Simpson lip sync on SNL (1 Viewer)

[todbnla]

Whats sad about this is we all in some sort of way support artists like this. How many of us have Michael Jackson, Madonna, or some other artist that does this? She deserves what she gets! She has no problem taking the money, now take the bad part of this job.


BTW-How many rappers do the same crap today?

 

[RichardK]

she is going to be on the Radio Music Awards tonight...supposedly permorming?


for her sake, she should try and sing live, but for our ears sake, i hope not!


i guess her trainers didnt have a plan for what to do when 'the band plays the wrong song'? havent they been watching espn dream job, where they have to fight through not having a teleprompter!!!

 

[Patrick Sun]

"Supposedly" the 2nd song was to have a pre-recorded percussion track, but someone screwed up by playing "Pieces of Me" instead.

Story here

Riiiighhhhtttt...

 

[todd stone]

hack and a liar.

 

[DaveF]

quote:like a Nazi soldier just blaming Hitler

Per Godwin's Law this thread is effectively over.

(No offense, Seth. Just amused by how Hitler gets invoked in a discussion of mediocre-talent pop star).

Ok, to be on-topic: In part, I feel sorry for this teenage girl, facing public humiliation on the national stage. And, yet, I find her whole situation frustrating. She lives off of secondary famousity: Ashlee Simpson is famous because her sister is famous, not because of any talent or value she has as a performer. I suppose it's nice that a normal girl can ride the coattails of her sister and that coasting is not exclusive to the big-monied Hiltons or Johnsons (& Johnsons). And I suppose I have dreamt of being rich and famous enough that my heirs could coast on my greatness.

So I find her situation frustrating. But it's borne partly of envy. And my amusement at her screwup has a measure of schadenfreude to it.

 

[Phil_L]

quote:See, the "track to reinforce the live vocal" excuse is a pretty common one... I have worked with countless acts that did this... And it's hilarious that during soundcheck I can check wireless mics and hit 80% signal on the wireless receiver and a full gain input at the monitor console-- yet when the "artist" is up there they're getting about 1/8th the signal coming off the mic. I've never been behind the scenes with madonna specifically- but the majority of these acts who use this type of setup are simply lipsynching with a different excuse.

Check out some bootlegs of Madonna's Girlie Show, there is one that is a feed direct from her headset of her singing (out of tune) over a prerecorded track. She usually does that for the first number and then is 100% live for the remainder. Though I agree that some acts might use this excuse to cover up complete lack of live vocals.





For a performance with no dancing like on SNL, the complete lip sync is inexcusable. Hope her album sales take a nosedive.

 

[Gary->dee]

quote:I lip-sync, so sue me.

Oh man I SO wish someone would sue her. Not just for the lame act she put on but also for using the oft said and abused phrase "so sue me". I wish the mother of some 6 year-old fan would sue the goofy pants off of her. There's gotta be some bored lawyers out there that see a potential lawsuit in all this with Simpson taking the brunt of the suit not her record company.

quote:This is a show in which mustaches and other props go bad all the time and those pros don't just stop what they are doing, goof around, and then leave. They plug through it.

Yep good point, Seth. Can you imagine if Will Ferrell or Horatio Sanz stopped and walked off the stage each time someone was laughing or something was going wrong? Key thing is that they are professionals and they're very aware that they're on live tv.

quote:And staged.

Was Elvis Costello's act really stage, Vince? I mean it's possible but I give Costello more credit than for essentially pulling a staged prank. But regardless of it was staged or not, it's a great contrast to what happened with Simpson on SNL.

quote:BTW-How many rappers do the same crap today?

Well in the recording studio there are definitely several takes spliced together to make one track. That's why sometimes an MC may sound slightly different from one verse to the next because they can't spit out all the lyrics in one go. During live performances rappers usually are flanked by their entourage on stage, not only for the old "posse on stage" reason but also so other people can yell out the lyrics during the show because again, the main rapper isn't going to recite all the lyrics, especially during a live performance in which they may be moving around on stage. Usually the longer the show, the more people on stage to help compared to say a rapper doing a single song on the Chappelle Show or something like that in which they won't get winded and there's also the opporunity for multiple takes.

Btw how was Simpson's first performance on SNL? Did it seem obviously canned? I read somewhere that the way she held the mic with two hands to cover her mouth made it look like it was lip-synced.

 

[AnthonyC]

Elvis was staged but SNL didn't know about it; just he and his band.

 

[MikeFR]

The saddest part about this whole incident is that it was the funniest thing on SNL so far this season. (Especially the pic of Jude Law they used, thats hilarious)





This is coming from someone who likes the show and current cast... but this year has been brutal for the most part.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Acid Reflux, and drummer blamed for this mess.

 

[Kevin M]

This sort of thing (lip sync) has been going on in the music industry for a long long time, it's nothing new. However the frequency of studios "creating" stars before they have ever played in front of a live audience as apposed to a band that has earned it's chops by constant touring before they ever cut a record deal is occurring with much more frequency these day then ever before...personally, I'd say 70% of the bands & solo acts you see out there today are manufactured by the record companies in house rather than "discovered" actually playing anything anywhere.

 

[Gary->dee]

quote:Elvis was staged but SNL didn't know about it; just he and his band.

Ah ok, Anthony. But then, would that really be considered 'staged' if the performers know about it and the venue does not? IMO I wouldn't classify it as being staged, more of an actual performance, kinda like performance art. To me if an artist and the venue or person putting on the show are fully aware of all the details of the performance then it would be considered staged.





"acid reflux"

Too bad she didn't have diarrhea of the mouth.

quote:To add to Ashlee's indignity Monday, eBay.com was auctioning off her private cell phone number, which it said had been inadvertently, and briefly, posted on her Web site.

Oh man, pure comedy.

 

[GeorgePaul]

quote:

Busted for a "Saturday Night Live" lip-synch gone awry, her manager-father said Monday his 19-year-old daughter used the extra help because acid reflux disease had made her voice hoarse.





"Just like any artist in America, she has a backing track that she pushes so you don't have to hear her croak through a song on national television," Joe Simpson told Ryan Seacrest on Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM. "No one wants to hear that."





He said it was his decision to use the tapes when it became apparent that acid reflux disease had swollen Ashlee's vocal cords.





It was the band's drummer who pushed the wrong button onstage, he said.





"The whole situation was a bummer," Ashlee Simpson said in an interview on MTV's "Total Request Live."

OK, let's get a few things straight here:





1. "Acid reflux" is the third different excuse that's been thrown out for this whole embarrassing episode. Ashlee Simpson and her 'handlers' like her Svengali dad need to get their story straight.





2. It's past time to stop hearing from Joe Simpson. He's descending to the level of Kit Culkin or Britney Spears' mom, and I'd rather hear Ashlee's croaky voice than his excuses and blame-shifting anymore. It was bad enough when he said that daughter Jessica was actually really smart--she was just "acting dumb for TV." Now he's wrecking any chance his daughter had at her own career with his dishonest interference.





3. Speaking of dishonesty, MANY singing artists in America do not need vocal backing tracks at all.





4. And speaking further of dishonesty, Ashlee Simpson is no 'artist.'





5. Ashlee Simpson is not some young, innocent, frightened girl shivering her way onstage for the first time. She's 19 years old. She can't react professionally to a single onstage mistake. She can't give any more of an explanation for the mess-up than calling the whole situation a "bummer." It's going to be far more than a bummer for her career...if the career she's in right now is indeed HERS. Personally, I don't think it is, but she's apparently happy with letting her entire professional life be managed.





If there was ever a girl who needed to be in college right now, it's Ashlee Simpson.

(Admin note, post amended to excise political comment)

 

[RobertW]

quote:And this all happened on hit records before digital technology made it's way into the booth. The only difference is, back then you used to have a bit more skill and knack-- there were probably 50 guys working in the world that could do extreme exact editing to vocals with a razor and a block... now any kid with a rich daddy and some spare time can do the same.

yes, i understand all that has happened, but as you said, even old-school studio trickery required some skill and expertise to implement it. and like you also said, now any no-talent hack with a lot of money sitting at home, or a big corporation backing them, can do the same thing just by pushing a few buttons.





personally, i wish her band would walk on her. why stay with her after she dissed them like that?





i think they did begin playing the second song, which maybe started off with a muted bass line, or were playing along to what was supposed to be the second song's track, but at reduced volume, cause once the vocal screw up happens, the bass and rhythmn guitarist immediately crank their volume knobs all the way up, and the lead player starts setting up a bunch of his effects pedals. and it sounds like they decided to play the first song again, the one that the vocal track went to.

 

[todbnla]

If anyone caught this "singer" on the RMA's that aired tonight, they would know why she lip syncs, she cant sing worth a crap, IMHO. She even made a joke about the ordeal on SNL, kind of a sad state of affairs in the music industry really. BUT, then you have to wonder; was this another Janet "it slipped out" incident? These people will do anything for a lil more of the spotlight...:frowning: We wouldnt be talking about her at all if her performance was normal.

 

[AnthonyC]

If I was a band member of her's, I'd walk. She didn't realize they were trying to save her butt by actually playing the song that was started?

 

[Michael Menduina]

quote:If anyone caught this "singer" on the RMA's tonight, they would know why she lip syncs, she cant sing worth a crap, IMHO. She even made a joke about the ordeal, kinda sad really.

I flipped through the performances on my PVR and I have to agree with you; she was TERRIBLE! Way off key. She may have just added fuel to the fire.

 

[Derek_J]

How far into the RMAs was her part?

 

[todbnla]

I turned the RMA's off (gag) about 8:55pm to catch CSI Miami. So, I would say this "act" came on about 8:35-8:45 CST or so...

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Reading that article about acid reflux being the excuse, did Lorne Michaels admit to using lip-synching on SNL before? Interesting.
Fact is, that would not have actually looked much better. We would still be discussing it here. It would just be how, having been caught lip-synching, she went on to pretend she wasn't.

And finally, it was the drummer that push3ed the wrong button? Should someone else have that responsibility? The drummer has enough to do already.