crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 28, 2015 19:21:26 GMT -5
A lot of people who do and don't like Sams music don't realize that he grew up singing in church chior so he's very vocally trained. Maybe that's where his 'whiny' voice comes from or maybe it's a natural tone. I also happen to know lots if gay men and gay men are way more emotional than most straight men that I know so maybe his singing and emotion come from the fact that he's gay, I'm not sure. But his voice is stellar. I will let you all know when I see him live at the end of July :)
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theflying
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Post by theflying on May 28, 2015 19:33:15 GMT -5
Wow, you totally misinterpreted my post.
Okay then!
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 28, 2015 19:42:24 GMT -5
Wow, you totally misinterpreted my post. Okay then! Please explain your post.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on May 28, 2015 19:47:25 GMT -5
Sorry, I reread, I meant to say his LYRICS can be like that. Sam Smith at his worst is whiny, weak, dramatic, and overwrought, and I meant that as a lyrical thing.
In Lay Me Down's case, I actually do think he literally sounds kind of whiny as well, but with lyrics like CAN IIIII LAAAAAAAY BYYYY YOOOOUR SIIIIIIDE it's hard not to.
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 28, 2015 20:00:08 GMT -5
Sorry, I reread, I meant to say his LYRICS can be like that. Sam Smith at his worst is whiny, weak, dramatic, and overwrought, and I meant that as a lyrical thing. In Lay Me Down's case, I actually do think he literally sounds kind of whiny as well, but with lyrics like CAN IIIII LAAAAAAAY BYYYY YOOOOUR SIIIIIIDE it's hard not to. I've been in awe over his voice since he arrived because he's such a unique voice in pop music where the majority of singers all start to sound the same (lots of computer-generated vocals and not enough real ). I also think Adeles voice is horrible. She really tries to hit high notes she can't and I can't stand her...raspy voice. Not sure if that's due to her smoking, which she had many artices written about.
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 28, 2015 20:24:13 GMT -5
Thank god, for a while i fear that they would release Leave your lover (which is a great song but it would be too much for radio). Lay me down killed a bit the momentum on radio, but it was a solid hit anyway, top 10 on the hot 100 and top 20 on pop (almost top 10 in hot ac, urban ac and ac). It was a poor choice as third single (and i love the song), but at least they are moving at the right time, and the billboard awards will give this a platform And the album sales weren't affected. Like i can is safest than Money on my mind, and with the right promo it should be a good hit for him (and even if it fails on being a big hit, at least will show that he is something more than ballads). I was hoping you were right about LIC but it's been out since the Billboards and it's getting next to no airplay..
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Albie
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Post by Albie on May 28, 2015 21:00:49 GMT -5
A lot of people who do and don't like Sams music don't realize that he grew up singing in church chior so he's very vocally trained. Maybe that's where his 'whiny' voice comes from or maybe it's a natural tone. I also happen to know lots if gay men and gay men are way more emotional than most straight men that I know so maybe his singing and emotion come from the fact that he's gay, I'm not sure. But his voice is stellar. I will let you all know when I see him live at the end of July :) Oh ok.
I don't think I'm offended by your statement because I don't think you meant any offense by it but I suppose I am...impressed (?) by your unique ability for reasoning. Way to employ logical devices like slippery slope and generalization.
Probably this is just me being an emotional gay man though.
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 29, 2015 5:47:50 GMT -5
A lot of people who do and don't like Sams music don't realize that he grew up singing in church chior so he's very vocally trained. Maybe that's where his 'whiny' voice comes from or maybe it's a natural tone. I also happen to know lots if gay men and gay men are way more emotional than most straight men that I know so maybe his singing and emotion come from the fact that he's gay, I'm not sure. But his voice is stellar. I will let you all know when I see him live at the end of July :) Oh ok.
I don't think I'm offended by your statement because I don't think you meant any offense by it but I suppose I am...impressed (?) by your unique ability for reasoning. Way to employ logical devices like slippery slope and generalization.
Probably this is just me being an emotional gay man though.
No I meant nothing mean by what I said. But your last sentence maybe proved my point :)
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jjose712
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Post by jjose712 on May 29, 2015 12:41:26 GMT -5
Well, the whole album is about a love not returned, so it's difficult not to sound whiny and desperate with such theme. Adele album was about a break up, so there are some whiny, but some vengeaful and some resignation. In Sam's case his love was only wishful thinking
He is not compared with Adele for his voice (he has a wider range than her, and he sound clearer live) but for the emotions he shows with his voice, that's what they have in common. I think we discussed a lot of times that his album is too safe, and i understand why, he was a chubby gay guy, not exactly the dream of a marketing team.
Right now LIC is not top 50, but the truth is LMD took a while to reach the top 50, and when it did it the number of spins of top 50 were barely 400 and now it's in almost 800, so it will took a while. Which is not a bad thing because he can't promote the song right now. The truth is the song is doing perfectly ok on Hot Ac, with more audience sales will increase (it's not like the song is skyrocketing but it's climbing even with that little audience)
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theflying
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Post by theflying on May 29, 2015 14:32:47 GMT -5
A lot of the stuff I'm talking about is just my personal taste coming through.
It's hard for me to connect to Sam because be never shows much strength in any of his material. He never lets his hair down and has fun. He never speaks of persevering, or coming out of something stronger.
I get it, it's his debut albums, he's doing the male Adele thing. Got it.
But in terms of where I want him to grow as an artist, I want it to be in the opposite direction of whatever Lay Me Down is.
Unrequited love is great fodder for an album, now please do something more interesting for album 2.
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jjose712
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Post by jjose712 on May 29, 2015 15:44:08 GMT -5
The problem here it's not him, he has previous material more risky in terms of sound, the problem is the label.
I wouldn't expect big changes for album two. We know what happens when a big artist want a departure of his previous sound (ask George Michael).
I doubt his romantic life improved that much since he is famous, so i doubt next album will be full of happy songs.
I would like a little more experiment with the sound (like Safe with me), and probably some lyrics moving from romantic themes (there are a lot more things to talk about), and that should be enough to make the deal.
I don't have any problem with a whiny pathetic song from time to time, in fact i think most male singers fail when they go the opposite point of the spectrum. I never relate to the big ego and high confidence singers that always get the girl (or guy), that doesn't interest me at all. But i agree that after an album full of depressing hearbroken ballads, he needs a departure to greener pastures
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 29, 2015 17:24:43 GMT -5
What I love about his debut album is he has given his fans the know of the range if his vocals and in the beginning what he's capable of. If he gave gis best in his debut there'd be nothing let for him to offer. Lets see if he can blast a second album out of the water and not be a one-album-wonder because we all know he's talented.
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Future Captain
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Post by Future Captain on May 29, 2015 19:01:02 GMT -5
I think his voice will be suited for EDM really well. I really love Latch, and I would to see some works with Clean Bandit
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allow that
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Post by allow that on May 29, 2015 19:06:51 GMT -5
I think his voice will be suited for EDM really well. I really love Latch, and I would to see some works with Clean Bandit One of his better songs is the little known "When It's Alright" with German electro by JUUN from last summer.
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Future Captain
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Post by Future Captain on May 29, 2015 19:39:16 GMT -5
I think his voice will be suited for EDM really well. I really love Latch, and I would to see some works with Clean Bandit One of his better songs is the little known "When It's Alright" with German electro by JUUN from last summer. Just heard it, it's great!
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theflying
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Post by theflying on May 29, 2015 21:53:11 GMT -5
The problem here it's not him, he has previous material more risky in terms of sound, the problem is the label. I wouldn't expect big changes for album two. We know what happens when a big artist want a departure of his previous sound (ask George Michael). I doubt his romantic life improved that much since he is famous, so i doubt next album will be full of happy songs. I would like a little more experiment with the sound (like Safe with me), and probably some lyrics moving from romantic themes (there are a lot more things to talk about), and that should be enough to make the deal. I don't have any problem with a whiny pathetic song from time to time, in fact i think most male singers fail when they go the opposite point of the spectrum. I never relate to the big ego and high confidence singers that always get the girl (or guy), that doesn't interest me at all. But i agree that after an album full of depressing hearbroken ballads, he needs a departure to greener pastures I agree with you in general, but I pause when it pertains to Sam Smith specifically because Latch was so huge and La La La did well. So it's hard for me to say the label is going to hold his sound back and box him in when he debuted to huge success with, of all things, a pretty heavy EDM track.
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Post by Devil Marlena Nylund on May 29, 2015 22:26:19 GMT -5
My issue with Sam Smith is that he's so stiff musically. He may technically be a good vocalist and may have the ability to hit a lot of impressive notes but I was surprised at the lack of emotion on the album was when I went through it the first time, especially considering how many people raved over him and compared him to Adele. (sidenote: lol at Adele not being a good vocalist).
Sam as a person seems likeable enough and his songs with Naughty Boy and Disclosure were ace but something about his album just didn't click and I attribute that to him not really knowing what he's singing about, as he apparently hasn't actually experienced it. If I remember and read it correctly, he wrote the songs about a crush he had on a friend that wasn't returned, and not about an actual relationship or a breakup. As I think I put it before, he's romanticizing about the idea of romance rather than speaking about it from experience. I think it's his lack of having a connection with what he's singing about that has limited him. His lyrics and stiffness are two areas that need improving for his next era.
An excellent voice can only take you so far and at this point, I'd peg him as being closer to a depressed male Celine Dion than a male Adele. I love Celine songs but I feel nothing from them, whereas with Adele, you can tell she knows what she's singing about from experience.
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Albie
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Post by Albie on May 30, 2015 0:13:29 GMT -5
I think his voice will be suited for EDM really well. I really love Latch, and I would to see some works with Clean Bandit One of his better songs is the little known "When It's Alright" with German electro by JUUN from last summer. Truth. My actual favorite feature of Sam's.
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jjose712
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Post by jjose712 on May 30, 2015 4:06:19 GMT -5
My issue with Sam Smith is that he's so stiff musically. He may technically be a good vocalist and may have the ability to hit a lot of impressive notes but I was surprised at the lack of emotion on the album was when I went through it the first time, especially considering how many people raved over him and compared him to Adele. (sidenote: lol at Adele not being a good vocalist). Sam as a person seems likeable enough and his songs with Naughty Boy and Disclosure were ace but something about his album just didn't click and I attribute that to him not really knowing what he's singing about, as he apparently hasn't actually experienced it. If I remember and read it correctly, he wrote the songs about a crush he had on a friend that wasn't returned, and not about an actual relationship or a breakup. As I think I put it before, he's romanticizing about the idea of romance rather than speaking about it from experience. I think it's his lack of having a connection with what he's singing about that has limited him. His lyrics and stiffness are two areas that need improving for his next era. An excellent voice can only take you so far and at this point, I'd peg him as being closer to a depressed male Celine Dion than a male Adele. I love Celine songs but I feel nothing from them, whereas with Adele, you can tell she knows what she's singing about from experience. Adele is a good vocalist, but she is not Whitney Houston. Maybe because she is a smoker but she sounds rough live in the difficult part of her songs. Sam (in terms of sound) is way better live. He is compared with Adele because people generally have the same impact that they have with Adele, it's not your case, but it's the case of most people. One must remember that he only needed to sing two songs in SNL to go from totally unknown to be the singer of the moment, you can't do that singing ballads without an emotional impact. He worked hard, but he is probably the foreign singer who needed less effort to make an impact in such difficult market like the USA. Compare what he needed to do with what his friend Ed Sheeran needed to do and the difference is abysmal. And we are seeing the same with two new british it boys like George Ezra and James Bay, they have rave reviews, but they are needing a lot more time to make an impact. I don't agree in that you need experience to express feelings, if you go with some of the greatest writers of all time you find a lot of them with minimum experience in life. Most of his songs in the first album are about certain desperation in being alone, and i think he experienced that a lot and not only in a romantic way. In the lonely hour is not an album about the lost of the love like 21, it's an album about loneliness and being unable to find love Saying that, i think he should move on from different themes in the next album. He seems to be gifted to write ballads and it'll be great to have some reserved, but i expect some departure from his sound and lyrics. The labels generally are not keen of his best selling artist experimenting too much, but doing exactly the same is even more risky. He is a singer with a big adult audience (other thing that he has in common with Adele) so he probably won't need smash singles to carry good album sales, but with the right singles there's no reason for not getting another successful era. He doesn't need LIC to be a hit to create buzz for the second era, but if LIC is a hit it will be very good for him in the long run, because is a song with a totally different tempo and a totally different vibe. With a little luck he will be recovered in time to do some promo at the same time the song climb in the airplay charts By the way, In the lonely hour spend 50 of it's first 52 weeks on the UK album chart in the top 5, he is the third after the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel (they were able to score the whole year inside the top 5)
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 30, 2015 11:24:04 GMT -5
According to All Access, LIC lost spins :O
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The Upper Hand
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Post by The Upper Hand on May 30, 2015 17:24:33 GMT -5
My issue with Sam Smith is that he's so stiff musically. He may technically be a good vocalist and may have the ability to hit a lot of impressive notes but I was surprised at the lack of emotion on the album was when I went through it the first time, especially considering how many people raved over him and compared him to Adele. (sidenote: lol at Adele not being a good vocalist). Sam as a person seems likeable enough and his songs with Naughty Boy and Disclosure were ace but something about his album just didn't click and I attribute that to him not really knowing what he's singing about, as he apparently hasn't actually experienced it. If I remember and read it correctly, he wrote the songs about a crush he had on a friend that wasn't returned, and not about an actual relationship or a breakup. As I think I put it before, he's romanticizing about the idea of romance rather than speaking about it from experience. I think it's his lack of having a connection with what he's singing about that has limited him. His lyrics and stiffness are two areas that need improving for his next era. An excellent voice can only take you so far and at this point, I'd peg him as being closer to a depressed male Celine Dion than a male Adele. I love Celine songs but I feel nothing from them, whereas with Adele, you can tell she knows what she's singing about from experience. Adele is a good vocalist, but she is not Whitney Houston. Maybe because she is a smoker but she sounds rough live in the difficult part of her songs. Sam (in terms of sound) is way better live. He is compared with Adele because people generally have the same impact that they have with Adele, it's not your case, but it's the case of most people. One must remember that he only needed to sing two songs in SNL to go from totally unknown to be the singer of the moment, you can't do that singing ballads without an emotional impact. He worked hard, but he is probably the foreign singer who needed less effort to make an impact in such difficult market like the USA. Compare what he needed to do with what his friend Ed Sheeran needed to do and the difference is abysmal. And we are seeing the same with two new british it boys like George Ezra and James Bay, they have rave reviews, but they are needing a lot more time to make an impact. I don't agree in that you need experience to express feelings, if you go with some of the greatest writers of all time you find a lot of them with minimum experience in life. Most of his songs in the first album are about certain desperation in being alone, and i think he experienced that a lot and not only in a romantic way. In the lonely hour is not an album about the lost of the love like 21, it's an album about loneliness and being unable to find love Saying that, i think he should move on from different themes in the next album. He seems to be gifted to write ballads and it'll be great to have some reserved, but i expect some departure from his sound and lyrics. The labels generally are not keen of his best selling artist experimenting too much, but doing exactly the same is even more risky. He is a singer with a big adult audience (other thing that he has in common with Adele) so he probably won't need smash singles to carry good album sales, but with the right singles there's no reason for not getting another successful era. He doesn't need LIC to be a hit to create buzz for the second era, but if LIC is a hit it will be very good for him in the long run, because is a song with a totally different tempo and a totally different vibe. With a little luck he will be recovered in time to do some promo at the same time the song climb in the airplay charts By the way, In the lonely hour spend 50 of it's first 52 weeks on the UK album chart in the top 5, he is the third after the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel (they were able to score the whole year inside the top 5) Just nailed it!
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Post by Daryl the Beryl on May 31, 2015 6:09:10 GMT -5
Top 50 on Pop:
66 50 SAM SMITH Like I Can 706 215 491 2.607
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 31, 2015 6:27:11 GMT -5
Top 50 on Pop: 66 50 SAM SMITH Like I Can 706 215 491 2.607 Again, what do those numbers mean ?
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Post by Daryl the Beryl on May 31, 2015 6:32:38 GMT -5
Top 50 on Pop: 66 50 SAM SMITH Like I Can 706 215 491 2.607 Again, what do those numbers mean ? 706 - Total spins yesterday 215 - Total spins eight days ago 491 - Bullet 2.607 - Audience in Millions I'd say the bullet is respectable, so good numbers?
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 31, 2015 6:43:58 GMT -5
Again, what do those numbers mean ? 706 - Total spins yesterday 215 - Total spins eight days ago 491 - Bullet 2.607 - Audience in Millions I'd say the bullet is respectable, so good numbers? So it's doing better on Pop than Hot AC.
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Post by Daryl the Beryl on May 31, 2015 6:48:38 GMT -5
706 - Total spins yesterday 215 - Total spins eight days ago 491 - Bullet 2.607 - Audience in Millions I'd say the bullet is respectable, so good numbers? So it's doing better on Pop than Hot AC. Can't really say that, because these numbers are generally bigger on Pop than Hot AC. Sam has more spins on Pop than Hot AC, but he's also 11 spots lower there.
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 31, 2015 6:52:37 GMT -5
According to All Access on pop he's +10 stations and +89 spins.
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jjose712
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Post by jjose712 on May 31, 2015 7:04:12 GMT -5
Again, what do those numbers mean ? 706 - Total spins yesterday 215 - Total spins eight days ago 491 - Bullet 2.607 - Audience in Millions I'd say the bullet is respectable, so good numbers? In fact the bullet is very good. Obviously it took more than LMD to get there because the number of spins needed to go top 50 right now are way higher (LMD made the top 50 with more or less 430 spins)
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crazyfun1
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Post by crazyfun1 on May 31, 2015 16:44:45 GMT -5
706 - Total spins yesterday 215 - Total spins eight days ago 491 - Bullet 2.607 - Audience in Millions I'd say the bullet is respectable, so good numbers? In fact the bullet is very good. Obviously it took more than LMD to get there because the number of spins needed to go top 50 right now are way higher (LMD made the top 50 with more or less 430 spins) Heck, I guess all of those spins in St Louis are all overnights. There is one off-beat station in Washington MO that played it around 7am and they play it more frequent than the much larger market station in the larger city.
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jjose712
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Post by jjose712 on Jun 1, 2015 12:25:59 GMT -5
It seems even that little airplay is having an effect, the song is 287 on itunes. It's climbing slowly but in the right direction
Right now, 4 early adds on pop and three more on hot ac
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