Music played live can be the most emotionally-effective form of performance on the planet. It is due to this that the lip-synching question has to be raised.
Here in the UK every week on the X Factor there are 2-3 guest acts, such acts to grace the stage this season have been Nicole Sherzinger, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna. Every Sunday someone comes on the show to promote their album, single, or tour, which is I’m down with – they have to make money somehow, right?
The problem is the performance itself. At least 50% of the time, we are made to sit there whilst the acts pull off unrehearsed dance moves while they lip-synch to the track trying their best to feign singing; it’s just as good as listening to the CD, or watching the music video. It’s very easy here to just condemn the artist, I mean, surely they can sing, they have a record contract and have sold millions of records, so the talent is there.
Therefore, do these artists have the right to lip-synch, Admittedly they usually fly in on the Saturday night perform on the Sunday and fly back to the US after the performance. Here the two sides to this case are as clear as they have ever been; being so jet-lagged that singing and doing a dance routine wouldn’t do the song justice vs. if they have come all this way to pretend to sing, then what is the point? It is hard to come down one side of the line or the other. I have sympathy for the artists though, having such mad schedules is bound to wear them down, and in a climate where due to iTunes it is hard to say how much money the artist gets from music, money starts to come at its largest in appearances. So, in trying to get in as many appearances as possible, the artist is too tired to perform – fair right?
Well maybe not. The artists only are big because of their fans, and I think to do their fans justice, they need to actually sing the track, what the point in making a living out of your voice, if you don’t use that voice to make your living?
To be honest, I don’t mind if it isn’t perfectly in tune throughout, or if they back out of some big notes, and the end of lines, what I want to see from these artists is the art they produce, and I want to hear it live.
