Up and running!

I feel like we've had this discussion before but I have goldfish memory so, what's everyone's favourite For Your Entertainment live performance? It's definitely the song Adam struggles with the most live and I can't really think of a way the whole song would work live. The high parts are ridiculous but you can't lower the key cause of the low parts. I'd actually like to see a FYE / Master Plan / Strut medley though, I think that would work super duper

It's a goodie for sure. Also gotta give props to the Rock My Town version (my second favourite Adam concert ever)

Okay, I'll take a stab at it.  Rihanna's version is beautiful and emotional.  No fault in her performance, for sure.  Her version and Adam's are simply different.  First off, Adam sings it a half tone lower than Riri.  

The difference that I really hear, tho', is in vocal tone.  Riri's tone has a certain tension or bite to it.  Like when your throat constricts when you are on the verge of tears.  There are times when it almost has a little crack in it.  Although she is singing long, lyrical lines, there is a certain punch and retract in some notes that makes it sound less smooth.  She sings much of it with a lot of chest voice that has a slightly pushed sound to it.  Adele sings that way, too, even moreso.  It feels like she has a hint of laryngitis and has to push her voice to get the note out.  She doesn't, mind you.  It is a tension and constriction she is adding to her voice.  When she doesn't, you hear this lighter, freer, but wispier voice without much resonance.  More of a little girl voice?  The result of her tone is to make you think she is battling back tears.

Adam's tone is much different from Riri's.  For almost all of it, there is absolutely NO tension in his voice, no constriction, no push.  It is smooth, light but rich, and just floats thru the phrases and long lyrical lines.  His voice has his typical ringing resonance from his chest and his head, from low to high.  This tone is full of harmonics and consistent from note to note, phrase to phrase.  

The difference between Rihanna's tone and Adam's brings to mind the difference between a biting, acidic black coffee and a mocha latte with lots of cream.  Whereas Riri's sounds like she is pushing through tears to sing the song, Adam sounds effortless, yet meloncholy, pensive, and almost resigned.  Rihanna's is like she is fighting the emotions of the moment.  Adam's sounds like he has already cried a pillow full of tears and regrets, and is reflecting on the emotions and experiences.    Riri is pleading to her lover to stay; Adam is resigned to the fact that his lover has gone and he has little hope of getting him back.  To me, that makes his interpretation and delivery that much sadder.


That is what I hear.  What do others think?  

I have to start with a disclaimer: I have never really loved Rihanna's voice, so I hadn't heard her version of Stay before I heard Adam's. Perhaps this affected my reaction.

I think Rihanna did a good job with the song and showed some emotion with it--I usually think she sounds a little robotic (perhaps autotune?), although her live singing on this song shows she can sing. I think her voice has a sharp tone to it, like Cassie said, with not a great deal of resonance. This is why I enjoy Adam's singing so much, because he has so much more natural resonance in his voice that it sounds richer and fuller than most other singers. The harmonics also add to his voice and he knows how to play with his tone SO MUCH better than Rihanna or many others do.

I have always truly admired Adam's vocal control (let me tell you, as a fellow singer he makes me jealous because of that!). I believe his use of control, shading, inflection and phrasing really sets him apart from Rihanna as well in this song because she shifts back and forth from a "belting" voice which is sharp and a "little" voice which sounds unsupported. Adam doesn't have that issue, so when he delivers a song it sounds smoother and more melodic in general, as well as evoking emotion without sounding like he's trying.

Okay, so I agree with Cassie here and think Adam's voice sounds like a very rich blended coffee with cream. Rihanna's sounds like sumatra coffee (if you know coffee, you know that sumatra alone is a sharper blend and not too rich or full). Now I want coffee, and I have to go to bed!