RIP Whitney, RIP the "Oversinging" trend?

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43. jazz only works when the rules are observed

you can have the same phenomenon with jazz -- a singer or any musician taking his "turn" overdoing it without reason, lurching somewhere without taking the steps to get there. music is a journey, it takes you some place. in jazz, when you take your turn, the "rule" is that you introduce yourself (musically), you take the audience someplace, possibly quite far away, then you take them back home, and hand it off to the next musician for their "turn". you can't just start in some far away place, you have to GO there.

good music starts off introducing a theme in a simple, largely unadorned form, then build on it, plays variations, increasing tension, complexity, orchestration, volume, frills, etc. until you've arrived at wherever it is you're going -- at which point you can really show off, but only because you've built your foundation first. then you tone it down, bring it back, return to the basic rhythm and theme, laying the groundwork for the next musician to take it somewhere else.

in whitney's "i will always love you", she did just start out with that full-throated, step-up modulated chorus, there was a long soft, sweet foundation that laid out the theme gently and built up the passion before she could tear it loose for the part that they love to clip out and use on its own.

mariah carey is my favorite example of doing it wrong. she's got an absolutely astounding voice, range, and technical talent, but so much of her music is show-off stuff; the frills have no rhyme or reason.