Norah versus Fiona
It has become abundantly clear to me that Alternative music is where one goes to find the truly deep and contemplative lyrics. Where R&B and Folky- type of Rock was the forerunner, each genre has fallen by the wayside and lost much of its integrity to vanity, anti-scoially conscious lyrics, poor writing and materialistic pursuits. The problem is, when we say alternative, alternative to what? I mean, that genre classification is just as ambiguous, if not more so than the "pop" genre.
Quite frankly, if it's played a great deal on the airwaves, it's technically pop, even though the content may be anything but. But alternative: Where are we going with this? The umbrella was too small to hold this big group of ever growing artists. I mean, the issue stems from how do you find an artist accessible if they are alternative and you don't listen to "alternative music". For example, Norah Jones swept the grammy’s with 5 for herself, and a total of 8 for the album. True, on the album, her voice is smoky, seductive and sultry…and her delivery is very jazzy. Lyrically, she’s nice as well; but, Fiona Apple kills virtually all her peers when it comes to lyric, and shorty was 16- 17 years old when she did her first album.
Don’t get it twisted, she got a lot of fans and put people in an uproar; but, had she been marketed differently, I’m sure she’d be a lot bigger. Norah probably has Fiona off the piano playing, and the voice is a throw up seeing as though hardly anybody sounds like their “studio voice” these days (Sleepy Brown sounds nowhere near what he does live as he does on wax).
Personally, I feel there’s a lot more originality in alternative music as a whole than there is in R&B. The problem is, there are too many damn people who are “alternative” to effectively stand out in the fray. So here’s a playful example of what I mean: Norah versus Fiona.
Norah Jones Versus Fiona Apple | |
Don't Know Why~ By Norah Jones I waited 'til I saw the sun My heart is drenched in wine My heart is drenched in wine | Pale September~ By Fiona Apple Pale September, I wore the time like a dress that year And all my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet He goes along just as a water lily And all my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet |
Maybe if everybody wasn’t trying to sound like R. Kelly and/or having songs written/produced by R. Kelly, I wouldn’t ponder such things. Anywho, Alternative folks that rock in my book are:
Fiona Apple
Alanis Morrisette
Third Eye Blind
Res
Esthero
Luscious Jackson
Just to name a few…
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