Is Madonna's voice getting grating or is it just me?

[Guest tommyboy]

1. Watch YouTube clips of those songs from Buenos Aires (fan videos). 2. Watch the DVD versions. Yes, re-recorded. The most telling part is the "Scared to confess what I'm feeeeellllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!" part that she ALWAYS started flat and gradually corrected. It's PERFECT on the DVD. Not even Autotune can do that.

In short, Madonna is CAPABLE of doing incredible vocals in a controlled environment, when the song demands it. But she also make choices to do the nasal, girlie, thing, and enunciate just as bad as Tori Amos.

Don't be too sure, autotune is very capable of correcting such 'mistakes'. I have used it myself!

[Guest jamesshot]

Don't be too sure, autotune is very capable of correcting such 'mistakes'. I have used it myself!

No. She sounded different on every stop with that song. And she didn't always sound great. So it wasn't autotune.

[loomer]

yourrrrrrrrrrrrr hearrrrrrrrrrrt is not open.

The spell has been brokiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Guest jamesshot]

She enunciated fine in Evita. Her tone, or whatever, worked. She sounded beautiful.

Now, I HATE the way she does her "R's" especially. But overall, her tone or something is just harsh when she enunciates certain letters. With Evita, her tone was lighter. The words just melted off her voice.

She needs to really work on her vocal arrangements from now on, especially on tour. The SST really on had one song, YMLM, for her to show off her vocals whereas RIT had many songs that she could show off her voice and I heard so many people who saw that tour and really were impressed with her singing.

[Yummy]

whereas RIT had many songs that she could show off her voice and I heard so many people who saw that tour and really were impressed with her singing.

She was vocally flawless for Opening Night of RIT.

[Guest jamesshot]

She was vocally flawless for Opening Night of RIT.

I just adore her voice during this tour. She is at her most consistent and reaches highs she hadn't before or since. I remember my cousin, who has seen hundreds of concerts, being thoroughly impressed with her voice during RIT. She is one of the biggest defenders of her voice since then.

[Guest IJustFuctMadonna]

Don't be too sure, autotune is very capable of correcting such 'mistakes'. I have used it myself!

Nothing could correct vocals that are that off-key. I hate to say it. YMLM was beautiful in the verses. But every single fucking time she sang it live, the chorus was flat. I didn't mind, but it would have been obvious on a document like a DVD. Autotune/Melodyne does NOT correct pitch and make it sound like THAT. It would sound pretty robotic.

[Guest]

Nothing could correct vocals that are that off-key. I hate to say it. YMLM was beautiful in the verses. But every single fucking time she sang it live, the chorus was flat. I didn't mind, but it would have been obvious on a document like a DVD. Autotune/Melodyne does NOT correct pitch and make it sound like THAT. It would sound pretty robotic.

Exactly... anyone who thinks she actually sang like that on the Buenos Aires show is foolim' themselves... a quick listen to the fan footage will tell you that. Madonna DOES have an on-hand autotuner/vocal producer, you can hear the autotune throughout the song, but some of the hard notes/lines are re-sung in the studio. It's a common but not-much-talked-about occurrence in live CDs/DVDs.

I'm glad she re-sang it - the new vocal makes that "feeeeelaaaaaaannnnnnnnngggg!!!" really soar.

^Talk about huge stretch.

Anyway, surprised nobody mentioned Music where she sounds dull and lifeless compared to the DWT live versions and Erotica where she sounds the WORST EVER in "Why's It So Hard" & "In This Life". But yeah, she wants to use the high pitched voice and that means she's in a downfall and does not care at all.

I don't think Music sounds dull or lifeless... it sounds affected, because that is the sound she was going for (with the close-mic'ed vocals, low reverb, acoustics and electro beats). she kinda did the same thing for AL, but with Music it was more electro-oriented (icy) rather than AL which was supposed to be more songwriter-oriented. Madonna is a master at affecting her voice to the genre she is singing.

I loved her voice on hard candy. It sounds more like her live voice. {ducks}

totally agree - and there are some great vocal performances on HC - Give it 2 Me is PURE MADONNA... Miles Away and Devil give us hints of soulful deep-voiced madonna... and her delivery in Incredible is, well, Incredible - especially when she goes all bat-shit at the end.

It's not her strongest record, but Heartbeat, Incredible, Give it 2 Me, etc. are great songs. I think she's become very comfortable with the sound of her voice, and probably does write/perform songs with live performance in mind...think of all the songs she's had to tune down just to sing properly (ROL for instance). I'd rather her sound natural and comfortable than comform to her "old" sounds and what the fans want.

[Guest]

madonnas voice is the only one i truly care about and speaks to me, in that singer to listener relationship. its been a love affair, consistently since 1983 with that voice. in all its incarnations. shes had so many different singing styles over the years, so there are ones i prefer more, of course. sometimes it could just depend on my mood.

like thats the reason revolver isnt speaking to me on any level. whatever voice that is - its not madonna, to me. but today when i was groovn' to hard candy after a long absence - give it 2 me baby!!!!

i may like revolver down the road. voices was great today - a song i virtually ignored.

exactly. I just can't imagine Madonna's voice getting grating in any incarnation. She's the soundtrack of my life. She's the fucking QUEEN. Sure, there are songs that I prefer over others, and in Revolver she goes for a sound that's very mainstream pop...she's the queen of fitting her voice to a tune - shrill, high vocals are pretty common in pop songs right now, just listen to the Itunes 100 for instance...but the 'shrillness' also has more to do with mix than with performance. Still, I like "revolver" - it's no masterpiece, but the lyrics are very madonna, even if she didn't write them. Her sex is, indeed, a killer. Just ask her 22 year old boyfriend.

Threads like this are so depressing. I know that this group is just a smattering of really obsessed madonna fans, and it's just a discussion....but really? really? Is there any ENJOYING of madonna's music going on here these days? Or is it just break it down, analyze, complain, compartmentalize, etc.? The first thing I did when I heard Revolver was DANCE.

Madonna's voice is a constantly changing thing. She sings to fit whatever track she is singing. She has grown comfortable with the limitations of her voice, and she's just GOING WITH IT and not getting hung up on people's preconcieved notions... i love that. I don't want her to change a thing.

[Guest Danny86]

I don't think Music sounds dull or lifeless... it sounds affected, because that is the sound she was going for (with the close-mic'ed vocals, low reverb, acoustics and electro beats). she kinda did the same thing for AL, but with Music it was more electro-oriented (icy) rather than AL which was supposed to be more songwriter-oriented. Madonna is a master at affecting her voice to the genre she is singing.

I'm aware of the process she used in Music, in fact Mirwais "tricked" her into using vocals without effects, but to me "I Deserve It", "Don't Tell Me" & "Gone" sound very bad on record compared to the DWT. On tour she sounds as if she was feeling "I Deserve It" yet on record it's as if she was reading it from a paper, same with the Erotica songs I mentioned, to me this is the all time worst when it comes to vocals (and "Inside Of Me" on Bedtime Stories, that one is crap).

I think the AL vocals are a lot warmer and some of them actually foreshadow the girly voice of COADF/HC, like "Hollywood" or "Mother And Father".

I agree with you that her voice is a constantly changing thing and she seems to be comfortable with it.

[Lucky guy]

then pull up a comparable comparison to what madonna does for our readers. not ella fucking fitzgerald. ella did what she did, dietrich toured well into her 70's doing what she did and madonna will do what she does. if were lucky enough.

There is no-one directly comparable, and why should I find such an example? I wasn't saying Madonna has to have the voice of Ella Fitzgerald; I was merely using Ella as an example that although some vocal decline is inevitable, people who look after their voices properly can perform to a high level well into later life. Another example is Shirley Bassey -she's in her 70's now, and sure she's not what she was, but damn she can still belt out a tune (please don't miss the point again and say I want Marge to sing like Shirley). If Ella had to be the vocal equivalent of a concert piano, and Shirley a church organ, all I expect Madonna to be is a xylophone -able to turn out an enjoyable tune and seem like she's doing it comfortably and with style. I'm just saying that ageing cannot really be used as an acceptable reason why this can't happen. This isn't a negative view, it's a HOPEFUL one -that if Madonna decides to get it sorted she can, not what others seem to be saying, that her voice is past it at 50, even if they expect or DEMAND that she has less wrinkles and a firmer arse every year.

[loomer]

I found this amazon review of TIC with comments from their former #1 reviewer very interesting - http://www.amazon.com/review/R31FDBJZ2CHYAD/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000002LND&nodeID=5174#wasThisHelpful

[Guest]

I'm aware of the process she used in Music, in fact Mirwais "tricked" her into using vocals without effects, but to me "I Deserve It", "Don't Tell Me" & "Gone" sound very bad on record compared to the DWT. On tour she sounds as if she was feeling "I Deserve It" yet on record it's as if she was reading it from a paper, same with the Erotica songs I mentioned, to me this is the all time worst when it comes to vocals (and "Inside Of Me" on Bedtime Stories, that one is crap).

I think the AL vocals are a lot warmer and some of them actually foreshadow the girly voice of COADF/HC, like "Hollywood" or "Mother And Father".

I agree with you that her voice is a constantly changing thing and she seems to be comfortable with it.

I couldn't disagree w/ you more Danny - she sounds fucking beautiful and soulful on the Music tracks... Sure, she sounded good on DWT, but i'd take the Music vox over those DWT off-key vocals any day (not to dis DWT, which is one of my faves). I did know about the Mirwais trickery btw...but I certainly wouldn't say that AL had vocals that were such a far jump in quality/feeling from Music. Nobody Knows Me, Nothing Fails and other songs take notes vocally from Impressive Instant and I Deserve it. I've always thought of AL and Music as bookend albums.

Erotica is quite possibly my favorite "vocal" album for madonna (or maybe BS), so i guess we just have very different tastes.