Did you hear Adele at the Grammy's?

unfortunately that link did not work, Almarg :(

Interesting. Its status has been changed to "private." When I posted the link it worked, and it had nearly a million views and well upward of a thousand comments.

Best regards,
-- Al :-)

She was definitely having some problems with high notes on the chorus.  Could be a case of bad monitors, I don't know.  She's much better on other live things I've seen on youtube so I wouldn't judge from this.  Neither the song nor the voice is compelling IMO.  Even when she's "on" in this performance I can't imagine comparing her to great singers of the 20th century.

Ok, just listened to Adele’s Grammy performance on YouTube. Coincidentally, just a couple of days ago I asked my wife, who is a fan, to play Adele’s latest CD for me; I don’t listen to many pop singers, had only heard bits and pieces of her work and wanted to know what all the hoopla was about. Here’s my take:

Adele can sing and has a "sound" of her own with some interesting colors......for a pop diva in 2016. The problems she had at the Grammy’s, and she had problems, bear this out. It is true that a mic falling into the piano and causing effects that sound like a very out of tune guitar can be a major distraction. But, that was a factor only for part of the performance and she had ample time to recover and find the pitch center. At around 2:30 the problem with the clanging disappeared and the piano sounds just fine and in tune. It’s possible that the accompanist figured out the problem and stayed away from the offending keys on the keyboard. I don’t mean to be overly critical of her, but all this points to the "fragility" of a performer like Adele’s chops and to the state of singing in the pop music world in general. They can sound good (sometimes really good) on records, sometimes with the help of multiple takes and the various electronic "bandaids"; or live, when everything is just right. A great singer/performer would have recovered and not have had the pretty severe pitch and range problems that Adele had that night.

I hear it time after time with singers like Amy Winehouse, Adele and others. A singer comes along that has some real ability and style and they are put on a pedestal that, in my opinion, is a little too lofty relative to their true ability; not because they are THAT great, but because almost all the other pop singers out there are so bad. The bar has been set way too low in my opinion. I think Adele is a good singer and I particularly like her lower vocal range. Her upper range, where I think she finds her "sound", gets to be too nasal and "samey" for me. I think time will tell just how much of an artist she really is.

Frogman an interesting assessment as usual.

Of course these are pop singers we are talking about. Also a fairly young one still with Adele. I’ll be willing to bet this unfortunate event will make her even better in the future. The best have learned from their mistakes of the past. Doesn’t make them any more or less "talented". Just less experienced perhaps. Well maybe in the case of a child or young adult who achieves perfection sooner rather than later.

People should be applauding a "serious" pop musician like Adele especially in this day and age. Even if one does not take to her music. Its a sad comment on the times and human nature in general how we like to build people up and then like to see them torn down when the illusion of perfection tagged on them finally fails.

I do understand how "the best" get held to a high standard.   Its how it should be.  But even the best are not perfect.  Live and learn.