Programs with vocals by the opposite sex | Golden Skate

Programs with vocals by the opposite sex

Lambari

Lambari

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
This is regarding singles obviously. Are programs from male skaters set to female vocals really that much rare? Also couldn't think of any programs from female skaters set to male vocals. Or I just had a mental block?

I can understand if they're supposed to portray an already existing character but I think even with more modern music choices skaters tend to have vocals by the same sex. Why?


Shoma's Loco FS
Yuzuru's Final Time Traveler EX / Believe EX
Johnny Weir EXs, (1) (2) (3) etc. 'Creep' being a female cover of the original.
Adam Rippon's Shallow EX / My funny valentine EX
 
Colonel Green

Colonel Green

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Country
Canada
Evgenia Medvedeva is skating to "Exogenesis: Symphony Part III" this coming season, which has some male vocals (depending on music cuts), so I guess there's at least one in the works.
 
Mathman

Mathman

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I don't see why a skater can't just skate to the music, without playing the role of the singer.

My Funny Valentine from the OP is an old standard that has been recorded by both men and women (Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzfgerald have famous versions, for instance.) Is Adam portraying the singer (originally a child actress), saying "don't ever change, my funny valentine -- you're funny-looking but you make me laugh."?

Or is he the valentine? The name of the original character was Valentine -- the person that the song was sung to, that is.
 
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T

theharleyquinn

Medalist
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
I'm so glad there's a thread on this. It's annoying how uncommon it is, especially in competitive programs.

Daisuke Takahashi's EX to Björk's Bachelorette was my first thought.
Stephane Lambiel did an EX to Oceania by Björk as well, which made sense since I think it was the same year as the 2004 Athens Olympics where she performed the song during the Opening Ceremony.
 
Mathman

Mathman

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I think it would be quite appropriate for a lady to skate to a male vocalist singing something like "The Way You Look Tonight." A row of tuxedo-clad gentlemen could come out as props representing the singer. :)
 
el henry

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
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Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
An interesting question.:scratch2:

Of course, for competitive programs, we do not have many years.
Brooklee Han did an exhibition to L-O-V-E, and I believe it was the Nat King Cole version.
 
bunnybarista

bunnybarista

If I risk it all, could you break my fall?~
On the Ice
Joined
May 27, 2018
This is something that's definitely a head-scratcher for me. :scratch2: It first came to my attention when my coach was helping me pick a song for a program, and he's like "that's a nice song, but it's a male singer... girls normally skate to female vocals!" It was such a matter-of-fact statement. That being said, my coach partially broke his own rule when he skated a program where the first song had male vocals but the second one had female vocals... however, it was an ice dance number so I suppose one could argue that the female song was for his partner :laugh:

I kind of get the reasoning that you're portraying the singer, but as posters above me have mentioned, it seems logical that the skater could also be the object of the song, i.e. a male singer talking about the girl he loves, and that girl is portrayed by the skater... I hope we will see more skaters in the future who are "brave" enough to skate to vocals from the opposite gender! :clap:
 
G

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
It probably makes a difference whether the singer is mainly singing about him/herself in first person or more in second or third person, in which case the skater could portray the person being sung about.

Assuming that they are interpreting lyrics at all, and that the lyrics are about a person. If not, anything goes!
 
Lambari

Lambari

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
bunnybarista said:
This is something that's definitely a head-scratcher for me. :scratch2: It first came to my attention when my coach was helping me pick a song for a program, and he's like "that's a nice song, but it's a male singer... girls normally skate to female vocals!" It was such a matter-of-fact statement.
Click to expand...

That's very interesting, so It can be a conscious choice. Although he didn't provide any elaborate reason to that. Sometimes it's just about following the norm.
______________________

On the other hand I do understand that it may be easier for a skater to relate to the lyrics when it's sung by the same gender because of projection, or for a choreographer/coach to choose a piece that their students could more easily see themselves in it and bring the best interpretation out of them. But what is puzzling is that skaters have been doing programs to music with no vocals, particularly classical music, for a hundred years since vocals are a new addition for competitive programs. It shouldn't be strange for them to skate based on the meaning of the song. I don't think it is necessary to actually be a character in the story.

Every piece of music evokes a feeling or more than one and human emotion has no gender, it's just matter of being on the ice an extension of that emotion. But this risks making everything too abstract. As I've said there's pieces which obviously have already a well known story behind and the mission is to portray this character. So it brings the question of why warhorses are just so popular in the sport, and this probably is one of the reasons. They have already a story to follow and a character waiting for you to be. Chosing songs based on who is singing the lyrics or being the receiver of the lyrics may be a similar case.
 
Mathman

Mathman

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I thought of a good one. A female skater could skate to Johnny Cash, "(I fell into) a burning ring of fire." She would be the fire.

That way, she could recycle her "Firebird" costume.
 
TallyT

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
You know what could make a killer exhibition piece.... Dido's Lament, as sung by Jeff Buckley, for one of the lyrical ladies and with a really good choreographer.
 
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