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May 20, 2008
Scarlett Johansson sings
Above, "Falling Down" from her debut album, "Anywhere I Lay My Head."
Allison Stewart wrote in today's Washington Post Style section front page review, "It's possible to listen to all 40-plus minutes... and still have no earthly idea what she actually sounds like."
Excuse me — but does anyone actually care what she sounds like?
Seems to me that arrow's way off target.
Her job is not to sound like anything but, rather, simply be Scarlett Johannson.
And that she does very, very well.
May 20, 2008 at 04:01 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Regardless if it is a Waits song or not, it is totally forgettable and placid. If I didn't know it was a Waits song, I'd find it horrible..Tom pulls this stuff off though. Scarlett not so much. You need a lot more personality to do so and she just wasn't born with the voice to do so.
Then again, neither was I and I'm a MUCH worse singer (and still record myself occasionally...a friend actually mixed me in for a backing track a few years ago that I had prepared only to be a guide for my arrangement I had done for him...horrifying!)
If I were in a bar and she were singing? Probably stick around for a while. Music isn't, nor shouldn't be, purely about the sounds coming out. Art does not exist in a vacuum. Her cult of personality should have some influence over the art. I have friends that are visual artists and get upset that someone more famous gets more attention than they do with less skill...then again, those folks have channeled the personality so that when you buy a piece, you are buying a part of them as well. One of my friends hides in shadows and screams that no one will ever see his work. Then again, I go out of my way for no one to know my works as well...err...the right people do.
Anyhoo.....
Posted by: clifyt | May 21, 2008 11:24:08 AM
I need to disagree with everyone here. Based on this song alone, I really like it.
If you're covering Tom Waits songs, you need to keep an ambient "craziness" to the verse and the mood. I think Falling Down captures that perfectly. Then again, I've always been into bands like Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor and so on.
Speaking of which, if you get a chance, check out Sigur Ros' latest movie release, Heima.
Posted by: JMT | May 21, 2008 10:01:40 AM
Almost forgot.. here's a bonus video of her wonderful singing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Y_Kp3qNM0&feature=related
Which reminds me of this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoH9zP_n_g0
Posted by: Rocketboy | May 21, 2008 7:00:41 AM
Awful.. It sounds like bad dream pop, which is bad, becuase most "good" dream pop is already terrible...
I don't understand her acting career either.. I think she's awful... the only movie that I've seen with her in it where she wasn't the worst part of the movie was Lost in Translation... and the only reason she wasn't the worst in that, is because the whole move stunk on ice.
Hell, I don't eve think she's hot... I just don't get her...
Posted by: Rocketboy | May 21, 2008 6:57:51 AM
Terrible Release. This thing is so over produced it's like listening to church music. Oh, every song sounds the same.
My opinion which doesn't carry much weight outside of my mothers basement.
Posted by: Frank | May 21, 2008 4:50:03 AM
Word UP to Milena, I heartily agree. Joe, you've been hypnotized! Trust me, you're just being distracted by ScarJo's full lips and ample bustline, not unlike so many other red-blooded American fellas. The only reason she made an album is because she's Scarlett Johannson: actress----I couldn't listen to that horrible "singing" for more than 15 seconds before wanting to stick a shrimp fork in my eardrum. It's not like I actually CARE what she sounds like, either, I just hate seeing so many truly talented musicians without the proper connections struggle their entire lives to achieve half the notoriety a celebrity can get without showing much more than what seems like casual interest in trying a new hobby.
Posted by: Maureen | May 21, 2008 2:51:58 AM
Terrific actress. But if she's presenting herself as a singer, why shouldn't she be judged as a singer? Yeah, I read the article, and near as I can tell, the production of the album is being judged, not her voice, which was described as "possibly lovely." I listened to a couple of other tunes on YouTube, notably "Summertime," which, if it's actually her singing (mostly), she seemed to do as a sort of Billie Holiday/Peggy Lee imitation. Not embarassing; just not very good, at least as heard in that example.
But then, I'm an old girl, and coming from a whole different anal-retentive, picky, music-geek, non-guy place.
Posted by: Flautist | May 20, 2008 6:01:55 PM
Never used this spelling of the word but I think the 'very very well' comment begs it - puhleeze...
Posted by: Milena | May 20, 2008 4:56:14 PM
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