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

Re: Identifying Technique

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I've always thought of Mariah as fronting a particularly slushy kind of romantic pop, is the problem. like the Mills & Boon of the genre. Singling her out in this regard may well be unfair but it's precisely because of her technical power as a vocalist (one of the strongest out there for nearly 20 years), and probably her colour to some extent. She's lacked the chameleonic qualities of Madonna and Janet which I've always loved - and has never seemed interested in conveying anger in the way Whitney or Beyonce have, so there's an emotional imbalance in her body of work that also deters I guess.

That lack of 'anger' or 'sass' or attitude rendered her too 'girly' for me to take an interest. She was/is beautiful but not sexy as a result. In the review she is quoted as claiming she's 'eternally 12', which pretty much nails it for me.

Re: Identifying Technique

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Which might explain the pink fluffy jumpers.