Randy Jackson responds to Betty Buckley!!!!!- Page 2

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 2/12/12 at 2:44pm

This is why I've never been able to get into Idol. However, The Voice, I have respect for. There was a magnificent classical singer on this week... and they embraced his voice for what it was.

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 12:11pm

American Idol is looking for a pop star.

And pop vibrato and Broadway vibrato are just different. We can argue all day about the health factor--and I'm not a huge Randy Jackson fan--but if you listen to Kelly Clarkson's vibrato or Whitney Houston's vibrato, it's naturally a lot tighter and faster and less throaty than, say, Alice Ripley's or Sutton Foster's. Even Streisand, who we might argue would have a hard time becoming a star today with the state of the industry, has a very controlled, light vibrato.

I have a big vibrato--and unless I were to learn to manipulate it, riff around it, or straight tone everything, a pop career is just never going to happen for me.

Go watch some early videos of Aguilera or Spears or Jessica Simpson--they had big, showy voices. But they got into the business young enough that they learned to adapt their style--Aguilera just never holds a pitch and does runs all over the place, Spears is processed beyond belief, and Simpson sings through her nose.

A few people are blessed with the pop "sound"...but generally speaking, pop vibrato and Broadway vibrato just sound different. Jennifer Hudson is one of the few examples of a Broadway-type sound who has hit it pretty big in the pop world--after she demonstrated her chops singing---what? DREAMGIRLS. And her sound is so heavily gospel-influenced that she gets away with it.

I'm glad Adele's better and back to singing--but it has certainly occurred to me that while constant singing and touring and exhaustion probably wore her out, she also blew her voice trying to manipulate the sound as it came out of her throat. A voice that big most likely has a giant vibrato attached, but she dials it down when she performs.

Can I say "vibrato" again? VIBRATO.