Shoot your idols - Adele at the Beeb

[teamsaint]

It is a business.

success is in great part to do with having the marketing spend to help you get to the top, and a bit of nouse, and more marketing spend, to stay there.

Prizes are just part of the results of the marketing spend.

[french frank]

There's a scene where the movie's anti-hero, a ruthless A&R man, makes a speech about how having TALENT has nothing to go with being a successful pop star. What's really important is AMBITION.

That reminded me of Jeffrey Archer on how to achieve success in the Financial Times:

FT Ambition or talent: which matters more to success?

JA You’ve got the wrong word. It should be energy or talent. You can have all the talent in the world but without energy you won’t get anywhere. Energy and talent, you’re a king. Energy and no talent, you’re a prince. Talent and no energy – you’re a pauper.

[Ian Thumwood]

Oh dear, but this is largely a piece of studio production but at least the singers are likely to have come from a gospel tradition, The problem is with the pretty dreadful arrangement whereas Adele is just an average pop singer who is trying to be a black soul singer but who has been extremely fortunate to have managed to achieve what she has done. As I said earlier, as she is a fat lass, it only makes her seem more credible as she is seemingly less marketable but this is just a lie. The British public will rave about pop acts like Adele yet will find someone with talent and a bucket load of more musical savvy such as Laura Mvula a challenge.

[Lat-Literal]

After last night's disaster as the Grammys, it seemed appropriate to resurrect this thread.

I find it distasteful that Adele scooped so many awards last night and it seemed to impress upon me the idea that this has more to do with people being lazy in not wanting to explore other types of music than it did with any musical talent Adele may have. The "botched" live singing was brushed aside with an expletive which , rather than being offensive, just seemed to underscore her lack of real quality. I am not opposed to pop singers and it is only correct that genuine talent like Prince was lauded last night yet Adele's rise to fame and fortune seems all out of proportion with her ability.

I did not look too avidly at the nominations and even felt that the jazz selections were pretty inspired especially with so many great records being released. In the pop field, I have recently enjoyed Michael Kawinuka's last album which is pretty much perfect. However, Adele represents a decidedly bland response and an unprofessional one at that.

Obviously I didn't watch it. What was on was Channel 5's (?) "Autopsy - Amy Winehouse". I certainly wouldn't recommend it for a good night's sleep. On ambition or talent or energy, I choose context. If shell suits are in you can be the greatest dress maker in the world and are more than likely to remain a cottage industry. Unless you have contacts.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

If the hype's bad now, wait until the day (hopefully in the very distant future) when she's no longer with us.

[BBMmk2]

When will actors/vocalists/artists learn that their place is what they do, not what they feel they should be doing. Antagonising the viewer with their political views. They are there for one purpose only and that is to talk about what they are there for!

[Ian Thumwood]

According to the Huffington Post, the rehearsal did not go well either. It is quite interesting to compare Adele with an earlier generation of singer who would probably have ensured that the performance was carried off with aplomb on the night and certainly would not have curtailed the first attempt. The whole thing seemed incredibly amateurish and belied the fact that she actually isn't that good. This morning I was listening to Beth Hart and there is absolutely no comparison between the two. It is a shame that no one ever says that this performance and the reaction to it was totally unacceptable. Granted things can go wrong with live music yet this episode seems to show someone completely out of their depth and awarded well beyond their ability.

[Richard Barrett]

They are there for one purpose only and that is to talk about what they are there for!

If you say so.

When I'm not antagonising viewers with my political views I'm sometimes wondering what this whole Adele phenomenon is about. She's not that great a performer (though there are many worse ones of course) and her songs are monotonous in mood, emotionally trite and musically bland. There are as many interesting pop musicians around as there ever were, I think, but these days only a handful who dominate the media and the sales charts. Why her?

[teamsaint]

If you say so.

When I'm not antagonising viewers with my political views I'm sometimes wondering what this whole Adele phenomenon is about. She's not that great a performer (though there are many worse ones of course) and her songs are monotonous in mood, emotionally trite and musically bland. There are as many interesting pop musicians around as there ever were, I think, but these days only a handful who dominate the media and the sales charts. Why her?

I'm probably not really qualified to answer, since I certainly couldn't whistle you an Adele song, ( though I can whistle, badly) but I wonder if there is a cross generational thing going on here.
Pop music( the sort that makes any money at all ) is, I would guess, a much more fragmented market than say 30 or 40 years ago.
Perhaps record companies, ( and without their marketing spend you are stuffed) have realised that the big sales that once came from a narrow base ( think of the age demographic of popular bands who had chart topping albums like for example Fleetwood Mac or the Jam) now have to come from 3 generations instead of one.
Does Adele appeal across generations? I would suspect she does, but perhaps others know more.

In any case there has always been a market for anodyne , well packaged pop. The trick for the artist is to maintain the interest, or the belief of the suits with the advertising cash.

[muzzer]

Why her? She's of the times....with all that that entails. Good luck to her - and I'm no fan faod - but certainly no comparable 'star' of a previous generation would deliver such a performance.....

[Richard Barrett]

the big sales that once came from a narrow base ... now have to come from 3 generations instead of one.

That sounds highly plausible to me.