Dionne Warwick (2015)

Dionne Warwick – Singers Have Become Clones, Everyone Sounds The Same On The Radio

Dionne Warwick is speaking on the music industry in 2018. The 77-year-old singer ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era, based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time, with 56 of Warwick’s singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 and 80 singles making all Billboard charts combined

She recently spoke candidly about why she feels the musical climate has shifted and how it’s been altered. She points to one variable, saying the change could be due to musical artists not being able to express their talents to their fullest capability. She clarifies by highlighting how record companies and labels project their personal values and standards onto their artists, which ultimately would inhibit a musical artist’s creativity and music. She begins by saying,

I think that’s what happened to our industry – literally – everybody became a clone. If you turn on the radio today, you can’t tell who’s singing what.

Gladys Knight

She continued by highlighting talented vocalists and singers who came before us,

But you know when you hear Gladys Knight. You know when you hear Patti LaBelle, you know when you hear Johnny Mathis, and you know when you hear Frank Sinatra.

Next, she pointed out the fact how artists talents are being bounded by certain sounds and niches that companies believe they need to fill.

But I defy you, to turn on the radio and listen to one after the other after the other, and then after 10 to 15 minutes of rest, tell me who sang that first song. They all sound the same. And that has nothing do with their talents. Their talents are being limited by their recording companies. ‘I want you to look like, I want you to be like, I want you to sound like,’ Why?

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

What do you think about Dionne’s remarks? 

Follow us: @theJasmineBRAND on Twitter | theJasmineBRAND on Facebook| theJasmineBRAND_ on Instagram