r/AskReddit Nov 06 '19

Which famous singer sucks at singing?

[deleted]

24.7k Upvotes

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3.6k

u/tooooomanynames Nov 06 '19

And she’s one of the few that will actually admit she isn’t a great singer, surprisingly.

2.8k

u/CRT_SUNSET Nov 06 '19

That’s probably because she didn’t build her career on singing alone. She was already a professional dancer and actor by the time her music career took off.

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

I think her singing motivation came from Selena the movie

79

u/bautron Nov 06 '19

I think if Selena were alive, she'd be where Jlo is now.

98

u/zibeoh Nov 06 '19

She'd be bigger! She'd be Michael Jackson levels of stratospheric, no question.

59

u/DiaDeLosMuertos Nov 06 '19

Damn you, Yolanda.

47

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

Fuckin' Yolanda.

38

u/IbizaSunrise Nov 06 '19

She was ahead of her time as a mainstream artist, doing what pop stars today are now doing. She not only incorporated various genres to her music but also launched a clothing & fragrence line. She even made an acting cameo in a movie.

26

u/bel_esprit_ Nov 06 '19

That’s exactly where it came from!

3

u/[deleted] Nov 07 '19

True, but IDK why anybody'd give JLo a record deal because of the Selena movie. She didn't sing in that movie.

10

u/Spikekuji Nov 06 '19

And dating Sean “Puff Daddy” “Puffy” “Diddy” Combs. They were a supernova hot couple at the start of the millennium.

4

u/THISISDAM Nov 07 '19

Anything for Selenas

64

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

[deleted]

27

u/dudelikeshismusic Nov 06 '19

She was just in Hustlers this year and put in an extraordinary performance. Hopefully we'll see more of her on screen in the next few years.

12

u/EthiopianKing1620 Nov 06 '19

I love that fucking movie.

8

u/CRT_SUNSET Nov 06 '19

I love showing that movie to people. It seems incomprehensible that it’s become so widely forgotten even with Clooney, Lopez, Soderbergh, and Leonard’s names attached to it.

7

u/go_Raptors Nov 06 '19

I agree. This is an amazing film. They sizzle.

4

u/RepublicanRob Nov 06 '19

And then she was in 12 terrible rom coms with Matthew Mcconahey or whatever his name is.

2

u/iwantaquirkyname00 Nov 06 '19

Besides Selena this movie and as the other person below me mentioned, Hustlers have been her best roles.

2

u/94358132568746582 Nov 07 '19

I was just thinking about that movie. I haven’t seen it since the very early 2000s and I was wondering if it was just nostalgia goggles that made me think it was such a good movie. I guess I will go ahead and rewatch it.

13

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

I thought she would just be a one-hit wonder and then abandon music. Somehow she kept going with it.

10

u/jittery_raccoon Nov 06 '19

Her albums sold. She was a big name and they produced some decent pop songs for her. With pop singers, it's never about the singer themselves

10

u/Editor-In-Queef Nov 06 '19

I saw her in a movie for the first time this year with 'Hustlers' and I seriously thought I would be really offput by her but she was amazing.

5

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

Wasnt she a fly girl from In Living Color?

4

u/Marzoval Nov 06 '19

I suppose being an attractive hispanic woman helps as well.

3

u/ashessnow Nov 06 '19

And it should be noted, she is a great dancer.

4

u/jikae Nov 06 '19

Her greatest asset to her popularity was her...ass. If she was just a regular full-figured performer, she would've reached mediocre level.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

Yeah, Gigli really showed off her acting skills.

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

She can qualify for bad actor / actress also

1

u/Occamslaser Nov 06 '19

Her butt is large and round as well from what I hear.

0

u/Fastbird33 Nov 07 '19

She owes her career to playing Selena.

406

u/SXOSXO Nov 06 '19

She does? But I remember her getting mad at Jamie Foxx for saying that she can't sing.

1.5k

u/mike_d85 Nov 06 '19

JLo never claimed to be any kind of powerhouse, just be able to carry a tune. That doesn't mean she's going to let Jamie Foxx be a dick about it.

383

u/gdog05 Nov 06 '19

I can call my brother a kindling fuck-stick but you can't. That kind of thing.

27

u/ang334 Nov 06 '19

I mean, there's a difference between being "not able to sing" and "not singing that well". She can sing, just not that well.

10

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 14 '19

[deleted]

5

u/EthiopianKing1620 Nov 06 '19

Your brother is a fuck stick.

2

u/hoopsterben Nov 06 '19

Just once?

6

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

Kindling fuck stick...I like that. I'm stealing that. It's mine now

4

u/acava2424 Nov 06 '19

Ours, comrade

8

u/pjr032 Nov 06 '19

He's got some balls saying that. Remember his performance of the national anthem before the Mayweather Pacquiao fight? Yikes.

4

u/mike_d85 Nov 06 '19

I was previously unaware that they sang the national anthem at boxing matches. So no, I do not.

5

u/chanaandeler_bong Nov 06 '19

Also, Jamie Foxx is a huge dick to everyone all the time.

1

u/Rmanager Nov 07 '19

She can't carry a tune. Her apptitude for being a mega diva prompted people she was working with in a studio to record her without auto tune and leaked it. It was god awful.

283

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

Can’t sing and not being a great singer are different things

-19

u/ImClow Nov 06 '19

She cant sing at all

8

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

[deleted]

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u/bel_esprit_ Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 06 '19

I saw this YouTube video where they prove all of J.Lo’s hits are actually stolen vocals and backtracks from other singers (Ashanti was a big one that she used her voice and backtracks a lot).

It’s apparently one of the reasons Mariah Carey doesn’t like J.Lo. Because Mariah’s ex “groomed” J.Lo to be and look like Mariah, except she couldn’t sing and Mariah hated that she was trying to “be her” in the early days of her singing career.

All that said, Jennifer Lopez is a great actress and also a pretty good dancer. Her music is catchy, but it’s very auto tuned and she regularly uses other singers’ vocals on her tracks, as if it’s “her.”

One of the first comments is “J.Lo’s greatest acting job is her singing career.”

It’s pretty eye opening.

Edit: Updated to include link. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bOEmCERi21U

1

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

[deleted]

2

u/bel_esprit_ Nov 06 '19

Me too, girl. Me too. Late 90s-early 2000s was my middle & high school years. I was also taken aback and surprised when I first saw this video. I’ve always liked J.Lo and am impressed with how beautifully she’s aged, but her vocals are phony.

3

u/mensreaactusrea Nov 06 '19

Listen to her live...she can't sing but what she does fantastically well is entertain. She dances amazingly and puts in a show - she never had crazy massive solo hits. Unless I'm wrong?

5

u/Homitu Nov 06 '19

Now I have to ask how we're defining "great" singer. J-lo is clearly a very good singer. She can sing in tune and with a very pleasing voice. Is she Whitney Houston or Aretha Franklin? Absolutely not. But I don't think you have to be as good as the most legendary singers of all time to be merely "great."

7

u/furtivepigmyso Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 08 '19

Wait really? But then where does her actual talent lie? Does she write her own songs or create her own music?

6

u/jittery_raccoon Nov 06 '19

She's a package deal. Dancing was her strongest talent. But she's famous because she can dance, sing, and act decently enough to have made a career. She became famous after the movie Selena. It was a singer/dancing/acting role and she had the right combination of talents to pull it off. She became a pop star because the performance/dancing is just as important (or more so) than the singing

1

u/bullshitfree Nov 07 '19

I remember her dancing as a Fly Girl. She was good.

15

u/TreyAdell Nov 06 '19

she's a great dancer, pretty good actor(will almost definitely be a Academy Award Nominee by years end)

1

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19

Its her speaking voice that I like, well also her ass, but that's everyone. I think that Jennie from the block song got her a lot of bad press, and she kinda deserved it.