I was recently watching “Whitney”, the 2018 documentary about Whitney Houston, and she began to sing the song she first ever sang in her church. I was washed over with “yes”. YES. The WAY she sings… with purpose. There is real, felt meaning, painstakingly stitched into the truth of the notes. The breaths, the words.
For me – that is what must be given to every song. Honesty, vulnerability, truth. Meaning – emotionally beyond the words. And what about those more “shallow” pop songs I love to sing? Well, I would like to think that I’m actually taking them to the next level because I really believe what I’m saying at the time. Just that beautiful “suspension of disbelief” is what’s needed to take a forgettable song to a WOW.
So, music’s purpose, once more??? To generate an emotional response from the listener, else the song be ultimately forgotten.
As a Thespian…
There are 3 places they say singers sing from: their abdomen, their chest, and their mind. They say Whitney mastered those, and then also sang from her heart. I agree.
Her main competitor in Whitney’ earliest days, Mariah Carey, also sang this way at the time. It was a beautiful dance between the two of them.