Got 67.9 on the test and not surprised. Hearing is alright, but not great. Has not hindered me to enjoy a lot of music, learn a lot about music and even actively participate. But I knew it would never make a career for me. As Cassie said earlier, this test is so fine that this is hardly what is relevant when a singer is called out for being pitchy. Adam is rarely off pitch anyways, but because he takes greater risks in his singing, occasionally he misses, i.e. in quint jumps up to the high D or an even higher notes. Nobody else does them, that 's why. Then he will correct his pitch immediately, making it sound like he purposely slid into the note, instead of singing it head-on. That is skill as a performer, and of course, using today's technology of in-ear feedback.
I think a lot of what people write online is bull anyways. The nonsense that I have seen online about vibrato, vocal ranges, and so called screeching could fill volumes, but it also pretty disconnected to the test above. Those discussions there have more to do with their perception, their distorted senses of reality, lack of knowledge, listening to the wrong talk, or the wrong music, or otherwise personal agendas that don't have anything to do with music in the first place.
Hearing is one of our 5 senses.
We know that we all have different tastes and that arguing about whether something is too sweet or too salty or tastes fishy or whatever else is a useless discussion, because we are all different.
We all know that we have differences in how we feel, i.e. pain tolerance, special sensitivity, or how ticklish we are.
We know that we have different preferences or phobias when it comes to smell, because we like different perfumes, are more or less sensitive to body odors, and not only associate completely different memories with certain smells, but also react to them, when the next person says they did not even notice.
We know that we all see differently, not only because most of us have to correct our vision with glasses, but also because we can have endless discussions over whether a specific turquoise is more green or more blue, and how aggressive we perceive the newest greenery shade that was shown as color for 2017 a few days ago.
But somehow, the public assumes that we all hear equally. Given the above list, I think we should consider that unlikely. And not only because of pitch accuracy, but also because we may perceive a certain harmony or dissonance as pleasurable, while the next person does not, or because we hear certain frequencies, while the next person does not. We all have sounds that everybody dislikes, like fingernails on chalkboard, or that everybody likes, like a pan-flute. But there are many sounds in between where opinions differ. I know of people who hate violin sounds, and are especially sensitive to hearing it practiced, so much so, that they don't want their child to pick up that instrument.
Adam is divisive in his personality, and he is divisive in his voice. It fits the person that he is, and it makes him a unique artist, but maybe not quite as much a mainstream artist, as many of us have hoped he would be. But there are many top artists, who did not have mainstream voices. Bowie for example. Did not hinder him from having a brilliant career.
By the way: Seeing Adam's recent tweets and Instagrams and the way he dressed at New Years: Am I the only one thinking that his time of toning it down is over? That he is going to dial it up again, not with glitter, but with over the top high fashion, like the pink suit for example. As much as Adam's was of course perfectly tailored, it still reminded me in some ways of this:
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And the pics he posted yesterday, just seemed in many ways to say again: I don't give a sh**, and I admire people who have not held back, who did not care what others think. Adam has always tacked in the opposite direction when we did not suspect it. I think after dialing it down for TOH, I think he is going to blow it all up again for A4.
At least that is my prediction. We better get ready.