2008 Woodie Awards
Scarlett Johansson Should Stick to Acting, Avoid Singing
Chabeli Sanchez
Issue date: 6/11/08 Section: Entertainment
There is nothing worse than an actor turned musician. Russell Crowe ("Gladiator," 2000) did it with his horrific pub rock band, "30 Odd Foot of Grunts" (1992) and everyone heard the disastrous single "Higher" (2007) from "Hills" reality star Heidi Montag. Scarlett Johansson ("The Other Boleyn Girl," 2008) can now be added to the list with her debut album, "Anywhere I Lay My Head."
There are few actors turned musicians who have had great success. Hilary Duff ("Metamorphosis," 2003) is an exception. What she has is a talent and a knack for singing. Duff started out as a Disney channel television star and was transformed into a movie star as well as an amazing recording artist. However, Johansson should only approach a microphone when presenting an Oscar or when reading lines of a script, never to sing.
Johansson has a very manly and raspy voice to begin with, and some would think that her voice would transform on a record into a very cool and funky sound. However, in this case, she sounds even more like a man, and a drunken one at that. Listening to the album made me question the fact that Johansson was actually a girl. Yes, she is biologically a girl, but sadly on this album she sounds more and more like a man.
Before announcing two years ago that she would record an album, Johansson dipped her feet into music, with moderate results. She sang, "Brass in Pocket" from her movie "Lost in Translation," which was all right, but nothing to write home about. She also did backing vocals on "Just Like Honey" on stage with The Jesus and Mary Chain ("Psychocandy," 1985) at last year's Coachella festival, though her [movie] star value outshined the quality of her voice.
Johansson recruited producer Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Show Your Bones,' 2006), band member/guitarist Nick Zinner to help create her album. David Bowie ("Reality," 2003) also helped with the production of this album and also appears as backing vocals for Johansson. Bowie and Johansson are friends, which seems odd, since friends shouldn't let friends make idiots out of themselves. This would have been a great time for Bowie to speak up.
There are few actors turned musicians who have had great success. Hilary Duff ("Metamorphosis," 2003) is an exception. What she has is a talent and a knack for singing. Duff started out as a Disney channel television star and was transformed into a movie star as well as an amazing recording artist. However, Johansson should only approach a microphone when presenting an Oscar or when reading lines of a script, never to sing.
Johansson has a very manly and raspy voice to begin with, and some would think that her voice would transform on a record into a very cool and funky sound. However, in this case, she sounds even more like a man, and a drunken one at that. Listening to the album made me question the fact that Johansson was actually a girl. Yes, she is biologically a girl, but sadly on this album she sounds more and more like a man.
Before announcing two years ago that she would record an album, Johansson dipped her feet into music, with moderate results. She sang, "Brass in Pocket" from her movie "Lost in Translation," which was all right, but nothing to write home about. She also did backing vocals on "Just Like Honey" on stage with The Jesus and Mary Chain ("Psychocandy," 1985) at last year's Coachella festival, though her [movie] star value outshined the quality of her voice.
Johansson recruited producer Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Show Your Bones,' 2006), band member/guitarist Nick Zinner to help create her album. David Bowie ("Reality," 2003) also helped with the production of this album and also appears as backing vocals for Johansson. Bowie and Johansson are friends, which seems odd, since friends shouldn't let friends make idiots out of themselves. This would have been a great time for Bowie to speak up.
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