CHRISTOPHER STEVENS evaluations Your Song: Channel 4’s try and reprise the success of The Piano hits all of the flawed notes
Your Song (Ch4)
Alan Carr was taking one heck of a risk. When he chose Paloma Faith as his first ‘murder’ victim on The Celebrity Traitors, he seemed to be picking the easy option.
But after one glimpse of the lisping blonde chanteuse as a judge on Your Song, anyone would think twice before crossing Paloma. She’s lethal.
Every singer who failed to impress her was dealt a compliment dipped in poison, on the first episode of the series, filmed in Liverpool.
As a woman named Rachael wailed an operatic version of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood festive No 1, The Power Of Love, Paloma carped: ‘Even though this isn’t the kind of singing that I would necessarily gravitate towards, she’s making the song her own.’
Well, that’s one way to say, ‘I hate it.’
As cabaret-style crooner Ollie performed a number he wrote himself, called Lilypads, she decided, ‘His voice isn’t, like, remarkable, but it’s uplifting.’
That was positively kind compared to her verdict on 22-year-old Georgia, who delivered a Sam Fender song called Seventeen Going Under in her rich Scouse accent.
‘I wouldn’t say her voice blew me away,’ Paloma said. Poor Georgia . . . she’ll need a thick skin if she’s ever going to sing in the bath again.
Your Song presenter Alison Hammond (centre) flanked by judges Sam Ryder (left) and Paloma Faith (right)
This entire format is not likely to leave many people feeling better, neither the performers nor the viewers. Modelled on Channel 4’s surprise success The Piano, it invites ordinary people to tell us a story that jerks at our heartstrings, before belting out a tune.
In place of Claudia Winkleman as presenter, Your Song is hosted by Alison Hammond, whose job is simply to greet each singer and send them on stage with a few words of encouragement.
But unlike The Piano, where the instrument is plonked in a railway station or a shopping mall, Your Song can’t make any pretence at spontaneity.
Most songs are performed with a full backing band. This must require hours of rehearsal, but we don’t get to see that bit.
We also don’t get to hear a full performance, or anything close to it. Every few bars, the camera cuts to Paloma and fellow judge Sam Ryder nattering away, or Alison gossiping in the audience, or the artists themselves, explaining why this song means so much to them.
That works with The Piano, particularly for instrumentals, but it’s disastrous for vocal pieces. Songs are supposed to tell stories.
Their emotion builds from an introduction to a climax and a resolution. Dipping in and out, and focusing on the big notes, renders them meaningless.
Worse still, this format implies it’s not worth listening to the whole thing. If the singers are good — and a couple, including winner Chantelle, had stunning voices — Your Song ought to do us the courtesy of letting us hear Their Song.
If that means there’s less time for sob stories, fine.
