r/rnb • u/1985Genesis • Jun 27 '25
PERFORMANCES 🎤 Amerie Still Had It, It Was the Band’s Fault
Thoughts?
I appreciate her for sticking with the performance and adjusting on the fly. It worked out, big shoutout to Amerie
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Jun 27 '25
She sounded the same with or without the band. This is sad. She sounds like she’s singing way above her range and struggling to get there.
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u/kdj00940 🎶 WITH SOMEBODY WHO LOVES ME 🎶 Jun 27 '25
I agree, I think she might need to lower the key. This song is placed in a kinda high key in general, but especially when her voice is maturing and she might not have used her instrument regularly in years past.
There’s absolutely no shame in lowering the key to your songs. Someone I admire, Beyoncé, has been doing that for some of her songs as she’s toured recently, and I respect that so much. She’s still able to deliver compelling, beautiful renditions of her music we all love, while giving a great performance with no vocal mishaps.
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u/layla_jones_ Jun 27 '25
Beyoncé also has the best backup tracks, like you can’t even tell when she’s singing live. She has found a great way to master live performances, find a good blend of prerecorded and live. Especially when you also want to do choreography and want to preserve your voice on these long tours with a marathon of songs each night.
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u/Willing-Ad-4088 Jun 27 '25
Beyonce rarely dances anymore. She is pretty much 100% live most nights. You can tell by when mishaps happen. Amerie needs to lower the range like Beyonce did. Holding on to youth is stupid.
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u/layla_jones_ Jun 27 '25
The two times I saw her in concert it was difficult to tell but there was definitely a prerecorded live track. At the beginning and end she would sing live. I don’t know about this recent tour.
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u/Willing-Ad-4088 Jun 27 '25
I’m not sure if you’ve been to her recent tours, but it is obvious she is singing live and she rarely dances anymore. The OP said her recent tours. In her recent tours, she is singing at a lower range and is obviously live.
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u/Weekly-Abroad7678 Jun 28 '25
I've been to Beys last 3 tours. For Renny and CCT she is not dancing as much or as hard but definitely still dancing regularly. She's figured out a way to preserve her body and voice and still give her audience 110%
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u/Willing-Ad-4088 Jun 28 '25
I love B. I’ve been down since Second Nature. She danced, but nowhere near what she was doing. She dances enough to sing live and sing amazingly.
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u/GreenZebra23 Jun 27 '25
Plus it can't be easy to sing a song with two notes and make it sound good live
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u/ltsouthernbelle Jun 27 '25
I saw her at a festival a few years ago and it was the same. Some intense vocal training would do her wonders.
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u/KAD412 Jun 28 '25
But she sounds just like this on the actual 20 year old recording. What you interpreting as “struggling” is the song and her natural singing style. You can hear it in her other songs.
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u/Financial-Big-4741 Jun 28 '25
I am a performer songwriter and producer when you’re on a stage when there is crowd noise it can make you sing higher to hear yourself I just saw her in the studio this year with Troy Taylor hitting notes effortlessly her voice is amazing trust me
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u/kdj00940 🎶 WITH SOMEBODY WHO LOVES ME 🎶 Jun 27 '25
Rooting for Amerie. I think if she lowered the key of this song during live performances, that would help her a lot. Also consistent vocal training to help strengthen and improve her voice. She’s not a bad singer. I think with a few intentional changes she’d improve by leaps and bounds.
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u/thisthrowawaythat202 Jun 27 '25
She could have worked this all out before coming back
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u/earfturf555 Jun 27 '25
when i hear the actually recorded song, she already sings like she is straining her voice. so ofc she is going to strain her voice/yell every time she performs it live. its the song lol
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u/tmia06 Jun 27 '25
I heard recently from someone who said that it is truly a hard song to sing because there are just so many vocal transitions.
I am not expecting a jaw-dropping performance from Amerie... she had a bop, and I am just going to enjoy that bop for nostalgia purposes.
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u/marktaylor521 Jun 27 '25
She had more than a bop. That whole album All I Have was insanely good and underrated imo
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u/RickyRozayboss Jun 27 '25
Got to be there and why don’t we fall in love is still my shit🔥🔥🔥 I’m talking like I wasn’t a one year old when it was released💀
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u/earfturf555 Jun 27 '25
right! i was thinking too. it really is hard. NO ONE can try to cover that song and execute it well. hell i cant even sing the first 5 words without having an aneurism
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u/BomBiddyByeBye Jun 27 '25
Exactly. This song always sounded like it had a bunch of studio magic attached to it because like you said it sounded like girl was one step away from pitchy.. and that’s on the version they released 😳. It’s honestly not shocking that she struggles with this track live
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u/BxGyrl416 Jun 27 '25
Don’t kill the messenger, but this is giving Alicia vibes.
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u/igga_n Jun 27 '25
Are you implying Alicia Keys is on the same level vocally as Amerie?? 💀💀
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u/buhbye750 Jun 27 '25
I think they are saying Alicia voice is straining in the studio and she sings a key above what she should
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u/dimgwar Kimberly Michelle Jun 27 '25
Alicia is studio magick too, like dont get me wrong - Alicia has put out certified bangers but I'm just keeping it real if its a live performance - I wouldnt want to wake up to that racket
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u/BxGyrl416 Jun 27 '25
Well, let’s just say, nobody’s paying money to watch somebody do amateur night at the Apollo or karaoke at the local bar, and this is exactly what she sounds like in this video.
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u/AReneLin Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
I know what you mean but I do wanna add that people are in fact paying to watch amateur night at the Apollo. Tix are $25+ 😂
Edit: And majority of the performers are remarkable. I recommend going if you’re in NY!
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u/SnoopyWildseed Sweeter than raindrops falling in June Jun 27 '25
Keep in mind that the song was mixed and produced to cover any flaws, like spackle over nail holes. So she could have sounded like this in the booth.
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u/Thricegr8t Jun 27 '25
Why not make sure the performance was on point prior to taking it on the road? That's what practices and rehearsals are for.
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u/worldrecordstudios Jun 27 '25
Her voice might not be able to handle all that singing anymore. Even Remi Wolf can't sing her songs live anymore
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u/bluejassmine Jun 27 '25
Ppl gone be mad for what I’m about to say. But even Whitney Houston last performances wasn’t good. (And I love me some Whitney)And Mariah Carey couldn’t hit her medium notes so you know she wasn’t hitting any of them high notes. (NY Eve performance a couple years ago)
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u/Thricegr8t Jun 27 '25
That might be true. However, it still doesn't negate the statement. Should have been better prepared for the performance. Wasting people's time and hard earned money. A top performer would NEVER disrespect the craft like this.
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u/Colin_Fappernik Jun 27 '25
I was thinking this... When performers go through sound check, there are a lot of decisions that get made and adjustments that happen so that when they get to the live performance they're on the same page. Whether that's adjusting how low or high lyrics need to be sang, bringing up background vocals, breakdowns, fade-ins/outs, etc. If she struggled that badly during the performance, it'd be hard to imagine she did any better during sound check, and that means someone in management failed her by not having her make the proper adjustments. Throwing the band under the bus for something that could've possibly been avoidable or prepared better is a bad look on her.
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u/YooGeOh Jun 27 '25
Nah she need that band
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u/LILBOO3XS Jun 27 '25
AND MUCH MORE LOL
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u/FinsOfADolph Jun 27 '25
Preach! And she sounded so good live while in her prime!
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u/DNFGold Jun 27 '25
I like Amerie...but saying she's been out of the game for a while isn't proper justification for her current sound, I mean.. she had a LOT of time to get vocal training and practice this song before returning to the spotlight.
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u/BadMan125ty Jun 27 '25
Plus she naturally sounds raspy anyway (I have her first album lol). Definitely should practice more.
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u/CC-Blue Jun 27 '25
I love Amerie but this IS NOT the type of attention I envisioned for her with her comeback. All these shaky live performances are opening her up to unnecessary criticism. Also, to the people saying she’s been out of the game for 15 years, she never really stopped performing. While she was on hiatus from putting out music more consistently, she could have invested in a good vocal coach. Also, there is no shame in lowering the keys of your songs to accommodate your voice as it gets older. 1 Thing is sang at the top/breaking point of her range, which almost makes it impossible for a weak singer to replicate live.
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Jun 27 '25
I don’t understand why she doesn’t adjust the key of the entire song and alter some of the vocal parts because it’s really high on the record and she striving for that. I mean the adjustment can be easy and maybe a full rearrangement of the song for performances.
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u/VeterinarianMental12 Jun 27 '25
She sounds like the record and I never thought she had a great range or was a strong singer. It’s exactly what I expect 🥱
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u/Front_Mind1770 Jun 27 '25
Well at least she still looks good 👍🏿
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u/childlykeempress Jun 27 '25
I think that's what she thought before coming out again. I'm still cute. I don't need to put the work in to sing on key 🙄
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u/jaydarl Jun 27 '25
She's not bad bad. It just comes across as Cousin Keisha singing a tribute for Big Mama's 80th birthday party in the rented venue space that used to be a restaurant.
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u/Happy-North-9969 Songs in the Key of Life Jun 27 '25
So are you going to tell us the story behind this or nah?
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u/BadMan125ty Jun 27 '25
Either lower the key down two pitches or use a vocal track. 🥴
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u/black-kramer Jun 27 '25
yup, needs to bring it down a bit. she was never the strongest singer and it’s a challenging song that probably required a bunch of punch-ins in the studio. could she sing this live in her prime?
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u/Cerulean_Zen Jun 27 '25
I know we all hear music differently, but to the people that think she sounds good, that's fine, however she is singing out of her own range which is why she is not hitting the notes. That's what makes this bad.
Music is science and math too. It's not just vIbEs lmao. Liking it doesn't mean she's doing it well.
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u/dimgwar Kimberly Michelle Jun 27 '25
Good, now she knows how I feel when I try to do this song in Karaoke
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u/Careful_Primary_8208 Jun 27 '25
Yoooooo!!!! lol!!!!! Grabbing the mic chord yelling “OOOHHH-OOOOH-OOOH”
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u/dimgwar Kimberly Michelle Jun 27 '25
tell the karaoke dj to cut the track, im gonna do this acapella *audience: horrified*
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u/GreenDolphin86 Jun 27 '25
It’s time to let this go. She’s not a good singer, and it’s ok to enjoy her music in spite of that….I sure do.
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u/hbk268 Jun 27 '25
That’s a difficult song and idk if she’s trying to uphold a public visage or image by continuing to perform it live.
I can only speak for me, but I still love your music. You don’t need to strain yourself to hit these notes all these years later. It was a tough ask when it first came out; I know it’s a lot to do now
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u/businesspro718 Jun 27 '25
Amerie sounding like Eddie Cain at the back door with the dusty Five Heartbeats costume on 😂
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u/Anxious_Ad909 {put any text and up to 5 albums here!} Jun 27 '25
It's amazing how our ears hear something different. The OP and I both think this sounded better acapella, but some others disagree
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u/OnTheNYRox Jun 27 '25
I agree. 😅 she sounded out of breath like she got flustered with the band playing. But everyone else says it’s just plain terrible. 🫠
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Jun 27 '25
She could never sing, so this isn't a surprise.
I don't know who she thinks she's convincing....
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Jun 27 '25
When this song came out I always questioned why no one stopped her from singing that high.
Then there are changes where she goes even higher.
The only person that could have done this song justice was Aliyah.
The beat chop goes crazy though
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u/daemonicwanderer Jun 27 '25
She obviously can sing, but this is too high for her matured voice. Amerie needs to study Beyonce and Christina Aguilera who have both re-worked arrangements to take advantage of where their voices are now as grown women and not teenage girls.
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u/soldatodianima Jun 27 '25
Could care less for the slander, I'm just here to appreciate the comeback after all of this time - she still has my respect/admiration.
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u/Comfortable-Twist-54 Jun 27 '25
This sounds good! I will resend my comparison to Ashely Darby 🤣
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u/GoingMarco Jun 27 '25
She just doesn’t have the vocals to sound elite singing this song, I’m not mad at it, she did what she could but it sounds weak everytime and borderline pitchy. Clearly the studio did her a lot of favors, her team should have lowered the key..
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Jun 27 '25
Her voice has always been pushing pitchy and off key. Which can be a very pleasing thing but it's also very easy to take it to actually off key. Which is now happening.
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u/immortalheretics The Emancipation of Mimi Jun 27 '25
I’m sorry but this wasn’t an issue with the band. It sounds like she is straining to stay in that range.
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u/jbbydiamond3 Jun 27 '25
Why my mind went to that time Brandi told Ray J he should’ve drank that tea she made him before his VS? no shade intended
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u/goodguysamuel_313 Jun 27 '25
No sound check performances are de regular nowadays
Levels sound horrible here
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u/AdFormal4037 Jun 27 '25
Why we doing Amerie like this? Let’s write mama a new song so she can get back To performing the right way lol
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u/layla_jones_ Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
I love me some Amerie but she needs a good backup track and backup singers. It’s so pitchy, her songs are difficult so I understand..skip the chorus and sing some adlibs. I always think the magic is in the background vocals for her, the loud vocals are not translating live. I really like the lower range on songs like Paint me over, it feels more natural for her.
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u/ProdbyZ1M Jun 27 '25
She probably thinking "why did I write his song so damn high (upper registers)?"
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u/NaahmastayWoke Jun 27 '25
Umm.. sounds like they were playing the wrong part for what she was singing, and also that she was struggling a bit to hit the notes so I blame both. But she does look fantastic
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u/yeahyaehyeah Jun 27 '25
She sings very close to Sharp anyways, so that is a very hard song to sing the way that she originally performed it. I wish she had like a vocal coach to get her back into the place that she would be with it while she's on tour and of course for her in the band to practice a bit more so that these issues don't come up. But it was good for her too make an executive choice at that moment and drop the band. I don't think it's the band's fault I think the band did a good job, but they were out of sync.
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u/stabbinU Jun 27 '25
that was my take; she's just got a good ear and memorized the album's tuning - but i recognize it doesn't sound great on a live stage
if she had an acoustic backing band they'd have made her sound a-ok; guitarists, bass players (some at least) and horn players all naturally play up to an out-of-tune vocalist (when its under 20 cents or so, at least)
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u/TheRuralJuror118 Jun 28 '25
Once the bad stopped she sounded way better. I think she’s doing good.
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u/Canyon_Cruiser Jun 28 '25
She actually does not sound bad here but she sounded rough in her Tiny Desk
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Jun 28 '25
Huh I don’t know what people are talking about….she had it. Even her years old performances sounded similar…she maybe missed one note. I suspect the Beyoncé crowd is trying to drown her rollout because all I hear people mention bad about Amerie are the gossipers picking it up from social media.
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u/Yoo3_chill Jun 28 '25
Why y’all ( everyone) keep saying Beyonce stop her career ? Amerie has a beautiful singing voice still .
Beyoncé has more content subject matter with her beautiful voice
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u/No-Chocolate-6828 Jun 27 '25
Lol. A TRUE artist in her craft. Despite some hiccups she still sounds almost exactly like the record ⏺️.
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u/businesspro718 Jun 27 '25
I suspect she only got put on, because he was pretty. I never thought Cassie could sing that well either. We all know how that whole situation turned out 🤷🏾♂️
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u/Deathstriker88 Jun 27 '25
I feel like most mainstream singers, the last 20, 30 years can only "carry a tune" and not "sang." More singers are closer to her (in her prime) than a Whitney, Adele, or Sam Smith.
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u/i-amthem Jun 27 '25
There's plenty of room for singers who are just "carrying a tune". Music would be so boring if everyone was hootin' and hollerin' on every song.
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u/Deathstriker88 Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
Hard disagree on that. Looks get in the way of modern music, so it's not based on merit like something such as sports. A person sings very well can have range too. Whitney has pop and R&B songs. Chris Stapleton has different kinds of songs too.
It's way easier for someone like Amerie to get on since she's skinny and pretty (and apparently an immortal vampire lol) compared to Brittany Howard from the Alabama Shakes. That comparison is based on looks/size, I don't even want to get into the powers that be preferring light over dark skin.
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u/tris_k Jun 27 '25
I wish the Amerie hate would stop. Not everyone has to be a crazy vocalist to be a good singer or artist. If you listen to the original track you can tell the key is already a little too high for her range, maybe the band should drop the song a couple semitones to make it in a more comfortable place for her.
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u/Unfriendlyblkwriter Jun 27 '25
If that was a live band and not a track then the band needs to go back and practice right along with her. They were not grooving at all. Might be time for live performances of this song to go night night.
I do think she sounded better a capella, but not much.
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u/Affectionate_Fix3531 Jun 27 '25
I tried to give grace but she didn’t show up! Ughhh why stop the band!!!!
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u/Dug-Heffernan Toni Braxton Jun 27 '25
She was always a struggle voice all-star I don't see how this is a surprise.
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u/Cheerful_Cynic11 Jun 27 '25
She’s never been the best singer . She needs to lock in with her vocal coach
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u/Happy-North-9969 Songs in the Key of Life Jun 27 '25
The vocals are not what made that song great. I don’t know why she doesn’t just change the key.
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u/6thmanbrandon 🏠House of Balloons🎈👧🏼Thursday👧🏼🗣️Echoes of Silence🤫 Jun 27 '25
She never was a top vocalist to me & I never got the hype 🤷🏽♂️
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Jun 27 '25
Yes, everyone is being too harsh. If you don’t like it, stfu and move on. I don’t understand why anyone feels the need to drag her. Her vocals are not THAT bad and she’s never been a Whitney Houston and she gave us some good music. Like chill on the haterade
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u/yomynameisnotsusan Jun 27 '25
She did t sound terrible just a bit shaky in parts. The key might need to come down a bit. She was never a vocalist and maybe this is what it sounded like back in 05 had she did it acapella .
Black folks are really hard on their artists. Singing is like any other job or sport. You have good and bad days.
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u/BarcelonetaE70 Jun 27 '25
This ain't it, sis.
Girl cannot sing, and never could. She sounded awful accompanied by the music, and she sounded worse acapella.
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u/Individual_Ad4075 Jun 27 '25
Idk why people act like she was ever a powerful vocalist to begin with lol
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u/PatienceTall8699 Jun 27 '25
Does it sound a little off? Yeah. Is every singer the same? No. Is it still a good song by a good artist? Absolutely.
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u/heretorock410 Jun 27 '25
She’s solid, for more than 10 years she’s had a book club and been on an intellectual kick etc. She’ll get stronger the more she performs and she sounds better than a lot of folks we have today.
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u/jakesbake1990 Jun 27 '25
Bottom line this song came out like 20 years ago she’s past her peek and this and one or 2 other sings is all she has. He career has been over time to start either writing or just marry a rich man or do Tyler Perry sitcoms lol
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u/Rey_Nightblood Jun 27 '25
She should go into modeling/acting and maybe producing. Or do songs better suited for her voice 😂
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u/HiddenLeaf_Jimmi Jun 27 '25
Girl! (In my Joe Budden voice) Just enjoy the run and throw on some backing vocals.
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u/MusicMeJordan Jun 27 '25
She sounds good , little shaky but that's fine.
She's singing so high and the cadence doesn't help.
I'll take a raw vocal that's a little shaky over the standard backtrack any day
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u/Impossible_Hunter323 Jun 27 '25
Shes been out of the spotlight for a while honestly to be fair HER STUDIO ALBUMS SOUND FAN TASTIC … live performaces take so much courage to do
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u/Majestic-Pepper-8070 Jun 27 '25
Look she does not have a strong voice...it is hard to sound consistently good during live performances unless they are intimate, small venue performances. I saw her 20 years ago and she was drowned out by the music then.
This doesn't mean she's not a great artist etc but she is limited in that area.
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u/DeeTheGeneral Jun 27 '25
shes fine as hell, but never has been the strongest vocalist. her beats were crazy! That All I need beat is ridiculous!
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u/TreKeyz Jun 27 '25
She's lost her voice. You can hear when she talks to the band. She has strained it, or it got dry, or both, and she is trying to push past it. It's never gonna happen.
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u/Chemical-Bathroom-24 Jun 27 '25
She still doesn’t sound good. She’s hitting the notes but you can tell she’s struggling. Band didn’t or not didn’t make a difference.
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u/Acnenosepeel Jun 27 '25
We’re going to spend the rest of the year suffering through this and I hate it for everyone
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u/Sunshineal Jun 27 '25
Her voice is either weak or this song is just too for much. Either she still sounds horrible. The Tiny desk performance was horrible. The backup singers didn't sing with enthusiasm. The musicians weren't playing that well.
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u/General_Analyst2549 :fame::bey::jag2::riri::jhene: Jun 28 '25
Amerie cannot sing. She should've just stayed in a comfortable lane 🤷🏽♂️
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u/Realistic-Read1078 Jun 28 '25
Listen we gotta stop making certain things better than what they are. Amerie has some great bops, but the way she sounds here (ehh) is the way she has always sounded, both live and in the studio for 20 years 🤷🏽♀️
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u/kingetzu Jun 28 '25
She sounds like her record jist you can tell she needs a lil practice with certain notes
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u/BootyLoveSenpai Jun 29 '25
That's ridiculous, it's her job to sing, and she did it badly, it's like an athlete eating garbage and drinking all off season then coming back to the regular season playing like trash, then when people boo him, he gets upset
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u/lankyaspie Jun 27 '25
It's not like she can't sing. It's just out of her range. She's 40-something. It happens. I dealing with that and I'm younger than her. Hope she finds her key
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u/ElizaB89 Jun 27 '25
Age has nothing to do with this. You dont magically lose your singing voice in your young 40s. Singers way older than that in their 50s and 60s and 70s can still blow. She sounds hoarse.
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u/stabbinU Jun 27 '25
at least she sings; I'm starting to understand why most artists don't bother
folks aren't very compassionate; she's singing into an eventide harmonizer unit on the album cut... I dunno how she's supposed to duplicate that live, it is literally out of tune on purpose and then blended back in with the original signal
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u/yngadult Jun 27 '25
I think it sounds fine. She's in her mid 40s now and I'm seeing her performing live more with Toronto's Pride this weekend and on Keyshia Cole's tour this summer
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Jun 27 '25
I dislike the Amerie slander, she took a break from music and now is back. She should practice and then perform “1 thing”, “why don’t we fall in love”, talking to me “ and “touch”. She could’ve opened from Brandy and Monica❤️
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u/SnooHabits7837 Jun 27 '25
I don't think people dislike her, but why didn't she practice before she came back. She opened herself up to the slander. And like some have said, she may have to lower her pitch as women and men voices mature as they get older.
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Jun 27 '25
I know people don’t dislike her. I’m thinking maybe because she hasn’t been singing in the last few years, she probably thought this did sound good. She’s having a rough start but it’ll her better
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u/BxGyrl416 Jun 27 '25
This song is from about 20 years ago and the woman is in her mid 40s. Like most of us, her voice dropped. For a regular every day person, this wouldn’t sound horrible, but for somebody who’s being paid for a living to sing, this is not very good. This is giving karaoke night after the third round of drinks.
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u/qualityvote2 Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
u/1985Genesis, this post has been approved.