March 03, 2007 Archives
Sat Mar 3 21:13:53 CET 2007
[EN] Esmée Denters
Ok, I'm not exactly the kind of guy to fall for hypes, but I
have to say that I'm impressed with this young girl (18 years
old) from the Netherlands, who has put a number of webcam
videos of her singing along to her favourite music on YouTube
and MySpace, drawing
an instant global audience in the millions and landing her
appointments with over a dozen record companies in the US.
The fact that I'm impressed is even more impressive [...] when you take into consideration that a) I don't like the musical genre (R&B, the blandest of the blandest) at all b) I think she needs to take some lessons to improve on her technique (she has trouble getting some notes right the first time, and her breathing is wrong) c) I think she's using embellishments and other tricks to hide her insecurities about being able to reach certain notes.
One of the pleasant side-effects of her lack of technique is that she seems to be slightly behind the beat most of the time, which gives her renditions a nice laid-back atmosphere. Sinatra made a big career out of that, so who knows ..
That being said, I still find her videos endearing to say the least, especially this one that shows her struggling to reach a key that's obviously slightly too low for her voice, resulting in some amusing facial expressions (amusing in an endearing and obviously pretty way, really).
Here's another example showing that she still needs a bit of work on her technique, and probably showing signs of a slight mismatch between her youthful appearance and a 'too adult' choice of material. There's no doubt, however, that this girl can sing and will find her own niche with the help of a good voice coach, some original songwriting, and a one-way ticket out of the Netherlands, which cannot handle, let alone appreciate talent.
Now this is what I'm talking about. A leap forward!
The fact that I'm impressed is even more impressive [...] when you take into consideration that a) I don't like the musical genre (R&B, the blandest of the blandest) at all b) I think she needs to take some lessons to improve on her technique (she has trouble getting some notes right the first time, and her breathing is wrong) c) I think she's using embellishments and other tricks to hide her insecurities about being able to reach certain notes.
One of the pleasant side-effects of her lack of technique is that she seems to be slightly behind the beat most of the time, which gives her renditions a nice laid-back atmosphere. Sinatra made a big career out of that, so who knows ..
That being said, I still find her videos endearing to say the least, especially this one that shows her struggling to reach a key that's obviously slightly too low for her voice, resulting in some amusing facial expressions (amusing in an endearing and obviously pretty way, really).
Here's another example showing that she still needs a bit of work on her technique, and probably showing signs of a slight mismatch between her youthful appearance and a 'too adult' choice of material. There's no doubt, however, that this girl can sing and will find her own niche with the help of a good voice coach, some original songwriting, and a one-way ticket out of the Netherlands, which cannot handle, let alone appreciate talent.
Now this is what I'm talking about. A leap forward!