everything. Agreed.
ReplyDeleteStudio singer is such a weird term to me when it is used as an excuse for poor live singing. What with technology being what it is, to me the term sound like a euphemism for poor singer. Before I caught on to that use, I always assumed it referred to someone who can, but just chooses not to do live performances. Like a Kate Bush these days or a Streisand most of her career. I am naive that way. ;D
ReplyDeleteI can tell those trills and inflections were done on purpose and I have noticed she does switch it up in almost every performance. However, the point is still that while she may have a beautiful voice, she is an awful singer. When I say singer, I am technically speaking.
ReplyDeleteShe is so pitchy and shaky in most of her performances. It could be the nerves or something but I'm beginning to think otherwise. Singing is a skill and while she does have the talent, she needs to work on improving that singing. Does she even have a vocal coach?
Ugh, I know! It's making it harder to say, oh SNL was just a bad night; everyone has bad nights. However she does have some good live performances. I personally like "Million Dollar Man" live over the album version.
ReplyDeleteThen I'm just not hearing what you're hearing then because she sounds good to me.
ReplyDeleteFor me, live performances don't have to be "perfect" in the way that they sound exactly like the studio version as far as the melody goes but I except the vocal to be studio quality (yes there are forgivable flubs, but studio quality for the most part) regardless of what has been done to the melody. A good example of this would be when Beyonce performed "I Care" live at Roseland. She switched up a few things and made the live version unique but kept a studio quality voice, and now I prefer to listen to the live version! But I get what you're saying about feeling the music. You felt it, great! But a lot of people didn't. It's all subjective anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'd be closing myself off to some good music if I judged everyone so harshly. I'm either feeling the music and the authenticity of the artist or not. If a lot of people didn't feel it it's too bad for them. Just because you're in the majority or the minority or anything in between doesn't make you or me or anyone in the right or wrong so yea it is subjective.
ReplyDeleteWell this is a blog, its there to offer up an opinion, and the comments are here for people to express theirs. "Attacked" and "bullied" are unfair, and loaded term, and I don't agree with them. If you think this blog is doing either of those things you need to see some of the other popular blogs out there.
ReplyDeleteBesides I think you are reading way to much into the post and what was said. If youll check my quotation right at the bottom you can see where I stand on critics- yes, myself included- and the artists themselves.
Not sure whether you are right or wrong but I do know I completely agree and I do believe we are as yet still a minority opinion but growing fast ( hence the increasing popularity of Americana.).
ReplyDeleteAnd Jason, I don't feel I am closing myself off to good music with that attitude but it sure does close me off from wasting time listening to bad singers. Thus in fact increasing the amount of good music I hear. After all, only so many hours in a day. ;D
I don't get the Americana thing? If you want to put Lana Del Ray in the bad singer category that's your business and your problem.
ReplyDeleteAmericana is a genre where both artists and fans expect vocals and instrumentals to be live of "studio quality" but a lot of improvisation goes on during live performances when it comes to interpretation of the melody.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is my choice to go with technically poor performances as being poor singing but whether it is a "problem"? Nah, not feeling that ( excuse the pun)
Whoa, defensive. I know what the blogs purpose is. She is being bullied in a certain way in many places, including here. There's more good to say about her than there is bad and yet there's soooooooo much bad being said about her and no one seems to care about the good.
ReplyDelete@Opie Everit is your problem because you are complaining about her so you made it your problem.
ReplyDeleteNot complaining, sharing my opinion under a blog. You really are being foolishly defensive Jason. I said I like what she tries to do, I said there is no shame in failing but maybe she would be better off sticking to what's within her vocal reach and I said I like her songwriting.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, if I was complaining it COULD be described as my problem but since I am not, it obviously is not. No matter how hard you try to make it so.;)
She is NOT being bullied here! We are criticizing her performance, not who she is as a person. There's so much bad and no one cares about the good? Are you kidding me? You obviously have no clue what your talking about. When reviewing Lana's album, Born To Die, DD gave it an A- while everyone else was giving it 5/10s and Cs, Lana also has a vocal profile on this site that highly praises her voice and musical abilities, DD also called Lana a musical goddess in the Blue Jeans review when that song originally came out, and if you actually took the time to look up past posts you'll see one called "New music: Lana Del Rey Video Games: Heaven in song form!". DD is a huge fan but he does not like this performance as do a lot of the readers. Just because we don't like the performance does not mean we are "bulling her."
ReplyDeleteIf you're not complaining then you sure do a good job of feeding off of OTHER PEOPLE'S thoughts and idea's hence making it your problem. Come up with your own original though instead of just replying to other people's original thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI can see what your saying about closing yourself off from good music if you judged to harshly but I don't think expecting a good live performance is harsh. You see the one I posted? Well that was not perfect but I still consider it a good performance. That's why I listen to an artist's studio work first, then listen to them live. But if they can't do that shit live then how can I trust that they can do it at all?
ReplyDeleteHannah Hannah Hannah, stop kidding yourself, one person said if it wasn't for her boobs no one would know about her. Hello? Bullying. You can only speak for yourself.
ReplyDeleteOkay that's wrong, every site has it's trolls, but what does that comment have to do with the constructive criticism most of the readers have posted? Since I've never read that comment it seems as if you are labeling any person's opinion who deviates from yours "bullying." But you do understand how there are good articles on Lana right? Not everything is negative. That's mainly the point I was trying to make.
ReplyDeleteOh take a cold shower Jason. Or maybe try actually jerking off instead of verbally all over these blogs.
ReplyDeleteAnd when you're done maybe you can come up with arguments instead of insults in response.
Okay I see you've got the right link on there now! I thought that performance was great! Maybe my favorite live performance of hers.
ReplyDelete"Defensive"? Nope. You are new to the blog-well, the comments anyway- and i don't know how much you've read, so I didn't want you think think that this is a site that just bashes people all the time for no reason. I Wanted to give you some context.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I criticise- and compliment- Divas everyday on this blog, so believe me I have no problem taking pointers myself. In fact its part and parcel of writing a blog.
I've said my piece, and If you still feel that i'm being unfair then I'm willing to accept that's your opinion and move on happily. Just didn't want you think I'm being a jerk for being a jerks sake. I was hoping the stitch gif would have gone some way to showing the light hearted take of the post but oh well! lol
Jason You totally don't get the humour of this site at all. How can anyone take a comment seriously when the word "boobs" is used! Aye carumba. Besides Hannah wasn't even making a point to defend the comments on the site?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the stoic defence Hannah.But I'm starting to think nothing is going to change jason's mind and that's his prerogative. Let's just move onwards and upwards! Whoop!
ReplyDeletehttp://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyccozWn9y1ro440co1_250.gif
Coming from someone who is now resorting to to childish name-calling and couldn't argue their way out of a paper bag you think I care what you think Mr. Dionne Warwick. All you do is feed off other people's ideas, and when you come up with your out you spew things up like Dionne Warwick's body of work is better than Mariah's. Jeez, no wonder you barely come up with original thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBlame it on the humor ok gotcha
ReplyDeleteI just keep it real and when someone is attacked by a group it attracts and promotes even more negativity and "trolls" and being a troll doesn't make it less bullying and then the next thing you know you're discouraging ppl who don't know much about lana del ray from listening to her and then it's a cycle.
ReplyDeletehttp://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2vbjoASDB1r57lfxo1_500.gif
ReplyDeleteYou got me Jase, that's me, not an original thought in my head. :)
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying that by us criticizing her performance we are promoting negativity? Also we're discouraging people from listening to her music? Um excuse me, but people have free will. People can listen to the performance and decide for themselves. You've done that. We've all done that. What are we supposed to sugar coat everything? That's bullshit I don't believe in. Like I said there are plenty of good articles on this site about her. This site got me into her! When every other blog was saying LDR has fake lips or she's a record label creation, DD was talking about what mattered, the fucking music. But anyway, I could talk for days about how amazing LDR is but when I think she fucks up, I'm going to acknowledge that and when she does good I'm going to acknowledge that also.
ReplyDeleteSquidward's such a jerk
ReplyDeleteShe's being ganged up on collectively here making more ppl want to chime in with more negativity which I'm not blaming one person, it's a system.
ReplyDeleteShe's not being ganged up on, people just happened to share the same opinion that her performance on The Voice UK sucked. That's pretty much it. I don't even think there's a regular reader who is not a fan of hers. Not every review on this site is going to be glowing and not everyone's going to agree. DD keeps it real, if he didn't I probably wouldn't be such a frequent reader. Read this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.divadevotee.com/2012/01/album-review-lana-del-rey-triumphs-on.html
I don`t know if anyone has seen this video. Its a great performance.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu9V3Phfsf8&feature=g-vrec
I laugh at you.
ReplyDeleteI guess you need to get your ears checked :)
ReplyDeleteFor someone who is all for her you don't seem to actually have anything good to say about her, just all negative bile about bullying and poor her ect...none of the conversations here have been anywhere near that derogatory...but I guess its a case of banging my head off a brick wall...
ReplyDeleteMy confliction of this performance is tearing me up a little bit, I really enjoyed how she projected and played with the higher parts but on the other hand the rest sounded flat and a little bit lazy! The inconsistency also speaks volumes for me and one thing is that I get the feeling that she is genuinely singing out of her natural and comfortable range, maybe if she raised her tone and tried to ditch the whole 'trying to sound different' gig she would actually improve on her live performances. But then I love her current sound so again I am torn there.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of this gig or even that horrid SNL performance I will still listen to and enjoy her work, but I would really appreciate if she locked herself away for a while with a good coach (one who also specialises in stage fright - which she also clearly has issues with) and sort it out.
She is a smart woman and should realise that with a debut she needs to bring it all to the table, something that worries me in terms of her longevity if she continues to deliver sub-standard renditions. Hopefully she will quash my cynical side when the festival season kicks in and will rock it, or at least here is hoping!!!