New British Diva Invasion

nomadthethird

nomadthethird

more issues than Time mag
I'm not going to respond but I'm interested in getting opinions on the new wave of female British singer-songwriters we Americans are being forcefed by Vh1 and top 40 radio. These supposed divas tend to do nothing more than reappropriate classic American jazz, soul, and R&B vocals in some vain attempt to resell Americans music they've already heard performed better by more attractive and dynamic performers for decades.

What gives? Is this trend nearly over or is it just beginning?

Examples:

Early on, it seemed harmless enough. Especially before the arrival of Lilly Allen and co.

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Then it was all "At least she can sing live, right, even if she now looks like she's been on a steady diet of lima beans and crack for three years?"

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Then I saw this and thought "boy they really think Americans will buy any old tepid carbon copy of music Americans made better 40 years ago, don't they?"

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Oh no another hot R&B diva:

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Today I saw this and just guffawed out loud to myself.

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Why? Who thought this was a good idea? Apparently it's working, so they must've been right.
 
I

Ivan Conte

Wild Horses
Well, this is nothing new. It's getting more media attention now and probably more divas are signed and marketed in the US, but there is a long tradition of female singers appropriating northamerican music styles. Think about Dusty Springfield, for instance! I actually don't like most of what they do, but it is understandable that after being exposed for decades to these types of music, eventually people will appear who wants to have a go at them. The question of them being British shouldn't be an obstacle, the idea that they are daftly trying to resell americans something they do better raises uncomfortable issues of authenticity IMHO

Besides, at her best, Amy Winehouse has distinctly British characteristics such as the fact that she sometimes adds a Jamaican flavour both to her words and music, which is, I think, a direct consequence of having being exposed to both soul and reggae in England. Again, I don't particularly like much of what she does, but at least this is mainstream music that acknowledges the cultural variety of England, in contrast to the NME-indie-rock-bands, who try to make us think England is still an all-white country.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
nomadthesecond said:
Today I saw this and just guffawed out loud to myself.
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just be thankful you don't have access to 'britain's got talent', 'yowling for lloyd webber' etc, which makes this radio 2, brit school, major label production line guff almost tolerable.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
These supposed divas tend to do nothing more than reappropriate classic American jazz, soul, and R&B vocals in some vain attempt to resell Americans music they've already heard performed better by more attractive and dynamic performers for decades.
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Oh, who gives a fuck. Unless the sons and daughters of Wilson Pickett, Laura Lee, Irma Thomas, Bobby Bland and Al Green are gonna crawl out of the woodwork and compete, people who want to hear this kind of music will turn to the people who are making it.

Most of those listed are just singers (though Chasing Pavements is very good indeed), but Amy is a 24-carat genius. Say what you like about the retro music, for lyrics and vocal performance You KNow That I'm No Good and Tears Dry On Their Own shit on any American R&B song since No Scrubs.

Then it was all "At least she can sing live, right, even if she now looks like she's been on a steady diet of lima beans and crack for three years?"
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She's not all that great live, as it happens - goes a bit, er, wayward.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
all about the girls singing in ridiculously tortured r&b stylings at the back of the bus. Your time!
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
unshakeable self-belief in the face of reams of evidence to the contrary. Your time!
 
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U

UFO over easy

online mahjong
your particular brand of patriotism is incredibly bizarre nomad.

nomad said:
Then I saw this and thought "boy they really think Americans will buy any old tepid carbon copy of music Americans made better 40 years ago, don't they?"
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presumably they think that because currently you guys are lapping it up.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I never understood Joss Stone but she was phenomenally successful - really amazingly so - which led to this trickle-down effect. I wouldn't put Leona Lewis in with that lot, she really is one of those girls with a great voice on the back of a bus, good luck to her.

That Amy Winehouse album is a genuine Thriller type phenomenon, every country I've been to in the last year, she's being belted out of shops and restaurants globally on some crazy scale, and still, and deservedly - her lyrics are amazing. It just kind of follows that after that there's going to be a flood of music in similar style that is seen as something that commercial and retail properties can be marketed to.

On a zeitgeist level you've had (over here at least) so much guff about 1968 in the press and book media that it feels, on some sort of level, like a liberal attempt to recreate the vibe of around that time, almost sympathetic magic; people who were affected then would be in positions of power I guess. I'd put alot of it down to left-wing nostalgia, as well as music that appeals to people who still buy CDs, who would again be people in that age bracket.

I'm not too concerned by the appropriation thing, personally, and the Dap Kings are pretty realistic about why they did it (quote "reason number one? the money") and I think everyone knew that, in this climate, Sharon Jones was never going to make number one in the singles chart. They could have tried harder with her though, really, and Amy could certainly have checked her in interviews, maybe she did, I'd hope so.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
mistersloane said:
Brit School as well, they've all had the same teachers, same contacts

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/fame-academy-the-brit-school-433652.html
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They hunch over piles of bags, coats and amplifiers, and they strum guitars, tootle on a flute or bash some bongos and jam along; others dance effervescently and the sound of song flows through the corridors. The customary greeting is a deep and meaningful hug. Jeans are worn either spray-on tight, or voluminous and tent-like, and everyone has extraordinary hair. There are more growing stars here than on the ceiling of a planetarium. The sight of a teenage boy in a leotard flexing hamstrings against a coffee machine is not uncommon, nor is there anything exceptional about a trio of theatre students improvising a Shakespearean tableau adjacent to the sandwich bar. Is this a dagger I see before me? If so, you could cut the atmosphere of diffuse, gleeful creativity with an imaginary knife.
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*sickbag* :mad:
 
M

muser

Well-known member
I think some of it is really good pop music, and I think both joss stone and amy whinehouse have great voices (which are slightly wasted at times on relativley run of the mill song writing). It does suprise me that anyone would spend their time listening to poor imitations of a golden era gone past but the fact is I think the majority of people don't have the time or inclination to be trawling through record shops/internet etc to find old classics, they're just embracing whats given to them on a plate.
 
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C

crackerjack

Well-known member
muser said:
I think some of it is really good pop music, and I think both joss stone and amy whinehouse have great voices (which are slightly wasted at times on relativley run of the mill song writing). It does suprise me that anyone would spend their time listening to poor imitations of a golden era gone past but the fact is I think the majority of people don't have the time or inclination to be trawling through record shops/internet etc to find old classics, they're just embracing whats given to them on a plate.
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But it's not just a matter of being force-fed. People want to feel a part of what's going on, to see them live, catch them on TV shows, read about them in the press. It's not difficult picking up an Aretha best of, but a lot of people think there's something a bit weird about buying music made before you were born. I was talking to someone about Stevie Wonder the other day. His favourite tracks were from the early 80s, by when Stevie'd gone well gloopy, and when I mentioned the good shit ten years earlier he just said, "I'm not that old". (He was 35).
 
CHAOTROPIC

CHAOTROPIC

on account
They hunch over piles of bags, coats and amplifiers, and they strum guitars, tootle on a flute or bash some bongos and jam along; others dance effervescently and the sound of song flows through the corridors. The customary greeting is a deep and meaningful hug. Jeans are worn either spray-on tight, or voluminous and tent-like, and everyone has extraordinary hair. There are more growing stars here than on the ceiling of a planetarium. The sight of a teenage boy in a leotard flexing hamstrings against a coffee machine is not uncommon, nor is there anything exceptional about a trio of theatre students improvising a Shakespearean tableau adjacent to the sandwich bar. Is this a dagger I see before me? If so, you could cut the atmosphere of diffuse, gleeful creativity with an imaginary knife.
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Mr. Tea said:
*sickbag* :mad:
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Jesus fuck, the UNUTTERABLE GHASTLINESS ...
 
P

petergunn

plywood violin
mistersloane said:
They hunch over piles of bags, coats and amplifiers, and they strum guitars, tootle on a flute or bash some bongos and jam along; others dance effervescently and the sound of song flows through the corridors. The customary greeting is a deep and meaningful hug. Jeans are worn either spray-on tight, or voluminous and tent-like, and everyone has extraordinary hair. There are more growing stars here than on the ceiling of a planetarium. The sight of a teenage boy in a leotard flexing hamstrings against a coffee machine is not uncommon, nor is there anything exceptional about a trio of theatre students improvising a Shakespearean tableau adjacent to the sandwich bar. Is this a dagger I see before me? If so, PLEASE STAB MY FUCKING EYES OUT
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WHOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
 
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