“She” being Ella in case that wasn’t obvious.
I’ve never before heard anyone disparage a singer because of the facial expressions they speculate the singer might be making while he or she sings. In fact, it might be the most bizarre and irrational explanation I’ve read for liking or disliking something.
I shan’t bother to look for a thread, but I can certainly assure you that Elvis’ geek looks were played up for all they were worth in the early years of his career. Just look at his album covers. Same with Tom Waits’ degenerate appearance. Just because they weren’t “hot” doesn’t mean that their look was not taken advantage of.
I have never even heard of her.
You misread. I could care less what facial expressions she was actually employing. When I say it sounds as if she’s smiling broadly through every song, the verb employed there is sounds. Subjective, to be sure, but it’s not because of an imaginary picture conjured up that puts me off, the sound itself is cloying.
One easy example because she starts off not doing it and then transitions into it is her classic recording of “I Love Paris”. She starts off in the lower octave / minor key sounding good, but then reverts to that “smiling voice” thing she does from then on out. (And no, it’s not an artifact of her singing in a major key versus minor key).
I myself always suspect when reading the poetry of Robert Frost that he was smoking a pipe while writing it, and the smell of the pipe smoke puts me right off of it.
I would suspect I’m not seeing as I’ve never heard of her ,but then again Idont go out much.
What Sam Stone said. I listen but before too long, she fades into the background.