‘Talkin to Me‘ hitmaker Amerie certainly had viewers of her recent visit to NPR’s Tiny Desk talking, but not all of them were wielding positive feedback.
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Slammed for what many deemed a pitchy and breathy run through some of her beloved numbers like ‘I Just Died,’ ‘Why Don’t We Fall in Love,’ ‘Rolling Down My Face,’ and others, the 2-time GRAMMY nominee was particularly ridiculed for the performance of her signature song ‘1 Thing‘ which included moments of her background singers seemingly singing off-key and off-rhythm.
With clips of the showing trending on social media (particularly Tik Tok) for all the wrong reasons, Amerie’s time on Tiny Desk launched a surprisingly large social media discussion about her overall prowess as a performer.
And while the R&B diva herself hasn’t acknowledged the noise, one of her background vocalists – rising songstress Zay’Marie – took to Tik Tok to defend the performance.
“As one of Amerie’s background singers, It’s been a chaotic week on the internet lol. Some criticisms are valid, some are mean and nasty, but I remain rooted and grateful regardless. Points of growth can be heard on every step of the process but the negatives still can’t spoil this for me,” Zay relayed to her followers on the platform.
For many, however, Amerie has since redeemed herself after she took to the BET Awards with a blazing performance of ‘1 Thing.’
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This random nobody woman needs to stop using Amerie. Keep that drama to yourself. Amerie ain’t got time for your BS
Just a bunch of old haters trying to control Ameries narrative. Even after 20 years her voice is still instantly recognizable and signature. Glad she’s back
She sounded a mess too, the background singers should’ve did better. They sound like they just met