Re: General Glee Discussion Thread--Part 5

[sheny]

If she really wants to dedicate a song to Cory and use it for promotion, at least give the impression you put more effort into it instead of "how to commercialize a single successfully without any personality whatsoever".

There actually is a song in her album dedicated to him. It's called "If you say so", the last words Cory said to her.

This is the full song list.

[Lottie2303]

It still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

But I have to take back a bit of my statement. I thought Cannonball was specifically written because of Cory's death. I've misread that. Still, everything else I said still stands.

[ColferInspired]

It will be interesting to see how Cory's fan's will react to that interview.

I have not seen any saying anything about as yet.

These are the fans that didn't like Lea being with Cory.

[Glorfindel]

As I apparently live in Timboektoe    I can't watch that link (MTV doesn't allow anyone outside the USA  to see their website), but is this what y'all are talking about?



Hmmmmm, not the most tasteful tactic imo, no.   

[sheny]

^ Universal song? Is she talking about "Cannonball"? I find it kind of boring.

[Ranwing]

I had made a comment earlier that Lea has to walk a very fine line in how she approaches Cory's death given the PR push that her album is going to require. It's natural that she talk about it as it's a major reason for interest in her now outside of Glee, but she can't look like she's using it to her advantage for publicity. I thought that she has been skirting the line awfully closely at times and I found a lot of the Glee and RM PR about the Quarterback episode distateful (because they started to make it a lot more about Lea and how strong she is instead of focusing on Cory).

This album is not a Glee project and if fans get the impression that she is using Cory's death for her own benefit, it's going to be devestating for her reputation. I think that Lea's reputation with the public is already a bit iffy (with the major diva rumors that have followed her from Broadway) and Cory's fans are very dedicated to protecting his memory. If Lea crosses that line and gives the impression that she is capitalizing on Cory's death, the fallout to her reputation can be pretty catastrophic. I don't think that anyone expects her not to talk about it, but to talk about it in conjunction with a highly anticipated album is going to push the buttons of those who already have a poor view of Lea the wrong way.

[Ranwing]

Well for the first time since Glee aired, the show has been completely shut out of nominations for the SAG awards.

SAG Awards Nominee list

Not really surprising, given that last season they shoved their strongest actors almost completely off screen and 90% of the screen time was dominated by Blam! Bram! and the noobs. To not get an ensemble nomination really is a strong critique on the new cast and how they have been recieved (if the crap ratings weren't indication enough).

Really hope that the show takes this as a big warning that they are seriously on the wrong track.

[Glorfindel]

^Ha! Serves them right.

That's what you get for working your own show into the ground, RIB/Fox.  

[brisallie]

Also I believe Lea should be very careful when it comes to talk about Cory and how he inspired him to write this album. Ok, I got it, this album was a way to express her feelings for what she was going through, but still I think some people won't take nicely if she start to use Cory's image as a way to promote her album.

[Ranwing]

Considering that this album was supposed to be over a year in the works (I mean, how long have we been hearing that she was working on it), it's a bit disingenuous to claim that losing Cory was the primary motivation behind a significant number of the songs. Maybe one or two, I can buy. But Cannonball come across like the average girl empowerment songs that we get cluttering the radio the past few years. We've had Firework. We've had Titanium. We've had Wreaking Ball. Now we have Cannonball. Lea is just riding a wave and there's not a whole lot in the song that really looks like it can be linked directly back to Cory.

Which is why bringing him up as inspiration for the songs comes across as self-serving. I don't doubt that losing him impacted her greatly. I don't doubt that she grieved when he died. But using him and how sad losing him made her to promote an album? No thank you.

[Buenos]

I think the GA in general will give her the benefit of the doubt..

THose who are predisposed negatively to her are going to talk shit about her regardless...  

[sheny]

[Ranwing]

Why is Lea screaming at us?

The problem with Lea is that she doesn't sing like a pop singer. She sings like a Broadway performer and it just doesn't work with this kind of music. I don't know why she decided to go in this direction with her album because there is a real disconnect for me between the quality of her voice and this kind of music. And when she sings it live, we go back to her oversinging and sounds almost... I'm going to have to say harsh. I had to turn it off after the chorus because I just couldn't enjoy it.

It's a real shame that she didn't go in a direction that suited her voice better and looked to appeal to more of an adult contemporary audience. I think she would do much better than trying to go the pop route.

[Jellyrolls]

I agree with Ranwing on this. It's not really a style for her voice, and beyond that, I felt like she didn't even connect with the song at all. There was no passion in her voice for the music and she had no stage presence in the performance. There was no connection to the audience or the camera in the performance. I generally enjoy Lea's voice on Glee, and I know she has a lot of talent, but this performance doesn't make me want to buy the single or the album.

[glimmerle]

I like the song much better without all the soundeffects layered over Lea's voice.  I wish the studio recording was more like this live-version. If I as a musical layman had to find something to criticize in it, I'd say that the singing lacks variation in power: Lea seems to sing at the top of her lungs most of the time (I guess that's what some of you mean by 'oversinging'?) and sometimes, maybe as a result of that, sounds out of breath to me. It could all be due to her being very nervous, though. I think the song would sound more interesting if she varied her voice more. Instead the constant high level of power emphasizes its repetitive nature.

As far as the interview is concerned, I wish they'd focussed on her music, not on Glee and Cory. As someone who doesn't watch that show anymore and harbors neither a special like nor dislike towards Lea, I thought it was distracting and unnecessary. Hopefully they'll talk more about her music and album in the second part of the interview that hasn't been released yet, but I don't think this was a very good way to start.

[Buenos]

I think Lea sounds wonderful.   

[Glorfindel]

I agree with Ranwing on this.  It's not really a style for her voice, and beyond that, I felt like she didn't even connect with the song at all.  There was no passion in her voice for the music and she had no stage presence in the performance. There was no connection to the audience or the camera in the performance.  I generally enjoy Lea's voice on Glee, and I know she has a lot of talent, but this performance doesn't make me want to buy the single or the album.

I have to agree with both of you.
Her performance was......boring? There was just nothing there and it was not interesting at all to listen to.
Plus she looked very uncomfortable imo, very introverted. When Lea is capable of so much more! Her performances during the live tour were so thrilling and charismatic: compared them to this and it's like it's another person.

I like the song much better without all the soundeffects layered over Lea's voice.  I wish the studio recording was more like this live-version. If I as a musical layman had to find something to criticize in it, I'd say that the singing lacks variation in power: Lea seems to sing at the top of her lungs most of the time (I guess that's what some of you mean by 'oversinging'?) and sometimes, maybe as a result of that, sounds out of breath to me. It could all be due to her being very nervous, though. I think the song would sound more interesting if she varied her voice more. Instead the constant high level of power emphasizes its repetitive nature.

Basically. It seemed to me that Lea was only singing on 1 volume level: fullblown half-belting, without any build-ups and tension arches, which resulted in dull repetition.
On top of that Lea used her usual mannerisms which work good in the theatre but not good on pop songs imo: the heavy breathing and the 'scooping' up of her begin and end notes. All of these vocal tricks tend to slow a melody down and drain the energy out of a song because they're so 'heavy'.

I never thought I would say this, but I actually prefer her overproduced voice on the released single over this live perfomance, as that suited the style of this song better.

I don't know if she was nervous for the live performance on Ellen, but she definitely looked uncomfortable to me, whether that was because she was singing live on a popular talkshow watched by millons (causing her to be nervous) or because the song just doesn't fit her style.

Another theory: maybe Lea looked so timid on Ellen because this is the first time we hear the actual 'real' Lea. So far she's always been playing a role, whether that was on Broadway or as Rachel on Glee. Even the live tour was her playing Rachel. And she usually sings songs with a deeper meaning, female power ballads (musical or pop).
This was the first time she had to show herself and nothing else. She couldn't hide behind a song or a character/role anymore, and that could have made a difference in her performance.
Just like Chris (and many other musical perfomers as well) isn't comfortable singing as 'himself'.

[Lottie2303]

Have not watched neither the interview nor the song. But why is Lea talking about Glee? Chris really happily talked about everything and nothing last time he visited Ellen and didn't even utter one word about Glee. Lea is selling her music - no one would fault her for focusing on it. Doesn't make sense why her PR team agreed in advance to also promote Glee.   

[valkeakuulas]

I like the released version more but she sounds a whole lot better live than a lot of female artist out there. Performance was a bit draggy but then again as a whole I'd like the tempo of the entire song to be just a little big faster, just a bit. Personal taste I guess. I really want to hear if she has faster songs on her album.

I find Ellen's show a weird place to lauch a pop single. Isn't her show an mid morning/afternoon show? Wouldn't one of the late night shows have been better or do artists usually launch live performances on Ellen?

[Ranwing]

Marie, I think that's a very possible issue. There is a very big difference from playing a part and doing something as yourself, just as there is a very big difference between singing for theater vs singing in other venues. It's a comfort level and a skill curve that Lea hadn't been called upon to really master and on the few real occasions when I've heard her singing in a performance that didn't require her to play a character, she didn't capture the song the way she can when she has a character to work with. I think back to when she did DROMP at the Tonys and it felt so strange compared to the absolutely magnetic performance she was able to give on Glee.

And I think this is a time when her theater background is really hurting her. She spent most of her life singing in a particular style for a particular venue and there are a lot of ingrained habits, ticks and techniques that aren't just going to go away because now she's singing for a different audience. So we get the over emotive faces (which looked very odd and offputting), the volume turned up to 11 with no sense of build up or drama and the performance was very one note. I'm trying to give some real leeway as this was her first big performance of the song and I'm sure the pressure on her is immense, but it falls really short of what we know she is capable of. The question is if she can unlearn a lot of these performance habits to become successful as a singer in this other venue.

If not, that's no slam on Lea. This is like asking a neurosurgeon to become an orthopedist - similar enough that they're both doctors but actually require vastly different skill sets and knowledge bases in order to be successful. Not everyone can just jump from one type of venue and have it just work. And had Lea stuck to a musical style that suited her better, I don't think we would have quite so much of a disconnect.

[Buenos]

Lea has sang live before in small clubs in New York and in some FOX functions.  She's been singing live for more than half her life.

She may have been nervous but I doubt singing in her own "voice" would overwhelm her.

To put it in context, she sounded better live than about 99 % of the pop performers out there IMO.

[Ranwing]

The point I was trying to make is that the overwhelming majority of Lea's singing performances have been in theater settings playing a character and not singing as herself. Say she's sung maybe 50 times as herself in club and Fox event settings in the past few years. How does that hold up against eight shows a week since pretty much the age of 10? She has spent most of her life singing in a particular style and not in clubs.

I remember when Adam Lambert first auditioned for American Idol and one of the slams against him was that he came across as "too theatrical" because of his theater background. He had to very quickly adjust his performance style to work with this new setting and fortunately for him, was able to do so. Not everyone can. We're going to have to see how quickly Lea can pivot and dail back the theater aspects of her singing to let a more genuine performance emerge.

[brisallie]

I saw the live performance, and though I think her vocals were good as usual, for me it was like seeing a broadway star trying to sing a pop song as good as she were able to do it. But I agree with those that I didn't feel her to connect with the song.

P.S I love the jacket she was wearing during the interview. I want it

[fantastica]

i like that canonball song and i like her performance.    i have no trouble w/ her "full blown" singing. to me she's always like that. besides, the word "canonball" sounds bombastic and you really need that bombastic voice/energy to portray it.     

[Glorfindel]

Lea has sang live before in small clubs in New York and in some FOX functions.  She's been singing live for more than half her life.

She may have been nervous but I doubt singing in her own "voice" would overwhelm her.

To put it in context, she sounded better live than about 99 % of the pop performers out there IMO.

Yes, she sounds better live than most pop singers who have had hits, but there's a difference between sounding good live on a technical level and connecting to/selling a song. Lea didn't do that at the Ellen performance, there was no personal identity in the song imo, and that's a problem because it's her song she's selling.
This was the first time she sang a brand new song made especially for her and picked by her (so not a cover) and she sang it on a personal title (instead of e.g. as a Glee cast member), and imo it fell flat. She may learn how to present herself better like this and hopefully very soon, but I personally didn't see it at Ellen. YMMV of course.

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