Seb28 said: "I must say that I was very excited for this movie, I liked the choices in production and casting they have made so far. I also love the teaser trailer in terms of darkness, music, overall look and semi-realistic approach.
I thought that Halle Bailey was well cast and I think her voice has a beautiful tone, essential for the role.
But I am very disappointed in her approach, pronunciation and riffs. She does not seem to articulate the words properly, like a lazy pop-singer. This is very important to get to the core of a song, word, feeling. Howard Ashman understood this very well. He knew the importance of keeping it truthful and therefore he was so strict about how every word should be sung. Then there is the completely misplaced riff. Whenever Jodi Benson started to go her own way, belting or riffing, she was immediately corrected because Ashman wrote those words for a reason. Especially that last "could be" should be silenced, numbed in stillness and disappointment. The song is not suitable for riffs at all, but that last moment is the least acceptable moment of all the lines in the song.
I have also seen the part before, "what's a fire AND why does it". The "AND" is a misplaced ad-lib in itself and is way too disconnected from the lyric and sound like a soul diva moment for no reason. Then there's the part where she sings "wouldn't I love", and she drags that note, the word (love) down, basically the word "love" is a downward ad-lib in itself, which is really a shame. Because the word love in that melody should embody some kind of longing, reaching, desire and have an upward intention. And after that there is the powerhouse soul diva riff on "explore the shore of abo-ho-hove", which also way too show-offish for Ariel in that moment and comes off as not sincere. And then it is topped off with the "be-eeeh-ieiieyeah" at the end. Shameful. Howard will be spinning in his grave.
Who on earth is allowing this and why do people not realize that this takes away from the sincerity of the moment? Do people really only stay awake or recognize emotions when there is insincerity involved? What has the world come to?
I have a feeling that people like Alan Menken so desperately want to stay current, and that when someone comes with this idea, he automatically thinks that it is cool and that it would make him automatically cool too and he's too scared or ignorant to dare to say anything about it? Or scared to be seen as not inclusive if he won't let the material get trashed by screams, riffs, ad-libs and poor pronunciation?
Another problem with this is that the actual melody is not in the song anymore. Considering she did not sing 1 line as written of all the lines that were leaked online (basically the 2nd half of the song), it could very well be that kids from today will never know the melody.
Edit: I just heard her live performance of the whole song and she sings other melodies wrong too, "but who cares" for example, she really does not even understand the melody. That is not an ad-lib, just a mistake."
You really think this film was done in one take like a live performance, and actors were just allowed to do whatever the hell they wanted to, huh. As if a million dollar film is loosey goosey about “mistakes”. Laughable.
I am big. It’s the REVIVALS that got small.
