Tonight's American Idol finale comes in the wake of media speculation that the entire judging panel will be wiped clean for a new set of judges, that may include bringing back former judge Jennifer Lopez. In all reality, Mariah is a better vocalist than JLo and Rihanna combined, but where she lacks (or lacked tonight) was being a better performer.
Though Mariah has the voice, she certainly did not use it tonight, instead opting for (unfortunately) a lip-synced medley of some of her greatest hits. She squeezed 5 past hits and '#Beautiful' in a 5 minute performance, that was a little too fast paced to appreciate. 'Vision of Love' and '#Beautiful' would have been fine darling. She breezed through the hits a little too easy, and had a few missteps in her 'lipping' job. Had she actually sang them live, her performance might have been more impressive. But it's hard to argue against her lipping when she didn't even move. The most we got out of her were some standard melismatic hand motions. Overall: B-
Update: An eye-witness to this crime says that Mariah sang this performance in 3 takes, and that the Idol producers snipped together pieces of the best takes. In #Beautiful, We Belong Together and in Hero parts were lipped to the studio. Basically this performance was a hot mess of editing.
Jennifer, on the other hand, though her live vocal is questionable, gave a rousing performance of On The Floor Part 3... I'm sorry, 'Live it Up.' For one she looked great, and second, she danced great. Not half as much of a vocalist as a dancer, JLo lit up the Kodak Theatre with pyrotechnics, and fiery dancing, and a maybe live vocal? If it was lipped, it was definitely a pre-recorded vocal, because the track did not match the studio performance exactly, but not even Beyonce could have sounded that good with that kind of dancing. For example, at 2:43, she pops her chest back and forth, which should've resulted in a change of volume or air control, but nothing was heard. I might be crazy though, since no one has accused her of lipping it. As for Pitbull, we could have done without him, as always. Overall: A-
After a performance like this, or really Battle of the Divas: live, it would seem CRAZY for the Idol producers not to want JLo back. She didn't ramble, she wasn't as expensive, and she didn't try to play Hunger Games with the rest of the panel. Simon Fuller: GET JLO BACK.
Demi Lovato certainly rings a few bells in the world of vocals. Her fans/stans constantly cite her powerful lungs as being Grammy worthy. But is she really all that great?
Why She's Great
1. Those Belts!
Demi certainly has that soprano belting voice, a voice that stretches dangerously high, up to an A5 with ease. Ryan Tedder and numerous critics have cited her vocal power as being up there with power houses like Kelly Clarkson, and its hard to disagree. Kelly has even said she's a fan of her voice. The girl can sing her face off, and people across the globe agree.
2. The Emotions
Demi has been through a lot, and she shows it. In power ballads like "Skyscraper," "For the Love of a Daughter," and "Warrior," she shows how broken she is, and every bit of what she is feeling is squeezed into her voice. She aches with heart break, she screams with accusations, she puts it all out there, and it makes her more believable as an artist. No one can pull off broken like Demi can.
Why She's Not
1. Kelly Clarkson Wanna-Be?
Even though being compared to Miss Clarkson is a mighty compliment, it also comes with some hard expectations. Demi doesn't have Clarkson's range; she can't whistle, and has been struggling with her low notes since day 1. She hasn't pumped out a "Since U Been Gone" competitor, the closest she's gotten is the power pop "Remember December." While the two sound similar, one is clearly superior.
2. The Pitch (or as her stans say "sickness")
No one seems to want to call her out on this, but her pitch live... isn't all that great. At first, those accusations of Auto-Tune on the X Factor seemed out of place (especially with Auto-Tune princess Britney Spears sitting nearby), but now it all makes sense. She needs it. And her fans constantly defend her pitch by flooding the YouTube comment sections with messages like this: "OMG MY GURL DEMI IS SICK <3 <3 LEAVE HER ALONE SHE SOUNDS GREAT" Honestly, Demi gets sick a lot. But there's no way she is sick for every pitchy performance she gives, and there are a lot of them.
Without Auto-tune:
With auto-tune:
Sounds better with it doesn't she?
Well I've made my case. Is Demi really the next heir to the throne for "The Voice?" Comment away!
Positives: Thought not a professional singer, throughout the years he has used a singing voice. The voice ascends high with surprising ease, while low notes are still very comfortable. The lows are thick and dark. His pronunciation and diction allows for rapid fire verses. He also employs the use of growls and grunts, neither of which are used with bad technique.
Negatives: Eminem cannot make his voice come off as anything but angry.
Range: D3 - D6 - Bb6 (B6) Longest Note: 10 seconds Vocal Type: Mezzo-Soprano (3 octaves, 5 notes) Vocal Rating: B- Positives: Instantly recognizable tone. Incredible ability to mix belts up to D6, and sustain them for short periods (1-3 seconds). Everything in her range sounds easily accessible, meaning that she is only singing in her true range. Her lows are full and supported, while the belts come with a coarse, rock edge. Her voice has remained in the same condition for years, a rare quality for most pop singers. Her head voice, being light and agile, can transition to and from a chest belt with ease. Her voice can move from Pop to Rock sounds with ease. Negatives: The thin, nasal quality of her voice can become overwhelming at points. Her belts tend to be placed in the throat, and her unique vibrato may not be to everyones taste.
Demi Lovato's long awaited 4th album. The album has been premiered on Youtube for her eager fans, but expect for its retail arrival on May 14th. The album is expected to land at either #2 or #3 on Billboard, with her best first week sales of 120,000.
Heart Attack- Already reviewed. Basically, it’s the song
that made Kelly Clarkson kick a wall and scream, “Why didn’t I think of that!?”
A
Made in the USA - The 2nd single is definitely radio ready, and is essentially a slower version of Heart Attack. The song is more of a slow jam, which will make it a good candidate for 'Summer Smash of 2013.' The real question is, can it really dethrone Miley Cyrus' song of similar name? A-
Without the Love- A ballad by Kesha standards, but not a true ballad for Demi. She throws some harsh accusations, "Why are we acting like lovers when we don't know each other?" Ouch. Might want to put a band-aid on that Joe. She definitely sounds hurt in this song, an area where Demi finds her home. B+
Neon Lights – This Ryan Tedder penned track is the closest to dubstep we get on the album, Demi shows off some impressive (albeit auto tuned) lows before taking the chorus to soaring heights. Unfortunately, it cant boast the true euphoria of a David Guetta or Calvin Harris track. B
Two Pieces - This piano led, somewhat electronic ballad is good, but its easy for it to be drowned out by the rest of the tracks. B
Nightingale - What the hell is a nightingale? *looks up wikipedia entry* OH. Thats weird. She's pleading for a boy to be her nightingale, yet the bird is associated with lament or violence. Demi, you're not turning into Rihanna now, are you? The song soars once the gospel choir kicks in, and it manages not to fall into cliche territory. Well done. A
In Case - Here we go, a standard Demi ballad. Quivering vibrato, voice cracks, bellowing belts, torn lyrics, it is all we could have wanted from Lovato. She doesn't want this boy to leave, but sadly it sounds like he's already gone. Bad experiences, good music. Fair trade right? A+
Really Don’t Care (feat. Cher Lloyd) – The most blatant pop
song of the year, which is a very good thing. Catchy lyrics, catchy hooks, just
catchy, catchy, catchy. Are the lyrics intellectually stimulating? No. But who
cares? It would have been nice however if Cher got maybe a few notes after her
rapped bridge, but hey, its still hard to criticize this piece of work. A++
Fire Starter - Despite this being a phenomenal song, it is a straight rip off of Jessie J's 'Laserlight,' but Demi pulls it off, so its okay. Expect to see the lyrics of this baby all over Tumblr and Twitter. It's SCREAMING for a No.1 placement on Pop Songs. Demi. Take this and run with it. Never look back. A++
Something That We’re Not – Like ‘Heart Attack,’ it starts
off with deceptive guitars before moving towards a bubblegum pop sound (And it
even comes with a ‘Never Getting Back Together’ spoken bridge!). It’s hard to
deny that this song is just as infectious as the rest of the album, definitely
a classic campfire jam right here for sure. A
Never Been Hurt – Easily the darkest song on the album,
with thundering percussion and haunting lyrics. It summons up some of ‘Remember
December’s’ classic guitar crunch, but maintains ‘Demi’s’ synth swagger.
Lyrically, it’s some serious plagiarism of her own ‘Unbroken.’ “I’m gonna love
you like I’ve never been broken,” has simply been changed to “I’m gonna love
you like I’ve never been hurt.” Now if only Miss Lovato would give into the
dubstep craze, because this song needs a breakdown. B+
Shouldn’t Come Back – About time we got a new ballad. Demi
does what she does best here, which is emoting. She quivers, sounding as scared
and broken as ever, nearly crying at some points. Similar to ‘For the Love of a
Daughter,’ with the emoting and the blatant jabs at her father (All the
birthdays you missed / I was just a kid) but the stripped instrumentation isn’t
doing her any favors. B+
Warrior – A far cry from Kesha’s song of the same name, this
unleashes Demi’s inner Xtina, which might not actually be a good thing. It
feels way too similar to Aguilera’s own ‘Beautiful’. Again, weak
instrumentation isn’t too helpful; neither is the autotune and overkill riffs. C-
Overall, Demi was accurate when she said that this album was chuck full of catchy pop songs. Where she was inaccurate however, was where she said this was her most personal album yet. It feels like she has stepped farther away from her openness on the 2nd half of 'Unbroken,' she has instead opted for the 'Queen of Pop' sound, which distances herself from this vulnerability. If it were anyone else, it would be okay, but because Demi prides herself on being so tangible, it is unfortunate that she has distanced herself. It is also sad to see her embrace a much heavier amount of auto tune, when she has already gotten some flack for it on the X Factor.
With Demi losing her true characteristic, it is also hard to deny that this album is far from original. Nothing new is being brought to the table, and its filled with blatant rip offs of other songs that have already been sent to the Top 10 on the Hot 100. Thats what makes the album feel manufactured, it all feels like an attempt to finally secure Demi's removal of the 'Disney' image; to make her sound like every other big girl in the game.
While the ballad work is not Demi's best (though it could easily trump similar efforts by Gaga and Perry), and the pop songs may all sound similar, its hard to deny that this album is what she promised: Pop music.
