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Friday, 16 November 2012

singers-two categories?

I've been watching way too much of singing shows like The Voice for some time now. *i'm on a one-week holiday, which ends tomorrow*  and also, i've been listening to the songs on radio, be it Malay songs or Hollywood tracks.
one thing i realize when watching these reality TV shows and listening to tracks on radio and award shows, i see the pattern on people's choice in songs, in the singers that deliver the songs, and i came up with a theory. 
"there are two categories of singers in the industry, and people love them both"
for example, we have Kelly Clarkson, the winner of American Idol in 2002, who has a beautiful, powerful voice. she can scream, yell like in 'Behind These Hazel Eyes' and go really soft and emotional like in 'Already Gone'. 
She was people's favourite for some time and almost all of her songs stayed on top of radio charts, thanks to listeners votes on the show. she even got a few awards during the beginning of her career and sold god knows how many copies of albums all these while. 
other singers in the same shoes as Miss Clarkson over here are Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Pink, Beyonce and the late Whitney Houston. and the ones ranked a little lower than these people are Rihanna, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Shakira and Rita Ora.
on the other hand, we have Carly Rae Jepsen, a newcomer to the industry, with her hit single, 'Call Me Maybe'. she has a unique voice, rather coarse but sweet in some ways. she does not reach high notes, just a little higher than normal range in some songs. and people adore her songs, even though she can't hit the big notes. hmmm...
singers on the same boat as Carly are Ellie Goulding, Cher Lloyd, Karmin, Madonna and Ke$ha.
this phenomenon does not only happen in Hollywood, the differences can be seen clearer in Malaysia. 
for some time, Malaysians have been entertained by singers who can reach the high notes. some of these artists include Siti Nurhaliza, Jaclyn Victor, Adibah Noor, Ning Baizura and Misha Omar. lots of records have been sold, and for some time, it's a battle of who can reach the higher note, who can sing a POW-POW song in a crowd flawlessly. people have been comparing this singer to that, especially female artists, to see who's better. 
and out of nowhere, came this lady, Yuna, a hijabi girl playing a guitar, and BOOM she was the next singer on the list, sitting among the POW POW singers above. in the awards, Yuna won over the singers above as Best Female Artist of The Year. how's that? for people like me, who have been supporting people with great voices, i felt like the industry will crash soon. and yet it did. school girls become stars within minutes. right after Yuna, along came Najwa Latif and Ainan Tasneem. both singers can't hit that high notes, so they kindda fall into the same category as Rita Ora, Rihanna and Taylor Swift. 
i guess, in the end, you choose the songs you like best. but honestly, i would prefer to support singers who can really sing. my mum categorize Yuna during one of her performances in an award show as "talking to the microphone". to this day, my mum does not acknowledge Yuna as a singer. as for me, i listen to these songs, but if given a choice to vote for a song, i would go with a well-deserving singer. 

~thank you, and please don't hate me~

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