Harry Conick Jr. is going to fix everything…
I started to write all this in comments in Maureen’s post yesterday when I realized it was blog length. Is anyone watching Idol with Harry? I gave up years ago – but my love of Harry brought me back. For nothing else he is charming and funny and wonderful.
But WOW… is he really doing it right. Honest criticism. And he’s not just helping the contestants. I think he’s trying to help America.
In Tuesday’s show the girls were singing. A young 18 year old girl sang a song. When it was over – he asked her to “speak” the first line of the song.
“Now that you’ve got me on the floor what are you going to do to me.” (I might be paraphrasing). But it was a very sexual song in nature.
He said to her very baldly is that who you want to be? Is that who you are?
From girl’s standpoint it’s a fun Grace Potter song. And she said it’s a about female power and how she thought that would give her attitude. And maybe that is what it’s about for Grace Potter.
But you could tell that for Harry, it wasn’t right for an 18 year old to be singing a song sexually explicit. Now Harry has 3 daughters so I think some think it’s a joke. But I think he was trying to make a bigger point.
He’s trying to tell these singers they need to “think” about what they are singing. What the lines of the song mean. What they are expressing. Who they are as an artist is built around those words. They shouldn’t be sung carelessly and without thought. And no not everyone needs to take on sexually explicit songs because “that’s what’s on the radio.” Think about who you are. Think about what you want to be. If that is sexual – fine. But it shouldn’t have to be because that’s what’s popular. It should be because you are. It’s like the difference between Madonna and Miley or Britney. When Madonna sings about sex you feel like it’s a very important part of her life that she’s sharing in different ways. When Miley or Britney do it – it’s shock value. It’s attention grabbing.
Maybe we as listeners should really think about what we are hearing and who we are hearing it from. Think about the fact that we think it’s okay for girls to be so explicit from such a young age.
I’m Harry hooked. Oh and he’s also trying to convince them that shouting isn’t singing, and hitting a high not isn’t like landing a big jump in ice-skating. Yes!!! You go Harry.
