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

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

The issue for me is breaking through Mariah's patchiness. On much of her output, especially her ballads, the vocal gymnastics are unendurable. But when allied to killer songs - Heartbreaker, Fantasy, Honey, All I Want For Christmas Is You - that kind of skill really takes you places.

The best example off the top of my head is this bit in Heartbreaker:

Because you're so disarming
I'm caught up in the midst
Of you
And I
Can not
Resist

Mariah takes each little bit of line and squeezes all of the giddiness and drama she can into her delivery. It works phenomenally because it's brilliant vocal acting. But is it soul?

I think for me a definition of soul is not analogous to a definition of r'n'b or gospel... It's something else, something raw and human, an internal quality rather than anything to do with range or technique. It's not that range and technique cannot contribute hugely to a soulful performance because they can and do.

I hear it in The Four Tops' Bernadette. I hear it in Al Green. I hear it in Mick Jagger and I hear it in Snoop and I hear it in Cee-Lo. Pertinently, it is something that I just do not hear in Mariah.