A Treatise On A Matter Of Great Importance To Humanity
Or, "Why Chanel Cole is rather obviously the best remaining Australian Idol contestant"*
*Monday, 18 October 2004
1. Interpretation
People seem to be favouring the misguided notion that performances need to be vocally perfect to be successful ones. However, if this were the case, people like Carole King, Janis Joplin and (much to Hayley's chagrin) Missy Higgins would never have been allowed to make records. (Incidentally, it is hoped that Hayley is by now aware that Missy Higgins is not a band.)
Now, notwithstanding Millsy and that chick from Madison Avenue, vocal proficiency of some degree is obviously important for a singer. But even more crucial than capitalising on vocal perfection is capitalising on vocal imperfection. Or, knowing how to turn a song into
a performance. Each of Chanel's performances feature this in droves, where she strips the song of its familiar layers and replaces it with her own flavour. For example:
* She couldn't possibly emulate k.d. lang's energetic, perfect vocal on "Constant Craving"; instead she enlisted a harp and some gentle violins and turned it into an atmospheric lament.
* She couldn't possibly execute the vocal breaks that Sam Brown does to perfection on "Stop" (and that are basically the reason Hayley is even still around); instead she drenched the song in sexual longing and turned it into the predatory breathless chant of a scorned and
oversexed vixen.
* She wore a red outfit while singing "Green Limousine"! (OK, this is not strictly interpretation on a vocal level, but how clever, mixing traffic light colours while singing about a car!)
In other words, Chanel is re-inventing as opposed to merely singing. Watching her deal with her vocal imperfections while inventing something far more globally arresting is precisely why she is the most fascinating performer and is what has made performers like Bjork and P J Harvey the successes they are despite their technical shortcomings.
2. Musicianship
Chanel is the only performer who arranges her own music every week. Some have attempted it and failed dismally (see: Casey's sonic inundation on "Eleanor Rigby", Anthony's tribute to Young Talent Time on "I Saw Him Standing There"). In Beatles Week, hers was obviously the only good performance, mainly because she was the only one who bothered to envisage how the music would best work for her.
Actually, the only song she let be arranged the most faithfully to the original was a song called "History Repeating"! Clearly, she's a master of ironic textual interpretation. (Except where she walked on by the audience in "Walk on By" - that was a bit shit.)
3. She's interesting, dammit!
Like her or hate her, Chanel is far from a cookie-cutter personality. To wit:
* She appears to be quite intelligent yet is often endearingly vacant.
* She likes to wear things in her hair!
* While in the Bottom 2 with Daniel, she managed to diss Idol on live TV!
* She put a microphone on James Mathison's head!
* The whole Marcia thing, which last night returned to its former glory (Note to Marcia: When uttering the rhetorical "Ya know what I'm sayin'?", the answer should ideally never be "No").
4. By process of elimination
Is there anyone prepared to admit that Marty is better than Chanel? (Answer: No) (Let's hope Marty's grandparents, whoops I mean parents, aren't on the blower all night again this week.) He is boring on stage, over-enunciates his words, swallows the microphone even more fully and fervently than Anthony at the age of 3, and cannot sing. He must go next. I can scarcely fathom how he is even there. Indeed, Ngaiire is still hoping to have him charged with theft.
Hayley is growing on me and is really quite inexplicably hated by Mark Holden. While she might be waiting in vain for Sarah McLachlan Week, I'm quite happy for her to survive this week, but then it's time to head back to Canberra with her sister. I mean, her mum.
Courtney is an excellent singer, but he's just a bit naff. And did we really need to see his silhouette last night? Top 4, I will allow, but no further.
Casey recovered nicely and has the best mic technique. If this were Mike Idol, Casey would win and Marty would have been eliminated back at the first auditions. Actually Chanel would win, based on last night's phallic manipulation of the apparatus. At any rate, Mic Idol would have produced a better outcome than a Top 6 with Marty and without Ricki-Lee, and in both cases Casey would make an excellent Top 3 competitor, but is probably better off outside the Top 2, unless Idol producers have a speed metal version of the eventual single at the
ready.
Anthony is Chanel's most credible competition. He is vocally masterful and, provided he doesn't inexplicably throw any more clothes or headgear into the audience, will be a worthy Opera House finalist. He is also the only credible alternative winner. Most fan sites place Chanel and Anthony as the Top 2 most popular performers; I think this is because both of them are thought-provoking. They make you ask questions. At least with Chanel, these are mostly musical.
In case there was any doubt, Chanel is superior to her fellow competitors simply because she is superior to her fellow competitors.
VOTE FOR CHANEL and make the rest of this series watchable.
*Monday, 18 October 2004
1. Interpretation
People seem to be favouring the misguided notion that performances need to be vocally perfect to be successful ones. However, if this were the case, people like Carole King, Janis Joplin and (much to Hayley's chagrin) Missy Higgins would never have been allowed to make records. (Incidentally, it is hoped that Hayley is by now aware that Missy Higgins is not a band.)
Now, notwithstanding Millsy and that chick from Madison Avenue, vocal proficiency of some degree is obviously important for a singer. But even more crucial than capitalising on vocal perfection is capitalising on vocal imperfection. Or, knowing how to turn a song into
a performance. Each of Chanel's performances feature this in droves, where she strips the song of its familiar layers and replaces it with her own flavour. For example:
* She couldn't possibly emulate k.d. lang's energetic, perfect vocal on "Constant Craving"; instead she enlisted a harp and some gentle violins and turned it into an atmospheric lament.
* She couldn't possibly execute the vocal breaks that Sam Brown does to perfection on "Stop" (and that are basically the reason Hayley is even still around); instead she drenched the song in sexual longing and turned it into the predatory breathless chant of a scorned and
oversexed vixen.
* She wore a red outfit while singing "Green Limousine"! (OK, this is not strictly interpretation on a vocal level, but how clever, mixing traffic light colours while singing about a car!)
In other words, Chanel is re-inventing as opposed to merely singing. Watching her deal with her vocal imperfections while inventing something far more globally arresting is precisely why she is the most fascinating performer and is what has made performers like Bjork and P J Harvey the successes they are despite their technical shortcomings.
2. Musicianship
Chanel is the only performer who arranges her own music every week. Some have attempted it and failed dismally (see: Casey's sonic inundation on "Eleanor Rigby", Anthony's tribute to Young Talent Time on "I Saw Him Standing There"). In Beatles Week, hers was obviously the only good performance, mainly because she was the only one who bothered to envisage how the music would best work for her.
Actually, the only song she let be arranged the most faithfully to the original was a song called "History Repeating"! Clearly, she's a master of ironic textual interpretation. (Except where she walked on by the audience in "Walk on By" - that was a bit shit.)
3. She's interesting, dammit!
Like her or hate her, Chanel is far from a cookie-cutter personality. To wit:
* She appears to be quite intelligent yet is often endearingly vacant.
* She likes to wear things in her hair!
* While in the Bottom 2 with Daniel, she managed to diss Idol on live TV!
* She put a microphone on James Mathison's head!
* The whole Marcia thing, which last night returned to its former glory (Note to Marcia: When uttering the rhetorical "Ya know what I'm sayin'?", the answer should ideally never be "No").
4. By process of elimination
Is there anyone prepared to admit that Marty is better than Chanel? (Answer: No) (Let's hope Marty's grandparents, whoops I mean parents, aren't on the blower all night again this week.) He is boring on stage, over-enunciates his words, swallows the microphone even more fully and fervently than Anthony at the age of 3, and cannot sing. He must go next. I can scarcely fathom how he is even there. Indeed, Ngaiire is still hoping to have him charged with theft.
Hayley is growing on me and is really quite inexplicably hated by Mark Holden. While she might be waiting in vain for Sarah McLachlan Week, I'm quite happy for her to survive this week, but then it's time to head back to Canberra with her sister. I mean, her mum.
Courtney is an excellent singer, but he's just a bit naff. And did we really need to see his silhouette last night? Top 4, I will allow, but no further.
Casey recovered nicely and has the best mic technique. If this were Mike Idol, Casey would win and Marty would have been eliminated back at the first auditions. Actually Chanel would win, based on last night's phallic manipulation of the apparatus. At any rate, Mic Idol would have produced a better outcome than a Top 6 with Marty and without Ricki-Lee, and in both cases Casey would make an excellent Top 3 competitor, but is probably better off outside the Top 2, unless Idol producers have a speed metal version of the eventual single at the
ready.
Anthony is Chanel's most credible competition. He is vocally masterful and, provided he doesn't inexplicably throw any more clothes or headgear into the audience, will be a worthy Opera House finalist. He is also the only credible alternative winner. Most fan sites place Chanel and Anthony as the Top 2 most popular performers; I think this is because both of them are thought-provoking. They make you ask questions. At least with Chanel, these are mostly musical.
In case there was any doubt, Chanel is superior to her fellow competitors simply because she is superior to her fellow competitors.
VOTE FOR CHANEL and make the rest of this series watchable.
posted by Scott @ 9:46 PM
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