Justin... Who? What??? I Can't Hear You!!!

Last night was Justin Timberlake's night. It was the second night of his concert in Paris. Needless to say, the house was full and filled up with teenagers (I felt really old!). The good news is I still saw a good portion of more 'mature' people amongst the audience. It proves Justin has a pretty good range of audience.

Dita and I decided to go to his concert just for fun. We knew little of his music, particularly on his recent album, FutureSex/LoveSounds (which is, in my personal opinion, less attractive than his first album, Justified). All we knew is that he is a good entertaineur and, in my opinion, is very talented. I started to notice this after he released his big hit, Cry Me A River. The song blew me away! To say the least, I had not heard such a sophisticated yet melodious song for a long time. And he deserves the grammy for that.

He proves he can write good songs, produce, sing and of course dance. Arguably, he is the most successful young pop star these days.

The concert itself was a show-off of his multitalents. The stage split Bercy indoor stadium into two, so everyone can see the performers from 360-degree angle. The dance was fine (I was not too much interested in it though). But there was one big problem... I could not hear his voice throughout the concert!!! Are we supposed to see a music concert or a dance performance? Frankly, I was disappointed with the bad quality of the sound system, at least from where we were sitting. The drum overpowered the vocals and the other instruments. What the heck was wrong with the mixing engineer? Did he not realize that? Was he deaf? Or was it done in purpose in order to 'hide' Justin's vocal behind the music?

Well, Justin is not Lionel. I realize that. I am not here to compare them in terms of their vocalities. What I heard yesterday was an acrobat of drumbeats and songs full of backing vocals (there were four of them), instead of Justin's vocal. I could hear a little bit of his voice during some slow tunes. Even so, the drum was still annoying in there! Why would he need the percussions when he was playing a slow tune on a piano? I bet no one could even hear the piano! At the end, my ears hurt!

What I noticed from Justin's music is it's black! Or he is trying to be black. His collaborations have always been with black musicians. His musicians on stage are mostly black. All his four fine backing vocalists are black! Don't get me wrong! I like R&B and I like black musicians. But Justin, you are not black! You can't deny that your voice lacks of 'blackness' when you are trying to interpret an R&B song. I agree you have written some good R&B songs, but your interpretations are still pop. All in all, I am not saying his vocal is bad. No, he's got a good one, if not mediocre. His consistent falsetto is amazing.

With musicians, backing vocalists and nine dancers, the stage was awfully crowded. There were times when you thought it was a noisy marching band parade with some pom-pom girls rather than a music concert. But still, the stage technology was incredible. The transparent screens, lightings and hydraulic stages were enjoyable. That is the difference between the current pop stars and the oldies. At least, I give them one credit :-)

The night was long for us. Frankly, we did not quite enjoy it as much as we did for Lionel. We left earlier, probably, one or two songs before the end. One of the reasons was of course to avoid the rush.

For all Justin's fans, don't feel offended with my review. I still admire his talents. I can assure you I would still like to listen to Justin's future music or simply see his videos on MTV, but not his noisy and drumbeat concert like last night.