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I agree that video sucks, and I agree that she isn't attractive. I also place no value on these when evaluating a singer. I hate that song, as a song, but I did appreciated her balls with the lyrics. In 2004 R. Kelly was one of the biggest and most powerful R&B singers in music, and short of saying his name explicitly, she was openly calling for him to be ostracized from the industry, there. She was as much a nobody then as she is now.
Objectively, as a vocalist, in just about every way that vocalism can be measured objectively, she is superior to Fergie, who can't even stay on key in live performances, but that isn't why Fergie blew up. It was her distinct sound, style, and attitude (as well as her material). "London Bridge" didn't sound like anything else at the time. She's also the type who benefits most from studio takes and sound engineering polish. I am not surprised or bitter that Fergie became a much larger star; rather it was just my expectations for Esthero were confounded, and the mention of Fergie is only a matter of their common denominator as breaking out with the Black-Eyed Peas. I've read Fergie has worked on it with coaches over the years, knowing how bad she is, but as a vocalist she is still as bad as they come:
You can't make gold out of lead. That's Roseanne-level. Doubt Fergie cares. Some of the greatest and most influential musicians in history are quite poor singing talents. They still find a way to emotionally connect.
Esthero is one of those artists for me who dropped a master class album with her freshman effort, but now seems doomed to spend the rest of her career living in its shadow. The only song I liked off that second album was "Everyday is a Holiday with You". When I thought of her because of this thread, I jaunted over to Wiki to see what her newest stuff might be, and I noticed Breath from Another was nominated for the Polaris music prize for the greatest Canadian album of its decade alongside classics like Funeral and You Forgot It In People:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Polaris_Music_Prize
"Superheroes", "Country Livin", "That Girl", and "Heaven Sent" are the other top tracks.
Thanks for clarifying. I think it's somewhat ironic that she's wearing tape over her mouth in that video while calling for someone else to be silenced (even if that person is a scumbag). I guess you can say that she's technically a better singer than Fergie, but in pop music it's more about studio takes and tone than technique. I also think it's much more about the songs than the singer. Some relatively shitty singers have good/great songs and they sing them like they mean them and become icons.
Celine Dion is incredible and successful, but I could give a fuck less about her or her songs (oddly enough, R. Kelly wrote, produced and co-sang one of her biggest hits). Benny Mardones is one of my favorite singers in terms of ability, but his material was shit and he was a one hit wonder with one of his few good songs. R. Kelly is great from a technical standpoint, he's got the look, his songs have been good/great consistently enough over the years, he can write, produce both for himself and for others. His genre might not be for everybody, but I'd say he was the best singer of his generation, at least for R&B. To me, best singer of that generation is between him and Layne Staley. I'd probably give it to Layne Staley because I'm a BIG Alice in Chains fan.