Adele or Amy Winehouse?

[burrunjor]

I know a lot of the older or middle aged users here don't have much time for modern music. (Not judging. We ALL prefer the music we grew up with to some extent.)

Still the recent controversy over Adele's song being like Amy's led me into a debate with a friend over who was better. She's a BIG Adele fan whilst I like Amy a bit LOL. Naturally we didn't sway the other. 

So I'd actually like to hear from people who aren't fussed either way who they think, objectively is better. 

Here are their most famous songs if you have the time and can be arsed LOL

Amy. 







Adele







Well obviously I prefer Amy. I do like Adele. She is a great talent and a total Ducky. Still Amy's work is better in a number of ways. She's more versatile. She covered a lot more genres than Adele, from Jazz to Soul, to Reggae.

Also a lot of her songs contrary to popular belief are hilarious , sexy, witty, some are even political. Some Unholy War was written about the Iraq War. It's about a woman building her husband up as a hero just because he is going to fight, not caring what the war is actually about, only to later realise how pointless it is, and how he and she have actually been duped into doing something horrible. F... Me Pumps meanwhile is a brilliant take down of the Kardashian, Footballers Wives type of culture. 

All Adele ever does is sing about break ups and heartache. Even then however Amy does that better. Again her break ups are a bit more varied. You Know I'm No Good is quite dark and self reflective. It's not just the usual "BLAME THE MAN!" Stuff a lot of break up songs are. I heard Love Is Blind is hilarious. It subverts usual angsty break up songs and makes Amy out to be an absolute fokking bitch that you're supposed to hate. Love is a Losing Game meanwhile is very mature, thoughtful and sympathetic to both parties of the break up. I also respect Amy for being able to write break up songs that were relatable to everyone. Adele's tend to get bogged down in specific stories that reflect her age and in some cases her gender more. Amy is more universal. 

Also I think that Amy used her voice in a more varied way. She could be a bit gruffer than Adele, but she could also hit the high notes just as well like in this cover for Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. 




For me there is just more in Amy's body of work than Adele's. 

[Deleted]

Amy. I can't stand Adele to be honest. I don't mind listening to Amy's stuff on the radio like Valerie, but whenever Adele's on I leave the room. That said, she doesn't get on my nerves as much as Little Mix and others.

[burrunjor]

Nov 18, 2021 23:54:00 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

Amy. I can't stand Adele to be honest. I don't mind listening to Amy's stuff on the radio like Valerie, but whenever Adele's on I leave the room. That said, she doesn't get on my nerves as much as Little Mix and others.

Never heard a Little Mix song, but some guys on that truly feminist DW website Anroaks. (I know because it banned a misogynist like me for daring to point out the obvious pandering of the Whittaker and Capaldi eras) said that Little Mix were unf*ckable deformed freaks with weirdly shaped heads. 

I think it's important to work out which female singers have properly shaped heads, that's the most important thing when it comes to their music. 

Adele meanwhile I've found is definitely overrated, though not as much as Beyonce. I will never understand why Beyonce is so popular? 

[Monster X]

Nov 19, 2021 12:02:35 GMT burrunjor said:

Nov 18, 2021 23:54:00 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

Amy. I can't stand Adele to be honest. I don't mind listening to Amy's stuff on the radio like Valerie, but whenever Adele's on I leave the room. That said, she doesn't get on my nerves as much as Little Mix and others.

Never heard a Little Mix song, but some guys on that truly feminist DW website Anroaks. (I know because it banned a misogynist like me for daring to point out the obvious pandering of the Whittaker and Capaldi eras) said that Little Mix were unfokkable deformed freaks with weirdly shaped heads. 

I think it's important to work out which female singers have properly shaped heads, that's the most important thing when it comes to their music. 

Adele meanwhile I've found is definitely overrated, though not as much as Beyonce. I will never understand why Beyonce is so popular? 

I liked Amy's voice  - that jazzy, easy style and her boozy, Queen of Camden antics.  However, I really don't like Adele at all - what's the appeal?
( BTW - would you like to see my silly AW cartoon? )

[burrunjor]

Nov 23, 2021 9:04:12 GMT Monster X said:

Nov 19, 2021 12:02:35 GMT burrunjor said:

Never heard a Little Mix song, but some guys on that truly feminist DW website Anroaks. (I know because it banned a misogynist like me for daring to point out the obvious pandering of the Whittaker and Capaldi eras) said that Little Mix were unfokkable deformed freaks with weirdly shaped heads. 

I think it's important to work out which female singers have properly shaped heads, that's the most important thing when it comes to their music. 

Adele meanwhile I've found is definitely overrated, though not as much as Beyonce. I will never understand why Beyonce is so popular? 

I liked Amy's voice  - that jazzy, easy style and her boozy, Queen of Camden antics.  However, I really don't like Adele at all - what's the appeal?
( BTW - would you like to see my silly AW cartoon? )

Sure thing. (About the cartoon.)

As for your other point well I think the appeal of Adele is that she is a bit more conventional than Amy Winehouse and Paloma Faith yet less conventional than say Beyonce. 

After Amy made it big people wanted an unusual, eccentric female singer. (In a lot of cases it was egotism. People wanting to say "I'm not shallow look my favourite female pop star isn't just a Cheryl Cole type." I admit I can be a bit like that too LOL.)

However Amy with her as you say Queen of Camden antics was too wild and crazy for some people. That is until she died. Then she just became a beautiful, troubled pop princess because there was no worry that she'd do anything else crazy. Paloma meanwhile is too opinionated, has too weird a speaking voice, her clothes and looks are genuinely offbeat and her sense of humour can sometimes be a bit too full on for her to become a media darling.

Adele in contrast was safer I guess so she filled that niche. She is the watered down, PC version. For a while I HATED her for that reason LOL. When she first made it big in 2011 I got so fokking sick of seeing her everywhere and her obnoxious fans going on about "this is what a REAL female singer sounds like." 

I'm 100 percent convinced that Adele was responsible for nearly ending Lady Gaga's career. The way she and her obnoxious fans made out that this is what a real female singer does, IE not use her looks and sexuality to sell music as opposed to Gaga led to a really vicious backlash against the big nosed goddess. (Ironically Gaga probably got a harder time for her looks overall than Adele ever did, but still.) 



So f*cking passive aggressive isn't it.



Oh the irony as she was boasting about being skinny later.

What annoyed me about this was that way of thinking in itself IS misogynistic. This double standard is not applied to men. Does anyone say that B B King or Marvin Gaye are automatically better than say David Bowie and Freddie Mercury just because the former don't dance around on stage in weird sexualized costumes like Freddie and Bowie? Nope they judge all four on their talents and appreciate that some performers have different styles. 

Also as an Amy fan I got bitter at the way there was such a double standard in regards to the way Adele was treated. A lot of these twats who went on about how much they loved Adele for relying on her talent above all else, were the same people who attacked Amy for her looks. 

See here from the Young Turks who by this stage have become a by word for phony leftism. 

Their vid on Amy when she was so ill her hair was falling out.



Their vid on Adele a few years later.




Shit like this that happened all the time pissed me off. Still again underneath all of this I do think that Adele has got a nice voice and is a great live performer and I was eventually able to appreciate that, but I understand why a lot of people think she is overrated. 

[Monster X]

Nov 23, 2021 11:00:02 GMT burrunjor said:

Nov 23, 2021 9:04:12 GMT Monster X said:

I liked Amy's voice  - that jazzy, easy style and her boozy, Queen of Camden antics.  However, I really don't like Adele at all - what's the appeal?
( BTW - would you like to see my silly AW cartoon? )

Sure thing. (About the cartoon.)

As for your other point well I think the appeal of Adele is that she is a bit more conventional than Amy Winehouse and Paloma Faith yet less conventional than say Beyonce. 

After Amy made it big people wanted an unusual, eccentric female singer. (In a lot of cases it was egotism. People wanting to say "I'm not shallow look my favourite female pop star isn't just a Cheryl Cole type." I admit I can be a bit like that too LOL.)

However Amy with her as you say Queen of Camden antics was too wild and crazy for some people. That is until she died. Then she just became a beautiful, troubled pop princess because there was no worry that she'd do anything else crazy. Paloma meanwhile is too opinionated, has too weird a speaking voice, her clothes and looks are genuinely offbeat and her sense of humour can sometimes be a bit too full on for her to become a media darling.

Adele in contrast was safer I guess so she filled that niche. She is the watered down, PC version. For a while I HATED her for that reason LOL. When she first made it big in 2011 I got so fokking sick of seeing her everywhere and her obnoxious fans going on about "this is what a REAL female singer sounds like." 

I'm 100 percent convinced that Adele was responsible for nearly ending Lady Gaga's career. The way she and her obnoxious fans made out that this is what a real female singer does, IE not use her looks and sexuality to sell music as opposed to Gaga led to a really vicious backlash against the big nosed goddess. (Ironically Gaga probably got a harder time for her looks overall than Adele ever did, but still.) 



So fokking passive aggressive isn't it.



Oh the irony as she was boasting about being skinny later.

What annoyed me about this was that way of thinking in itself IS misogynistic. This double standard is not applied to men. Does anyone say that B B King or Marvin Gaye are automatically better than say David Bowie and Freddie Mercury just because the former don't dance around on stage in weird sexualized costumes like Freddie and Bowie? Nope they judge all four on their talents and appreciate that some performers have different styles. 

Also as an Amy fan I got bitter at the way there was such a double standard in regards to the way Adele was treated. A lot of these twats who went on about how much they loved Adele for relying on her talent above all else, were the same people who attacked Amy for her looks. 

See here from the Young Turks who by this stage have become a by word for phony leftism. 

Their vid on Amy when she was so ill her hair was falling out.



Their vid on Adele a few years later.




Shit like this that happened all the time pissed me off. Still again underneath all of this I do think that Adele has got a nice voice and is a great live performer and I was eventually able to appreciate that, but I understand why a lot of people think she is overrated. 

Some good points raised here, Burrunjor.  I still find Adele terribly overrated - but I suppose her ordinariness is part of her appeal.
Nowadays, I mostly listen to vintage Jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.   

I say mostly, because I'm currently obsessed with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.  She sings sugar-sweet, weirdly infectious, bubble-gum J Pop, that's pure bonkers - I bet it's unlike anything you've ever heard before, but if you are even remotely interested, just look for her videos on YouTube - that's how I started and I've never been the same since.   

[Deleted]

I think of Burrunjor whenever I hear Valerie or other Amy Winehouse songs on the radio.