Bad Music
I've been wondering why the current generation of chanteuses annoys me. At first I supposed that it was generational; what would an old guy find in a young lady's singing? So I headed for YouTube, and had a close look at whatever Miss Swift has posted there. I no longer think it's generational. I think there's a whole crop of young ladies who can't sing at all, and use a wide variety of gimmicks to hide the reality.
It's hard to pick out Taylor Swift's voice in these productions because it is buried in her bimbo chorus. On the rare occasions that it actually is separate and distinct, it is reedy and thin and untrained, and always on the verge of shouting because she doesn't have the lung power or discipline to lift up a tune and carry it.
Compare her voice to that of, say, Rosemary Clooney, and you will see what I am driving at. Miss Clooney, who had perhaps the finest, most elegant, richest and most disciplined voice in the last century, could stand alone before the microphone, and sing without the crutches that today's young singers require.
The other giveaway is that today's singers require elaborate visuals, sometimes so complex and fast that we never get a chance to see the artist. They are all bobbing and weaving, and in Miss Swift's case, she employs one after another bad paint job so we never see the same person for more than a second or two, and then she's busy being someone else. When I compare her with, say, Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald, who could and did command the rapt attention of their auditors with breathless ease, alone on a stage, it is easy to see that something is lacking in the young crop.
Maturity seems to be the key to it. This old guy likes to see mature artists giving their all, without the crutches of entire productions propping them up.
It's hard to pick out Taylor Swift's voice in these productions because it is buried in her bimbo chorus. On the rare occasions that it actually is separate and distinct, it is reedy and thin and untrained, and always on the verge of shouting because she doesn't have the lung power or discipline to lift up a tune and carry it.
Compare her voice to that of, say, Rosemary Clooney, and you will see what I am driving at. Miss Clooney, who had perhaps the finest, most elegant, richest and most disciplined voice in the last century, could stand alone before the microphone, and sing without the crutches that today's young singers require.
The other giveaway is that today's singers require elaborate visuals, sometimes so complex and fast that we never get a chance to see the artist. They are all bobbing and weaving, and in Miss Swift's case, she employs one after another bad paint job so we never see the same person for more than a second or two, and then she's busy being someone else. When I compare her with, say, Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald, who could and did command the rapt attention of their auditors with breathless ease, alone on a stage, it is easy to see that something is lacking in the young crop.
Maturity seems to be the key to it. This old guy likes to see mature artists giving their all, without the crutches of entire productions propping them up.
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