Does the singer make a song work?

Yesterday night, I was watching part one of the Grand Finale of American Idol.

Both Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee performed a single (an unknown song which would be released into the market as their first release)

IMO, both songs were really mediocre (if this is how AI launches their winners these days, they are in big trouble). However, while Katharine's performance of "My Destiny" was insipid at best, Taylor's performance of "Do I make you proud" had me tapping my feet. Even though the melody and lyrics were cheesy, he infused his own personality into the song and rocked it out!

In this case, the singer (Taylor) really made the song work. Even though Katharine has a bigger range, she can't really make the song her own.

But, there are examples where the song was really good with an ordinary singer at the helm. E.g. Alisha Chinai's "Made in India".

What in your opinion makes a song work? Is it the singer or the song itself? Any specific examples?

I agree with abhijit. S. Some singers have ability to put life in to the song. Like song from HERO...lambi judai by Reshma ji. I can't imagine that song in any other singer's voice.

T. i missed the finale yesterday. But i am routing for my fav Taylor!! He is far better that Katherine.( like Bo Bice was better than that blond) Will write more once i watch the recording of AI.

Great songs require the BEST combination of talent at the right time,right place, right attitude of singing,...almost everything perfect!!!!!!!!!

Can u people imagine the song "My heart goes on" by Celine dion in Titanic sung by any other person??... or its lyrics by someone else.. or the music score by anyone else... simply i can't do that... This song is one of the perfects!!!!!!!!!! 👏

Originally posted by: T.

What in your opinion makes a song work? Is it the singer or the song itself? Any specific examples?

I think it's all together. Lyrics, composition, tunes, singer everything together makes a song work. And yes, singer does matter too. Like some ghazals from jagjeet or gulam ali. Their voice has this pain and "dard" to make it work. Lataji's voice is just mesmerizing...if you hear her song in her late teen years fresh lata, her voice is just amazing. If you hear this song "jadoo hain nasha hain" by Shreya Ghoshal, I don't think anyone would 've made it this sensational. So I agree singer does matter to make a song work. I think it's more like a team work with everything together.

I feel that both are important as they are inerdependent. But on giving a thought more to it, i have come to the conclusion that singer is more important. A singer can make a bad song appear good, but a bad singer can never dp justice to a good song. A few days ago Paresh posted a link to a Nihira Joshi song 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' which was far better than the original one.

I think its the publicity and the picturisation tht makes a song work... And invariably.... A famous singer would mean good publicity and good locations for a nice video to be shot.... And not to forget... Good looking models... 😆

T.,

Sorry I did not see/track American Idol this season, cann't reference by post based off of it, but yeah I keep hearing about them on radio and the host(Steve)mentioned that this year the girls are 10 times better then the guy singer 😃 On your Topic

IMO –

Good or popular song comprises of good music & composition, lyrics, singer, X-Factor (catchy tune, or high pitch notes e.g Oye Oye) most importantly essence to make music loving neurons excite and dance 😆 .

There can be exceptions like music was so catchy that singer doesn't count, was sung brilliantly that music didn't count etc etc. There is no well defined recipe of a popular song, what counts is it likeable 👏 to masses? There are songs sung by greats never got popularity and there are songs sung by amateur which were chart busters. 😃

As we are in "debate" mansion, I personally feel the song (music/composition/lyrics/xfactor) is more important then the singer like title songs of MHN, KANK, KHNH the music / lyrics was so awesome that anyone with soft melodious singer would have justified them. BTW – I like Sonu a lot and have a great respect to for him.

Also my point is there are so many songs which you hear and like, after a while want to know who sung if he/she is non fav you just cannot stop listening to it for that reason. Basically singer doesn't matter (few exceptions), anyone with similar voice quality and modulation can be swapped, main thing is song.

I still think everything has to come together to make the song work. Singer is an important aspect too !
(although sometimes I wonder what makes certains songs like "oops i did it again" as popular as they were and how important is the singing ability after all)