3 Singers Who Are Better Than We Give Them Credit For

We like to hate on singers, don’t we? Sometimes, we seem to vocally criticise more than we applaud bands. I mean, sure we could tell everyone how much we love Fallout Boy, but isn’t it more fun to take the piss out of Miley Cyrus’s life-long ambition to a lap-dancer in a Robin Thicke music video? Sometimes the criticism is so strong that we lose touch with the person we are complaining about. Sometimes they are better than we give them credit for. Sometimes, I use the word ‘sometimes’ far too much in an article.

Below are three singers who actually deserve a little bit more praise than we are giving them. Even if we don’t hate them, only a few of us probably realise just how good they actually are. I am going to bite the bullet and compliment a few singers, who people have been burnt in the street for listening to. I figure as long as I don’t revert into a Biffy Clyro fan I will be OK.

3 – LL COOL J

OK, admittedly LL Cool J is hardly hated. Most people can get along with his music. However, I reckon you have probably written him off as just another rapper in an over-saturated genre. Howev… um… yet I believe that he is actually one of the most iconic figures in the rap history that deserves a second look. I present to you Exhibit A.

This is what I would call a Love Ballad, but in rap. I think LL Cool J owns this song. His voice lends itself so well to rap; it’s clear and we get every word, rather than some rappers who trip over their words and we miss half of the song. He sings about a girl without slipping into derogatory terms. In a genre full of fat people talking about how much money and women they get, it is refreshing to hear something worthwhile. I mean… sure, LL Cool J sometimes raps about that too, but here he proves he can sing a song to the ladies as well. You are probably thinking: so what? Big deal. But do you know how hard it is to actually perform a rap ballad? I now present to you Exhibit B, your Honour:

If you happened to slit your throat during that song…. Um… I guess, you’ve stopped reading. If you managed to not give into your sudden suicidal urges, at least you now know how bad rap ballads can be. Most rappers just seem so damn uncomfortable not reducing a girl to something that’s only use is… twerking (I’m not entirely sure what you do with women). Bow Wow has no idea what he is doing here and most rappers sub-let the romantic work of the song to another singer and just rap about what they usually rap about (The East Coast? I wasn’t really listening). Once you’ve listening to a few more rap ballads, then you will realise that LL Cool J is actually a blessing.

2 – JUSTIN BIEBER

Yes, yes… down with Bieber. He spits on his fans… blah blah blah. But if we look past the insane amount of hate built up against this guy, you might actually have time to see that he is actually pretty good.

Sure, Bieber is kind of everything I hate about the music industry. As a kid, he was thrown into the fame machine, made a superstar and it’s turned him into… something. Looking at women’s magazines… that my girlfriend buys, honest!… he has lost all sense of reality. He has been in the entertainment world for so long that he has no idea how a normal human should act.

But then again… he has been in the entertainment world for so long that he lives and breathes it. He has a good voice, otherwise he wouldn’t be where he is today, and he knows exactly the right time to bring out the right song. He started with romance to pull in the teens, then he upgraded to a club beat and more adult music to keep himself away from one-hit wonder land. I reckon Bieber should consider doing a song with Lonely Island. They know how to do a 180 degrees turn on someone’s notoriety. Basically when his next song comes out, give it a proper listen rather than condemning him for being Justin Bieber.

1 – REBECCA BLACK

OK. I’ve gone too far now. Friday was one of the most horrific things to happen to the music industry. It is all auto-tune and no talent. No thought was put into the lyrics. There is no way that the Oracle of Film, no matter how handsome and brilliant he is, can turn this around and convince me to respect Rebecca Black as an artist. Give me three minutes of your time. Three minutes of time spent listening to the song below.

OK, be honest. You are impressed. Even if you don’t like the obvious cover material (acoustic slowing down of the song), you have to admit her voice is outstanding. She has dropped the auto-tune completely and just started singing. And as far as covers go, this is a damn good one. Sure, the bloke has one of the most punchable faces in the music industry, but the actual music talent is good here. If we gave her a chance, she could be one of the hottest artists in the music industry right now.

But the thing is we won’t. The dislike bar is already higher than it should be on that video, simply because she is just Rebecca Black. She doesn’t deserve a second chance. Some of the hate Rebecca Black is subjected to is simply disgusting. At the young age she was when she brought out Friday, she would have taken the insults much harder than she should have and… well, it could have gone horribly wrong. I actually have so much respect for her for bringing out this song, rather than running away from the spotlight. It’s a rough road ahead Rebecca, but I hope you take it. I’m actually excited to see what you have in store for us next.