The 1:30 Factor
Like most everyone else in the world I'm a Michael Jackson fan. Not one of those conflicted ones who angst over how I should feel about the plastic surgeries and the allegations. I'm a fan, period. Of his music, of his ability to entertain, of what he's done to the musical landscape over the last forty years. And the greatest compliment I can pay to Michael is to say, he sure could tear up the last minute and thirty seconds of a song.
When someone takes that last minute and thirty seconds of the track and gets so lost in the song, he or she takes you with him, that - to me, is the mark of a great artist.
Back in the day, when songs were longer than today's three minute average, artists truly worked audiences into a frenzy. That last minute and a half was the climax, the time to turn it on thick - get some panties thrown on the stage or lure the crazies on stage, make security work for their paychecks. It was that minute thirty zone when the spirit hit the artist and they started going off.
I think a lot, if not all, of the Motown artists from the 60's had the ability to rip it the last minute thirty. But since then only some artists still manage to do so consistently.
Stevie Wonder is one of them. He sings the hell out of the last minute and thirty of his songs. It's when he starts getting "happy" jumps out of his seat, shouts the words like the audience has suddenly gone deaf, gets that head shaking, his fingers stabbing at the piano like the keys are burning his finger tips. It's where his songs cross the line from meaningful lyric to spirited jibber jabber. My favorite part!
Michael Jackson was the same way. The last minute and thirty of many of his songs was when he'd start that crazy talk "you can't, you got, you have." Not one complete sentence because he's just in the groove and the emotion is more tangible than the lyric!
Minute thirty is when the heart of the song begins beating. If it's a dance song, it's when the artists forgets he's performing. Instead he's living the dance. If it's a ballad, it's when the tears spring, the begging becomes real.
It's the emotional core of the song.
I wish more artists, today, understood the art of the last minute and thirty seconds of their music. Too many keep the same tone and cadence from start to finish. It's too practiced. What changed in the music industry that artist stopped getting off on their music in the studio? Does it really take a stage and audience for their own music to touch their souls?
If so, that damn sure explains some of the industry's issues.
I'm a music fan. So if a song makes me move or sing or touches something in me, I like it. Still, there's only one contemporary artist that has the 1:30 factor: Ne-Yo.
Forget that he writes his own music (something he shares in common with Wonder and Jackson), young brother rips through the last minute and thirty like an old school soul singer. Sometimes, when I listen to "Do You" I rewind the last minute and thirty over and over, lost in his groove.
See if you do the same...
"Dirty Diana" Video
"Do You" Video
When someone takes that last minute and thirty seconds of the track and gets so lost in the song, he or she takes you with him, that - to me, is the mark of a great artist.
Back in the day, when songs were longer than today's three minute average, artists truly worked audiences into a frenzy. That last minute and a half was the climax, the time to turn it on thick - get some panties thrown on the stage or lure the crazies on stage, make security work for their paychecks. It was that minute thirty zone when the spirit hit the artist and they started going off.
I think a lot, if not all, of the Motown artists from the 60's had the ability to rip it the last minute thirty. But since then only some artists still manage to do so consistently.
Stevie Wonder is one of them. He sings the hell out of the last minute and thirty of his songs. It's when he starts getting "happy" jumps out of his seat, shouts the words like the audience has suddenly gone deaf, gets that head shaking, his fingers stabbing at the piano like the keys are burning his finger tips. It's where his songs cross the line from meaningful lyric to spirited jibber jabber. My favorite part!
Michael Jackson was the same way. The last minute and thirty of many of his songs was when he'd start that crazy talk "you can't, you got, you have." Not one complete sentence because he's just in the groove and the emotion is more tangible than the lyric!
Minute thirty is when the heart of the song begins beating. If it's a dance song, it's when the artists forgets he's performing. Instead he's living the dance. If it's a ballad, it's when the tears spring, the begging becomes real.
It's the emotional core of the song.
I wish more artists, today, understood the art of the last minute and thirty seconds of their music. Too many keep the same tone and cadence from start to finish. It's too practiced. What changed in the music industry that artist stopped getting off on their music in the studio? Does it really take a stage and audience for their own music to touch their souls?
If so, that damn sure explains some of the industry's issues.
I'm a music fan. So if a song makes me move or sing or touches something in me, I like it. Still, there's only one contemporary artist that has the 1:30 factor: Ne-Yo.
Forget that he writes his own music (something he shares in common with Wonder and Jackson), young brother rips through the last minute and thirty like an old school soul singer. Sometimes, when I listen to "Do You" I rewind the last minute and thirty over and over, lost in his groove.
See if you do the same...
"Dirty Diana" Video
"Do You" Video
posted by Paula at 11:26 PM
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