Miley Cyrus Live : Can't be tamed
Yesterday I was criticizing Luce from the Nouvelle Star contest saying she didn't fit the role she was given.
I thought today I would link a voice that's worth listening to : "I can't be tamed" by Miley Cyrus
Her singing teacher is Brett manning. That guy does an amazing job, let's see why..
Her voice.
She sings live, no playback, no musical track, total live music. On the David Letterman show, which a looot of people look at.
In such a context, where any human being would be nervous, she holds her voice beautifully.
We have a lot of nasality in her voice, which comes naturally with the American accent. They are ones to use that technique a lot. This nasality allows her to hit the high notes with ease and have them resonate nicely in her head. But this time we have power, and a little something else which sends the shivers down your spine. That is chest voice mixed with head voice. You there would immediately recognize Brett Manning's signature.
How easily she gets those notes out ! ! Not with strength or by pushing, but by leaning on the emotion caused by the lyrics and with the proper technique getting them to sound full and harmonic. The result is a deliciously raw voice hitting beautiful notes on those refrains.
Notice on the video how she bends for each high note. Bending forward or loosening your body position allows you to forget tension and mechanisms and stay relaxed for hitting the high notes.
She has a beautiful vibrato on her voice, and uses it with parsimony. On very high powerful notes she would let it go to have a relaxed and resonating voice. On mid-song high notes or short notes she wouldn't. She keeps the vocal passage closed and send a lot of air volume in there, the result is a "crying" voice going straight in the nose.
That crying voice is an easy mechanism to explain : It's like when we where kids. We would blow a balloon and let it deflate while squeezing the entry to produce that annoying noise that would hinder the whole family for hours. Vocal chords act the same. When you squeeze them properly and send a lot of air volume, you get a crying and nasty voice.
And the breathing ! She has power, you can hear in the chest voice that it is resonating a lot. For the system goes like this :
Flexible material resonates a lot.
A big space produces big resonation (like when you sing in a parking)
So thanks to a proper breathing technique, a relaxed and fit body she gets a large and resonating voice.
Interpretation
Listen to her offering you the lyrics with that nastiness in the voice while saying "I can be a bit a crazy", or "I'm hot like that". She theatrically goes for the lyrics and plays the role. And I'm sure she's having a lot of fun doing it.
The body language is magic. She moves crazy on the stage while singing. You would only have eyes for her.
And the self confidence she displays ! She knows the notes are not a problem, the dancing is not a problem, she's got the guts to go out there and interpret the lyrics. I can't be tamed ! ! can't be changed ! can't be blamed ! Each time reaching those high notes with power and confidence, and giving all her energy in the performance !
The result is a hit song, that will last for a while, interpreted by a strong young woman that will last in this show business as well. I certainly hope to hear more of her now I discovered this.
Oh yeah... I forgot to say : She's gorgeous :-)
Singing regards,
Menno
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Luce - French Nouvelle star competition winner
Luce, finalist in the "Nouvelle Star" competition, sings Jacques Brel, ne me quitte pas :
She won the competition with this song. So what's special in this voice that could attract the listener ?
I will not enter the debate about show business politics, the sharks that work in it and their way of getting the people to look at the show. I will only discuss her voice.
Her voice :
Her voice has a few distinctive characteristics : a lot of nasality, like when you say "Nay". She has a breathy voice, she adds a lot of air above her notes, making them smooth and soft (like when you sigh or say "haaa" emphasing on the "H" letter). When she adds power to the voice she has some distortion on it.
So why use this nasality and breathy sound ?
Because there is no respiratory power. Like a trumpet, or a bagpipe, you need strong respiratory muscles to sustain notes with full voice. We will study the breathing system later on.
If you're gonna put a lot of power into your voice with your vocal chords properly closed - that is with full sound - there is a huge risk of singing out of tune. You would find yourself in a "shouting" position, where the voice cracks and cries too much, and eventually gets out of tune if it isn't trained properly.
That is exactly why when she puts power in her voice it goes distorted. Since the vocal chords aren't properly closed, forcing through them is gonna put strain on them, and the muscles around will squeeze to protect the vocal system( without this natural defense we would all have torn vocal chords and would sound like Louis Armstrong).
With a lot of air on the voice, you sustain your sound and fill the missing bits with air. Reducing the volume, but stabilizing the sound. Nasality does the same.
So it looks like she relies on beginner's techniques to compensate a lack of power.
Phrasing :
She sings the words as they where written on paper. The right length, the right height. She doesn't transform them, modulate them, or phrase them differently. This is a special thing used a lot in French singing. You can leave a blank and undo the natural construction of the melody.
This would give, for example :
"ne me .... .... .... quittepas"
instead of
"ne...me...quitte...pas"
Certainly with Jacques Brel's song "ne me quitte pas" you would expect the phrasing to be worked upon. But she did the scholastic thing, without taking risks or expressing the words with her own experience. Plus she has an orchestra that plays ad lib (that means without a fix and regular rhythm pattern, but following the singer)...in such conditions you can take breaks, take your time to interpret the lyrics.
When saying "don't leave me", my voice would certainly crack and hesitate and get silent. There would loads of vocal signatures telling the audience I'm having an emotion, I'm talking to someone, actually I'm begging someone on my knees not to leave me (for those are the lyrics of the song). She more showed the emotion of someone chatting with a friend at the bar...
Expression :
She doesn't move on stage. Her hand is gonna move a little here and there, sometimes her eyes would give you that little emotion (she's got that scary look in her eyes... OMG !). But no outburst of emotion, no tears... it's like she's bored to be on stage, and doesn't enjoy the moment. Maybe that's the key to success ? Snubbing the audience, show them you're not interested in what they think or feel, and leave them hungry for more emotions... it is a known technique for attracting attention.
Conclusion
To me, this is nothing less than a karaoke singer put on a stage to sing one of the biggest songs of French music, and just isn't fitting in the role. As for why listener's where attracted to her, it will remain a mystery (I could pull out the argument that she's chubby and fragile and therefore all the teenager girls are comparing themselves to her, but I said at the beginning of this article I would only discuss the voice and not the marketing strategies of those big show business owners).
Next thing you're gonna ask me is : "OK, you tell us too much air, too much nasality, no phrasing, no expression. Can you do better ? ".
I will not pretend to be able to do better. But I will link the original song for you to have an idea of how she destroyed it.
Jacques Brel's "ne me quitte pas".
She won the competition with this song. So what's special in this voice that could attract the listener ?
I will not enter the debate about show business politics, the sharks that work in it and their way of getting the people to look at the show. I will only discuss her voice.
Her voice :
Her voice has a few distinctive characteristics : a lot of nasality, like when you say "Nay". She has a breathy voice, she adds a lot of air above her notes, making them smooth and soft (like when you sigh or say "haaa" emphasing on the "H" letter). When she adds power to the voice she has some distortion on it.
So why use this nasality and breathy sound ?
Because there is no respiratory power. Like a trumpet, or a bagpipe, you need strong respiratory muscles to sustain notes with full voice. We will study the breathing system later on.
If you're gonna put a lot of power into your voice with your vocal chords properly closed - that is with full sound - there is a huge risk of singing out of tune. You would find yourself in a "shouting" position, where the voice cracks and cries too much, and eventually gets out of tune if it isn't trained properly.
That is exactly why when she puts power in her voice it goes distorted. Since the vocal chords aren't properly closed, forcing through them is gonna put strain on them, and the muscles around will squeeze to protect the vocal system( without this natural defense we would all have torn vocal chords and would sound like Louis Armstrong).
With a lot of air on the voice, you sustain your sound and fill the missing bits with air. Reducing the volume, but stabilizing the sound. Nasality does the same.
So it looks like she relies on beginner's techniques to compensate a lack of power.
Phrasing :
She sings the words as they where written on paper. The right length, the right height. She doesn't transform them, modulate them, or phrase them differently. This is a special thing used a lot in French singing. You can leave a blank and undo the natural construction of the melody.
This would give, for example :
"ne me .... .... .... quittepas"
instead of
"ne...me...quitte...pas"
Certainly with Jacques Brel's song "ne me quitte pas" you would expect the phrasing to be worked upon. But she did the scholastic thing, without taking risks or expressing the words with her own experience. Plus she has an orchestra that plays ad lib (that means without a fix and regular rhythm pattern, but following the singer)...in such conditions you can take breaks, take your time to interpret the lyrics.
When saying "don't leave me", my voice would certainly crack and hesitate and get silent. There would loads of vocal signatures telling the audience I'm having an emotion, I'm talking to someone, actually I'm begging someone on my knees not to leave me (for those are the lyrics of the song). She more showed the emotion of someone chatting with a friend at the bar...
Expression :
She doesn't move on stage. Her hand is gonna move a little here and there, sometimes her eyes would give you that little emotion (she's got that scary look in her eyes... OMG !). But no outburst of emotion, no tears... it's like she's bored to be on stage, and doesn't enjoy the moment. Maybe that's the key to success ? Snubbing the audience, show them you're not interested in what they think or feel, and leave them hungry for more emotions... it is a known technique for attracting attention.
Conclusion
To me, this is nothing less than a karaoke singer put on a stage to sing one of the biggest songs of French music, and just isn't fitting in the role. As for why listener's where attracted to her, it will remain a mystery (I could pull out the argument that she's chubby and fragile and therefore all the teenager girls are comparing themselves to her, but I said at the beginning of this article I would only discuss the voice and not the marketing strategies of those big show business owners).
Next thing you're gonna ask me is : "OK, you tell us too much air, too much nasality, no phrasing, no expression. Can you do better ? ".
I will not pretend to be able to do better. But I will link the original song for you to have an idea of how she destroyed it.
Jacques Brel's "ne me quitte pas".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)