should shiina take the backseat?
 

i know this sound crazy to most of you. The question is should she resign from being the vocalist for the band? Shiina continues to write and play the guitar. Maybe a few colaps with the new vocalist, but wont be the main vocalist.

why i say this: i cant count hows times ive heard this from my friends and on forums, the same comment of shiina ringo comes up time again, " great music but horrible voice". I kinda agree with them, while i love her uniqueness of her voice, most people get hate it. Many casual listner will skip over her music because her voice already killed it for them Most of the time it is the voice that turns off most casual fans.

Many fans like us loves her unqiue voice, but fact is most casual listener don't. Maybe if she can take a step back, it's good for her career. Her music will be able to reach a wider range of audiences, more people will be able to appreciate her music without getting turned off instantly by her voice.

I mean, she's one of the best song writer in the industry no doubt about that. It the presentation that needed a change. Maybe she can reach new her career when her music are able to reach more people.


comments?

dont flame me please :P

People are seriously turned off by her voice.....I tried to get my friend into her and she said that her voice sounds like those cutesy high pitched voices you hear in anime.....and in someways she already tried to showcase her writing talents without singing -> Tomosaka Rie .....as far as I can tell she wasn't all that popular......
And I always figured when she was tired of the Jihens she'd go into composing (or at least I hoped) because I don't see her going back like some people hope and I pray that she'll get tired of Tokyo Jihen if she plans on continuing the path the band seems to be heading in....
I mean it is kind of annoying having people question your taste and ears and not being able to share your love for the music with people you know (in real life) but I have come to understand that shiina's voice is special (or at least she's way more skilled and dedicated than you would think) and if nobody else can get past the superficiality than they weren't worthy anyways....

see, I used to think this was a good idea, her taking a backseat. Not for singing tho, but for song writing. Let the rest of the band pen more songs, I thought this could only be a good idea.

Then the nightmare that was Variety happened 2 years later.

So no. If anything she needs to take the wheel and drop everyone off at the bus station. Not only sing, but write, play every single instrument, mix it all, draw the album cover, learn to drive a UPS truck and deliver the album to every store.

I don't think the whole "deferring of duties" is a good idea when it comes to Shiina anymore.

So your argument is that all of her fans love her voice, you also do and you think it's unique, but because it doesn't please the general public she should ignore what made her famous, and what she's used to build up her fanbase, and drop back so they [Jihen] can practically become a different band and abandon everything we love/d about Shiina? I'm sorry, but no artist should ever change their style, the style their fans love them for, just to reach a wider audience and sell more records. Then it just wouldn't be shiina, and we'll have lost one of the very reasons we got into her in the first place; she isn't Ayumi or Utada.

After OK Computer, Ed from Radiohead told the band they should pull back and create 3 minute pop songs because that's what the public wants. Think of what we would be missing out on if that was the case. They'd be just another band. Unique artists should challenge the casual listener, not conform to their taste, or we'll never see challenging albums like 'Kid A' and 'KSK' reach the top of the charts.

I'm not blaming her or comparing her to Ayumi, just saying she's really successful and she has a more casually acceptable voice than Shiina's. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I want Shiina to morph into for the sake of a wider audience.

Just to let you know, I'm not saying Utada changed for the sake of a wider audience, I was just using her voice and success as an example of somebody alleon86 might think Shiina should sound like in order for more mainstream success. I have no problem with Utadas voice, nor do I think the voice effects the quality of her work. But I would have a problem with an artist changing their voice for the sole reason of grabbing a bigger audience, and not for artistic expression. So, just to sum up:

Having a voice like Utada = fine
Changing your voice to something similar to Utada's to share her success = not so much.

YEAH Variety! Best album of 2007!
Stellar vocal performances from both Ukigumo and Izawa! (Both were struggling to sing in tune during the live performance.)
WOoooOOOOOooOOo! OH SR you should stop singing forever and ever!

-.-

Variety had the best quality SR voice but also the worst quality music.
Totally unfair trade-off.

Haha, as if Ringo wasn't...

^ fluffie: What point are you trying to make? That they can be forgiven for being out of tune just because SR went out of tune too?

I basically don't see anyone else in the band who is more qualified to be on the microphone other than SR herself.
Unless she suddenly invites Yukimi Nagano/Nina Persson into her band that is.
(Actually Hirama has a nice voice, but then you know what happened...)

of course if shiina is going take the backseat thing. They are gonna hire a real vocalist.