5 ms·

Nice read, I had never heard of Chet Baker before. I wonder if his style* is at all responsible for the current trend of the depressed-sounding pop singer. Bill

Nice read, I had never heard of Chet Baker before. I wonder if his style* is at all responsible for the current trend of the depressed-sounding pop singer. Billie Eilish comes to mind, but there are plenty of them. It's like someone dragged them out of bed into the studio against their will, so their passive-aggressive response is to record the lowest-effort vocal performance possible. * "His singing was softer still, often lingering just above a whisper."

jacquesm 5y ago
> I had never heard of Chet Baker before That line really got me. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUt4X0vwb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUt4X0vwb0
mhh__ 5y ago
I don't see that connection at all. I wouldn't call it low effort as much as just the pendulum swinging back against the studio-darling popstars of the 2000s through to the 20teens Also remember that Chet stopped recording probably 40 years ago at least now.
daverol 5y ago
In 1986 he was playing in London: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/17/john-claridges-best-photograph-chet-baker https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/17/john-cl... In 1953 he looked and sounded like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRXIOvMxdc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRXIOvMxdc
sk5t 5y ago
Chet Baker did not invent the torch song. Does "Is That All There Is?" do anything for ya?
goto11 5y ago
The invention of the microphone is responsible for that. Before the microphone, singers had to be loud to be heard over the instruments and audience. With the invention of the microphone, it was possible to sing in a much quieter voice and still get heard. Singers who took advantage of this to sing in a quieter and more intimate style was called "crooners". The style became very popular when radio became mainstream. Of course a lot of people hated the style (as always when something new came along) and thought is effeminate and ridiculous compared to the manliness of a trained opera singer like Enrico Caruso.

jacquesm 5y ago

> I had never heard of Chet Baker before That line really got me. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUt4X0vwb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUt4X0vwb0

mhh__ 5y ago

I don't see that connection at all. I wouldn't call it low effort as much as just the pendulum swinging back against the studio-darling popstars of the 2000s through to the 20teens Also remember that Chet stopped recording probably 40 years ago at least now.

daverol 5y ago

In 1986 he was playing in London: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/17/john-claridges-best-photograph-chet-baker https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/17/john-cl... In 1953 he looked and sounded like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRXIOvMxdc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRXIOvMxdc

sk5t 5y ago

Chet Baker did not invent the torch song. Does "Is That All There Is?" do anything for ya?

goto11 5y ago

The invention of the microphone is responsible for that. Before the microphone, singers had to be loud to be heard over the instruments and audience. With the invention of the microphone, it was possible to sing in a much quieter voice and still get heard. Singers who took advantage of this to sing in a quieter and more intimate style was called "crooners". The style became very popular when radio became mainstream. Of course a lot of people hated the style (as always when something new came along) and thought is effeminate and ridiculous compared to the manliness of a trained opera singer like Enrico Caruso.