by George Ziemann

Britney Spears played at Wembley Arena in London this week and some people are complaining because they believe she did not sing one single note during the concert.

The BBC has an article about this today, in which they ask the question, does it still matter whether pop stars sing live?

Fortunately, I have already done research in this area, using a test subject plucked from the very demographic that Ms. Spears is apparently aimed at, my eight-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, who I recently found watching the HBO version of this, under the supervision of her mother.

Me: You know she's not really singing, don't you?

Mac: Yes she is.

Me: No she's not. Watch her lips.

Mac (after a studious pause): So?

Me: Don't you think that if people pay a lot of money to go watch somebody, they should at least really sing?

Mac: Well she IS there, isn't she? Dancing is harder. Anybody can sing.

Me: So you think it's okay to just play a tape and pretend that you're singing, even if people pay like, $100 to see you?

Mac: That's what I would do.

Me: What?!? Why would you do that?

Mac: Look at all of those people watching. I would be nervous. I wouldn't want to make a mistake. It would be embarassing. With a CD, you wouldn't ever make a mistake. Unless you fell down. That's what I would do. But not the falling down part.

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Needless to say, I've got a lot of retraining to do with my child. Unfortunately, she's probably a good example of what we're up against.

"Mac: Well she IS there, isn't she? Dancing is harder. Anybody can sing."
A cartoon can dance.

She's only 8. She likes dancing cartoons, too.

what's amazing is that there are a lot of teenagers and young adults who feel the same way. we need to get them exposed to singers and bands who like to sing for their audiences

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it...

...but it really isn't a tree, it's just an artificial tree made out of plastic...

...does it really even matter if it makes a sound?

Play some Milli Vanilli for your daughter and see if she has the same response. I wonder what the response at the concert would have been if the cd player stopped mid-song. Would you pay $100+ to see Ms.Spears just dancing? Did the adverts for the concert say anywhere that the main attraction would be faking it? When does this become an issue of fraud?

Please don't take this offensively George, I'm not trying to single out your daughter; I've noticed this trend with a lot of other youths as well, including my younger sister...

Most younger children do not appreciate all the various levels of talent that go into the production of something like a concert or a album, hence you get very simple shows that have a very repetitive structure and flow, that are geared towards children, such as Looney Tunes. The labels are pushing "acts" like BS as five star quality performers, so when children get old enough to appreciate the other variables involved in the production of music(i.e. actually singing songs live, playing an instrument, both at once, etc) they have nothing else to appreciate. The lyrics are written by someone else, the instruments are played by someone else, and the singing is prerecorded. If this is all our youth have come to know, then why would they expect anything else?

I think it all depends on what people expect to see. In Britney's case, 90+ percent of the people who would see her live are there to see a "show." They get what they want and expect: a lot of flash (and flesh); a lot of choreographed dance moves; glitzy costumes and stage props; etc.

It's kind of like what I imagine the shows are like in Las Vegas. I don't think anyone goes to those things expecting to see a real band perform.

Now if a rock band -- a REAL rock band -- showed up on stage, started a CD and then danced around in sync and just moved their lips, the fans would probably drag them out back and beat the living crap out of them. But, that's because their expectations are different. THEY came to see someone actually perform music.

Going to see a Britney show and expecting her to sing is like going to see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back expecting to see Schindler's List.

I wouldn't worry about your child in that respect. She'll understand some day. The problem with britney spears isn't that she is lip syncing. It's that she cant sing in the first place. I think she should be allowed to lip sync to her hearts content. It is obvious she isn't singing and if she wants to degrade her talents like that all the more power to her. I hate her "music" anyway and I'm not the only one. Anyway, the more her shit stinks more rosey the good bands smell.

Gee...wonder if she'll go the way of Janet Jackson one day? Just a sick thought here.......

I believe, when you buy a ticket and go to a concert to be performed by a vocal talent, that there is more than just an implicit advertisement that the star will sing. I believe it's pretty explicitly expected that there will be real singing involved, and there's probably a court case to be made on the topic.

I predict that, in the future, acts that lip-sync will be forced to declare that they are doing so.

the problem is that when someone goes to see a show, they expect all of the singing and dancing to be perfect. There is no one (or not too many people) who can dance as hard as some of these acts do and be able to belt out a song the way their fans want it done. When those dancers get off stage, they are huffing and puffing.

When I saw the Beatles in 1964, they made a few mistakes, and those were some of the best parts of performing live. But then there is a world of difference between the Beatles and Ms. Spears. Don't worry George, your good taste will rub off on your daughter.

This is the pop culture. If anyone has watched Britney dance I really doubt it would be possibly for her to sing very well while trying to stay in Sync with her other dances and keep an appropiate tone and vocal range. If she COULD do this, i doubt she would be able to sing more than one song before needing an intermission.

The other part of this, we all know all pop stars significantly benefit from studio recordings as their voices are shaped to phonic perfection. I highly doubt Spears could ever sing like she does on CD in real life, even with all the real time digital signal processing equipment there is.

Oh she could sing live... but only with a server re-pitching the notes she sings.

Isn't this what the Alisihad (not sure about that) does - retunes the artist in real time to make them sound good.

Spears definitely can't sing. Unprocessed, she kinda sounds like a goose farting. The label wanted a particular "look" and left it up to the studio wizards to fix the sound. Thanks to digital processing we have an instant poptart. For $100 a head, I'll take Joan Baez live & unrehearsed.

I kinda side with your daughter George...
But see, I think it would be cooler if Britney was gonna lip synch, if she did her little pop dance, but lip synchs to AC/DC stuff, or Quiet Riot...
I mean...Brian Johnson's voice or Kevin Dubrow's voice being lip synched by Britney...now
"that's Entertainment"....

oooops, I did it again....