I just picked up Adele's debut album, 19. By now, I'm sure that most of you have heard some/all of her ground-breaking, chart-topping, Grammy-winning album, 21. You really can't avoid it. I mean, if you haven't heard "Rolling in the Deep", you may need to pack your volleyball friend onto the raft and think about rejoining society.
Aside: if you haven't heard it, 19 is quite good. It seems a bit more immature and more of an attempt to mimic the records she heard growing up, rather than developing her own, unique stamp. There are shades of 21 in there, though. "Make You Feel My Love" would fit nicely onto 21.
Listening to her debut album, I'm struck by a few things. One of them is that this young lady has such command and presence, even at such a young age, that, in my opinion, some of today's "divas" could stand to take some notes. For one, Adele doesn't over-sing everything. She crafts interesting vocal lines, sure, but the vocal acrobatics that are so prevalent today, and seem to be the benchmark for what makes a "good" singer, are completely absent. This is a beautiful, "less is more" approach, and begins to undo some of the damage caused by all of the Whitney Houstons and Mariah Careys of the world.
"But...but..." you stammer. "Whitney could sing!".
You and I will have to disagree there. Well, maybe not entirely. She probably could sing. To me, though, it just seemed like she was yelling on-key most of the time. Tomatoes, to-mah-toes. I really didn't come here to bash Whitney.
The second thing that struck me was the phenomenon that I've observed upon discovering a new artist, mid-career, and then delving into their back catalog(ue):
The first album you hear from an artist is, in your mind, their sound, regardless of how it may sound with regard to anything else they've done.
Let me clarify. In the instance of Adele, 21 is what Adele's baseline sound is. 19 is a change from that. IN MY HEAD. For fans who started at the beginning, 21 is the departure. If the first Pearl Jam album you heard was Vitalogy, Ten is going to sound strange to you. Have you, readers, noticed this phenomenon as well?
I'd be curious to know what causes this. Perhaps it's just simple familiarity. Maybe there's enough nostalgia-weight with your first experience that you'll always hold a special place for that first taste of an artist.
Could you get around this by digesting a band's entire catalog(ue) in one go, thereby imprinting that nostalgia-weight to their entire works?
What artists have you experienced this with?
Not to make you barf, but I was a huge Mariah fan when she first came out and she didn't go Diva on everyone. She had a mature vibrato and very controlled sound and her octave range was the best, no one compared. After a couple of years, and age, she got a little worse...ok, a lot worse. Now, Josh Groban on the other hand, he started young, and he was mature, but nothing compared to his sound and talent now. I do believe age and maturity plays a huge role in an artists sound. Experience or lack there of also play a role. Growth and life play a factor as well. I love when artists branch out of their comfort zones and produce something way different than the norm. It's what makes us true fans. Just a little two cents, nothing great!
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