Eric Benet has something to say about singers who drown songs in runs.
His thoughts below…
He isn’t wrong.
The way we see it?
Well, it all comes down to this.
Artists who hope to express vs artists who seek to impress.
For the former, vocal performances and the songs that carry them are used to invite listeners into their worlds (or help said listener make better sense of their own) with arrangements designed to express their own emotions and inspire their audience to do the same. Riffs, runs and harmonies are only employed to add emotional value to lyrics.
See below…
For the musician whose goal is to impress, the song is merely a vehicle to be used to flaunt their capabilities.
Though remarkably gifted and technically brilliant, vocalists from this camp have struggled to find their footing in any lane outside of Instagram or the world of YouTube covers within the last decade because their performances lack the warmth and authenticity artists now need to convert clicks and likes into record-buying fanatics.