base talk Can black artist get away with less than mediocre vocals like Taylor?

[Helios]

11 minutes ago, 305 said:

Rihanna has literally 0 talent.

Why is this sending me.

[CrimsonX]

rihanna exists.

[Andre2000]

1 hour ago, airplane said:

I’m sorry you’re deaf. Rihanna sings most of it during the start of the song.

Not really, Taylor is all over that song.

Idk how y'all can say with a straight face that rih doesn't get away with not having much talent and thriving. She has her own thing, Taylor has hers it's like that for every artist.

 

Ot, Y'all making every little thing about Taylor is so predictable and stale atp, idk how y'all don't get tired of making 10 threads of her a day just whining about any little thing she does. That makes y'all seem so pressed it's crazy

[glacier76]

Taylor writes her songs. Setting aside the quality of her voice (I think she is great and sings her own songs extremely well), singer-songwriters are not necessarily best known for their voice. Why should Taylor be any different? 
 

If she was only a singer performing other people’s songs, she’d probably still have been successful in country. But doubt she would cross over. 

[WildHeart]

1 hour ago, Intuition said:

 

[FightDragonsWithMe]

Rihanna is mediocre at everything she does except selling panties and lipstick, she has bad vocals too but a thriving music career. 

[Not Like The Movies]

yall bringing up Rih, Normani and Janet, yet all 3 can sing circles around TS. 

 

 

[vuelve88]

3 hours ago, Kingdom said:

For someone who sells really well and writes songs cheesy or not,

 

That’s a weird way to type “writes Album of the Year Grammy winning songs”. Not everybody has that, so I understand your attempt to gloss over it. 

[Green]

Taylor and Rihanna are at the same level when it comes to vocals   

[on the line]

This forum would be dead without all the race baiting ya'll love to do.

[littlebodybigheart]

i mean, beyonce and rihanna get away with having a team of 95 people write one song for them so…

[Isaiah]

One of the funniest phenomenons on atrl in my opinion has to be the way the navy are SO proud of Rihanna’s collective 3 good performances that they hold onto them for dear life to deflect anytime someone starts a Taylor vs Rihanna talent-comparison   

 

Like idk how to break this to some of you navy members…. but at the end of the day, both are among the worst MPG vocalists and dancers ever, so Rihanna being slightly better in those departments doesn’t mean much when Taylor completely washes her in every other musical-talent category 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Isaiah

[Madonno]

Unmm Rihanna?

She got a pass on thar messy awful SUPER BOWL performance nust because she's seen as cool or cute. Her pregnancy is just an excuse to hide the fact that she has always been mediocre in every aspect (dance,write, sing, etc).

 

So yes, Rihanna is an example

Another one could be Nicki Minaj....

[Helios]

38 minutes ago, Not Like The Movies said:

yall bringing up Rih, Normani and Janet, yet all 3 can sing circles around TS. 

 

 

Not sure about Janet but the other two I agree. Taylor fans really thinking they are doing something by bringing up better singers.  

[RihRihGirrrl]

People bringing up Rihanna....she's a considerably better vocalist than Tayler.

 

Taylor is a writer and that's what connects with her audience. Nothing wrong with that. 

[ImsoLOUD]

2 hours ago, WeFoundTrouble said:

Let’s be real Rihanna has gotten away with mediocrity since day 1,

 

but this thread is lame and these women, even the less vocally gifted ones, are all way more impressive, talented, and powerful than anyone in this thread will ever be. So it’s whack of y’all to sit around and try to belittle them from your home when you should be worried about how you’re gonna pay your next bill.

It’s so funny to see people like you trash Rihanna’s live performances 24/7, but follow the Sexy Baby songstress’ every stop all over her Era’s tour soley because she’s a “gReaT wRiter”. 
 

Exactly what the OP was talking about. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by ImsoLOUD

[PoisonedIvy]

3 minutes ago, ImsoLOUD said:

It’s so funny to see people like you trash Rihanna’s live performances 24/7, but follow the Sexy Baby songstress’ every stop all over her Era’s tour soley because she’s a “gReaT wRiter”. 
 

Exactly what the OP was talking about. 

I’m not trashing Rih’s live performances. 
 

The thread asked if any black artists could get away with mediocrity. Rihanna is mediocre at everything — vocals, dancing, writing (???), producing (???), etc — and gets away with it, so much so that I am in fact a really big fan of her discography because, despite her extremely minimal musical talent, she has a great tone and an ear for hits. These natural affinities don’t cancel out her inability to write, sing, dance, or perform very well though. 
 

Taylor, despite being a weak vocalist and an N/A dancer, can at least write and compose music. Whether YOU personally like the music or not is irrelevant, but I’m merely refuting the claim that Taylor is getting away with mediocrity while black artists aren’t when in fact Rihanna has gotten away with doing less than the bare minimum for far longer. 

[Cheers]

“only slightly better” they said  

 

[ImsoLOUD]

28 minutes ago, WeFoundTrouble said:

Taylor, despite being a weak vocalist and an N/A dancer, can at least write and compose music. Whether YOU personally like the music or not is irrelevant, but I’m merely refuting the claim that Taylor is getting away with mediocrity while black artists aren’t when in fact Rihanna has gotten away with doing less than the bare minimum for far longer. 

Taylor’s songwriting is arguably mediocre and childish in itself (hence Kids Bop esque songs like “Me!”). Which is why you constantly attempting to use songwriting as her one trick that keeps her afloat never holds any weight. If Rihanna sucks, so does she. 
 

With a half Rihanna username  I would certainly imagine that you have seen enough Rihanna performances to acknowledge that at the very least she does posses vocal talent. Even if she is inconsistent. 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by ImsoLOUD

[Eclass]

Look at Janet Jackson .

 

 

 

[Starshine]

No, black artists are held to higher standards and generally have to be extraordinary to even see the success of some of these white artists.

 

[chiliam]

Rihanna, especially before Anti. She improved a lot in Anti era, before that her live vocal was horrible, she cant even sing some of her song live like Disturbia, Dont stop the music, Pon de replay...

Ashanti live vocal also a mess

Janet is a dance queen, but her vocal was rough

Amelia, Cassie... a lot of one hit wonder POC girl also cannot hold a note live

IS Paula Adult black? She also cannot sing live

 

After the 90s, no one cares about vocalist anymore. The more important thing is your X-Factor. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by chiliam

[Holiest Dreams]

1 hour ago, RihRihGirrrl said:

People bringing up Rihanna....she's a considerably better vocalist than Tayler.

None of you that are claiming this actually believe it 

[PoisonedIvy]

28 minutes ago, ImsoLOUD said:

Taylor’s songwriting is arguably mediocre and childish in itself (hence Kids Bop esque songs like “Me!”). Which is why you constantly attempting to use songwriting as her one trick that keeps her afloat never holds any weight. If Rihanna sucks, so does she. 
 

With a half Rihanna username  I would certainly imagine that you have seen enough Rihanna performances to acknowledge that at the very least she does posses vocal talent. Even if she is inconsistent. 

 

Even when Taylor writes childish pop songs, she’s more than proven she’s not just a mediocre writer. Folklore and evermore alone outweigh Bad Blood, Shake It Off, Me, etc. but she’s had gems for forever. Enchanted, Last Kiss, Dear John, Long Live — songs she wrote, at 19, that show she’s more than capable of writing -above- mediocre songs.

 

TL;DR — Taylor has more well-written songs than she does “childish/bad.”
 

Rihanna, on the other hand, doesn’t have enough “good” vocal performances to pull her out of the mediocre category. She’s better than Taylor I guess, sure, (not that that’s much of an accomplishment) but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a mediocre vocalist.. 

 

TL;DR - Rihanna doesn’t have enough of anything to outweigh her mediocre musical talents..

 

For what it’s worth I’m not really trying to go back and forth about this. Rihanna has a gorgeous voice to listen to and I understand why you’d wanna defend it, i love it too. I respect your differing opinion but I’m gonna leave the conversation here at this point 

Edited April 21, 2023 by WeFoundTrouble

[HappierJealousy]

38 minutes ago, ImsoLOUD said:

Taylor’s songwriting is arguably mediocre and childish in itself (hence Kids Bop esque songs like “Me!”). Which is why you constantly attempting to use songwriting as her one trick that keeps her afloat never holds any weight. If Rihanna sucks, so does she. 
 

With a half Rihanna username  I would certainly imagine that you have seen enough Rihanna performances to acknowledge that at the very least she does posses vocal talent. Even if she is inconsistent. 

 

Rihanna‘s stan talking about songwriting