It would be ignorant of me to write blog entry after blog entry on 90’s pop without making mention of the highest selling artist of that decade... Mariah Carey. Achieving a Billboard #1 in every year of the 90’s (1) and selling upwards of 130 million in that decade alone, she is in many respects the face of 90’s pop music. Much like the Madonna to Lady Gaga comparison, it is highly likely that there will never be a ‘new Mariah’ as long as the ‘old Mariah’ reigns. However new international chart-topper Leona Lewis looks set to test that theory.
Winning UK X-Factor in 2006, Leona Lewis has had her debut album, Spirit, chart at #1 in the UK, US, Europe and Australia and sell upwards of 8 million copies worldwide (2). If Leona isn’t the ‘new Mariah’, then she’s certainly a new chart rival. Something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the press. In an article for the New York Daily News, Jim Farber writes: “Lewis has towered over the European charts for months with her song "Bleeding Love." In her home country - the U.K. - the single became the biggest-selling song of '07, even though it could just as easily have been the follow-up to Mariah's very first single from 1990, "Vision of Love”” (3)
Leona has roughly the same timbre as Mariah in her nascent days, as well as the same soulful way of forming and indulging phrases. Being that their voices are so similar, they are naturally tailored to make the same kinds of music. They both have the kind of power-house vocals that can execute a Whitney Houston Ballad and make it look effortless. They’re the kind of exceptional pop artist whose voice is actually their strongest asset; as opposed to other pop stars whose central draw is their image, stage performance or the creative collective behind them. It has been said that “popular music singers of the past thirty-five years have eschewed the classical perfection of the voice in favor of expressing the emotionality and personality of the voice.” (4) Leona and Mariah are rare treats who demonstrate that it isn’t an either-or situation; both being technically brilliant, but never wooden, singers. Their coy persona’s and enormous voices place them at the opposite end of the spectrum to the stripped-down, revved-up popettes of the industry. They rely on a fine-tuned voice for media attention rather than controversy or exhibitionism. Whether or not this makes them more deserving artists is up for contention; what is does show is that they are cut from the same cloth.
In terms of interview demeanor, song selections, and especially voice Leona Lewis has carved out the same niche’ in music today that Mariah occupied in the 90’s – which places her on a fairly certain road to success.
References
(4) Marshall, P.D. 1997. 'The Meaning of the Popular Music Celebrity: The Construction of Distinctive Authenticity'. Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture. University of Minneapolis. pg 155.
Winning UK X-Factor in 2006, Leona Lewis has had her debut album, Spirit, chart at #1 in the UK, US, Europe and Australia and sell upwards of 8 million copies worldwide (2). If Leona isn’t the ‘new Mariah’, then she’s certainly a new chart rival. Something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the press. In an article for the New York Daily News, Jim Farber writes: “Lewis has towered over the European charts for months with her song "Bleeding Love." In her home country - the U.K. - the single became the biggest-selling song of '07, even though it could just as easily have been the follow-up to Mariah's very first single from 1990, "Vision of Love”” (3)
Leona has roughly the same timbre as Mariah in her nascent days, as well as the same soulful way of forming and indulging phrases. Being that their voices are so similar, they are naturally tailored to make the same kinds of music. They both have the kind of power-house vocals that can execute a Whitney Houston Ballad and make it look effortless. They’re the kind of exceptional pop artist whose voice is actually their strongest asset; as opposed to other pop stars whose central draw is their image, stage performance or the creative collective behind them. It has been said that “popular music singers of the past thirty-five years have eschewed the classical perfection of the voice in favor of expressing the emotionality and personality of the voice.” (4) Leona and Mariah are rare treats who demonstrate that it isn’t an either-or situation; both being technically brilliant, but never wooden, singers. Their coy persona’s and enormous voices place them at the opposite end of the spectrum to the stripped-down, revved-up popettes of the industry. They rely on a fine-tuned voice for media attention rather than controversy or exhibitionism. Whether or not this makes them more deserving artists is up for contention; what is does show is that they are cut from the same cloth.
In terms of interview demeanor, song selections, and especially voice Leona Lewis has carved out the same niche’ in music today that Mariah occupied in the 90’s – which places her on a fairly certain road to success.
References
(4) Marshall, P.D. 1997. 'The Meaning of the Popular Music Celebrity: The Construction of Distinctive Authenticity'. Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture. University of Minneapolis. pg 155.
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