*delurks* *musical analysis ahead* *scroll unless you're a nerd
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Hi all! Been reading all of the comments about Adam's performance last night and I wanted to offer a slightly different impression from my musical snob/musician point of view. First off, I try to take my stan hat off when I listen to Adam so I can be objective (with varying degress of succes
). I hate critiquing him but the training kicks in & my brain automatically goes into assessment mode when I listen to something new. Also, a disclaimer: I am no Cassie.
I thought the performance was wonderful! <3 I get where some of you are coming from about him being a bit flat in a couple places toward the beginning but I'm not sure that's actually the case. I admit to being a little puzzled on first listen, plus I was a freaking ball of nerves so I was watching with my hands half covering my eyes. LOL OH ME! His emotions were obviously playing a part in the delivery too - I think he was feeling everything from a touch of nerves at being on live TV to enormous pride & excitement at performing a song so close to his heart that he wrote for the first time, not only for the viewing audience but for his co-writers & friends, but also in front of one of his idols, Steven. But I rewound it like 50 gillion times and really listened to it, then I listened over headphones and it's clear that he was not flat.
We are used to hearing Adam do acoustic Aftermath a la the GNT arragement, which keeps him in the light, sweet head voice when he sings "wanna scream out" and "in the aftermath" at the beginning. Last night, he powered those phrases out and added a bit of rasp to them, as we all heard. More importantly, he changed the first "wanna scream out" around 1:00 minute in from its usual lighter, higher tone to being slightly belted out. But
he was not flat; if you're used to the GNT version it may sound a little off simply because he didn't use the same tone to achieve the notes. Also, "just remember" at approx. 1:18 is slightly belted, which is in contrast to how he usually sings it in his lighter tone. In fact, he's not even trying to hit the higher notes and falling flat, he's going for decidedly lower notes. Which also makes it sound different.
Also, the acapella run was fucking fabulous - that's how you do it! I liked the quick transition right afterwards - he extended that run maybe a bit longer than he meant to but I love the way it turned out and how sweetly he ended the song. He had to trim the song down time-wise too, normally he doesn't have to jump right back into the next verse after he does that run but I thought he executed it beautifully.
Something else I noticed and wanted to comment on was Steven's reaction. I agree with those who said Steven may not have been all there last night. But watching it again, I really looked at his face & noticed after he finished clapping he almost seemed to be studying Adam. None of us are in his head so we can't know what he was thinking, but I don't think it was a slight to Adam. He may have been in awe & taking Adam's performance in, or willing the tightening in his pants to stop, or trying to figure out what color to buy his next pirate blouse in. Plus this was his first time hearing Adam live, so even if he didn't love the song, that's ok.
I thought the performance was magic. The music in the arragement was an unexpected treat and Adam's vocals did what they were meant to do - highlight the message of the song. In conclusion, Adam is a brilliant, beautiful man.
*de-lurks & waits for Cassie to get back, read my assessment & laugh her ass off*
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