Crystal Kay and Beni have been friends for a long time, but have never collaborated or sung live together...UNTIL NOW!! The two J-R&B starlets hit the stage together at J-Melo to perform a duet. A cover of Carole King's song "You've got a friend", made popular by James Taylor's cover released in 1971. If this doesn't ring any bells, then I'm sure it will once you hear the song after the jump. If you're not too up on 70's classics of Pop history, but are a fan of 90's TV, you may recall the song being sung by James Taylor himself in The Simpsons episode where Homer goes to space.
Crystal's tone. I don't know what happened to CK in-between switching labels, but her tone has switched up in a big way. She is so much more comfrtable going lower and digging for those notes and it adds so much to her voice. I love that she shitted on Beni with it in this performance. (Sorry Beni). Beni sounded alright, but she's sounded better. I don't know whether she was nervous, or not caring because she was sharing the stage with her home girl. But Beni sounded as though she was trying too hard to hit notes perfect. Meanwhile Crystal was taking a walk in the park and hitting notes with ease. It was nice to see and hear both of these ladies sing together given how close they are as friends. But I didn't like the way they covered the song and their voices didn't mesh all that well together. And Beni just seemed awkward to me, which made me feel awkward.
CK reviews: All yours | Color change! | Flash | Spin the music | Forever | Vivid
Beni reviews: Bitter & sweet | Jewel | Fortune
Crystal's tone. I don't know what happened to CK in-between switching labels, but her tone has switched up in a big way. She is so much more comfrtable going lower and digging for those notes and it adds so much to her voice. I love that she shitted on Beni with it in this performance. (Sorry Beni). Beni sounded alright, but she's sounded better. I don't know whether she was nervous, or not caring because she was sharing the stage with her home girl. But Beni sounded as though she was trying too hard to hit notes perfect. Meanwhile Crystal was taking a walk in the park and hitting notes with ease. It was nice to see and hear both of these ladies sing together given how close they are as friends. But I didn't like the way they covered the song and their voices didn't mesh all that well together. And Beni just seemed awkward to me, which made me feel awkward.
CK reviews: All yours | Color change! | Flash | Spin the music | Forever | Vivid
Beni reviews: Bitter & sweet | Jewel | Fortune
Beni's lower register sounded like shit in this performance, and hearing it next to Crystal's rich tone really highlighted how shit she sounds in it. I feel like Beni felt intimated during this performance because she knows Crystal shits on her vocally. It seemed like Beni was trying hard to out sing Crystal, while Crystal just seemed happy to be performing with her home girl. BoA and Crystal have way more Chemistry on stage.
ReplyDeleteCouple years back Ckay performed with Ken Hirai this same song its on YouTube her voice was amazing back then and the duet seemed more natural than with her key-key girlfriend however My gurl Ckay did work! her vocals are on point I saw her doin her thang Crystal Kay I see you doin that Sunday church lean and snap ! lolz
ReplyDelete* This is from a Ckay Stan so know that I go overboard alot with my comments *
:) I enjoyed listening to CKays voice very much.It was very rich & consistant during this entire performance. Beni's voice on the other hand sucked major balls. Her notes wavered a few times & she was tryin too damn hard for attention. Ckay upstaged Beni's ass all the way through. Beni needs to take some accoustic singing lessons & work on her stage presence. I tuned Beni out w/in the first minute of the song. Her voice became annoyin after a while imo. Crystal did gud, considering she hasn't sang LIVE since her VIVD album release, that says a lot! I hope CK does more LIVE performances soon. Wretched sounding Beni needs to stay her ass home, drink hot tea & take down notes on how a song is supposed to sound & how it shouldn't. Watching herself & analyzing her own performance is the first step. Bcuz she obviously needs it.
ReplyDeleteThey sounded alright but Beni has sounded better, that's for sure. You know what would be cute, if they did a xmas album or mini album. I know Japan eats up anything that has to do with christmas.
ReplyDeleteActually they sounded pretty good on the harmony parts.
ReplyDeleteCrystal 3 years ago would've have sounded good with 2012 Beni, because she sang in higher registers. But Crystal digs into her lower registers a heck of a lot more now and has this rich tone which didn't go all that nicely with Beni's vocals here. Individually, they sounded decent. But together, I wasn't feeling it. And Beni has sounded much better. She usually sounds on POINT live. Better than on her studio recordings.
ReplyDeleteI never would've thought it, but Crystal and BoA's voices sounded good together and meshed better live when they performed "Girlfriend", than Crystal singing with Beni here.
Still love both these hoes though.