This article is on my personal pet peeve: old time artists who try to imitate other artists, particularly I’m focusing on artists who are trying to imitate Adele.
Now, there’s nothing more that I hate than to say, “That artist is trying to be like ….” As you know from a previous article, during the Gaga craze, it annoyed me when people said other artists like Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus were trying to be like her.
Although I have to admit, back during the Y2K era, there were waaay too many clones of Britney Spears, and obviously. There was Jessica Simpson, Hoku, Kaci, Myra, Christina Aguilera, BoA, Lorie from France, Willa Ford, Shakira…there was like a Britney Spears in every country and province. But many of those artists were better than Britney herself so there wasn’t a problem.
And lets not forget the Michelle Branch clones. They give Avril Lavigne way too much credit for that one. She was a clone. Hilary Duff became a clone. Kelly Clarkson was a clone. The pop rock ladies trend was heavy between 2002-2005.
Even Jewel had a couple of clones before she became a Britney Spears clone herself…
Adele on the other hand is the best artist in four years (since the end of the rock era and the beginning of the technology voices). She is worthy of imitation and inspiration by many new artists. Notice I said the word NEW. She brought back a wave of good music. Music that hasn’t been heard since the blues was big in 1904. It has a classic touch that many artists threw away for the sake of fame. And yes, of course, she didn’t have to dress all fancy or slutty to get it, and yada, yada, yada.
But my pet peeve with some old time artists is that instead of doing their own original thing, or creating their own music, they are instead SINGING her songs. STOP SINGING her MUSIC. Make up your own good music. She can sing her own songs by herself. To me, if you are an old-time artist singing a newbie’s music, you must have either run out of ideas, or you realize just how awful you are, and now you want to expose how bad you are to your fans. That’s not even smart.
Who are these artists that are doing it?
Katy Perry is one of them.
What kind of crap is this? Katy Perry is singing someone else’s song at her OWN LIVE PERFORMANCE. That is not the way you give tribute to another younger artist. You only do that when the person is dead and can no longer sing their own music. Or they’re a legend, and too old to sing the songs anymore. Basically, Katy Perry is telling me to go out and buy Adele and go out and watch Adele live instead. And then Katy makes her own voice look bad because her voice wasn’t bread for this kind of song. So it sounds like crap.
You can see how in the wake of Adele becoming the most iconic singer of her generation, all of her peers are trying their best to sing better and approach her standard of vocal artistry. –BLTKellys
This is what I respect Adele for: encouraging artists to improve in their vocal abilities and encouraging artists to actually use their talents and not their good looks to entertain and make money. Expression is the encouragement of this generation. And because of Adele, music is making a major turn-around. For the first time in four years, I turned on the radio and found some music I actually enjoyed. Adele has challenged artists to be more “real” and creative. But just because Adele is good doesn’t mean you have to imitate her. It doesn’t mean you have to make boring, sad break-up/love songs just like her. And it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with being a glamorous person. It’s wrong when you aren’t being yourself and making your own music, or expressing your own talents. Then you’re killing yourself.
So overall, I feel artists like Katy should stop trying to be Adele. Be like her, not her exactly.
Another artist who sadly tried: Kelly Clarkson.
Adele is not even a legend yet. These artists have been in the game for too long to imitate a newbie like this. There’s nothing wrong with giving her props for her talent, but the level of imitation is overrated.
Even legend artists overseas have been imitating her, like BoA, which I am personally disappointed.
When I go to concerts to support certain artists, I go there to listen to them, not another artist’s songs, which the artist will probably sound horrible singing.
Adele is in her 20s, nowhere near dead, with only one album hit, and three top ten hits. She’s not a legend, she’s just a very good artist that deserves a tremendous amount of respect. If these artists want people to respect them, they need to start expressing themselves fully. They still don’t get why people have been dying for good music. It’s not because these artists are bad, it’s because they keep copying one another, or rather keep SINGING THE EXACT SAME SONG. It’s different to be inspired and to create your own thing. But don’t rip the girl’s song directly, and pass it off at your own concert as your own.
And then an artist who is a LEGEND, Celine Dion, sang her song too! Adele should be singing her songs, not the other way around! And it just makes Celine Dion look awful. As someone put it, “she just doesn’t have the soul for this song”. No one would’ve notice this slight flaw in her voice had she not attempted the song.
On another note, Adele isn’t even really the first soulful artist out here. In Africa there are so many soulful artists who go unnoticed, but have the same amount of significant talent. Adele is nothing new in the black community. Most black artists have strong voices. It’s rare when they don’t, and those are the ones that stand out like Rihanna.
Listen to this artist:
And here’s the tripped out part. Why are so many foreigners dominating US music industries? I turn on the radio, and almost every artist is from the United Kingdom or from Canada. Where are the US citizens? Oh right. They’re too busy singing Adele covers…
Generation Next 