First off I have a soft spot for Toni who is in my Top 5 of all time. That said in 1994 & 1995 she had no competition at all. Now 1997 I might have to go with Whitney as the winner just for everything after 2:53. SHE *******!
I never liked "You're Makin' Me High." Ugh. Any of the other nominees would have been better winners.
I think several of Aretha's peers said she has always been that way. Tina Turner, Natalie Cole and I think even Chaka mentioned that. They said they never took it personally because that was her nature. Did she actually think she was going to always win the award?
She must have been a fool, truth be told she had no competition in the 60's and 70's except maybe Gladys and Jennifer..... now when the 80's and 90's rolled around girl boom, we got Anita, Natalie, Tina, Dionne, Patti, Stephanie, Toni, Whitney, Mariah, Mary (who was ****ing untouchable on Not Gon Cry and No More Drama which BOTH should have won Record Of The Year imo.)
She must have been a fool, truth be told she had no competition in the 60's and 70's except maybe Gladys and Jennifer..... now when the 80's and 90's rolled around girl boom, we got Anita, Natalie, Tina, Stephanie, Toni, Whitney, Mariah, Mary (who was ****ing untouchable on Not Gon Cry and No More Drama which BOTH should have won Record Of The Year imo.)
Anita was slaying bitches. She won R&B Female three years in a row. Anita is underrated today, but back then, she was one of the most successful female artists at the time.
Mary J. Blige for "He Think I Don't Know" (WINNER)
Aaliyah for "More Than a Woman"
Ashanti for "Foolish"
Eartha for "I'm Still Standing"
Jill Scott for "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)"
So, can we talk about the 06-07 nominees for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance?
Christina Aguilera, Candyman Feist, 1,2,3,4 Fergie, Big Girls Don't Cry Nelly Furtado, Say it Right
*Amy Winehouse, Rehab
Do you agree with the winner? How would you rank this category? And who should have been nominated?
CP, I'd be interested in your opinion. I happen to think that Rehab and 1,2,3,4 are two of the best, most unique and deserving vocal performances nominated in any category this century. I go back and forth between the two all the time. Feist conveys such genuine soul and feeling, but there are some many funny asides all in her vocal upticks. For someone with a small voice, she has a whole galaxy of emotions inside her range. Have you ever seen somebody try to cover this song? A MESS.
But few songs have been so badly interpreted as Rehab has been by amateurs. What they always miss is the complexity of Amy's vocal; how her nonchalance so transparently covers a real sense of dread. There's a real fine line she has to walk - not to give too much away, and she does it beautifully. You can feel it all circling around her, and a lot of that is due to her.
The rest of the category - I'm largely not here for it. Don't get me wrong - how Nelly gives heart to the icy dissonance around her is truly laudable, but the other two? Fergie is overwrought and overly earnest, and is tonally the most unpleasant to listen to - she sounds like a muppet giving birth. But at least I can pinpoint some actual feeling, and understand what she's saying - two things I'll never get from Aguilera's most masturbatory screamfest yet.
My ideal category:
Feist, 1234 Nelly Furtado, Say it Right Norah Jones, Thinking About You Pink, Who Knew [the best vocal Pink's ever committed to record, by a long shot] Amy Winehouse, Rehab
Poor India.Arie. I remember when she lost all of her Grammys to Alicia, U2 and "O Brother, Where Are Thou?"
They did give her two Grammys the following year.
They played her and we all know why.
India should have been nominated for ONE OF THE BEST SONGS OF ALL TIME IN ANY GENRE. Ready For Love literally takes a huge dump on 3/4 of songs ever released in the world.
Anita was slaying bitches. She won R&B Female three years in a row. Anita is underrated today, but back then, she was one of the most successful female artists at the time.
India should have been nominated for ONE OF THE BEST SONGS OF ALL TIME IN ANY GENRE. Ready For Love literally takes a huge dump on 3/4 of songs ever released in the world.
It wasn't submitted. Blame her label!
But the 00-01 R&B Female category was STACKED, huh?
Oh, and since NARAS is basically friends voting for friends:
Last year's R&B Female and this year's Country Female are too of the most rigged categories ever. EVER. Fill them in with one insurmountable vocal, one deserving second place and two - three flops/songs no one's ever heard. Leaving the favored choice basically no competition.
I'm not complaining, because I love both Beyonce and Miranda and what they did on Single Ladies and The House That Built Me respectively, but come on. COME ON.
He was the Vanessa Carlton/Corrine Bailey Rae of the year - surprisingly snubbed in an expected category, but making it in the Big Three.
Best New Artist, huh? I saw that coming. I think it has something to do with his hits being featured. He got snubbed for BNA at the BET Awards and VMAs but got the bigger nominations and was a leading nominee at both awards. He can't complain either way.
Nominees:
Alicia Keys - "Fallin"
Blu Cantrell - "Hit 'em Up Style (Oops)"
India.Arie - "Video"
Mary J. Blige - "Family Affair"
Aaliyah - "Rock The Boat"
Jill Scott - "Long Walk"
Other possible nominees that year:
Sunshine Anderson - "Heard It All Before"
Tamia - "Stranger in My House"
Erykah Badu - "Didn't Cha Know"
Incredible. That was the last time R&B was so competitive.
Like, can you even? And you forgot Faith Evans for U Gets No Love.
Speaking of, how did she get snubbed the next year for I Love U? That song was so big that Z100 added it. Maybe I can accept her nomination this year as payback.
Like, can you even? And you forgot Faith Evans for U Gets No Love.
Speaking of, how did she get snubbed the next year for I Love U? That song was so big that Z100 added it. Maybe I can accept her nomination this year as payback.
DEAD! Good minds think alike because I was going to put "U Gets No Love," but wasn't sure if it met the deadline and was going to mention "I Love You" getting snubbed the following year.
You know the year is competitive when you have over five nominees. Just sick.
Speaking of:
the 2007-2008 nominees for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Adele - Chasing Pavements Sara Bareilles - Love Song Duffy - Mercy Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love Pink - So What Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl
I think this category readily contradicts that point. Adele walked it, and really had no competition - what a superior, superlative performance. Love Song is more of a strength of composition than vocal (although it's not bad), Mercy is cute but not Warwick Avenue, and So What is not Pink's best.
But the other two nominees make me sick. I Kissed a Girl is the worst song AND vocal performance to be nominated in this category. There's no wit or shade in Perry's sledgehammer approach, and like most things Cathy Dennis touches, she might as well be credited as featured artist, because you hear almost as loudly as you hear Katy.
And it warmed my heart to see that sub-Whitney/Mariah/Celine/Christina knockoff go home empty-handed. Walking away with nothing from both the Brits and the Grammys? POP JUSTICE.
