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To season 8 Black singers, stay away from R&B :: American Idol 7 General Discussion idolforums.com
I am really getting tired of singers like Vonzell, Melinda, Syesha, Latoya, and Lakisha get no or subpar backing while the subpar country singers are getting the major labels attention.
So the next Black singer in season 8 need to stay FAR AWAY for R&B and go Hip-Hop.
R&B is dying and if you go that route you WILL NOT get signed.
This post has been edited by rog152: Jul 6th 2008, 11:23 PM
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Black people can't sing country?
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We ....I saw Alexandrea as a hip-hop singer last year, and unfortunately, she didn't go very far.
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Or rock? I'm actually dying for another black female rocker like Nadia, but with better taste in music.
Also, you can't do hip-hop on American Idol.
You might get away with some hip-pop.
But nobody is trying, no one is singing Aaliyah or Keyshia Cole.
One guy tried to go for something more modern and that was Nikko but the rest of them are like Chikezie and Ruben, dragging out the old-school sound.
Who knows why David Archuleta of all people is probably the only one who'll do something by Chris Brown or any of the more modern r&b/hip-pop stars.
I would say the problem with R&B and Idol is that it's all..so..old.
The only time Syesha sang something modern was when Randy picked it for her, while she chose "Fever".
That's the nonsense I'm talking about.
LOL and the one chick who tried to sing more modern R&B, Paris Bennett, was the one person who really should have stuck to older art forms.
Is she the only one in the history of Idol to sing a Mary J Blige song?
Why yes she is.
Besides all that, while R&B artists can certainly get signed, as an art form it has never been a top seller.
Record companies expect that, I don't think that's the problem.
But old R&B, like Melinda or Lakisha?
BZZT try again!
Quote: We ....I saw Alexandrea as a hip-hop singer last year, and unfortunately, she didn't go very far.
Because she sang "If You Leave Me Now" instead of the many funkier songs that existed in the 70s.
Not saying any of them were on the list, but still.
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How would a Hip Hopper survive something like Dolly Pardon week, or Neil Diamond week, ALW week?
I'd love to see how they would cope.
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Quote:
Black people can't sing country?
A couple years ago a black country singer auditioned for AI, and she was quite good.
She made it to Hollywood, but then was never shown again so I'm assuming she was cut in Hollywood.
Quote:
How would a Hip Hopper survive something like Dolly Pardon week, or Neil Diamond week, ALW week?
I'd love to see how they would cope.
Hopefully we never have any of those awful themes again But if we did, I think a hip hop singer could make it work as long as they were creative.
No one thought that Carrie Underwood or David Cook would survive the themes either, and they both won.
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I agree with L'autour.
R&B-pop is where it's at.
The "problem" with the Idol contestants singing R&B is that most of the time, it's the old school R&B.
I say problem in quotation marks because I'm sure they don't really get the chance to sing something more contemporary.
As for country, I didn't watch Idol last season but skimming through the Wikipedia article on season 6, it appears that most of the contestants sang songs by contemporary country-pop artists.
I didn't spot a Hank Williams song in there, or a Merle Haggard song, or hell, even George Strait or Alan Jackson (who are both contemporary artists who choose to sing neotraditional country).
I did notice Martina McBride (whose songs hardly sound like country songs, they sound more like pop songs), Keith Urban (whose sound is very pop-rock), Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood (country pop).
So country music on Country Night can't really be compared to the R&B that the contestants sang this year;
Country music on Idol is more pop than R&B is.
And uhh...
Maybe I'm missing something here, but...
Hip hop singer? Like whom?
Atmosphere? Jean Grae?
Immortal Technique?
Well most hip hop artists don't really sing so...
Quote: R&B is dying and if you go that route you WILL NOT get signed.
R&B is certainly not dying.
The top 10 songs from the Billboard hot 100 right now include Bleeding Love, Take a Bow, Bust It Baby.
Beyond that there's Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown, Ray J, Usher, Ne-yo, Keyshia Cole, who are all pop-R&B artists.
It's like saying country isn't relevant anymore because you don't hear the Hank Williams sound anymore (save in a very select few like Alan Jackson and George Strait).
Mainstream country today is very pop, pop-rock.
Similarly, you don't hear the soul/R&B sound of the 80's, 90's and earlier decades but that doesn't mean R&B doesn't sell.
Chris Brown, Usher are a different type of R&B and their type of music makes up a large part of the Billboard charts right now.
This post has been edited by Autumne: Jul 7th 2008, 2:07 AM
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Maybe they mean someone like Chris Brown or the Pussycat Dolls ( )-- because isn't R&B more soulful and ballad based?
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Quote:
Maybe they mean someone like Chris Brown or the Pussycat Dolls ( )-- because isn't R&B more soulful and ballad based?
Yeah, I wouldn't consider Chris Brown and the PCD hip hop artists...
At all. lol. They're more pop with a little bit of influences in R&B music.
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LOL well Hip Hop isn't just rapping, right?
Hold up, I'm gonna browse through my music...
Someone like Sean Kingston?
Akon? Black Eyed Peas Fergie?
Justin Timberlake?
NERD?
Seeing any of them attempt some Dolly or some Diamond would be kinda weird.
Well, except for Justin.
I can see him putting a spin on it and succeeding, he's got a versatile voice.
I dunno, if any Hip Hoppers are fortunate enough to make the Top 12, they're gonna get a weekly tongue lashing from Simon since I can't see him enjoying that type of music.
And plus all the territorial musos watching the show would keep claiming that they ruined the songs that they've sung because they have put their own spin to it.
Expect some dancing on the show though.
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Quote:
Hip Hop isn't just rapping, right?
Hold up, I'm gonna browse through my music...
Someone like Sean Kingston?
Akon? Black Eyed Peas Fergie?
Justin Timberlake?
NERD?
Seeing any of them attempt some Dolly or some Diamond would be kinda weird.
Well, except for Justin.
I can see him putting a spin on it and succeeding, he's got a versatile voice.
I dunno, if any Hip Hoppers are fortunate enough to make the Top 12, they're gonna get a weekly tongue lashing from Simon since I can't see him enjoying that type of music.
And plus all the territorial musos watching the show would keep claiming that they ruined the songs that they've sung because they have put their own spin to it.
Expect some dancing on the show though.
Yeah, it pretty much is.
Lol. And they've already had a "hip pop" artist -- Blake.
If next season is anything like the previous seasons, the contestants can just change the arrangement to suit their styles, so Dolly Parton week or Neil Diamond shouldn't be much of a hindrance.
Quote: So the next Black singer in season 8 need to stay FAR AWAY for R&B and go Hip-Hop.
I doubt Blake was the first contestant of his kind to audition for AI.
It's the producers not letting anyone else like him through, so instead, we get the more traditional R&B singers.
I mean, it's no use telling a traditional R&B singer to change his/her style.
Or well, maybe they can do it convincingly -- we'll see.
However, I think the producers should let at least one or two contemporary R&B singers into the top 24.
They really should too;
That type of music is really popular right now.
This post has been edited by Autumne: Jul 7th 2008, 2:51 AM
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Eh??
"Don't like me for who I am?
Then you don't like me for who I am.
And all you can get, is who I am." - Avril Lavigne
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Yes, because it's much easier to get away with a mediocre voice if you pass yourself off as hip-hop.
Kids don't care what you sound like, just what you look like.
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Quote:
A couple years ago a black country singer auditioned for AI, and she was quite good.
She made it to Hollywood, but then was never shown again so I'm assuming she was cut in Hollywood.
Ah, Heather Ward, the girl who sang "Redneck Woman".
I liked her, too.
Quote:
Yes, because it's much easier to get away with a mediocre voice if you pass yourself off as hip-hop.
Kids don't care what you sound like, just what you look like.
WORD!
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Also does anyone remember that girl from season 4 who came into her audition rapping her own song (Aa'shia Jackson was her name, I think)?
I wonder if we'll see that on Idol again next year.
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"Hip-hoppers" never go far on Idol...we've had them before, like Nikko Smith and Alexandrea (they weren't "totally" hip-hop no, but they were the closest Idol ever came to hip-hop) but they didn't go very far.
For some reason Idol + hip-hop don't mix.
This post has been edited by Crazy4Idol: Jul 7th 2008, 11:37 AM
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I think we're getting hung up on semantics here.
There is a difference, at least chart-wise, between modern r&b and hip-hop.
The way I understand it, modern r&b music is known as "urban AC" {urban adult contemporary.} This is what Mary J.
Blige, Keyshia Cole, Alicia Keyes sing.
Hip-hop is another ball of wax, and often incorporates some rap within the song.
When Fantasia came back to Idol, many people, including Simon, acted like she was from another planet, like they'd never heard the type of music she was singing in their lives.
That's because it was a hip-hop song.
And if a hip-hop singer ever made the top 12, I doubt if he/she would last long.
Fantasia didn't sing hip-hop during season 3.
The show themes pretty much prohibit that they'd have to rearrange every song.
When she got out in the real world, this is what her audience wanted from her, and she's become very respected doing what she's doing.
But put her on Idol doing hip-hop well, the Idol audiences are so grounded in tradition that they couldn't possibly accept it.
They don't get hip-hop yet.
You saw the reaction on this board, and I have to believe that was the general feeling among Idol viewers:the same as Simon's reaction.
He doesn't get it either.
So I disagree with the statement in the OP.
My thread title would have been: Black singers in season 8: stay away from hip-hop.
Do r&b because Idol's audience understands it a lot better than they do hip-hop.
This post has been edited by Tarman12: Jul 7th 2008, 11:40 AM
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Quote:
The show themes pretty much prohibit that they'd have to rearrange every song.
Blake Lewis did it and it worked for him, though.
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Or rock? I'm actually dying for another black female rocker like Nadia, but with better taste in music.
I loved Nadia! She was vastly underrated, IMO.
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I agree with the people that are saying we need another nadia.
She was freaking awesome.
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