By: Jess Sorentino (University of Delaware)
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So last night was the much-anticipated MTV Video Music Awards. Yes, I sat on the couch a half an hour before it started to make sure I was all settled and ready to watch Eminem blow it up with an awesome opening performance. From the second he started singing “Not Afraid” I was not displeased until Rihanna joined him on stage for “Love the Way You Lie.”
For those of you who don’t know, that is one of my absolute favorite songs. She killed it-in as negative of a way as that can be meant. I can hit notes higher than what she did last night and trust me I can’t hit high notes if my life depended on it. What it all boils down to is I was quite disappointed. First I blamed it on her red hair, because no one should have hair like that. Maybe that messed her up.
But then the more I watched (I watched the whole thing) the more I realized that as great as the mainstream popular music is today, the artists cannot sing live. Their voices don’t match their albums at all. It’s very disappointing. B.o.B., Hailey Williams, Taylor Swift…I mean I really like B.o.B. on his album-I’ve already written about one of the songs on it-but I was not feeling their live performances.
Back in the day, without all of the crazy technology we have to edit music, musicans sounded the same live and on a recorded track. That’s probably why all of the elderly people think today’s music is garbage compared to the genuine talent they grew up with.
It’s not that the artists today don’t seem to remember their lyrics, or they’re bad performers, they just cannot hold notes or hit the right ones. Should we blame MTV and say they had technical difficulties and malfunctions with the microphones? I don’t think so at all.
Because Usher rocked that dance floor. I know Usher is one of a kind, but he really is one of a kind. His dancing abilities, his singing abilities and the fact that he can combine both of them and still be in total control is fantastic.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v6yD5MGC88[/youtube]
Eminem was good too, sounded just like the recorded version of “Not Afraid.” I’m just not really mentioning that because I’m bitter that I’m not seeing him at Yankee Stadium with Jay-Z tonight or tomorrow.
Besides Usher and Em, one being a dance star and the other being a rapper, I think only one other star last night was capable of singing live. And she won three awards. And wore three crazy outfits.
Yep. Lady Gaga. That girl was not even a live performer at the VMAs. When she accepted her third award she announced the name of her upcoming album, “Born This Way,” and then belted about four lines of a song which I would assume will later be released titled “Born This Way.”
But her four lines were stronger, higher, held longer than what any other scheduled performer did. Just shows why she won three awards-she’s got talent.
I’ll end with a little message:
Dear musicians, please start being able to sing live better so I and all of your other fans want to attend your concerts. Love, Jess.
