Music, singers, and magic

I just posted a YouTube clip of a great worship song by Martha Munizzi and wanted to share a few thoughts about music, singers and magic. Here's a conversation I recently had with my mom (the pastor).

Me: I really like Martha Munizzi!
Mom: The first album had so many good songs, but she hasn't had anything since then.
Me: This "Make it Loud" cd has a good 4 songs on it.
Mom: I tried to listen to it, but she just can't sing!
Me: Well, I like her songs... And that's exactly how I feel about Mary J. Blige!

First of all, I think an artist's first album is usually the best album. When an artist first starts out, they have lots of songs at his/her disposal to choose from. They can select what resonates most and what sounds the best. There are no expectations from the fan base because the artist typically hasn't settled on an artistic style or target audience. Then for some reason the second album takes a while to release and the artists starts to incorporate a "newer" sound. (You know, they get fancy, try to sound funkier, fresher, and slightly different.)  The fans are expecting more songs like the first album or songs like what they currently hear on  radio/tv/pandora and it's hard to recreate that magic. These types of demands are exactly why I have no desire to be a recording artist. It's a cold, cruel world!

Now let's move on to the actual ability of the singer. In this case, let's talk about Martha Munizzi. Can she sing? That's a matter of personal preference. I think she sounds good enough to be an artist. Have you heard some of these pop artists sing live? They can't sing that great either! (See conversation above.) Do I think Martha Munizzi can blow? No. To be perfectly honest, that's not exactly what I'm looking for in P&W music. I'm looking for sincerity in lyrics and what I like to call singability (easy to sing, easy to understand and memorize the lyrics). That's what's important to me.


Similarly, I don't think Mary J. Blige can blow, but when she first came out, I identified with the songs. You have to admit, she has a knack for singing songs about love lost and hard times. In terms of vocal acuity, she sounds comparable to Martha Munizzi. Now consider Beyonce. While I think Beyonce can blow, I typically don't like what she's singing about in most of her songs. Therefore, I'm not a huge Beyonce fan. But the lady can sing!

Then there's the feeling you get from certain songs/singers. I think of it as magic. I personally love songs from the crooning era and songs from the 60's because the content of the songs are about things that resonate with me. I also appreciate that you can guess the last few words in a phrase because the songs make sense. You instantly feel connected to song. It's like magic. So in essence, I feel that magic from Martha Munizzi.

I think sometimes we need to move past whether or not an artist can blow. If we don't, there will be no Mary J. Blige's or Martha Munizzi's; both of whom have songs that thousands/millions of people enjoy.

It's a big world. There's room for singers of all abilities as long as the music brings something to the table.

P.S. Pastors are the harshest music critics!