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Lipsynching Is a Sin

February 9, 2009 12:01 AM

ou know, I didn't care for Jennifer Hudson's performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at the Superbowl. I've never really liked all the histrionic nonsense people do to the song. But, whatever--it takes a fuckload of talent to do it. And from the perspective of appreciating someone doing something difficult and impressive, Hudson's performance was awesome. Except that it was a lie. Which is bullshit.

According to Hudson's manager, lipsynching is "the right way to do it." He goes on:

There . . . [are] too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance.

He'd never recommend that any artist go live? What the fuck does that even mean? Like, does he mean ever? The slightest glitch would devastate the performance? Isn't that sort of the point? It seems to me that it is: we're impressed by professional musicians because they're so good at what they do that they show up every night and give us an excellent performance. If they're not even doing that, then what's the fucking point? In fact, it seems incorrect to even call standing up and moving your lips vaguely in time to a recording a "performance." That's like calling me a hunter because I played a lot of Duck Hunt when I was a kid.

I went to the symphony last night. There was a guest pianist. After playing a Beethoven piano concerto, the woman came out and played an astounding solo piece as an encore. It was mind-blowing to watch her hands effortlessly glide across the keyboard playing this beautiful music. It was mind-blowing because she had one chance to do something that is very difficult, and she did it. She hit every note without the benefit of sheet music. As she was playing, I thought about the training and practice and concentration necessary to be able to do something like that. When she was done, the whole place exploded with applause, and rightfully so.

But no one would deserve shit for faking it. Anyone can sit on stage and make vague gestures in the direction of a piano. Anyone can go into a studio, do thousands of takes and--with the benefit of perfect acoustics, zero pressure, and voice-enhancing software--come out sounding amazing. That's not impressive; that's what makes Britney Spears a viable music star. What's impressive is to do that live in the cold in front of literally a billion people.

But Jennifer Hudson didn't do that. Instead, she lied to us.



4 Comments


Justine Henin said:

Was Springsteen singing live? That was a good choice for the half-time show. It seems like the Star Spangled Banner should always be sung so that people could sing along if they wanted. None of the soulful interpretation crap. But I'm not black, so who knows.

February 11, 2009 1:08 AM



Barbie said:

A million thanks for ponsitg this information.

July 10, 2011 6:24 AM









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