Video: Billie Joe and Miranda Lambert performing "When Will I Be Loved"

[Elena]

In a way I felt that BJ looked very much relaxed (or somewhat absent?) during the rehearsals and on pictures from this event. While singing with Miranda on stage he looked very much tranquil to me, almost shy, and withdrawn into himself. The songs with Norah sound more heartfelt. I like the gesture when he prodded Miranda´s arm after the gig. Somehow he seemed different to me. Maybe it´s because he was there without the other guys. Or is it the song? Or the show? Don´t know. Shy boy.

Same here, and I thougt it was me again...

had that impression, too...also (i was just watching the beginning of the grammys and saw some pictures of billie in the crowd...but he looked so...no idea how to say it...unimpressed maybe idk but maybe he was also just nervous for the performance...

Yeah I don't think he's as comfortable with Miranda as he is with Norah. He was looking at her mouth to get the harmonies right (I think) and she only briefly looked back at him so maybe he just didn't have the connection that he had with Norah, I think they sang while looking at each the whole time on Foreverly. I guess it could also be that, this is probably the biggest TV appearance he's had since iHeart (again, I think) so that could have added a lot of pressure too. I guess we'll never know, but it was a really good performance I thought and I'm sure it meant a lot to the Everly family that Phil had been remembered with one of his songs.

yeah that could be...and the iHeart thing could have been a reason indirectly, too...maybe just a lot of things combined, but i'm not Billie, so i can't tell..

Yes, I too, felt he was always looking at her to get the harmonies. And she was the one who turned away. Could have made the harmonies more difficult then. No comparison to Foreverly. Which reminds me... time to... take Foreverly... and listen to it for the 101 time...

I´m not allowed to watch the video due to some stupid laws and rights....

..uhm...on GDA is a link to download the video and that one works

watched it again...the beginning is great, but later i have the feeling that she just is a tiny bit too high...might just be that their voices don't match but i think if she had sung a tiny bit deeper it would have sounded way better....or Billie higher, but that would have sounded weird, i guess

[Mykee Mexx]

Oh, Dear, I love the end after he prodded her arm. He looks so unsecure. But I think it just suits the situation, because this is not Billie in the focus but the Everly Brothers. It´s for them, not for him. That makes it really precious when he steps back and leaves the stage to the ones he honours.

[alexandra_1039]

i loved the performance, I don't really have anything to criticize about billie, but miranda sounded too country for me, you know she had the twang to her voice, lol. norah wouldve been better. i liked billies little solo part.

[jumpsalty]

Is there a HQ MP3 yet?

[Oxymore]

Miranda is beautiful, btw.

[Mykee Mexx]

Agreed. Why she, and not me...

[Elena]

Oh, Dear, I love the end after he prodded her arm. He looks so unsecure. But I think it just suits the situation, because this is not Billie in the focus but the Everly Brothers. It´s for them, not for him. That makes it really precious when he steps back and leaves the stage to the ones he honours.

haha true ...yeah exactly...but i've always loved the cover he/Green Day made in dedication of anyone...or also when he does anything besides Green Day and you can see he rather feels like a fan able to perform for/with his heros than actually someone who's been a star for a long time as well ...just remember when he played with Guns N Roses, that was adorable, or their performance of Working Class Hero

[IcyMoffatt]

I watched the performance again a few minutes ago on Youtube. Is it me or did Billie Joe have a guitar which had the same pattern/look as the Everly Brothers' guitars? In the Everly Brothers' video showed just before Miranda and Billie started singing, the two guitars had the same pattern on them. And when I saw Billie with his guitar, it was the same pattern as the brothers' guitars. The only difference seems to be the color.

[green day is]

You should probably get your ears checked. Just listened to it five times ina row, apart from listening to it last night. Biilie's second "I" was a tiny bit flatm, but that was the only sylable/note in the entire song that there was even a slight problem with. The issue is that he was singing with Miranda Lambert, who has a completely different overall vocal tone to her voice...one which I personally can't stand. Her tone is very bright and forward/piercing. A voice like that is not suited for tight harmonies. Billie changed his tone into something that is less bright and more subdued for all of the Everly's stuff. When you have two clashing voices trying to sing really tight harmonies, you can point the finger at either one of them for sounded off, when in actuality neither of them were off. Their voices just didn't blend. If Billie went out and sang it like it was a Green Day song, they would have blended better because his tone would have been different...but not suited for the song. So yeah, Miranda didn't help him at all by coming out and belting the fuck outta it. Also, there was nothing wrong with his guitar playing. Your comment about him getting weaker as a musician is absolutely fucking laughable. The amount that he has grown musically in the past 10 years since AI is nothing short of incredible.

What the fuck are you talking about? Her having a bright tone and him having a deeper tone wouldn't clash. That doesn't even make sense. One of the best pieces of advice when it comes to equalization is to restrict certain instruments playing in the same range one to the lower and one to the higher part of that range, frequency wise. Turns out ace every single time. Naturally that applies when instruments (or voices) already have differences in their timbre. Their voices are clashing because they aren't singing the same pitch.

Not arguing about subjective matters, though. His voice is nowhere near as strong as it was before, and that's my opinion, and his strumming technique was lacking on this performance and that's my opinion. If you go back a few pages in the Q&A thread or use the search feature C-dawg's already shown examples of his voice declining, though I don't think you need to look at his examples to compare this performance to, say, the one with Elvis Costello or any others.

[alexandra_1039]

You should probably get your ears checked. Just listened to it five times ina row, apart from listening to it last night. Biilie's second "I" was a tiny bit flatm, but that was the only sylable/note in the entire song that there was even a slight problem with. The issue is that he was singing with Miranda Lambert, who has a completely different overall vocal tone to her voice...one which I personally can't stand. Her tone is very bright and forward/piercing. A voice like that is not suited for tight harmonies. Billie changed his tone into something that is less bright and more subdued for all of the Everly's stuff. When you have two clashing voices trying to sing really tight harmonies, you can point the finger at either one of them for sounded off, when in actuality neither of them were off. Their voices just didn't blend. If Billie went out and sang it like it was a Green Day song, they would have blended better because his tone would have been different...but not suited for the song. So yeah, Miranda didn't help him at all by coming out and belting the fuck outta it. Also, there was nothing wrong with his guitar playing. Your comment about him getting weaker as a musician is absolutely fucking laughable. The amount that he has grown musically in the past 10 years since AI is nothing short of incredible.

*slow claps*

[Mykee Mexx]

It´s not a song where his voice is meant to be as strong as in a rocksong. When will I be loved is not a rocksong. It´s kind of a ballad. His voice had to suit that. Nothing else. And he was more able to take his voice back than Miranda was in my ears and eyes. So, I´m fine with his performance. And I really don´t care what kind of music he will be doing in the future, as long as he is happy with it. And if he should decide to go Country (he won´t, I guess), there will always be the music of the past. I can sit down and relax, whatever they will do. I will like it or not. That easy for me. Trilogy was the first test...

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Nope, nope, nope, all you haters of this are just off the mark. Sorry. Billie sounded great, I actually thought his voice sounded fairly strong, especially compared to some of his past performances.

Don't bother. Haters gonna hate.

[WorryRock02]

first of all. I really prefer Billie's voice with Norah BUT anyway...i like this performance. Billie's voice sound better and better. Over the years he has improved so amazing as a singer. I just...love his voice.....in any context, in any musical genre.

[Bastard of 1967]

Nope, nope, nope, all you haters of this are just off the mark. Sorry. Billie sounded great, I actually thought his voice sounded fairly strong, especially compared to some of his past performances.

He sounded a wee bit flat on the opening notes and then quickly corrected. Anyway, I definitely agree that soft and easy is the right touch for "When Will I Be Loved" -- at least if you want to do justice to the Everlys original version of the song -- here's a clip:

With the original as the reference I think Billie pretty much nailed it. Miranda twanged her part up way too much, and as a result the two vocal parts were fighting each other instead of blending the way the Everly Bros. intended (and the way that Billie and Norah captured in Foreverly). Short answer: The performance was okay, I just wish Norah had been up there on stage with him instead of Miranda.

[Ryan]

What the fuck are you talking about? Her having a bright tone and him having a deeper tone wouldn't clash. That doesn't even make sense. One of the best pieces of advice when it comes to equalization is to restrict certain instruments playing in the same range one to the lower and one to the higher part of that range, frequency wise. Turns out ace every single time. Naturally that applies when instruments (or voices) already have differences in their timbre. Their voices are clashing because they aren't singing the same pitch.

Not arguing about subjective matters, though. His voice is nowhere near as strong as it was before, and that's my opinion, and his strumming technique was lacking on this performance and that's my opinion. If you go back a few pages in the Q&A thread or use the search feature C-dawg's already shown examples of his voice declining, though I don't think you need to look at his examples to compare this performance to, say, the one with Elvis Costello or any others.

You're right...I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm only a clasically trained vocalist that has sung in numerous duets, trios, quartets, chamber choirs, and large choirs. I said nothing about frequencies, I mentioned tone qualities. Frequencies are more closely related to pitch. Look at "Foreverly." Billie and Norah sang with VERY similar styles and tones and they never clash. I'm glad you finally clarified that his voice being weaker is your opinion. Performers have off nights. Last night was not one of his. He sang in a different style. Ceadog's examples were examples of rough spots in certain songs...happens to a lot of professional musicians. If you take the video/audo of those complete performances that Ceadog pulled his bad examples from, I can find multiple instances that support my belief that he has only gotten stronger. You can always point to one performance that you find better than another, but that still doesn't support your opinion that he has declined musically.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

You're right...I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm only a clasically trained vocalist that has sung in numerous duets, trios, quartets, chamber choirs, and large choirs. I said nothing about frequencies, I mentioned tone qualities. Frequencies are more closely related to pitch. Look at "Foreverly." Billie and Norah sang with VERY similar styles and tones and they never clash. I'm glad you finally clarified that his voice being weaker is your opinion. Performers have off nights. Last night was not one of his. He sang in a different style. Ceadog's examples were examples of rough spots in certain songs...happens to a lot of professional musicians. If you take the video/audo of those complete performances that Ceadog pulled his bad examples from, I can find multiple instances that support my belief that he has only gotten stronger. You can always point to one performance that you find better than another, but that still doesn't support your opinion that he has declined musically.

In summary: I agree, anyone can cherry pick spots of performances to support their claims for his quality improving or declining.

But seriously, don't bother arguing with Zack. He and his opinions are superior to anyone who has ever walked this planet. Didn't you know?

[Ryan]

In summary: I agree, anyone can cherry pick spots of performances to support their claims for his quality improving or declining.

But seriously, don't bother arguing with Zack. He and his opinions are superior to anyone who has ever walked this planet. Didn't you know?

I really only argue when I have first hand knowledge of what I'm talking about. As a clasically trained vocalist, I can't stand when people start trumpeting opinions that just don't make any sense in a music theory/vocal quality sense.

[Jason Fox]

Well I'm not going to over analyze the performance... but I can say it was pretty alright. Compared to some performances Billie Joe has done before, it was great, and He really has come a long way.

But as far as my opinion goes, I'm just not big on folk-y country music, so it was alright.

[green day is]

Frequencies are more closely related to pitch.

What? They're related to pitch, obviously, but whether they're more related is irrelevant. Differing frequencies (the overtones, in this case) are the only reason we can even tell the difference between, say, a guitar or a violin or Miranda's voice or Billie's. I don't know if you aren't articulating yourself well (not that that's a fault, it gets weird talking about timbre sometimes because there often aren't clear definitions for "bright" or "deep" or anything and some terms people use for timbre are also used for pitch) but when one person's voice is bright (it's high frequencies, primarily the ones above 800Hz or so, show more than its lower frequencies) and the other is deep (the opposite) they'll do anything but clash. That's how you make things "fit" when equalizing parts of a song. If everything's clustering around the same frequency range it sounds too cluttered.

And I said that his voice getting weaker was my opinion from the beginning. Don't even act like I didn't.

But seriously, don't bother arguing with Zack. He and his opinions are superior to anyone who has ever walked this planet. Didn't you know?

That's mature.

[Ryan]

but when one person's voice is bright (it's high frequencies, primarily the ones above 800Hz or so, show more than its lower frequencies) and the other is deep (the opposite) they'll do anything but clash.

That is true to an extent. When singing tight harmonies though, it is best if the vocal tone is similar...you have to trust me on that. If you are listening to a choir, you don't want to be able to distintly pick out one choir member's voice. You want them all to sound like a cohesive group. You want all the tenors to sound like it's one giant fuckin tenor. You don't want to be able to say, "oh man, I can really hear Ryan's voice" when you're listening to a choir of 100 people. It's the same with tight harmonies in a small group. You want them to sound blended together. The difference in pitch needs to be enough to distinguish between them. Like I said, that's why Billie and Norah's voices blended so perfectly together...because they had the same style/timbre/tone quality. It's why Billie's and Mike's harmonies gel so well...because they are both singing with a very bright, punky sound.

[green day is]

That is true to an extent. When singing tight harmonies though, it is best if the vocal tone is similar...you have to trust me on that. If you are listening to a choir, you don't want to be able to distintly pick out one choir member's voice. You want them all to sound like a cohesive group. You want all the tenors to sound like it's one giant fuckin tenor. You don't want to be able to say, "oh man, I can really hear Ryan's voice" when you're listening to a choir of 100 people. It's the same with tight harmonies in a small group. You want them to sound blended together. The difference in pitch needs to be enough to distinguish between them. Like I said, that's why Billie and Norah's voices blended so perfectly together...because they had the same style/timbre/tone quality. It's why Billie's and Mike's harmonies gel so well...because they are both singing with a very bright, punky sound.

In a large choir it works because there's a stereo effect. Same with an orchestra or any other group that's right in front of you or any two sounds in a song that have been panned. In this video nothing's panned. There's also, probably even moreso than the stereo field, the effect in large ensembles of every part of the spectrum (every frequency in the overtone series of whatever note/chord/etc. at each point in time, anyway) being filled. Rather than an unpleasant clutter around a small part of the whole, you get the entire thing. Same concept when you hear someone say a guitar's tone is really full, no one ever says that as if it's a bad thing.

I have no idea if this analogy is gonna work, but it's like if someone built you just a shed. Like that's nice, it's at least got a purpose. A single-voice melody on its own can hold weight, though it isn't particularly interesting most of the time. But if you've got a house for that shed to go with, that's fucking awesome. You've got the whole deal. Nobody wants a house with eleven sheds though, it's too many fucking sheds cluttering up the backyard.

[DookieLukie]

He sounded a wee bit flat on the opening notes and then quickly corrected. Anyway, I definitely agree that soft and easy is the right touch for "When Will I Be Loved" -- at least if you want to do justice to the Everlys original version of the song -- here's a clip:

With the original as the reference I think Billie pretty much nailed it. Miranda twanged her part up way too much, and as a result the two vocal parts were fighting each other instead of blending the way the Everly Bros. intended (and the way that Billie and Norah captured in Foreverly). Short answer: The performance was okay, I just wish Norah had been up there on stage with him instead of Miranda.

This actually sounded like Billie. Wow he did a great job of emulating it!

[Ryan]

I have no idea if this analogy is gonna work, but it's like if someone built you just a shed. Like that's nice, it's at least got a purpose. A single-voice melody on its own can hold weight, though it isn't particularly interesting most of the time. But if you've got a house for that shed to go with, that's fucking awesome. You've got the whole deal. Nobody wants a house with eleven sheds though, it's too many fucking sheds cluttering up the backyard.

Nope...didn't work. Lol. It's just proven that, with vocals (not speaking for other instruments), tight harmonies work best when the voices are similar in terms of tone and style. It's why barbershop quartets are so cool. The voices have that bright, often a bit tinny sound to them and they all blend together to create something that is really cool. Those barbershop harmonies with four distinctly different sounding voices would sound pretty bad.

[Hermione]

I enjoyed that! It's true their voices don't go together that well and Billie was a bit flat at some points and blah blah but they both gave it their all and it was really sweet so I don't care . A nice understated tribute.

Billie, your awkwardness at life is glorious and eternal

Adorable

[.Holly]

You should probably get your ears checked. Just listened to it five times ina row, apart from listening to it last night. Biilie's second "I" was a tiny bit flatm, but that was the only sylable/note in the entire song that there was even a slight problem with. The issue is that he was singing with Miranda Lambert, who has a completely different overall vocal tone to her voice...one which I personally can't stand. Her tone is very bright and forward/piercing. A voice like that is not suited for tight harmonies. Billie changed his tone into something that is less bright and more subdued for all of the Everly's stuff. When you have two clashing voices trying to sing really tight harmonies, you can point the finger at either one of them for sounded off, when in actuality neither of them were off. Their voices just didn't blend. If Billie went out and sang it like it was a Green Day song, they would have blended better because his tone would have been different...but not suited for the song. So yeah, Miranda didn't help him at all by coming out and belting the fuck outta it. Also, there was nothing wrong with his guitar playing. Your comment about him getting weaker as a musician is absolutely fucking laughable. The amount that he has grown musically in the past 10 years since AI is nothing short of incredible.

Thank you, piercing was exactly the word I was looking for! I completely agree with you, neither were out of tune and both sang well, but their voices together were not a good combination!