A Young Performer Rediscovers A Classic
Read more articles on Celebrity News and Dance and Let Me Share With You.December 10, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
December 10, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
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Chances are, you’ve heard of Usher, a singer who’s been performing since a teen, and who is now coming into fame in his late 20’s. Even I like him and his music, and I don’t follow today’s trends too much. Anyway, I came across a video of him performing Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain”. (On YouTube.com, just search under Usher and the name of the song.)
Well, it held my attention for the whole 6 minutes and then I replayed some of it again. If you are someone who enjoyed the original-or someone who forgot or never saw the first one-you really should check it out. I don’t watch many movies of that era, but as you know, I love choreography, and I found this riveting. Whether it’s the original version or not, I don’t know, but parts of it do look familiar…
Usher is known for his romantic and very smooth voice, and this song suits him; I like the way he infused the basics with his own style. As Simon Cowell would say, he “made it his own” and succeeded. But even more surprising was to see that he could tap, and with rain pouring down on him while he twirled an umbrella, no less. Now, I’ve never been fond of performing that style of dance, but I admire others’ ability to do it. It actually is much harder than it appears, and a sense of rhythm is obviously important. With Usher’s energy and finesse, I think he does an excellent job, and so do many others.
It moves me to believe that perhaps younger performers are possibly re-thinking some of the classics and choosing to do their own, updated renditions, instead of being hell-bent on original songs. I think the majority of people-especially slightly older viewers-like to see and hear something familiar. Of course, doing so is pretty chancy to the performer, as they will always be compared to the originator, but it seems to keep a creation alive, in a “new and improved” version. Sometimes I think the true mark of a classic is to withstand time and allow itself to be updated, without and loss of attractiveness and universal appeal.
A few years back, American Idol, in season 3, had a rash of contestants singing classics, and I downloaded a good part of them. LaToya London and Jennifer Hudson are the two who come to mind, but Fantasia Barino stepped back into history quite often as well. I’m glad that these young singers-who weren’t born until 30 or 40 years after the songs were released-find something appealing about them.
I still put the CD’s on in the car and my daughter will sing along with many songs that are never played today on popular radio stations. I’m really glad she’s been exposed to them, as it opens up the world of music into more than just the mixed bag of stuff from today, the rap of the 90’s and the rock of the 80’s.
Most artists eventually learn that there is a reason that classics in all venues have existed through decades, and that’s because they offer something of quality. I’m grateful to see that Usher was brave enough to tackle what was probably considered a ridiculous notion. His doing so has probably opened doors to the wide range of artistic expression to many young performers and viewers. Let’s hope more celebrities follow his lead in this area.
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