(07-10-2014, 03:33 PM)mercfan3 Wrote: Jena seems very goal oriented and ambitious. And she's a capable song writer. I'd expect we'll get original music from her, whether she's signed or not.
Well Put Merc
She seems like one heck of a tenacious young lady who by nature is very attuned to "games" of the business world.... greek entrepeneourial background that ingrains certain types of fight might help in that regard... but that would be a Tom22 essay to elaborate on.
I was listening to 5 songs I purchased from this season... I think all of them were the week "I'm with the band" where part of my motivation was to reward the immense improvement in the whole production and attention to the balance of sound and support and showcasing and instruments together etc.
Jena really has a strong voice... I was reminded of that after listening again to Christina Grimmie who I think has a strong but narrow voice.. not quite thin or screechy in my book but narrow and she tends to overreach. Jena has a much stronger fuller voice and , she seemed to have more restraint (even while the competitive aspects of voting favor a bit more showboating that I'd like at times... Haley avoided that entirely other than HOTR in my book.. one of the things I likes most about Haley and .. in the most part Jena showed some better than average restraint... especially for the girls with power type voices who tend to overplay that card.
Big Question ! Sucess as a _commercial_ musician is reaching people with songs that mean something to their daily lives at the given time... they fit and make people feel what they feel like feeling (or didn't know they felt like feeling)
Jena sings from a differenent place to a different sensibilty than I have ... and I can find it pretty straightforward musically which is a compliment to some audiences but less interesting to me. At least she doesn't try to be interesting gratioutously to her message that I feel like I understand enough to say that.
Will she resonate with young girls ? Catching the ear of 12 to 15 year old girls seems to be a critical audience to fuel popularity even if they don't do the actual buying. They get the music heard, by playing it, talking about it, requesting it, making the peformers news worthy celebreties to keep the name in the mind of radio play and People magazine etc.
Well at least that's how I see it.
Jena has a strong voice and I think she's got a personality swaths of the non-south surburban audiences can relate to.. is that something that will sell or does she need to pose nearly nakid and dance etc like even Diva voice Mariah did in the launching years of her career. Even Barbara streisand had a need to have the camera on her ...even if her showmanship was more of a broadway type her acting ability carried her along too on top of her voice.
Without model good looks (Katy perry could make it as a model if she wasn't in the music business.. although not tall enough) or a in your face type of style like say.. Madona or punk like Debarh Harry or MJ or gangster rappers or Nicki Minaj ... can singing alone make a pop "Performer"... grabbing a place in the pop culture takes more than a voice and songs... it takes an ear for a pulse....
... Adele might not have the panache exhibitionism but she's an odd enough bird with some inner demons that can come out subtley in her music.. and she recieved quite a bit of support in being nominated for the reward that got her heard in England by big name musicians she had sung back-up for and who became vested in her career. Clearly people wanted to hear what Adele had to say on her big albums... I suspect she won't do a lot in the future commercially but her music itself might get even better.... and Adele is an exception
I don't think Adeles album would have made it today.. it fit the time 3 years ago when it came out... things about the great recession and anger and loss probably played right into her bluesly anger of her songs.
Yes there are exceptions of normalish people who've made it... but it's tremendously low odds to make it in the music industry and I think some of those other seemingly pervese needs for attention actually expose attributes that enter their voice musically .... a need for attention or to be recognized etc is something people might feel personally and want to hear in a singer?
OK
Guess I had an essay anyway..
I think Jena has a real voice and she's shown she can write music and she's tenacious and probably looks at the world as a business person from her rearing... she's got a good chance....
.... she might even be very open to having others do her songs and flatter them into letting her perform with them etc.
.. . a type that will ask for a favor (a plausible favor that she's qualified for at least) and not be discouraged by no answers but keep on asking again anyway.
