Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett - Cheek to Cheek / Love for Sale

HorseTears

HorseTears

fancygreen said:
I do wish that her approach was more in line with Julie London or Shirley Horn or Cleo Laine or Dianne Reeves or even early Margaret Whiting, rather than MUST BELT AND PROVE SINGING.

As obviously gifted as she is, there's no kinship to an instrument in her style, nor is there any vulnerability, or wanderlust for the chordal architecture, and it's incredibly weird. There's a different mental shift that requires significant discipline when singing jazz rather than crooning (or entertaining). You know her heart is authentically in it, but it's like coloring outside the lines actually terrifies her, and instead we're left with unintentionally dabbled and self-conscious pastiche. And this isn't said to be cruel. It's really more that as noble as her ambitions with these projects have been, and as admirable and beautiful as her love for her collaborator shines on, she's falling short of her possibility. She's better than what she's delivering.

I'm not asking her to go Betty Carter on shit, and I get wanting to be keep in check so as not to overshadow her partner, but that protective nature is also kind of reductive of what Tony Bennett is doing. Yes, he's singing relatively straight, but there are so many colors in his palette. And (heresy, I know, for wanting her to pursue more jazz) I want her to have the bravery to go to the edge of her comfort zone and realize she has to tell the story, not display the mannerism.

TLDR: "Anything Goes" still haunts me please hjälp. [/jazzjustice]
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LeBratt said:
I’m no expert when it comes to jazz music and I think @Lila sums everything up perfectly. But I’ve also always felt Gaga doing jazz like it’s a musical/theatre if you know what I mean? She takes the genre and approaches it like she’s singing in a musical production.
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This is all accurate and well articulated, but isn't this also largely true of... her entire career? I mean, I don't think I've ever experienced nuance or restraint from her, why would it start now? Artifice and performativeness run through everything she does. And, yet, I don't find her performance on the album without charm.
 
mindtrappa

mindtrappa

he/him
HorseTears said:
This is all accurate and well articulated, but isn't this also largely true of... her entire career? I mean, I don't think I've ever experienced nuance or restraint from her, why would it start now? Artifice and performativeness run through everything she does. And, yet, I don't find her performance on the album without charm.
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I mean, yeah, that’s true, but I feel like it’s a bit different when you’re dealing with jazz as opposed to a balls to the wall pop song. It’s just an observation since she’s the one talking about how jazz is about breaking the rules and being rebellious, etc. when her take on it is anything but.
 
worldspice

worldspice

Has anyone else bought the 3 alternative cover bundle from her UK store? And if so, did you also receive 3 copies of the same cover?
 
fancygreen

fancygreen

HorseTears said:
I mean, I don't think I've ever experienced nuance or restraint from her, why would it start now?
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Because that's sort of the responsibility of her role. She's not meshing with the music here – she's on top of it. And it's fine if that's what she's doing, but it sounds jarring when what she's saying she's doing isn't what she's actually doing. (Drag Race meme here)

Her balls-to-the-wall approach, as @mindtrappa said, works in essentially everything else she's done, because there's an artificial theatricality and bombast that can be exploited in other genres she's tackled. But to sing songs like these well, this requires far more dynamic range and openness. Her going in to this material just doing Gaga-by-numbers featuring a caricature of a "jazz voice" makes it apparent that she's done all of the work needed for this project except on herself.

And many singers do this. I get it. But there's again, a difference between "I am a lounge performer singing The Songbook" and "I am setting myself up for more critique than I've bargained for because the language I've used talking about this project indicates I am suddenly a ~serious~ student of jazz." And that isn't to sound elitist either. But it's like her hyperbole, which is often charming, has set her up for this to appear like fancy dress instead of a glove, and it rubs me the wrong way. Which is a shame, because it's not a complete "failure". There are definite flashes of brilliance on her part here. (Which in turn, makes me more frustrated for 'what could have been or could be.')

Also – this wasn't part of the original point, but a thought. Contextually, I understand her need to also bring up Amy Winehouse in interviews, but that does her no favors. Saying "It would've been Amy and not me" doesn't come off as humility, rather self-defeat. They are two totally different vocalists with different intents, skill sets, and lived experiences. I truly believe Amy would've supported her. And instead of being able to just critique Gaga for her own merits, there's now an impossible comparison point set to contend with in the back of the mind.
 
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mindtrappa

mindtrappa

he/him
Me catching myself silently agreeing with Gaga when she said Tony would have been working with Amy instead of her dd. It definitely does her no favors bringing her up in that context. I don’t even like comparing artists like that, because Gaga is of course technically great at what she’s doing here, but am I supposed to say Amy wouldn’t have eaten her up? It’s like having two people paint a still life: one paints it exactly as they see it, while the other interprets it as their own. Both are good, but which one is going to be more exciting?
 
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jvckkk

jvckkk

he/him
The poor intern working her mailing list has been busy this week.

I’m not at all surprised that the commercial reaction to this has been so mild. Cheek to Cheek worked as a “Gaga goes Lady” rebrand after ARTPOP, but past that gimmick, the veneer of Gaga doing jazz wears off quickly. It’s also not really a massive shock that her diehard fanbase support might be waning somewhat after the disaster of the last year or so.

I completely agree that her take on the genre is desperately lacking in innovation and experimentation, which sadly isn’t an uncommon thing in her output these days. Tony getting the sendoff he deserves ultimately makes the record necessary, and that’s about it.
 
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Applause

Applause

Yeah. I've been saying this for years, but I would gladly take a solo album where she explores jazz through a different lens and within a different context - especially if she wants to keep on doing the genre going forward. She could really tap back into that place of forward-thinking she left behind by mixing her own jazzy compositions with her electronic sensibilities, and it would make sense within her own mythology. Which is exactly why her next solo album will be more Pacha Ibiza beatdrops and Kiis FM production by resident quirky hilarious nerd Bloodp*p!
 
Gemini

Gemini

I'd be okay with her releasing another jazz album in the future if it was all original music she wrote, to be honest. She could even throw in a few jazz-ified greatest hits of her pop stuff to pad the tracklist a bit. If it made her happy to make it, if she put her all into it, and she gave a few fucks to actually promote it, why not?
 
Vasilios

Vasilios

I think what would really help the album would've been one of the covers being worked as a radio single, kinda like No Doubt's It's My Life or Lana's Doin' Time. Like, old song yes but reworked for current playlists and radio. As it is this ha sonly reached the diehards.
 
S

Suburbia

I'm sure the TV special will get her an Emmy, bringing her one step closer to an EGOT, and maybe they'll even throw them a sympathy Grammy nod so all is not lost.
 
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