Head-Fi.org › Forums › Misc.-Category Forums › Music › Celine Dion or Madonna?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Celine Dion or Madonna?

post #1 of 19
2/12/10 at 3:31pm
Thread Starter 
Who is the better singer? Who do you prefer?
Reply
post #2 of 19
2/12/10 at 4:00pm
Madonna
Reply
post #3 of 19
2/12/10 at 4:11pm
Neither.
Reply
post #4 of 19
2/12/10 at 9:03pm
Celine
Reply
post #5 of 19
2/12/10 at 9:12pm
??
Reply
post #6 of 19
2/12/10 at 9:20pm
....


♫ Every night in my dreams.......♫
Reply
post #7 of 19
2/12/10 at 9:27pm
I think Celine Dione has a much more powerful voice, but Madonna is the far greater artist. Madonna has a much more intimate connection to a specific music movement: dance music. At a number of points in her career, she has put her ear to the ground and absorbed cutting-edge trends in order to incorporate them into her sound. She also has a tremendous knack for finding producers that not only make her sound good, but also are in touch with what is currently happening in clubs. Add to that her Bowie-esque penchant for image reinvention, and you have a truly major pop music figure.

Celine Dione, on the other hand, is pretty much just another pop singer to me. I don't mean that as a criticism, per se. At least one of her hits, "All Coming Back to Me," is truly great. Her huge voice is perfectly suited to the bombast (in a good way) that is Jim Steinman's stock in trade. Much of her other material skews much closer to MOR, in my opinion. I got to the point where if I heard that schmaltzy Titanic theme once more, I was going to jump out of a window.

In sum, I think Madonna is the much more important artist, though in a technical sense she doesn't have nearly as much voice to work with as does Dione.
Reply
post #8 of 19
2/12/10 at 9:32pm
Celine.... you may surely have a preference, but in terms of "better singer" Madonna has nothing on Celine.
Reply
post #9 of 19
2/12/10 at 10:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Br777 View Post
Celine.... you may surely have a preference, but in terms of "better singer" Madonna has nothing on Celine.
I think that depends on how you define "better." In technical terms, you are quite right. But I think that good singers, in the technical sense, are a dime a dozen. Much rarer are artists whose work transcends technical command; I consider Madonna to be one of them.

In conventional terms, Bob Dylan is not a good singer. Gary Puckett, on the other hand, has a truly outstanding, powerful voice. Would anyone mention Gary Puckett in the same breath with Bob Dylan? I don't think so.

Beyond that, there is also the issue of what a singer chooses to do with his or her gift. I think Whitney Houston is the most prodigiously gifted female singer of her generation (just my opinion, YMMV.) While she has made some stunning records ("Saving All My Love For You," "I Will Always Love You,") a disturbingly high percentage of her material is carefully crafted, highly polished, commercial product. The same forces that made her the biggest-selling female artist of all time (I'm looking at you, Clive Davis) also
hobbled her artistically. I think it's not a stretch to say that her pipes are in the same class as Aretha Franklin's, but it is a huge stretch to say that her body of work is in that exalted class.

So I'm not disagreeing with you, in a sense. There is no way to credibly argue that Madonna can belt it out like Celine Dion. But again, in an overall artistic sense, Madonna rules.
Reply
post #10 of 19
2/12/10 at 10:31pm
I prefer Madonna.
Reply
post #11 of 19
2/13/10 at 1:05pm
When i think of the fact that i only listen to one song by Celine Dion and quite a few by Madonna, it almost leads me to believe that i prefer Madonna because of the number of good songs by her, then i wonder, if the one song, "My heart will go on" is better than all the songs of Madonna combined; then i wonder if it really is a fair competition, since their genre's are so far apart, and then i realize i cant make a decision.
Reply
post #12 of 19
2/13/10 at 9:55pm
Wow, this was an unexpected thread from a fan of Oistrakh!

I am not a fan of either as an artist, though I think Madonna has had a more varied and interesting career and deems a little more respect for her uniqueness. Celine is clearly a better technician as a singer, there's not even a comparison as Madonna's voice both in octave range and dynamic range seems quite limited.

I think Madonna did a lot with her limited abilities, whereas Celine Dion probably had the chops to do far greater things than cliche and mediocre Diane Warren soundtrack songs (however popular they may be).
I've been talking headphones with you for years. Now I can help you with your purchase:) Sales Specialist & Headphone Guru @ Headphones.com
Reply
post #13 of 19
2/14/10 at 7:25pm
I'd rather listen to Madonna's music any day. But her vocal abilities are not remotely close to being in the same league as Celine Dion. This is like asking who is the better guitarist, Van Halen or Cobain?
Reply
post #14 of 19
2/14/10 at 9:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rempert View Post
This is like asking who is the better guitarist, Van Halen or Cobain?
Don't tempt me. I will grant you, though, that Edward has far better hair.
Reply
post #15 of 19
2/14/10 at 11:04pm
Never quite got into Madonna; much prefer Celine Dion, particularly her "Falling Into You" album so Celine Dion it is for me.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Music
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Misc.-Category Forums › Music › Celine Dion or Madonna?