Singing Stars

Scarlett Johansson has an album out. But then you probably knew that already. Her album is a collection of covers of songs by Tom Waits. But then you probably knew that already. Apparently it's not that bad. But then you probably knew that already.

Why do you probably know all these things already? Simple answer: Scarlett Johansson. When one of the world's hottest young actresses starts to record an album, chances are that, unless you're a monk living in a remote cave and/or are completely detached from the rest of civilisation, you're gonna hear about it. It is big, big news these days when any actor or actress takes a chance on their vocal chords for something other than dialogue.

One question: why? Back in the golden age of Hollywood this kind of thing happened all the time. The big name stars were people like Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby. A couple of decades later you get people like (shudder) Barbra Streisand. Even Lee Marvin had a go. Was there really as much hype as there is now back then surrounding these guys?

Of course the main reason for this trend back in the glory days was that the king of genres was the musical. Soundtrack albums ruled the charts, as did stand alone songs by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Kern, Rodgers & Hart, Rodgers & Hammerstein (same Rodgers, in case you were wondering - that boy got around!) and so forth. Nowadays movie musicals are rare; a once a year phenomenon. So when someone like Scarlett decides to break the stereotype and record an independent album, its going to be huge tabloid news, whether the the music is good or bad.

These days, however, there can be mixed results to these "experiments". Anyone heard anything sung by Lindsay Lohan lately? How about the latest one from Hilary Duff? I'm so confused as to what's happened to J-Lo right now I can't even remember what came first - the singing or the acting? Speaking of which, look at those who have recently gone from singing to acting: Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake...oh dear.

Seems the only way to gain credibility though this experiment these days is to go completely off the mainstream track. Scarlett is following in the footsteps of people such as Minnie Driver, whose latest album is country-based, or Juliette Lewis, who fronts an indie/punk band, The Licks. These all sound much more interesting than the bubble-gum/postmodern/Disney-fied pop; they sound different, unique, individual. It doesn't matter if you love the music or hate it: you gotta hand it to Scarlett, she knows what she's doing.

Laters.