Friday, October 13, 2017

Weekly Finale: Valerie Ghent

Welcome to another weekly musical finale.

A basic rule of thumb I have is if a musician follows me on Twitter, I will give their music a listen. Needless to say, they aren't always impressive. Occasionally, one impresses me with more than one song. Valerie Ghent is an impressive one.

Ghent's music is clearly descended from the New York City music scene, as evidenced by her song "New York City Streets":



Her vocals are solid and smooth, similar to Sade, although Ghent doesn't quite have Sade's pipes and range. There are some songs where Ghent tries to hit high notes that will make you cringe. One of those songs which she ruins that way is "Get Funkay", which starts out like it's going to be fun until she hits the chalkboard-scratching note (about 30 seconds into it):



Fortunately, she doesn't try vocal gymnastics too much, and stays within her range on most songs. One of her better efforts recently was her cover of Ben E. King's "Supernatural Thing":



Speaking of Ben E. King's version, here it is:



I won't say which version is better, as both Ghent and King have their virtues with the song. King's version is a little slower and more relaxed (dare I call it "cooler"?), whereas Ghent's version is a little more upbeat.

That is all for me this week. Have a great weekend, and come back here Monday for more blogging goodness.

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