I appreciate what Alicia Keys was trying to do with her interpretation of the Star Spangled Banner during the Super Bowl. She's a Diva who can play an instrument, so why not let that skill get some exposure, too. It turned out to be a smart move in the end, because the truth is, it was the only salvageable component of the whole performance!
I was liking the hoarse, breathy voice that Alicia was rocking for the first few seconds of the national anthem. But anyone who has watched enough live performances by the Diva- as I have- knows, if the bottom is husky, then the top notes are not going to come easy. And this is exactly what transpired: with the belted notes of the climax being forced and unpleasant. Alicia didn't appear to even be supporting her voice properly, so as well as the hollering vocals we had a lot of wavering in pitch going on. And just in case we were having any doubts on how lacking the vocal was, she ended the performance with some of the clunkiest melisma I have ever heard a professional sing!
Vocally, the whole thing was amateurish, at best. Thank God for the piano playing and the arrangement: they made the performance bearable.
That was a little difficult to listen to. Alicia's voice is changing or she needs some rest from her Girl on Fire tour, as you suggested. This is on the heels of a difficult performance from the Hurricane Sandy fundraising concert. Personally, I think it is a little bit of both because if you listen to her songs in Songs in A Minor, it is noticeably higher and lighter than her deeper and darker tones today.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with that tempo? I think this arragement is one of the worst I've ever heard. The Star-Spangled Banner is supposed to be an ìnspiring song, and with that slow tempo and those tired vocals; I feel asleep, at best. I'm sorry, but this is not what I expected from someone as talented as Alicia. It is really dissapointing, she wasted a great oportunity.
ReplyDeleteI want to run out there and help her sing it (though I doubt I would help)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get past the first minute. Though I am a fan of more subdued renditions...this was too slow even for me. Plus I so want to see Alicia do well, I couldn't take more than a minute of such dissapointment either. :-(
ReplyDeleteShe should of sang along with Beyonce back track ;)
ReplyDeleteI heard this is the longest rendition of the Nation Anthem ever sung at the Super Bowl...
ReplyDeleteYeah I wasn't a fan of this rendition, even though I'm not a fan of really any of her work or her voice.
ReplyDeleteHahaha maybe
ReplyDeleteThis is weird. I actually liked it. Maybe it's my fetish for belts.
ReplyDeleteOh Alicia ;-/ this saddened me greatly. She has such a great voice yet I feel like I've heard it decline over the years? Hopefully this is just a result of her recent onslaught of performances/promo I agree though, she really does need some rest
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard she was going to sing the national anthem I was thing oh no. But this was actually better than I expected. I was expecting her to scream and really strain. But It clears she knows her voice is coarse and has lost better quaility she had at debut. I'm sure thats why she stretched it out.
ReplyDeleteA♭icia Key.
ReplyDeleteHer piano arrangement was superb. Her chops as a pianist and keyboardist are quite strong. And the intro into the song with her subdued, deeper voice was quite intimate. However, the midrange belts sounded a bit forced. Her voice's strength did show its true color at 1:28 -- you can see how solid and resonant that lower note was. But the higher notes sounded slack and tense even by Alicia standards. I think the touring is quite hard on the instrument. But she just managed to save that melisma at the end with the held head note. She's had better shows, however, that I am not even debating.
ReplyDeleteGirl needs to learn who to mix her voice like the beggining of her career and STOP PULLING CHEST!!! Don't become Xtina 2.0.
ReplyDeleteI see what you did there :b
ReplyDeleteWell, lets all be clear. If this was somebody we did not know and were hearing for the first time, we'd all be impressed with her voice. But knowing that it was Alicia Keys and what we have heard from her before, we can't help nitpicking. Like the $100 steak you reheated in the microwave and eating the next day. It's still good (if not great), it's just not as good as good as it was when it was first brought out to you. I have full confidence that Alicia can go back to the drawing board, really look in the mirror and adjust her arrangements or her delivery to fit her changing voice and she'll set our hearts on fire again. She wouldn't be the first to adjust to a changing voice and won't be the last.
ReplyDeleteIt's not her changing voice, it's her poor technique that is impeding her from producing vocals that are a) pleasant and b) in-tune. If I heard anyone singing this off-key and strained I'd have the same reaction as I'm having to Alicia's, utter disappointment.
ReplyDeleteShe needs to go back and take vocal lessons, there is nothing wrong with working with a coach. She trained herself to play the piano so well, I see no reason why she won't go to a vocal coach and fine tune the instrument in her throat to the same degree. Even the greats in Opera have gone back to their vocal coaches or had continuing lessons.
TOTALLY!
ReplyDeleteYou know what was crazy, that Alicia was getting stick for sitting during the anthem! Geez louise, get a grip people.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAH! So mean....yet.....lol
ReplyDeleteI think the amount of promotion she's been doing, especially singing "Girl On Fire" again and again, has taken its toll. She needs some rest.
ReplyDeleteI know she's older, but I can't believe this is the same lady who opened her début single ("Fallin") with such gorgeous a capella melisma! The ending of this performance makes me wonder where that dexterity has gone.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that! Ta!
ReplyDeleteI did not know you were such a fan, Opie!! Watch it!! FACE IT!! Lol
ReplyDeleteGood point. I never considered the tempo and the mood and how it effects the lyrics. I've just heard the anthem so many times that variation is a blessing to my ears.
ReplyDeleteTotally! I mentioned above- in reply to another comment- how her voice lacks the dexterity of her first record. Usually when a voice darkens and becomes weightier, the dexterity suffers. But in Alicia's case, is this is due to exhaustion of the chords, or is it age related. Further performances should help us determine which it is.
ReplyDeleteI'm not actually...because she keeps dissapointing me. But based on ''fallin' '' and that New York song...I so wish I could be and would be. If not for her never living up to what those songs promised.
ReplyDeleteHmmm I think she could do with doing a Charlotte and keeping a jar of honey up on stage with her...not that it would do much to save this, she sounds like she is singing through a dish scourer, painful!
ReplyDeleteProbably, either that it felt like it was the longest....her poor throat and our poor ears! :/
ReplyDeleteYeah, variation is nice but it has to have its limits. How would you feel if you heard an Electropop arragement for 'At Last'? Creativity and variation are good as long as don't destroy completly the mood inteded by the original composer. I think Alicia kinda did that here...
ReplyDeleteI often find Key's issue is that her recordings almost always seem practically impossible for her to replicate live, particularly the potent upper belts - especially those found in Girl on Fire and I have even noticed her having a killer difficult time on No One. She needs to write to what she is capable of first and lay off the cord shredding belts for which just do not come naturally for her.
ReplyDeleteIt's nicer than 'A♭icia Off-Key" , I decided to hold back and be a bit more "Mariah-esque" about expressing my negative view :P
ReplyDeleteIn that case, here's another blessing to your ears. :-)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJLAtIqsXc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
As i young vocalist the first thing i try to work on is breath support. Without it i would no better then Christina and i guess now Alicia. Its like she wasn't even trying. Maybe should should have done more head voice instead. Speaking of which i feel like most singers (CHRISTINA) Feel like they have to belt every single note. I mean theres a reason we have head voice and falsetto. Of course i do more belts but i do a lot of falsetto too. Producers need to stop pushing singers to belt the crap out of there voices on records. If not then we get these really bad live performances because the singer can't do it. And i'm sorry but EVERYONE needs voice lessons. I mean unless your mom is a opera coach (mariah carey<3)
ReplyDelete*Late at commenting due to CAHSEE testing.*
ReplyDeleteWell, DD, hasn't Alicia always been breathy, hoarse, shaky, and incapable of singing high notes without sounding like a forty year old man with lung cancer and a hole in his trachea? And her runs have never been anything other than 'amateurish'.
I think she had an easier time with the upper chest belts earlier in her career but you can tell it was never her strong suit. She was never a "belter" per se. She belted occasionally at debut but it was her stable low and midrange that really showed her strength. Her belts when restrained and kept to the midrange on Songs In A Minor (exception is "How Come You Don't Call Me" which features an unmixed G#5 belt), had character, and were emotive. But it almost sounds like the voice has become "overbelted" in recent years. It might help if she lightens some of the weight she puts behind her belts to reduce the tension in the notes -- some coaching and practice for just a few weeks at a time can do wonders. This might give her some mixing freedom and ekes out a little more agility for her naturally smoky, husky voice.
ReplyDeleteEhh. I would appreciate an electropop "At Last" for the novelty of it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard her old works, I know how good she can be. Just saying that I like it; I don't see a point of saying I hate it when I actually do like it.
ReplyDeleteI liked that very much!
ReplyDeleteIs it bad that I'd love to hear an electro-pop version of it? lol. I don't think there's much point of covering something if you're not going to switch it up. But I do understand why this approach isn't appreciated when it comes to something like a National Anthem.
ReplyDeletehttp://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m76u8ihbgP1rqfhi2o1_250.gif
ReplyDeleteYou may be right about needing some rest, however I do feel she needs some trainning, to repair some damage, I remember Alicia's first performance live ever, of fallen. I know our voices change, but her voice was much better, range and texture, timbre agility wise then, Not saying she was ever a powerhouse, but a better vocalist. I think somewhere around her third album, her voice starting losing range. But I do think her voice now as it is works well for some of her music. I actually enjoy the the coarse parts in Brand New Me.
ReplyDeleteCool! I like those guys a lot. Have you ever seen their covers of Jackson's Billie Jean or Cohen's Dance me to the end of Love?
ReplyDeleteI think she sounds great, and you all should shut the F... up. She's a Godess. Beyonce is trash compared to Alicia.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much strain in her voice, it's painful to hear. If you're Alicia fan you're coming off as, you need to come to terms with that honey.
ReplyDeleteAnd no one mentioned Beyonce... lol