Althouse: It's Little Fatty.

April 8, 2010

It's Little Fatty.

Lin Yu-chun, a contestant on the Taiwan TV show "One Million Star," channeling Whitney Houston:

It's not exactly the polar opposite of The Sex Pistols.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...: "It's not exactly the polar opposite of The Sex Pistols."

Close as I'd like to get, though.

Creepy.

No man should be able to do that.; 4/8/10, 5:11 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Ham, countertenors sing like this all time. They are alto wannabes. No, they really are guy altos who are soprano wannabes. Oh, now I've lost track. Maybe they'd rather be basses.

But that is Dolly Parton's song. Why are they calling it Whitney Houston's? She just sang it.

Toy; 4/8/10, 5:29 PM
Fred4Pres said...: And we ask why Whitney is on drugs...she listened to this!; 4/8/10, 5:35 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...: To be technically correct, it is Dolly's Parton's song as covered by Whitney Houston.; 4/8/10, 5:36 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Ann, make Meade get that same haircut.

Heck, Ann should get that same haircut!; 4/8/10, 5:37 PM
Ann Althouse said...: He's singing it the Whitney way.; 4/8/10, 5:39 PM
GMay said...: I saw this last night for the first time. First time I've seen anything that was both awesome and creepy.; 4/8/10, 5:48 PM
michaele said...: Simon and the gang are always very critical when any of the American Idol contestants tackle a big Whitney or Mariah song. I think this fellow would get a thumbs up from them. To quote Simon, "He had a moment".
I really enjoyed it.; 4/8/10, 5:51 PM
Titus said...: Was that Palladian?; 4/8/10, 5:55 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Meade would have to grow his hair out a bit, but Ann would just need a trim to get that classic moon bowl cut look going.; 4/8/10, 6:07 PM
Unknown said...: meh.

he's talented, but that was awfully pitchy ... with a good vocal coach and if puberty doesnt do too much to his voice, he could be really good.

sadly, in many parts of that song he sounds better than the post-cocaine whitney.; 4/8/10, 6:17 PM
rhhardin said...: Keep him away from the National Anthem.; 4/8/10, 6:27 PM
Lynne said...: What a pity that we can't sometimes look on the outside the way we feel on the inside.

So some of us paint.
And some of compose.
And some of us write.
And some of us sing...

And no, I don't mean look like Whitney Huston. You know what I mean.
Like little kids, before they discover mirrors and peer pressure.

wv-singsmic- how cool is that?; 4/8/10, 6:30 PM
Kurt said...: Regarding the point about countertenors, the prevailing opinion seems to be that Andreas Scholl is the most renowned countertenor today. You can find clips of him on youtube and by searching on google. Here is a clip that appeared on the BBC.

Then there's the male vocal group Chanticleer which features several countertenors, some of whom, I'm told, can sing in the range of a soprano. Here is their youtube channel.; 4/8/10, 6:42 PM
traditionalguy said...: He reminds me of the Korean lady that does our hair, who is super friendly and a genuine Christian, but his hair is shorter. They mix Christianity with a deep respect for the elders and they end up very blessed.; 4/8/10, 6:45 PM
HKatz said...: They are alto wannabes. No, they really are guy altos who are soprano wannabes.

There are wonderful countertenors out there singing - among other things - the music that castrati used to sing, and with a similar range (listen to Andreas Scholl for instance). Usually their speaking voices are quite low, and a lot of times they started out singing baritone. Their range stems from vocal training, not a naturally high vocal range.

Sadly enough, from what I've read countertenors did exist when there were castrati too. Which makes you wonder why there were even castrati at all (apparently castrati had a very unusual and unique kind of voice - but was that worth the sacrifice? There's a recording out there of one of the last castrati; when he made the recording he was already an old man, and given his age and the quality of the old recording, the sounded just terribly sad).; 4/8/10, 6:46 PM
HKatz said...: Another chilling note about castrati was that often times they were castrated as children. It wasn't even their choice, but forced on them by family.; 4/8/10, 6:48 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: He's singing it the Whitney way.

Even Whitney can't do that anymore.; 4/8/10, 7:37 PM
Unknown said...: i expect that by tomorrow there will be an Althouse post on Obama saying he doesnt take advice from Sarah Palin .....; 4/8/10, 9:32 PM
TechBlogger said...: It's "little fatty?"

you're lame.

(and fat.); 4/8/10, 9:55 PM
bagoh20 said...: So is he a diva or a devo. I thought he was great. I'm blown away by young people with talent like that, or even adults. If I could choose, I would choose singing talent. You can whip it out at anytime and don't need any equipment.

I was blessed with zero talent of any kind. I can't even imagine what kind of life I would be living if I had a talent, but it would be very different. I would need to choose a drug addiction. I've already tried them all just in case I'm a late bloomer.

keep this kid away from Bobby Brown.; 4/8/10, 10:33 PM
bagoh20 said...: What did they do with the harvest from the castrati procedure? Back in the day, they had strange ideas and I know they didn't just feed them to the hogs.

Why do I type things I would never say in person to anyone?; 4/8/10, 10:37 PM
bagoh20 said...: I had a vasectomy.

Does Titus talk in person the same way as he posts here?; 4/8/10, 10:40 PM
Beta Rube said...: Just keep him the f**k away from Bobbby Brown.; 4/8/10, 10:40 PM
bagoh20 said...: Damn, he's 24 years old! I thought he about 15. Nobody chooses that haircut for themselves do they?; 4/8/10, 10:44 PM
Jason said...: The young man genuinely has a set of pipes, and he can control them.

He lost his pitch reference once or twice, but recovered well and finished extremely strong. His voice has a beautiful set of harmonic overtones, and it doesn't lose any power or complexity throughout its range. Intonation was not bad, and at times excellent.

He also knows how to use a mic.

Doing a 'clone' act is one thing, though. Making a song your own is quite another. I hope he's going to take that next step.

Young musicians often clone their idols. It's sort of a step they have to go through on their way to becoming their own musician.

Betcha Bobby Brown could kick his ass, though.; 4/8/10, 11:01 PM
KCFleming said...: The kid's definitely *not* a cocaine addict.

If he appears in a remake of The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner, I'm first in line.; 4/9/10, 7:35 AM
KCFleming said...: Whitney's rehab was a little too successful.; 4/9/10, 7:40 AM
KCFleming said...: Does anyone but me remember the movie Skinny And Fatty?; 4/9/10, 7:42 AM
A.W. said...: Ah, well, great he can oversing a song that was an oversung remake of a reportedly more low key dolly parton song.

I guess you can he impressed with the pipes, but um, so what?

Mind you, i didn't quite get the hype with susan boyle, except that she seemed to be someone people counted out, giving her that underdog chic. but that doesn't make me buy the album.; 4/9/10, 7:56 AM
Methadras said...: Jesus Christ, that hair.; 4/9/10, 10:57 AM
Triangle Man said...: Apropos Chanticleer and countertenors, their rendition of Shenandoah is something else. The countertenors kick in around the 2 minute mark.; 4/9/10, 11:24 AM
Kurt said...: Thanks for the tip, Triangle Man. I saw the title featured on the youtube channel, but hadn't clicked on it previously.

wv: pubwor--what erupts when the "Chinese Susan Boyle" (as some have called him) appears on the Telly in a pub in Susan Boyle's hometown and someone says that they like his singing more than her's.; 4/9/10, 3:50 PM
Methadras said...: You know what? I want to see Little Fatty do Monty Python's Dennis Moore.; 4/9/10, 5:07 PM