How dreadful does Madonna sound on Eurovision?

[Bearbehind]

This is hideous

Yeah, I also don't think a 60 year old would usually be less of a singer if they were strong in the first place, illness notwithstanding. My mum is 71 and has a lovely warm contralto voice (totally untrained) and even though she's losing her hearing, sounds great.

I think Macca who has been mentioned a lot is another example of huge talent in other areas (songwriting, arrangement, musicianship) carrying a voice that was decent but never technically the strongest hence he might not sound great live. No disrespect to him, I love the Beatles!

Why is it ageist to say that Madonna sang out of tune?

It isn't. Nor is it ageist to say she had problems with the stairs as many people find they experience depth perception issues as they get older.

What is ageist are crass comments like It was utter cringe and she walked down those stairs like my 98 year old gran!

What is that "utter cringe"?

It was dreadful but hey she has brought peace to the Middle East.

Debbie Harry was amazing at Brixton 18 months ago. Her voice has changed, absolutely, deeper not thinner. But she doesn't sing flat or out of tune or whatever the hell else Madge did last night. That's my favourite Madonna song and she murdered it. Shame.

I love Madonna. She's been relevant in every generation since she started working. She's achieved that with hard work and drive despite a pretty average starting point in terms of vocal or dance talent. Her fashion choices have always been on the line between edgy and ridiculous. There's honestly no point in asking why Madonna wears anything but the eyepatch is less surprising to me than a cardigan would be

As for the stairs, well, I thought her knees were giving her gyp in the Hung Up video and that was 15 years ago. No one seemed to notice then.

She probably shouldn't be singing Like A Prayer anymore. I think she released it just after she'd had singing lessons for Evita. Her voice was at its peak. It's a bloody hard song to sing actually. I don't think Paul Simon should be attempting Bridge Over Troubled Water either (it was always Art Garfunkel's song vocally anyway).

I'm wrong about Evita - that was 7 years later

I wonder if she pissed off the sound technician?

She probably shouldn't be singing Like A Prayer anymore. I think she released it just after she'd had singing lessons for Evita. Her voice was at its peak.

Like a prayer predates Evita by several years (judging by it being the 30th anniversary of like a prayer, and her being pregnant with Lourdes during the filming of Evita).

I agree that she’d have been better picking a different song. A medley of her greatest hits would probably have been a safer choice. I also think she’d have been wiser to avoid including stairs in her staging. Why bother? There are plenty of other options.

Like a Prayer is really not a hard sing, especially for a woman who has made her millions as a professional singer. Your average club singer would not struggle with it.

I was reminded of the story of the Emperor with no clothes. Everyone tells how fantastic her performances are, but if you take away all the glamour, it is poor.

She seems to favour style over substance.
And lacking in common sense. Why go for a stair routine, and then compromise your depth of vision by wearing an eyepatch?

skunkatanka its not an easy sing for someone with a limited range though, she misjudged the choice although it was for the 30th Anniversary.

FWIW I think this is one of Madonna’s best and most underrated (in the UK) songs. She used it as an ‘audition’ piece for Alan Parker for Evita.

I thought she was super fit & would be dancing around more.

has had a wild no-fitness zero-healthy lifestyle since forever & HE still manages to prance around stages in his mid 70s (I hear). Given Madonna didn't sign contract to perform until few days b4 the event, maybe she really didn't work enough with the sound people to get it right in that venue. Last night's performance sounded much better on Radio2 than on any youtube clip I've heard.

its not an easy sing for someone with a limited range though, she misjudged the choice although it was for the 30th Anniversary

This is what's wrong with the musical world. We celebrate and put on a pedestal "singers" who can't sing because they wear the right clothes and have the right image and then are surprised to find that they can't actually sing.

This is not a hard song and if it's too hard a song for you then, honestly, you should not be considered a singer.

Well I've just sat through the replay of that on some very hi fi equipment and it sounds wierd the whole thing sounds like it's been put through a bandwidth limilted transmission channel and poorley mixed, theres a lack of upper and mid bass plus some other odd noises let alone if she was a bit flat or not whole thing you'd have to pay me to go and see:(

Note the coments re Kate Bush narrowley missed seeing her at Hammersmith tho did see her several times in the 80's.

Best and most lovely voice around in the pop field has to be Hannah Reid of London Grammer she can do no wrong except not perform enough these days.

Still this is the lady I will pay a lot see the lovely Ms Rowan Pierce a superb voice and hey" shes from Gods chosen county of Yorkshire!, whats not to like:-)

skunkatanka She sang it fine back in the day though.

Then maybe it's time to admit defeat. Say no to the whopping cheques and make do with royalties instead.

Wow what a voice - this is what I can never get over about singers like Madonna. She will never have had a backing singer worse than she was whilst Roman Pierce makes her sound like me... don’t know how she has the front!

I was looking forward to seeing Madonna do her stuff on Eurovision, fell asleep during her performance!

I thought she seemed high or drunk or something in the interview before hand.

Also, she chose her own set. If she has trouble with depth perception and walking up/down stairs, why on earth did she chose a set with them??

Then she sang "Not everyone is coming to the future. Not everyone is going to last" while scenes of fire, destruction and the apocalypse played in the background with people around her wearing gas masks

Definitely giving out a message there. She obviously thinks she will be one of the saved.

@Justaboy where did you see Kate Bush in the 80s?
misses point of thread she didn't tour after Hammersmith in 79 I thought.

I had the (mis) fortune to hear Madonna at live8 back in the day.....she was no better there!

Madonna has frequently been odd in interview. Do you remember when she was married to Guy Ritchie and did Children in Need? She read out the wrong phone number and when Terry read out the correct number she snapped and (farted) snarled “That’s what I said ”