Lana Del Rey

What's that, scientific evidence?

Or does that get substitute if someone says 'ppened?'

it's a protools screen. I can download the free version of it, intentionally sing off-key and with terrible timing, and fix both those problems with a couple of clicks. one value of recording analog was that even one session's worth taught you just how hard some simple musical things - timing, pitch - actually are; one problem with people who've never not had the option to fix pitch & timing is they don't fully get that music's a craft you either practice very hard at all the aspects of or you don't get good at them, cf. LDR on SNL

I thought her main problem was a lack of breath support.

OK, I just watched about the first ten seconds of her second song on the web before I had to turn it off. Sooo, the voice she's singing in really doesn't come naturally, does it?

lol i just got round to watching that. SO bad :o

it would be weirdly unshocking if the on-record performance of "video games" was, like, completely artificial or something

brb gonna send her a case of whiskey and unfiltered cigarettes. A few years of that and some serious training in the studio and we'll either get results or be rid of her

btw the youtube upthread is weirdly shit (as well as...yeah) cuz it's someone recording the tv w/their phone, this one's better (though she isn't)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw0Hn3TSzyQ

She is like a super unmusical Margaret Lattimore in how her chest, normal and head voices are all wholly dissimilar and disconnected, but there's no diction or support to even attempt to tie then together. The only time I though she sounded decent was when she was honking those super low notes in "Video Games".

god, the fidgeting! she has no control over anything she's trying to do up there.

lolling @ what people who'd never heard her records must have been thinking

this reminds me of when you see someone doing karaoke and they're really "feeling it" but in a way that's humorless and just makes everyone uncomfortable

(PS massive apologies to Maggie L for using her as a comparison point; my bad, boo (but um you DO know what you sound like, good on you for making that work for you))

She was only nervous because of the performance! You can read about it in the news.

Lana has got a interesting and beautiful voice! Go Lana, Go!

SuperMatthewdavid 52 minutes ago

either 14 yrs old or gay, or both

I made it through to the end this time - her pitch is fine, her timing and presence are terrible & her breath control actually isn't bad 'til toward the end? I think this is actually a case of how shitty in-ear monitors & wireless mics are but they're industry standard for big shows now but if you don't have a monitors guy who really knows what you need to be hearing to be at your best, you're going to get some standard mix (almost doubtless the case with ldr) and you'll notice once the cameras are on that the strings are too loud or not loud enough in your ears or maybe you're hearing way too much of your voice so you try to modulate that so you're hearing less (instead of just pointing at the ground which would tip off the soundguy to bring down your voice in your monitor) etc etc - i.e., just like people are saying, this is a person who's new to the stage. But figuring this shit out before actually going on TV, it's the sort of thing you sort of oughta make a priority imo if yr gonna go taking tv offers

the awful live diction is especially noticeable cuz that's one of the huge strengths of the studio version of "video games" - watching that it's like she has no idea what the words mean

is it possible that this is "just nerves" or whatever excuse i'm seeing her fans use? because this isn't slightly off in one performance, she was like this on one UK live performance i saw too, and it's just a gazillion miles off.

On Jools I thought she was just nervous and now I guess it's like, she really can't do this whole "performing a song in front of people" thing

which is a shame given her chosen career

I hate going off topic but have people watched Katy Perry's and Rihanna's recent SNL tapes?Some critics are already slamming this poor innocent genuine cutie while experienced singers didn't get 2/4 this bashing.I don't know why are peps going so much in on her,it's undeserved considering she's newbie debuting on such important show.

a popjustice stan weighs in o_0

isn't every bad tv performance by a new artist chalked up to nervousness?

not that i really see that much of a difference between this and other performances of hers -- DJP was pretty OTM re: the technical problems with her voice, and her songs are just not good at all and i can't believe that so much wool has been pulled over so many eyes w/r/t that fact -- but when even the fader, the premier outlet for it all being good, is saying that a performer <a href="http://www.thefader.com/2012/01/15/watch-lana-del-rey-on-saturday-night-live/";>"seemed a little tense"</a>...

jesus christ i can't even make it through that video

oh god i forgot about the bbcode, sorry

seems like a pretty standard excuse

she didn't seem outwardly nervous or anything, just inexperienced

her chest, normal and head voices are all wholly dissimilar and disconnected, but there's no diction or support to even attempt to tie then together

Yes, this is OTM. On the recorded version of "Video Games," she goes into that little-girl head voice, too, but it's a lot more fluid.

there's a german tv performance on youtube somewhere that's less bad

maybe there's truth to aero's theory... i feel like we're constantly talking about how bad the sound is on SNL

but you know maybe having her suck on snl, which has been notoriously unkind to its musical guests of late, is part of the backlash-to-the-backlash-to-the-backlash-to-the-backlash-to-the-backlash-to-the-backlash-to-the-backlash-to-the-backlash marketing plan. there are still two weeks before her album comes out, which means more time for her to be, like, soooo down-to-earth and nice in interviews

haha i was going to write that at times like this you sort of have to wonder what her management were thinking, booking this gig, but perhaps maura is OTM

see also whiney g. weingarten on the topic in 2009:
http://idolator.com/5150549/ayo-blogger-idiots-you-know-saturday-night-live-is-screwing-with-you-right

this kinda reminds me of the response to cassie doing "me & u" on 106 & park

having said all this, dude from art brut is apparently criticising her, and he has noooooo room to talk whatsoever when it comes to singing ability

*updates .xls of times whiney used the phrase "billyburg beardos"*

I hate going off topic but have people watched Katy Perry's and Rihanna's recent SNL tapes?Some critics are already slamming this poor innocent genuine cutie while experienced singers didn't get 2/4 this bashing.I don't know why are peps going so much in on her,it's undeserved considering she's newbie debuting on such important show.

a popjustice stan weighs in o_0

The last time I saw Katy Perry on SNL I remember thinking she had a good night (ie she was actually singing instead of desperately honking at notes hoping she didn't crack)

No one thinks Rihanna can sing live

one thing american idol has given us that will not go away quickly is a pretty high expectation of basic vocal quality when watching somebody sing a pop song on stage, and for that i give simon cowell and his hellish minions a grudging "fair dos"

that whiney post is such a whineyian masterpiece

No one thinks Rihanna can sing live

by far the most brutal part of last year's american idol auditions involved all the people who tried out with 'only girl in the world.' i wanted to shake them and be like, 'no, no, don't you see? the point is that she doesn't really hit those notes!'

one thing american idol has given us that will not go away quickly is a pretty high expectation of basic vocal quality when watching somebody sing a pop song on stage, and for that i give simon cowell and his hellish minions a grudging "fair dos"

it's fairly ironic that xfactor is another of those programmes reliably unkind to performing guests

ooh is this where i get to lob in jessie j's sensitive totp rendition of "price tag" for a compare & contrast?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pym1_N1q74

Also Fleet Foxes were completely in tune on their awful music on that stage, and Kanye singing into a fucking vocoder was in tune on that stage and he isn't even a singer, so really people need to stfu and recognize that their pet acts can't fucking sing

jessie j is actually worse than the woman from karmin

If only SNL had waited until 2012 to book Jessie J. We coulda had quite the run.

i've avoided karmin so far in the hope that it will go away before i have to know about it?

lol oh lex you're so OPTIMISTIC

lexxxxxxxxxx nooooooooooooo dont make me see that again

Massive foghorn Jessie J was in tune on SNL. Massive often-out-of-tune foghorn Florence Welch was in tune on "No Light, No Light" (didn't see her other song). It's not impossible to be in tune on that stage!

I thought Florence was terrible on SNL, but I've never seen her in control of her own voice in a live setting.

Oh man, THANK YOU. I saw her at the VH1 Divas thing a few back and she seemed a half-step flat the whole time!

I've heard her in tune twice; the aforementioned "No Light, No Light" and whatever award show she did that breakthrough "Dog Days" performance on. The other times I've heard her she's been super flat.

dying @ "ayo blogger idiots"

also, that natalie imbruglia reference upthread forgets about ms. dyanmite, who performed on snl the saturday before 'a little deeper''s 3/11/03 release. BLOGGERS.

Woah....yikes @ the SNL "Videogames". She must have done a million takes in the studio to get that right, cos every live performance I've seen has been wince-inducing.

On Jools I thought she was just nervous and now I guess it's like, she really can't do this whole "performing a song in front of people" thing

which is a shame given her chosen career

OTM.