Soul vs Technique

[datura800.livejournal.com]

I hope he won't mind me quoting him, but I read an interesting assertion in Alex's review of the new Mariah album (today's Guardian):

"Carey's voice has been mocked, bizarrely, as being a triumph of technique over soul - an argument that fails to comprehend that technique and soul are intertwined, that technique primarily exists as a means to convey emotion".

I thought this would be a good discussion to have here - it's a point I quite strongly disagree with (generally, not specifically with relation to Mariah), but I'll wait to see if anyone is interested in commenting before launching into it.

Comments

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

mariah isn't conveying emotion to YOU bcz you're not listening to (or perhaps "for") the way she conveys emotion

mariah's a very funny and joyous singer -- a lot of her strength is sheer athletic exuberance, and yes, the subtleties are easily missed if you're not especially literate in this whole tradition, which white rockthink certainly isn't: also i don't think her singing is much to do with passion (in the old-fashioned sense, which derives from the word "to suffer")

[datura800.livejournal.com]

I don't buy that at all - I can think of plenty of singers in that 'tradition' (and I even think that argument is a bit of a crock, because Mariah has moved largely away from traditional soul/gospel and now operates mainly in hip-hop/pop/disco) who engage me. I never listen to a Mariah song and feel moved by her vocals. I don't think that's a problem on my part.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

sorry that isn't meant to be as aggressive as it comes across -- "white"* rockthink is an interesting and important aesthetic, but it's not the only one ever, and obviously it's not possible to be "literate" in every tradition... what i'm getting at is that something like matt's line ("there's a difference between technique to convey emotion and technique to go "hey look at what I can do") is orthodox rockthink which just doesn't apply (uncomplicatedly) to other strands of the american semi-pop tradition

*(i shouldn't have used that word really)