A few nights ago, Cobra Starship performed on Conan. They sang “Good Girls Go Bad” with Estelle. As an avid Cobra fan, I was not really impressed with the performance. I didn’t think that Estelle fit the vibe of the song and Gabe’s voice did not sound good at all. However, Estelle did her own thing and owned her part for what it was worth. Having seen Cobra live, I know Gabe can do better, and in this post from his blog, he makes understood the problems of performing live and owns up to any criticism of his voice. You go, Gabe.
The truth is, I thought it was awesome! We all did. And it was a huge accomplishment for us. Sure it wasn’t perfect, but it’s not about being perfect.
Here’s the (tl;dr) thing: I’ve never been a great singer, and I’ll never be a great singer. I was just a kid who loved music and had to figure it out. I wasn’t lucky to be born with talent and great pipes. But I was lucky to be born with something that I value more than natural ability: I’ve got heart, willpower, and an intuition that if I put my mind to something, I can accomplish anything. And guess what? I did.
I wanted to sing. Not because I could, but because I loved making music. Listen to the first Midtown record. My voice was HORRENDOUS. I really had no clue what I was doing. But along the way, it got better. I had to figure it out. And through the years I got better at it. Never great, but enough to get by. Because my point in being a singer was never to be a “singer,” but it was to be able to have a way to express my ideas and my emotions (oftentimes shouting them at the top of my lungs). My voice is just a vehicle. A vehicle that just needs to get me from point A to point B. Some people are lucky to have BMWs to get them to point B. I have a Volkswagen. It’s not pretty, but it does what I need it to do.
But then my Volkswagen had to go into the shop this year because she got a cyst. And that put her out of commission for a bit, but I got her back up and running. She never ran great to begin with, and now she runs a little worse. But she still runs, and I love her. And if YOU love her too, you don’t love her because she’s the most perfect thing in the world. You love her because she’s real.
I will never sing perfectly. But I will always be awesome. Even when I fuck up. I’m awesome because I am not afraid to fall nor ashamed to stumble. Because I never wanted to be beautiful, and I never pretended to be.
Now, on to the less dramatic part:
Estelle: she was dope. She did the song her way. She changed it up and made it her own. It’s not gonna be like Leighton nor like Victoria. And I back her for that.
Notwithstanding all that shit I just said about my voice, I think I did a pretty damn good job. Especially compared to the last time we were on Conan (which I really was embarrassed about). Have you guys seen other bands perform on TV? It always sucks. It’s not the same as seeing them live and it doesn’t sound like it even sounds in the studio audience. It always sounds like shit. It’s compressed as fuck because it has to be broadcast through the air and sent to your tv speakers. Unless the artist is lip-synching and/or using auto-tune (which we don’t), it always sounds weird.
Again, it’s not about being perfect. The beauty of a live performance are the imperfections.
Conan was fucking awesome. We’re just a bunch of dudes who got a chance to play on a show we’ve been watching since we were kids. We had a blast and we were real. And it was a personal milestone for us. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
