If there’s anything that Idol wizards/pop connoisseurs Michael Slezak and Annie Barrett and I love, it’s yakking about our ridiculous obsessions (Martika songs, questionable made-for-TV products) when we’re supposed to be working, and then turning those yaks — tada! –into work.
Namely, the beyond-mondo Susan Boyle phenomenon. Our own Adam Markovitz has already posited whether some of the attention on her appearance is not, in fact, a little condescending (ohmagawd! How can a maybe-menopausal lady sing so good?!).
No doubt, Britain’s Got Talent producers sent her onstage knowing full well how Susan’s relative dowdiness would play onscreen — and are already squeezing her through the inevitable makeover machine (eyebrow-waxer powers, activate!).
To me, the loveliest thing about Boyle is her sweet lack of icky showbiz calculation — the unfortunate defining trait of nearly every other Seacrest-sidling make-me-a-star reality show contestant plying their trade today. But it also got Slezak and I wondering: how many other talented artists have been crushed — or merely failed to climb above mid-level notice — because of their looks?
He pointed to sixth-season Idol finalists Melinda Doolittle and Lakisha Jones, who placed third and fourth on the show, respectively, despite having some of the clearest natural gifts in the contestant pool. On the flipside, I give you Jessica Simpson, who looks like a Real Doll, yet continuously fails to remember the words to her own songs.
Obviously, pop music will, with a few inevitable exceptions, always be a place for pretty people — some of questionable talent, and some just genuine genetic lottery winners. (Fifty years ago, listeners may have swooned to Roy Orbison’s baritone, but Elvis had the voice and the hips.) Still, are we possibly moving towards a more democratic ideal? Zaftig, smoky-voiced Brit Adele beat out pretty little beanpoles like the Jonas Brothers and Duffy at the Grammys this year, and stars like Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga aren’t so much conventionally attractive as seriously Working a Look.
I could ramble on all afternoon, so I turn it to you, readers: Do you feel any kind of sea change in the beauty standards of pop music, or is this all same as it ever was? Which artists you think have been held back by their looks, and which have clearly succeeded on the sole strength of the physical goods their mama gave them?
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Flight of the Conchords get laughs, smash things at Radio City Music Hall
Rascal Flatts soars, Neil Young flops on the albums chart
Zooey Deschanel sings about the touch, the feel of cotton: Hear it here
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Boyle > Britney
I’d rather sit in a room and converse with Ms. Boyle than Spears. More character and less self-absorption. The ‘Brittany’s’ aren’t that attractive once you get to know them.
Unfortunately, there is some validity to the pretty people theory. Once the novelty of “ugly ducklings” wears off, the prize goes to the pretty people.
1. It should be about talent and substance over appearace. 2. There is nothing wrong with helping someone, if they wish to make a change, improve their looks. So, no, I don’t see a major shift in more Winehouse looking artists, but maybe a shift towards more artists that have the talent and just get a little boost with their looks, like a David Cook. But please, enough with the Jessica Simpsons and Britney Spears- no talent, ONLY looks, and mostly the looks are only there because they’ve hired the right people. Hello, Gas Station Britney ain’t no bueaty queen.
Most artists like Britney Spears are so over produced in the studio you don’t even know what their real voices sound like; until you hear them live. Oh wait most even lip synch at their concerts. It would be nice for talent to win over flash and no substance more often.
video killed the radio star. casualty number one = christopher cross.
That’s the sad thing about music – instead of being about singing, it’s about image. How you look determines how many records you sell. And it dates all the way back to the 90’s with Milli Vanilli and beyond. I would be willing to bet that any of today’s current recording female artists wouldn’t make any money if they didn’t look like models.
Sadly agree that image is much more important than it should be.
Look at country music since Shania Twain. She’s talented, absolutley, but pretty much all young female singers since her have had to have the looks to get the success.
I was going to use Melinda Dolittle as an example too. She wasn’t quite the “package” artist they were hoping for on AI.
I hope that it’s changing. I think the ‘death’ of the music video is helping. I would always rather hear quality vocals than know the voice was coming out of a mouth on a pretty face.
Your “own Adam Markovitz” actually seems to be unable to comprehend that when other people like something that he doesn’t, there’s not necessarily a sinister reason behind it.
I have not purchased a music CD since, well over 5 years ago. I would purchase Susan’s CD tomorrow. Pretty people tend to hang together, and those conversations get a little OMG boring. Give me an intelligent spunky person like Susan anytime. Marketing rules the music scene and who they can get the most money from. If its Susan, they will find the slant they want to exploit and make millions with her million dollar voice. Did you know your intelligence will actually improve if you listen to Bach, Beethoven, and other classics. It’s the mathematical rhythm of the notes that triggers something in the brain. I think that is also what is happening with Susan. Her voice stirs that magical place in our brains…thank God.
aren’t there plenty of musicians who are known for more than their looks? yeah, there are some who record labels see and just want to package into a perfect shiny product, but some are genuinely talented and successful, no matter what they look like. or is that the optimist in me mistaking the few for the many…? because personally i don’t care. if you can sing, you can sing, and if you can’t, you can’t.
and before you totally discount jessica simpson, try listening to some of her first and second album, especially “i wanna love you forever”. that girl can really rock a ballad.
Susan Boyle reminds me of Canada’s famous Rita MacNeil. Beautiful singing overcomes appearance, though appearance does matter a lot in “show business”. As for singers overproduced in the studio, that is changing quickly as live performing takes on more importance as record sales decline It is encouraging that the very young new generation of singers such as Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Central Europe’s Ewa Farna, are versatile and dynamic performers even better live than on record.
Susan Boyle reminds me of Canada’s famous Rita MacNeil. Beautiful singing overcomes appearance, though appearance does matter a lot in “show business”. As for singers overproduced in the studio, that is changing quickly as live performing takes on more importance as record sales decline It is encouraging that the very young new generation of singers such as Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Central Europe’s Ewa Farna, are versatile and dynamic performers even better live than on record.
How can you even put those two pictures together up there? Susan Boyle is a singer. Britney Spears is a grunting squealer. There’s a difference.
Susan wanted as choir director…
http://pitchbendpost.blogspot.com/