A collaboration with a prominent rapper, 527,658 YouTube subscribers, and millions of video views sounds like the humble beginnings of a musician on the rise.
Such is the case of 16-year-old Austin Mahone, a YouTube sensation who, upon closer inspection, isn’t that much of a musical prodigy.
Dubbed the “second coming of Justin Bieber,” Mahone fits the mold. He gained fame in from his homemade music videos that he began posting in 2010, and began releasing recorded songs to a wider audience, and eventually collaborated on a song with famous rapper Flo Rida. Also similar to Bieber, Mahone has a devoted, cult-like group of teenage girl followers called “Mahomies.”
His voice is questionable. It sounded pretty good on his earlier videos, but the more recent music he’s made isn’t as great. These later songs have more effects in the background and a lot of obvious auto-tuning. They sound a lot more One Direction than singer-songwriter.
His “Say Somethin’ ” is typical boy-band material, showing him dancing around girls at his high school with his posse in color-coordinated caps and letterman jackets, singing the same few lines over and over again.
Austin Mahone sung very well when he caught the public’s eye at age 14, but has covered up his once front-and-center voice with auto-tuning, depriving his songs of what used to make them stand out.
Jayme Dee is another YouTube star, with about 17 million video views on her whole channel. She sings covers of popular songs, and has recently released a single, “Tip Toes.”
Unfortunately, there are so many singers with songs just like Jayme Dee’s: fluffy, mass-produced songs about a girl looking for love who parties with her friends in the hopes of catching the cute guy’s eye. There are so many that they’re all blending together and sounding the same, fading into the background and becoming obsolete.
The sad thing about Jayme Dee is that she actually has a great singing voice. Rather than singing the same boring pop songs that all sound the same, she should be singing something more suited to her own voice, which is too mature for tweeny songs about chasing love.
A song where Dee really shone was in “Rules,” which she sang for the “Hunger Games (Songs from District 12 and Beyond)” CD. The song was a lot slower and more emotional than “Tip Toes” and really shows how great of a singer she is. Also, her cover of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” was another song where her voice sounded really beautiful, rather than just so-so like when she’s singing peppy pop songs.
I hope that Jayme Dee releases some slower songs that prove what a great singer she is as she gains more popularity because with “Tip Toes,” she’s hiding her voice amongst the hundreds of others singing songs just like hers, and if she actually showcased her talent in a unique way, she could be a great singer.
