hazliya | Music: New soul?

So.

Lately I've been giving Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse a trial with my ears. The verdict?

No.

Don't get me wrong, some of the songs are catchy. But both are hit-or-miss with me. It's either "Oh, hey, I could get into this song" or "Oh, god, turn it off!"

But it's not so much their music that bothers me, as I was discussing with

elenuial, but the singers. They're picturesque, spoiled white brats.

From what I've seen of them on Youtube, interviews, and various media, the so-called new "ladies of soul" are akin to Paris Hilton, the "stupid, spoiled whore" of the media world.

These girls drink and throw hissy fits, and the extent of their problems seems to lie in hangovers.

Is that what you think of when you think of someone singing soul music?

See, when I think of the real soul singers, all the artists that come to mind came out of nothing. They had hardships and grew up fighting the everloving shit out of the system to break through, and their music reflected that. That's why soul has such a powerful impact - the singers have all this emotion to throw into the songs; they still had to fight to release their personal demons into their music.

Abuse. Violence. Gangs. Poverty. Hunger. Deaths. Crime. These things produce moving emotion.
Parties. Sex. Oodles of money. Middle-class childhood. All that that moves is the contents of one's stomach after a hearty night on the club circuit.

Yes, the new girls are hot. Yes, they have good voices. But just because your voice has a tonal quality that is normally associated with soul doesn't make you a soul singer. It's like seeing an upper-class Cambridge boy on his daddy's yacht wearing a sweater vest - and singing a sea shanty.

Just because you have the equipment...

I don't know. That's always in my mind when I hear their music, or hear someone refer to them as "the new soul divas."

Spoiled, yes. Divas, no.

Singers, yes. Soul singers, no.

Sorry, not sold.

-Haz