Mariah, Mariah, Mariah.....good on you for promoting Beautiful, but yeah, this was not cute. I have no more words. You guys watch the Diva return the favour to Miguel for joining her at her GMA mini-concert by crashing his Hot 97′s 2013 Summer Jam set. Then explain to me how I should be feeling in the comments. #Devastated, perhaps?
Update: Listened to it LOUDER- my poor neighbours- and Mariah wasn't as bad as I'd initially thought. Up until 2.42 she was actually pretty okay.
Thoughts?
Is no one gonna say it? I'm just gonna say it. Miguel sucks. He is aware he is in front of people right? Mariah sounds kinda good. Except the last part where she shouts and screams...
ReplyDeleteMiguel...I swallowed my pride and start liking you now take some vocal rest... You were coarse and all over the place with this perfomance... You have been singing a lot lately. Take some care of your voice. I haven't seen one performacne where you and Mariah actually did good.
ReplyDeleteOn to Mariah.... ... ....... ......... .................................... ..... ..... .............. ..... ................. ............ ......soprano.
...All I gotta say...
This performance was not really good :3 but whatever. With Mariah it's a hit or miss. I accept this.
ReplyDeleteHer belt and her dexterity sounded shot. Perhaps she was on the drink before hand. It wasn't like it was her concert, so maybe she was enjoying herself pre-performance.
ReplyDeleteI know I should...but I have hope/ disillusion that her misses will get to a level where they're not this bad.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a massive fan of Miguel so haven't seen any of his live showings bar these Mariah ones.But both seem to show he doesn't understanding what a key signature is. I'm sure he's got some stellar performances out there, but I wish he'd nail these "Beautiful" renditions so at least one person was doing the song justice.
ReplyDeleteDreadful audio quality. How can you judge anything of the vocals from that?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, you don't need really great quality to know Miguel sucks in this video.
ReplyDeleteI think the audio sucked at that concert anyway.
ReplyDeleteNot that this is very much better but....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_hKZP7USFQ
The clearer the quality, the more he sucks.
ReplyDeleteI disagree
ReplyDeleteNever thought you would agree anyway ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's cute how you try to imply I would disagree out of principle but I just don't hate the guy and don't think this really sucks. I saw a video of him on the spot do some a capella...dude can sing. Not that he is a great singer, but he doesn't " suck" imo.
ReplyDeleteIts odd, that sounds worse- quality wise. My Pc is routed through my stereo so perhaps the levels are somewhat changed by my EQ.
ReplyDeleteProbably the set up indeed. I just listen to everything via headphones in my pc.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard a good live rendition by either of this song. not as good as they sound on the album. Maybe too much work was done to it in the studio and they are actually not capable of delivering live.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand...all I have seen is them doing this live in not really good settings.
Live performances on open air stages seem always to present a challenge to the sound people. Especially when the sound people are not employed by the artists and used to their particular requirements.
No idea which it is but, I gave it a shot and am now going to restore my faith in live performances with a little of this....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlztpyo8zbg
I still say he's not great but "sucks" is not really true imo :-)
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with Mariah right now is that she is walking in a thin line with her diva status, I mean, not to sound arrogant, but I think big divas of her level should never agree to sing in a stage like this, more even when she knows that lately people are not really being so sympathetic to her, specially after Idol. It's hard for me to admit, since I think Mariah in the 90s was probably the best singer in the world, and after The Emacipation album she regained a lot of her popularity, but I think she needs a good stylist, a good producer (like Kanye West, so she can renew her music) and a lot of vocal resting so she can go back to being the Queen of Melisma.
ReplyDeleteExactly. At this point it's just laziness. Her notes are breaking up like that again because she simply doesn't warm up anymore. She should've just put on a pair of jeans, a cute t-shirt, and a hat and spent an hour singing in humidity.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think it was that bad. Besides the lipped parts mariah sounded fine. Sure she had some problems but at least she is still trying. The whistles sounded better then GMA. Now miguel is just a pitchy mess. Apparently no one has the guts to tell him about it.
ReplyDeleteHe's actually really good. He just sang a harmony instead of the original. He's been going back and forth from the UK for a month.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8aVkB9FhIk
I'm sorry, but despite her belts not being at their best, she made it up by doing some of her best live whistles I've heard in at least 10 years. She was doing staccato triplets, and showing us that she can still really deliver her high notes. The belting isn't everything, and at least she was having fun up there.
ReplyDeleteIt might sound like harmony but i honestly don't think that's what he's doing. I think he can't hear himself. If that was a harmony he over did it. LIke throughout the whole song he did not once sing the melody. He does not know the correct pitches.
ReplyDeleteThis was an "Alright" performance by both artists. I dont know what Miguels problem is lately. He seems to always go away from the melody and arrangement with #beautiful, and I KNOW he is a fantastic live singer usually. Maybe some harsh lifestyle choices? Promotions wearing him down? Im not sure. But what I do know is that he needs to sing the song the way it was written as that seems to be the only way that sounds decent coming from him. Mariah...sounded fine. Sure her upper belts are basically gone unless she really concentrates and makes them solid-but her whistles (to me at least) have never sounded clearer and more flexible. Both artists need to re evaluate how they sound. Mariah I think needs to emphasize other parts of her voice than high octave belting and whistling. Miguel needs to retune himself so he can sing in key.
ReplyDeleteI saw your email! Just finding the time to sit and really listen!
ReplyDeleteI understand DD but my spamming wasn't just for you...I just feel everybody should give her a listen and see what they think. I'm sure some will like and some will not but this is imo a singer whose work anyway should reach a wider potential audience.
ReplyDeleteMariah needs to stick to delivering mid-range to lower chest vocals, and do so delivering solid chest tones. The core of her voice is still very much intact, however when she starts going into the upper range or whispering, you can hear the fact that all is not well. Her whistle register has come back to her, which is surprising as that is usually not there. Not saying upper belting has to go for her, but make it sparse if it isn't readily accessible. Sure it sounds nice in studio, but if it doesn't translate well into a live setting, or can't be, then why even bother?
ReplyDeleteI've listened through her latest album and those live performances and so far her range (as of what I've found) is Bb2 to G5, though she has some clean exclamations up to C6 and C#6, if I remember correctly. She has quite the lower range on her :)
ReplyDeleteHow many octaves is that Serendipity?
ReplyDeleteAlso ...and did you enjoy listening to all that? ;-)
Bb2 to G5 would be 2 Octaves, 5 notes, 1 Semitone.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bb2 to C#6 would be 3 Octaves, 2 notes, and 1 semitone.
Although she certainly has more room on both ends, I'd say her range spans from G#2 to E6, Which is 3 Octaves and 5 Notes.
And I certainly did, I've grown quite fond of Anouk as well :)
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat would explain why when she left the conservatory of music after two years only, her teacher told her not to worry, she'd make it as singer alright. ;-)
Glad to hear you like her too. :-)
His pitchy off key performance truly had me squirming, truly abysmal! Mariah sounded better but not much, something tells me that this is one of those MC songs that just quite simply will never translate well on a live setting...just give us more releases Mariah lol
ReplyDeleteshe's been vocal resting for 3 years and a lot of people like her now after Idol. The fact that she wasn't a raging bitch endeared her to a lot of people I know. She was singing at one of THE biggest festivals for r&b/hip-hop as a surprise guest and rocked it.
ReplyDeleteWeird. Her whistles sound on point here, but her belts don't....
ReplyDeleteOn the other performance, her belts sounded on point but here whistles weren't.
also there ARE photos of her hitting the booze before she went on stage.
ReplyDeleteThat happens a lot for singers who have whistle register ability - I would know. Your voice tends to be a bit nicer in your twenties, allowing you to mix clear belts and whistle like a motherfucker, but on certain days, as it is for me, I can belt really well without whistles, or my belts are fucked, but my whistles are awesome and easy. For Mariah, it's more or less a pick and choose. She can rest, not talk, not drink alcohol, and get clear, free belts, but her voice will stop at about F6. Or she can not treat her voice completely perfectly (because it fucking sucks to concentrate on that all the time, so no one bothers being perfect all the time), and her belts will get coarse above D5, but her whistles could beat her 90s whistles to a pulp. It's irritating, but it's a part of singing.
ReplyDeleteI know Mariah is too much of a Diva to do this, but she may want to look into vocal lessons. It seems like she needs a refresher on how to use her voice. Maybe trying to sound like "today's artist" is making her stray away from proper vocal technique.
ReplyDeleteI think mariah still knows how to use good technique but with the strain from her nodes it probably doesn't make that much of a difference. Miguel needs pitch help. Someone said that he is singing harmony and I'm just like are you stupid?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBCnbz3X5QY
ReplyDeletehey i wanted you guys to check this girl named Ailee out shes a Kpop singer and i think that she has an awesome voice
@Diva Devotee I was wondering if you could allocate a page where your readers could post and suggest things for you to review and post about - just a thought
PS: i love you blog and i visit it multiple times a day =D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUl_hioWOfk
ReplyDeletehere's her singing halo by queen bey - and honestly i prefer her version to the original
You probably missed it so far because it is all the way down in the sidebar but DD has an email address up for just that purpose. It's right under the "recent posts" section. :-)
ReplyDeleteStill not getting the appeal of K-pop. As far as I can tell little to no originality going there. Just a bunch of Koreans imitating American culture. Some of them can sing but....not adding anything new.
ReplyDeletePersonally I'd be much more interested if they threw at least something of their own culture in there. And I mean musically. Not that half their song is in Korean.
( actually if I was really cynical, I'd wonder whether the appeal is mindless " catchy" tunes but with just the sing along catchphrase in English and the rest of the lyrics need not be bothered with. ;-D
Since I am getting the impression, other than for being able to ascribe writing credits to their favorite...most people don't really care about songs themselves)
I, for one, am really not looking for a Korean Whitney, Carey, Beyonce etc etc etc.
However well they sing.
Definitely agree. Also, she's like overacting in the song. LOL. I just find it kind of artificial.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have much criticism on that girl actually. Thought she sang well enough.
ReplyDeleteMine was really an opinion on k-pop in general. :-)
I don't really like K-pop all that much either, but every so often I will come across a video and/or song that I like.
ReplyDeleteI really like this video by Ga-in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZqhCSS_LXo
And this song by the Brown Eyed Girls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSKRffDyWog
LOL Yes, I forgot about the other popular genre in K-pop...decades old European pop music. Those two songs would fit quite seamlessly in the Eurovision songcontest.
ReplyDeleteWhich I why I enjoyed them.
But I'd still rather listen to the European music of that era than a song in Korean. Still don't see the point of K-pop.
The video though was sorely testing my patience....3.3 minutes before the song starts? One needs to be already into Ga-in, I think, to be able to really enjoy that.
It's a good thing I respect you and your taste and sat through that looooooooong intro anyway. ;-D
I know. But I just feel the need to critique her. A habit of mine. Not sure if I'm complaining about it. ;)
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I've tried responding to this comment like four times already. Disq is beginning to piss me off. I see where you're coming from though. I never really thought K-pop was innovative or original, although I do like some artists, Ga-in being one of them. Also, I didn't realize that the music video was reminiscent of seventies European films as well. I actually thought it captured the essence of Korean films quite well. They tend to be a lot darker than American films (at least the films that I have seen), which is one of the reasons why I enjoy them. I guess I'm just a morbid person haha.
ReplyDeleteNext time disqus is frustrating you Mel, feel free to email or ''facebook'' your reply. I'd be down with that. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo your telling me the Koreans are very fond of a certain era of European cinema as well as music.
What's up with that I'm starting to wonder? Do you think that era is the only one available to them or something like that?
i understand where u are coming from and i myself dont particularly like Kpop - most of it is annoying to me but the whole reason Kpop was started was because of the younger generation listening to western music and so artists came out and incorporated a more western pop influence to their music
ReplyDeletemusically there is already korean music out their - Kpop is their way of trying to get korean music more popular
i dont exactly get what else u want from them as far as originality
overacting? what???
ReplyDeletei am a beyonce fan but beyonce is the queen of being a tad over dramatic to the point of it being not genuine
wait what? i thought those whistles were actually decent considering how shes been performing recently
ReplyDeleteI wasn't referencing Beyonce anyhow. But yes, since you're using her as a reference, Beyonce is super dramatic. This girl, too. It's just a personal opinion. Whether you value mine or not, not my problem.
ReplyDeleteThey are not incorporating anything, they are straight out imitating western pop music. Imitation is not original.
ReplyDeleteThis will end up in a Madonna v Gaga like discussion I fear. And you and I have been there and done that . I don't think either of us feel like going there again? LOL
Let's just keep it at you and I viewing things differently, to agree to disagree?
The blog post was actually directed at the horrible belts toward the end.
ReplyDeleteIt happens to me too....
ReplyDelete