Old School VS. New School (part 2)
Northernstar
Northernstar@excapethematrix.com
In the late 90s-early 00s, R&B music started to go downhill
and has yet to make a good impression. There haven't been any good
singers since the 90s when Brandy, Monica, the late-Aaliyah, Usher, TLC,
Lauryn Hill, and D'Angelo were on the scene. When a pop singer by the
name of Britney Spears bursts onto the pop scene in the fall of 1998,
was when it was a realization that anyone could get signed. Pop stars
including N*Sync, the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera and the Spice
Girls followed in the same footsteps as Spears, and gained instant
success changing music forever. The pop genre died down by 2001, and
many of those artists crossed over to R&B music. Some of those artists
received more recognition than ever crossing over. When I realized that
everyone from Gwen
Stefani to Nelly Furtado was singing R&B music, I
noticed that it was synthetic and if an artist has a great beat and a
nice hook in a song, then they have a number one hit. Not to say that
R&B music relies on African-Americans, but in order to sing R&B they
must know what it means. The music is more mediocre than anything.
Everyone sounds the same and they only contrast in their personal
appearances; however, it is hard to distinguish Ushers voice from Neyo
and Ashanti from Ciara.
When R&B artists such as Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin,
Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Dionne Warwick would
sing; they made sure every word that came out their mouth was heard and
had a meaning. Many of today's artists such as Ashanti, Ciara, Cassie,
Britney Spears and Omarion depend on the production in the studio to
generate a fuller and synthetic sound, and their voices suffer during
live performances because it's not their "natural" voice. Not only is
the voice very well produced, but the melodies of the songs drown out
most of the singers' voices and the focus amongst listeners are more on
the rhythm and production than the actual singing. It's a shame that
only a few artists such as Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Jill Scott,
India. Arie, Alicia Keys, John Legend, and Amel Larrieux can actually
sing well during live performances.
In the 2000s, artists suffer from the "dance fever", which
means they tend to dance more than they actually sing on stage. In the
past, there were numerous performers that would sing and dance at the
same time such as Tina Turner, James Brown, and Michael Jackson,
respectively. But today, artists would rather pre-record their vocals on
a track and dance the whole time during a 90-minute concert. If a person
wanted to hear an artist lip-synch the whole time after just paying
$78.00 for a ticket, then they should might as well go home and listen
to the album. So many artists lose focus and there isn't going to be
longevity in their careers because there's no way a fifty-year old man
is going to be hopping around singing "Touch", and I'm sure no one wants
to see a 60 year old woman lip-synching and dancing to "Goodies". The
only artists who stick true to the "simple" set like Old-School are
Alicia Keys, John Legend, and India. Arie , who are accompanied by their
own bands and a microphone.
Old-school artists were original and they had their own style of
singing and stage presence; however, new school artists look up to many
old-school artists and they start to imitate them. Old school artists
idolized singers who came before them, for example, Whitney Houston
adored Aretha Franklin but never did she try to emulate her sound.
Artists like Ciara obviously idolize Janet Jackson and Aaliyah because
it shows in her mannerisms and performances that she does. But she never
draws a line, nothing she does looks original and same goes for Usher,
Omarion, and Chris Brown; who all love Michael Jackson but they can't
seem to get away from Michael's shadow. There are countless others who
are obviously inspired by old-school artist, and they have similarities
but do not imitate. Fantasia and Patti Labelle, Beyonce and Tina Turner,
Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey, John Legend and Stevie Wonder are
some of many pairs to mention. Another downfall of new school artists is
that they lack originality and use samples of old school music. Now will
you ever see old school artists sampling music from today? That goes to
show that old school music is here to stay and hopefully it will be
"reborn".