Are There Any Talented Vocal Artists Anymore?

We are obsessed with "reality." It has seeped into our TV's with reality shows and cable network channels devoted entirely to reality television. It overcame our video games with life-like graphics and advanced realistic artificial intelligence. It has even infected out moviegoing experience with 3D technology to make the films seem more real and part of our world.

Then why the hell do we not feel the same way about popular music?

Beginning in the late 90's, music artists began to use Auto-Tune to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances, primarily in recording studios. Trade secrets like these were nothing new. When you hear an artist sing on the radio, more than likely it was cut with multiple takes of okay performances and taking the best parts to paste into one great definitive track. All Auto-Tune did was save time and trouble by fixing pitches on the fly. Then Cher made her comeback with her 1998 hit single "Believe." Her altered vocals brought a new sound to popular music and everyone wanted to imitate.

Now everyone does.

Reinvented for modern times in the mid-2000's, T-Pain began using Auto-Tune to the extreme, making his vocals sound roboticized. The "T-Pain Effect" is now copied by most hip-hop artists like Kanye West, Drake, and Lil' Wayne. R&B artists like Usher who were popular because of their naturally talented vocals now feel like they have to "catch up" with the new crowd of performers. This has got to stop. What happened to vocal integrity?

Gone are the days where vocal musicians would come into the studio to lay down vocal tracks and nail them within the first couple run-thrus. Frank Sinatra didn't have to use Auto-Tune when recording, he was just a talented vocal artist who actually knew what he was doing. Today, most vocal artists presume that engineers will run their vocals through the box. This isn't always bad, because I'm not totally against the use of Auto-Tune, just the overuse of it. Of course there will be a few intonation problems while recording tracks that Auto-Tune can fix in a jiff - No one's perfect. Auto-Tune should only be used in moderation. What suffers the most from the overuse of Auto-Tune? Live performances.

My way of calculating if artists are really talented (or if their engineer is) is through their live performances. I can't count how many times I've listen to singers live and was disappointed in their vocal performance compared to their recording. That is a by product of Auto-Tune. Jay-Z headed up the "Anti Auto-Tune Movement" last year in hopes that it will bring back integrity to the vocal artist and to inspire new artists to not rely so much on Auto-Tune. Thankfully, several artists have jumped on board, so maybe there's hope for the future of music. I'm not completely for abolishing Auto-Tune, but allow the performer's natural talent to shine through without newfangled technology getting in the way.

To think that this all started with Cher. Shame on you Cher. ;)