Hey there. This is John Henny and on today’s vocal tip, I want to talk about why you need to start stealing.
In light of recent lawsuits, including the Robin Thicke song blurred lines in the Katy Perry song, Dark Horse, there’s a lot of stress about sounding like other songs, even small elements and the courts have. juries have given some misguided judgments against songwriters based on elements that I would argue really aren’t copyrightable. But that aside, you as a singer, you need to steal and you need to steal often. And what I’m talking about is you need to take a favorite artist and really break it down what it is they do their phrasing, their vocal colors, the way they approach words, their vocal riffs and start blindly stealing even I mean copying.
But the secret is, you don’t just do this with one artist. You do it with multiple artists. And even better, you do it from multiple artists of different genres, and varying styles. And then the secret key ingredient is you. As all of those influences are filtered through you and your aesthetic, your artistry, who you are as a person, you’re what makes you up you emotionally. It becomes something brand new. You can’t become a great singer in a vacuum.
You need influences and even better, you need to really absorb these influences deeply. Amy Winehouse did it, Adele did it Stevie Wonder did it all of these singers find their influences? And then by the time it goes through them and comes back out to the audience. It’s something new and beautiful.
Hey, for more singing tips visit my website johnhenny.com and be sure to subscribe to my podcast. The Intelligent Vocalist, Thank you so much.