Where are the front men? (Rant)
I've been in a slump for a while trying to find new music. I use Qobuz and it does an abysmal job of suggesting music for me. So I browse their playlists.
Today I ran through their "Ones to Watch in 2025", mostly in the pop, rock, indie, Americana, R&B and soul categories. Probably listened to 50 or 60 songs....or parts of them.
I noticed across all the genres mentioned above that there was the absolute lack of male singers with good or interesting voices. This was for two reasons. The first is that the male singers I heard weren't interesting. The second is that of those 50-60 songs I'd say at least 75% had female lead singers.
I have nothing against female singers but amongst the ones I listened to most of them sounded identical. Its this sort of breathless, emo sounding, slightly slurred, slightly little girl inflection often with a touch of L.A. or Detroit ghetto affectation. Song after song after song across all those genres. (Jazz seems to be spared from this blight).
I don't know who started this trend among female singers. Courtney Burnett (who I find entertaining at times) maybe? Hannah Reid of London Grammar (not as bad as most of these but still)? Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) further back? I don't mind a smattering of it but it seems like its all you can hear from female vocalists these days.
So where are the front men? Where are the guys with big voices, great range and dynamics? Charisma, swagger, stage presence? A thing of the past maybe?
Got it. If you are not familiar with Black Pumas, their studio stuff pales by comparison with their live performances. Listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOKfK8y4_MQ
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@stuartk Gave it a brief listen. I like what I’m hearing. Will dig deeper. @acman3 I’ve listened to Jason Isbell a little bit and for some reason he just hasn’t hooked me in. Are their songs you particularly like? I'll give them a listen. But that brings up another issue. There are several artists that I love and listen to all the time like Mark Knopfler and Neko Case who put out lots of albums some of which I can’t find a single song that I like and other albums that are all time favorites of mine. So with any artist with a body of work like that you might listen to two or even three albums, give up on them, and miss amazing stuff. And I’ll admit, I’m an impatient listener. If a song doesn’t hook me in right away I tend to move on. That’s not always fair to the song.......but most of the time it is. |
Usually, in Qobuz, I can scroll to the bottom and find suggestions or similar artists. This much better than letting them hand me a playlist. Meanwhile, if you like Americana or country, there are more male singers. There have been several who have made it big. Tyler Childress, Sturgill Simpson, Zack Bryan. Heartfelt lyrics with good stories, or bad. Sturgill especially has jumped around . He is a dynamic emotional singer and good guitar player. Good recordings. Try Turtles All the Way Down you can continue the album if that hits ya. Album: Meta Modern Sounds |
