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Alicia Keys judged by Yahoo members? Seriously?

I'm not going to get into whether or not I felt Grammy Award-winning musician Alicia Keys was right or wrong in creating a jazzy rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" during her performance at the Super Bowl Sunday night.

What I am going to get into is a ridiculous article regarding the performance. It was written by Chris Willman of Stop the Presses and released yesterday via Yahoo.

Willman started the "piece" (I use that term ambiguously) by saying, "...Just look at the backlash against Alicia Keys' version of the tune before the Super Bowl if you want a good example of bombs bursting in air."

He went on to note that most singers and music critics praised Keys' performance, with Randy Jackson saying that she "killed it." He also noted the positive comments by film director Spike Lee as well as former Survivor contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Perhaps he groups them in with singers and music critics; I really don't know.

Following that, Willman went on (and on and on some more) about Yahoo members' comments and how negative they were.

One such comment was the following - "Stop trying to make the national anthem'your own'. It's not yours. It's ours collectively. Sing it the way it's supposed to be sung."

Upon Willman's posting of this article, that comment had received 1,098 thumbs-up and just 225 thumbs-down.

Another such comment was: "One of the worst anthem renditions I have ever seen or heard. What a funeral durge. Too slow."

Upon Willman's posting of the article, that comment had received 1,058 thumbs-up and 248 thumbs-down.

Really? We're going to look toward Yahoo members for guidance on the arts? ...on the answers? ...on just about any and everything? Really?

In response to Donald Trump suing Bill Maher over an orangutan joke, one Yahoo member defended Trump with the following comment - "I just told my bookie that the bet I made on the 49rs [sic] was a joke. He isn't buying it either." At this very moment, that comment has 1,819 thumbs-up and 239 thumbs-down. So, yes, let's all stand in unison and proclaim to the world that Donald Trump is absolutely right to sue a comedian for telling a joke about him on a late-night comedy show, since he thought this statement made by a comedian on a late-night comedy show at his expense was a serious statement!

I'm starting to seriously wonder what the point of critics is anymore, since it seems as if many "journalists" are, instead of asking for or providing expert opinion, looking to random people on Twitter and Yahoo to provide their expertise in hyperbole, abbreviations, and typos. Well done! Well, I must be going. I'm going to ask my dog what her thoughts were on the Alicia Keys performance. I'll be certain to post my interpretation of her response on this site as well as Facebook. Stay tuned...

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/singing-star-spangled-banner-sure-recipe-backlash-ask-103647816.html

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