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From: b4md
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  • more proof of how the music industry pumps out mindless garbage.

  • Prefiro ao vivo!!Sempre.

  • I know so many people who would listen to this

  • A pretty face is a good actor with the type of dream guy/girl that makes you want to watch them all the time , a good singer can't be found out in Hollywood anymore but probably next door to you

  • The chorus of this song is not a chorus but a pre-chorus... there needs to be a section after it that takes things up a notch, right? :)

  • 0:38 - "...we started talking...I thought she was really nice"....yeah yeah, you wanted to pound her, admit it

  • Every retard in America should watch this.

  • If you think it's bad now, in another 10 years they will literally grow these people in test-tubes, I guarantee it :P

  • i love this doco.

  • The music industry has already died. Mainstream music today is garbage, and I'm left scouring through artists trying to find ones that are genuine. I listen to Sara Bareilles because she doesn't need autotune to make her an artist. Taylor Swift does. It's truly disgusting how a pretty face can make it, nowadays. Whatever happened to ability and talent?

  • @storageish: Not convincing you of WHAT exactly? The POINT here is not the quality of the song or it's raidio worthy-ness. The point is that they took a NON singer and made her into a totally convincing model of a pop star, something that is done on a REGULAR basis by the music industry. Katy Perry has over 30 multiple vocal tracks of her voice on any given song to beef it up, fill it out and make up for her lack of vocal ability which is why she SUCKS when you hear her sing her stuff live.

  • @wygram I understand that, but the video is implying that this is how pop music is written today. But obviously this is worse than most pop music on the radio.

  • @storageish I found the song kinda catchy.. but that's not the point. The pop radio plays singles.. i'm sure that pop cd's have songs that aren't played on the radio, and that are about this level.

  • @wygram If I were to agree that non-single pop songs are at this level, I'd just think that this movie would try to make a song that matches the radio. I mean it's a feature length film that obviously has a lot of effort behind it. Its entire purpose is to criticize the commercialism of American pop music, and a huge part of that in the film is criticizing radio, so the fact that this song is no where near as good as radio singles seems like a failure. It doesn't prove anything.

  • @storageish I meant, if you're just pushing through random songs, obviously some are going to be more popular than others.. and just that could make this song 'not radio quality.'

    But it proves so much. Have you heard britney spears ever sing? Shakira can't hit those high notes.. etc. Anyone can sing.. just because you don't fancy the melody, doesn't retract from the point at all.

  • @wygram OK, the final product makes the performer seem talented. But only vocally. The song still sucks. So yes this video shows that technology can make up for singing out of tune. I just think it also shows that hard work goes into songwriting, arrangement, production, etc., because this song - which had the goal of mimicking a commercial pop single - doesn't really show any.

  • SHE'S SEVENTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE­EEEEEN?

  • ok completely off topic but i would do but naked wednesdays w/ erikah badu ;)

  • I find it funny that a handful of people who have commented on here deny that the majority of radio pop/rock is produced and sold like this. Get over it guys, I promise you, it really is this way in the music world. You're only denying it because you're probably one of the suckers who've always fallen for this kind of shitty music, and now that you've gotten a hint of what it's like behind the scenes, you feel like the dumbasses you probably are.

  • Although this is very true today, they should have been a little truer with the final product compared to how she sung in the booth. Wut I mean is if you sung that bad autotune would not just make it sound perfect without audible artifacts in the audio. Which means autotune will not turn a way off vocal into a perfect key without making it sound funny. But what Ken Walden showed was accurate. They probably only used her best bits to get away with it.

  • @dmoates420 And you prove their point precisely. Given enough takes, even a bad singer can sound like this with the right studio tools. They honestly probably didn't need all that many takes.

  • this is why i listen to justin bieber

  • @jampop77 xD HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA­HAHA! He's even worse than the girl in the video!

  • All we hear is Radio Ca-Ca

  • A dialogue between a modern wannabe popstar and her agent:

    - Can you sing?

    - No.

    - No problem! Can you dance?

    - No.

    - No problem! What are sour sizes?

    - 90-60-90!

    - That will be a golden album! No, even a platinum!

  • Thumbs up....for the plastic pop star!

  • Model: I can't sing or write songs

    producer: That's ok I have Auto-Tune and melodyne, as long as you look like that for 20 years and act slutty then you'll be fine

    Model: oh ok, sounds easy enough, who's going to write the songs?

    Producer: I'll get one them Porn-writers to write your songs

  • Cool, where can I buy her mp3?

  • This is 'The Milly-Vanily Method' but with a computer program.

  • I don't mind a woman with a sexy body, but if she has a sexy body, she better have a good voice because I believe creativity helps create their beauty. Or if a woman has a great voice, I could care less about the body... With obvious boundaries...

  • something like that? xD omg so funny and sad at the same time. This is how talentless 17 years old kids make milions

  • la MODELO ME PUSO LA VERGA A MIL

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  • That song was great! She is a star! lol

  • LOOOOLLL, hilarious video + lyrics ! I love getting some insight into this pathetic industry.

  • This just made me sick....and it explains how you go to se your "favorite artist to find they cant rally sing in person after you have supported their non singing asses....Im literally SICK ...and E. Badu is funny I love her

  • KE$HA, anyone?

    

  • @MFE92 no bitch

  • @MFE92 At least this chick is pretty. Can't say the same about Kesha.

  • While there is no doubt that there are singers who use auto-tune to disguise their lack of singing ability, I think this video is misleading. It sounds like the singer is deliberately hitting bum notes on her original recording. Auto-tune usage for appalling singers is not subtle and can usually be heard in the final product but you cannot hear it that well in this girl's song at the end.

  • oh my god every watch this

  • gay

  • What is this "auto-tune" that you speak of? :P

  • 3:08 hahahaha

    "okay that's...painful"

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  • HAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHHAHAhAHAHAHAH­HA

  • hehi really want to chat i have pics too so

  • Not all popmusic is like this you people are kind of ignorant.

  • @Dzmo15 You're the ignorant one, most pop music is like this. Ofc its not suggesting every single bit of pop is autotuned, only a complete idiot would think that was what its saying. The video is showing how easy it is to create a pop sensation from very little talent.

  • @dodgydogman No shit? But have you read the other comments here idiot?

  • @Dzmo15 You're so stupid.

    See how ambiguous i was?

  • at first I thought.."AHHHH!!!"..then I thought, " well..maybe there is still hope for me to be a rock star now..with autotone and digital cosmetic adjustments..my dream can come true...unbelieveable!"

  • LOL this is really funny but true and sad

  • I actually played on Taylors record. LOL, I agree with Lupin788. If you only knew how many use Antaris or Melodyne. Their are great artists and groups out there. Here in Nashville there is a band called PacAKracRs. They are kinda Steely Dan meets Chick Corea I guess. They are finishing up their first album. The real talent in this town is blown away by these guys you need to check em out

  • While it's true that autotune can "fix" a bad vocal, this video is pretty dishonest: if you have any kind of musical talent then you can tell that a) she's deliberately singing badly in the first take, and b) the vocal in the song is a completely different take. It's a bit hypocritical to fake a video about how to create a fake musical artist, don't you think?

  • @hux2000 No man its showing that no matter how bad you are, with a little studio fixin here and there you can be a star

  • @hux2000 The "fake" part was the whole point of the video, IMHO. It´s kind of a "mockumentary" of how record labels create thier plastic, autotuned eye-candy they call "popstars". This was the process around Ashley Simpson, to bring an extreme case. So, it´s not quite hypocritical, but just a staged sample of what happens behind our speakers and radios.

  • This is what a lot of popular music has come to.

  • Well at least now we know what Miley Cyrus really sounds like lol

  • Listen to mastodon.

  • what happened to the old days of AC/DC, The Who and Led Zeppelin, etc. when people would just get up of bed, grab their instruments and play without any of these corporative arrangements?

  • thats the way to go, man koo

  • No way but the hard way! :D

  • @Enemyofreality84 GET USED TO IT!!!!!!! XD

  • This is why I listen to Bach

  • Whenever I listen to classical I always remind myself that it is the only genre where all the 'mainstream' artists (or conductors) are the best :P

  • You're missing out on the brilliant stuff that DOES get out there. Musicians don't need a record company nowadays, it can all be done with a PC some good audio software and a quiet place to record.

    Simultaneously you need to be gigging to build up a following.

    Do your own selling on the web and remember that there's no middle man, no record company who keeps 90c in the dollar so you get 100% of the profits less expenses (less sales required per $)

    Of course you need to have the talent.

  • @felixq78

    Unfortunately that's not true. Yes, there is good music out there, but talent in singing or songwriting is no longer required to be a star. Jessica Simpson released a song.Kelly Osbourne does tours for crying out loud!

    You are right about real artists not needing a record company. With Youtube and the like they can get exposure on their own - but the thing is that record companies can 'make' stars like you would in a factory.

  • [insert ke$ha here]

    truly. the worst part of her music is...her.

  • And you wonder why present big pop stars sound awful LIVE.....pfffff

  • This seems to a lot BETTER, than most of the shit out there in mainstream music. The instrumental tracks were at least 'live' tracks. Crafted by real musicians. Most sof the poppy shit now is all computerized with the same cheesy effects and cliches.

    But of course it would still sell.....

  • Selena Gomez is the best example. Very pretty, but helpless without autotune, as we all know since she performed on dancing with the stars.

    love this video. so true. so sad.

  • Fuck auto-tune

  • Really? You guys don't think this song would make it or is close to industry standards? Have you SEEN some of the garbage that is out there today? This girl is WAY cuter than most of the stars and the song is catchy- what more would you need?

    And clearly this is just to make a point guys. This is great.

  • New music fucking sux

  • yeah, but that video and song were terrible. i thought it was going to end with you successfully pitching that garbage to a big label. this video started strong, but you lost me. good luck!

  • I understand what they're trying to say here, but that song and video wouldn't make it as a hit. not really even close to industry standards for production, especially the video.

  • it's so true

  • hahaha. you guys are calling people OUT!

    i love it.

  • this has just proven that half of the modern''new'' artists can NOT sing and the music they do has been written by old folks

  • This reflects a typical American way of explaining things, and manufacturing people's opinions... It's always about the "good vs. evil" - it's a fucking disease - there's no room for nuance.. Nothing is stereotypical like that in real life, especially not in the music business which is one big grey zone. As for the tuning of vocals - come on guys, is that supposed to con anyone into thinking judgement day is near..? Jeez.. There's a lot more to singing than fixing the pitch.. Lol.. Ridiculous

  • You know. at first i was like. wow, these people just love to criticizes these singers. BUT being the open minded person i am..i took what all of you are saying into thought. YOUR SO RIGHT! we should start promoting other singers who only exist on the internet. i mean come on. WE ARE THE FANS! you may not have noticed but WE control the music world. its kinda hard to exlplain. MY advice is to tell your friends about different singers and musicians you know! :)) get them noticed!

  • You will like what the radio tells you to like.

  • Perfection.

  • This is so weird. Think about this. Dont u feel the 80's were tired of the same music. Or the 60's. I believe they must have been. The music we now call classic's were then maybe to them just everyday music. As the years go on were gonna come back to these days and see the beauty of other past music just like all the other's.

  • ''We'' might do that, but not the general public, not the mindless masses - all they want is watered down electro music

  • @EvilMonkey0123 I get your idea, and I thought that over, but there's certain "sub-genres" of those times that were once big (only in the time that they existed) but are now forgotten. Ex: 60s pop has little to no fame today, the artists are unknown and unheard of today, because 60s pop music was to that time, as Ke$ha, Fergie, & Katie Perry etc. are to our time. How is that true? Music was written in the same manner basically, except in those days, the singers actually had to know how to sing.

  • thats why most of them suckass when they sing live *cough*cough RHIANA

  • Taylor Swift just won "Best Female Vocalist" at the Country Music Awards. They might as well have given the award to AutoTune instead.

  • she sings good unplugged to?!

  • @Lupin788 ..listen to taylors stuff before she was famous and autotuned...her voice is good

  • @Lupin788 hahahaha right!

  • @Lupin788 Too true.

  • @Lupin788 oh she can actually sing, but she write really teeny lyrics that make me want to vomit, but its artist like her that I respect, but don't like to listen to

  • @shamgar13 Go watch her sing at the grammies, she cant sing, she was flat almost the whole time. she descrased grammies with that.

  • I think all these teen girls should see this and then think about all the pop stars they worship. I already knew about all the vocal correction and songwriting stuff but no one ever believes me when I tell them. These people are not that talented, the people behind the scenes who do the mixes are the talented ones. They work magic on these people from the vocal reconstruction to the advertising, they make people into a brand.

  • Damn that song was lame! That song would never be a hit. I think it's easy in theory to create a hit, but this video just showed how to create something listenable out of something bad. To be a pop star you need to have a career that spans some years, and not just have one hit. I seriously believe most pop stars ARE talented. Maybe not as songwriters, but many have good voices and a strong presence that captivates people.

  • And in the background, them have people who are talented at writing catchy pop songs, but who don't have what it takes to be a star. I don't see what's so wrong about a collaboration like that.

  • @varekai1983 Their point in the clip is that the creative process is irrelevant to the success of a pop star in the music industry. I agree there is nothing wrong with collaboration as long as the collaboration shares an equal amount of work with the collaborator and the artist instead of the majority of the work being done by the songwriter or etc. And to say that they have talent may be true, but do you think it's fair to say they are talented meaning only with software and technology?

  • love there is ONLLY 2 POP stars that WRE REALLLY tallented and good and they go by the name of DIANNA ROSS n JACKSON 5

  • This is pretty much what the "music" industry is.. all the talent is in the session players and behinds the scenes songwriters. The singer doesn't even need to know how to sing in the studio or in concert, because at concerts, they are playing the CD anyways... long live Indie Rock.... that's where music is honest.

  • LMAO his singing sucks

  • there's still good music alive underneath all the mainstream BS. no need to only listen to old music. the good music's there you just have to look for it.

  • very true but the reason why most people listen to mainstream is because they are to lazy or just have no time to find all the hidden good indie music.

  • Agreed, thats why I think it should be more accessible to people. I was just saying that not ALL of the music industry is like this, and there is good music being made today. Support underground artists. They need it, trust me.

    peace

  • its great to see someone that thinks like me. indie artists are the greatest. lol im one myself but i wont get into that here lol

    stay true

  • wait a minute..... so auto-tune is not only the funny robot voice thing? There's like auto-tune that doesn't "sound" like auto-tune?

  • Auto-Tune was created to fix imperfections in vocals, which is what it was primarily used for until it was used for a noticeable effect in Cher's song Believe.

  • Yup, it is....

  • you got it! 90% of the pop music in the radio is corrected with programs like this.

  • search for melodyne

  • It's funny, because in the 50's and early 60's, there were singers and there were songwriters. Rarely were they the same person. Then the likes of Bob Dylan and the Beatles came along and things began to change. Now it seems that we've done a complete 360. We've ended up where we started.

    This is why I don't listen to Top 40 radio at all.

  • wow. that answered my question but is it the same with guys that become pop sensations too. this video is eye opening.

  • wow... makes since lol

  • D.O.A. Death Of Autotune

  • And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how Britney Spears came to be! Just substitute Max Martin for Steve Poltz and "Baby One More Time" for "Mama's Not Coming Home". HA.

    This whole clip is so funny, yet so sad at the same time. This is what music has come to...

  • Damn - and he's right - that could be a big hit for that fake pop star chick.

  • That's why I prefer older music :-)

  • true, but you also have to still have respect for all the new bands that still do it the real way. but i totally agree, thats why older music is better... its more "real"

  • I do :-) But mostly in these days we hear from radios just garbage like this...

  • Painfully funny. I just embedded this clip in my Vegas music blog. The whole thing is a wonderfully done documentary.

  • that's why real artists are not famous.

    famous, i mean, known by the mass.

  • ...

  • You liked the music video or you liked the documentary?

  • it's just that people feel emotionally swindled out of their expectation. we still associate songs to be a soulful narrative coming from the singers heart. when this comes to light after the fact, they say "WTF she didn't write that?"

    maybe they just need to mention this upfront like they do for songs in indian films. it's right there on the cover - music director x, singer y, lyricist z. this's been standard procedure for ages and believe me nobody takes offense. the end product is great.

  • this is so true. if you just listen to the lyrics you can tell how crappy it really is. i mean it would be nice to listen to songs that actually have talented musicians and vocalists.

  • ROCK ON!! True talent can not be "manufactured".

  • I really like this song and video, but I agree with the point stated here 0o

  • The point stated here simewn (and this is precisely what makes no sense to me) is that, if you like that song you are wrong, you should feel guilty about it. Why? Because it is sung by someone who clearly has no talent and no control over the music she makes. She is a puppet. And didn't you see how easy it was to make? Good (real) music, music that lasts, is made by musicians with talent, who know how to play their instruments and write their own songs.

  • if you don't write your own songs, you should at least play an instrument well. This is why Elton John gets a pass. He doesn't write his own songs, but he is a phenomenal pianist. Actually, he writes the music for his songs, but he doesn't write the lyrics.  So, that's why he gets a pass.

  • And it doesn't hurt that he can actually SING.

  • Yeah. I agree with you.. Even if you can't play your insturment or write your songs you should atleast be able to sing. (Unless you're like Kenny G or something, then you should probably play your own insturment)

  • Milli Vanilli BTW, one of the prime examples of the predominance of rockism in the media. MV were punished because they "tricked" us into thinking they sing and write their own songs. But how exactly does the knowledge that they in fact do not, changes the music (already recorded) that you listen to? It doesn't. Why is it OK that George Michael uses supermodels to lip-synch in his video (Freedom) but if it turns out that a couple of guys who make fun pop music are not singing, we are offended?

  • Because they are not actually doing what they claimed they did. There was a similar snap back at Brittney Spears when she was caught lip syncing her own music. Had they been upfront about 'their' music, it would have been different.

  • Of course, Milli Vanilli lied, they were dishonest, and obviously that changed the people's perception about them. But my point is that the public/media reaction against them was disproportionate, when really the fact that they don't sing doesn't change the product, only our perception of the artist. What bothers me about b4md is the underlying message which seems to be: "the most important thing in music is not the music itself, but that it is made by a talented musician".

  • Nope, that is not what I am saying.

  • Another thing this clip (and the whole movie) is totally wrong about, is the idea that we are heading towards a manufactured music dominated market. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Manufactured music has been around for ages and was, in fact, much more prevalent in the past. Thanks to recording technology and the internet, now, more than ever, are artists able to record and distribute their music independently.

  • But how are people to find out about them when the radio is predominant, and most people are satisfied with that? The radio bombards us with clips of IQ-lowering tripe (nowadays called pop music) pretty much every hour of every day we are out of our homes. Most people are too lazy to go on the internet and even look for something outside the mainstream, so how do these poeple find out about the artists on the internet?

  • Well, if you care about music enough, then isn't it reasonable to make a little effort and look out for music blogs myspace pages, etc?

  • True, but too many people are much too complacent to do even that. They need to know that something else exists before they can look for it.

  • i am an example.

    i used to listen to the ying yang twins and lil wayne while at the same time eating fast food and liking it while playing video games extensively.

    now im almost a vegetarian and i listen to all genres of music, but barely any in the mainstream. i also have better grades, im teaching myself calculus and i play the saxophone and acoustic guitar all without watching tv or playing any games.

    fuck the bullshit, and peace psychologically.

  • I am glad to hear that you have done this. How did you get started, though? Did an outside source motivate you, or did you just get tired of it and want to look for something better?

  • actually, i just looked at the reality around me. i started analyzing the lyrics that i listened to. i compared what i heard with what i saw in edgar allen poe's poetry and i saw how extremely basic and uncreative the music industry is today. i started watching some good comedy too, ie. george carlin and bill hicks. and i also started looking at what really matters in life. it certainly isn't ego, which is quite contrary to the messages in the music we hear today.

  • Wow, good for you! Not a lot of people would do that!

  • grimslider youre right man and not alot of people realize thats the truth,

    the music totally feeds these kids egos by making them think its ok to act like theyre the shit when theyve never accomplished anything

  • Well, i know some persons who search Top40 radio hit list, and download mp3s . Afterwards, some midnless and easily influentable persons asks them to send those songs - and that's how it goes. It's a chain.

  • Like Zappa said, a person has to know that a type of music EXISTS before they can listen to it or like it. It's partially the fault of complacent consumers (the same ones who will defend mediocrity with their dying breath), and partially the fault of the media for perpetuating that music should be seen as Barbie and Ken dolls, rather than a creative process that matures over time.

  • Amazing the masses just can't figure this out and expose the whole pop industry for the hoax it is.

  • Popmusic is for cattle

  • 2:24 epic fail

  • Yup, thats about the long and short of it. Around 80% of commercially produced music uses Auto Tune or a similar plug-in. Just like 100% of commercially produced adverts use photoshop.

    Also love the bit 'yeah, that was...painful'

  • o.O

    photoshop, pitch-fixer... what the hell can I still trust in?

    is there ANYthing in this world you cannot fake???

  • this was such a good movie. i just hope we're not too late.

  • I knew there had to be a reason why music sucks such an enormous cock in the past decade.

  • This is terrible. This is why a good majority of today's music sucks. Because it's manufactured.

  • This is absolutely disgusting

    That segment about Jewel made me sick, I respected her before and now...

  • this is all clear channels fault.

  • t-pain anyone? This is why he sucks.

  • lol RIGHT! Exactly

  • Does anyone else think when the final video is really gross when you can see the contents of her mouth lol...especialy at 5.22!

  • Ha, that is awesome. Steve Poltz's little improb song sounds so much like David Bryne from Talking Heads!

  • i dont get it .... the whole video ......

  • loool ... this vid shows that any girl with a bad voice can become a super pop-star. sad...

  • you forgot the part where they have to be attractive. because you have to attractive to be a good musician lol. on the other hand you could get a girl who is not comercialy attractive but has a great voice, get her to record an album, get some model to pretend its her then youve got a superstar. then one day you reveal the real person behind the voice and watch everyone slowly loose intrest

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