This is the first season of “American Idol” that I’ve been watching regularly. (Chalk it up to more of Matt’s TV-watching influence.) I really have only one comment:
I am so fucking sick of melisma.
I fucking hate it.
Melisma, if you don’t know, is the overused singing practice of taking a one-note syllable and stretching that syllable out to several notes. It’s very R&B-ish and happens all the time on “American Idol,” even for songs that totally don’t need it.
I know I’m late to the “American Idol” bandwagon, and its main fault has been widely documented elsewhere (most recently by Ben Brantley) – namely, that the audience rewards those contestants who sap the most individuality from their performances. Why Scott Savol is still around is beyond me. (At least the sappy Anthony Federov is cute.) At one point last night, Scott was singing a song and went needlessly melismatic, and I screamed and swore at the TV. Matt practically had to keep me from throwing it out the window. Could someone please tell that guy that not every song is an R&B song?
My favorite performers this go-round are Bo and Constantine, because they have the most individuality of anyone up there. I hope one of them wins. (Lately I’ve been leaning towards Constantine.)
Stephen Holden writes today about Barbara Cook’s recent cabaret performance, “Tribute”:
While watching “Tribute,” I thought back to the Broadway anthology unleashed on the April 5 edition of “American Idol,” whose nine contestants struggled to articulate fragments of songs like “The Impossible Dream,” “People,” “My Funny Valentine” and “Hello, Young Lovers.” The paradox of this toxic singing contest, which is the rough equivalent of the old “Ed Sullivan Show” in suggesting the median level of mass musical taste, is that it has the power to canonize songs, which its clueless judges then go on to treat as stunts in a gymnastic competition that rewards crude physical prowess. …
The contestants are urged not to be “pitchy” (the program’s favorite pseudo-technical word for off-pitch, which they usually are), and are congratulated for their high notes and telegenic appeal. …
Let’s not kid ourselves: the ascendance of “American Idol,” and its turning of music into sports, signals the end of American popular song as we know it. Its ritual slaughter of songs allows no message to be carried, no wisdom to be communicated, other than the screamed and belted song of the self.
Ms. Cook, who gives master classes in how to sing and tell the truth, could talk herself blue in the face to these people and never be understood. What a stunning loss we face.
Bravo Mr. Holden!
I couldn’t agree more. Contorting your carcass while making the sound of a rutting cat is NOT singing!
Do go and see Barbara Cook if you can.
Thank you! I guess I’m not the only one who’s annoyed with American Idol contestants needlessly singing several notes for one syllable. Melisma…Not every song needs it. And for damn sure, we don’t need to hear it, e-e-e-e-e-v’ry-y-y-y-y si-i-i-i-ngle-e-e-e-e-e ti-i-i-i-i-i-me. Annoying, right? And hitting those high notes don’t good singers make. Although, like yourself Tin-Man, I think, Bo and Constatine have the most individuality and one of them should win, they’re kinda creepy… less so than Scott, but still.
Well, also I wanted to say I loved your reading at WYSIWYG last month.
This kind of singing was annoying long before American Idol made everyone think it was the way things had to be. Let’s not forget that there’s a lot of pop music out there that isn’t like this, even on mainstream radio. No one’s forcing anyone to listen to Top 40 or watch A.I.
And…This Too Shall Pass.
I’m so happy I have a word for this (bad) singing. I don’t know who started this trend, I think it was Whitney, but I think it’s to cover for not being ABLE to sustain one note, in tune. Mariah does it, and so did Kelly Clarkson earlier on. Funny, becuase for the LONGEST time, before I stopped listening to “popular music” on the radio (and started listening to Sirius Satellite radio) I’d find myself yelling at the radio,”Hold the NOTE!!!!”