Wow!! what amazing tribute to Whitney....
the last part in this cover is fantastic!

Maybe it's my shot to Hell hearing, but to be honest, Donny, her diction early on in the song seemed to be almost unintelligible. While it did improve somewhat during the later segments of the song, it still was not at all good, at least for my hearing range. That said, she does has a very powerful voice and a wide range, but no where near the quality of Whitney Houston's.

Cheers,

Gary

Gary you are definitely the minority here,...but I respect your opinion even with your shot hearing......I didn't post it to be a comparison to Whitney of which there is NO comparison by anyone I ever heard,....
that said this girl does an outstanding job on this song.

Fantastic voice for sure. I sorta like to hear the melody at least once as it was written though.
She ain't Dolly Parton for sure, closer to Whitney!

Donny, she has a great voice - no question about it. It's her diction, IMO, that seems to be lacking quality - big difference.

Gary

Nice find, Donny. Glad you've got the talent and musical sensibilities to recognize the enormous talent here and not sweat the petty stuff....even if it were true. Her near-perfect pitch, vocal control, and creative phrasing is fantastic. Let's be grateful none of us is being compared to the 'original' when we're doing covers. JMO.

chas

You got that right!

Good singer for that style, but too emotive for my tastes. All the vocal gyrations and embellishments remind me of those who try to sing the national anthem in such a way that it becomes unrecognizable. Let’s not get too far from the melody.

Donny,

I think what Gary is referring to is the unnecessary vocal gymnastics. e.g.

you...ooh....ooh......uh

This type of singing is pretty common in the modern Rhythm and Blues genre, which is nothing like the Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Stevie Winwood R&B that we grew up with.

Can you imagine the great singers of our day singing ly.....ah.....ah......uh...ike that?

God Bless,
Don

I think melisma (vocal gyrations) can be cool (especially in jazz and/or gospel...in pop, not so much) but many times it prevents the natural beauty of the song's melody from getting through, as it does in the above example, in my opinion, of course.

Perhaps some singers like to think it shows their emotional involvement in the song, and how it exhibits their vocal control, but, for this listener, most times, all melisma does is interfere with the flow of the lyrics, melody, sometimes even the rhythm itself.

Ian







Ian