Jake, you make a lot of good points. I’d like to add the following. A lot of people through luck, being in the right place at the right time, or other means, have gotten their 15 minutes of fame in front of the world. Some of these people simply were different or had an appeal that captured the imagination of the public, at least for that 15 minutes. The ones that keep going usually have talent and skills to carry them through. They may also have some good marketing working on their behalf.
Charice is an incredible vocal talent. But she put in a lot of hours of practice and training, as well as many hours competing in singing contests. In Malcom Gladwell’s book,
Outliers, he discusses some very interesting ideas about how people become so successful. He has something he calls the 10,000 hour rule which basically states that a person needs to put in around 10,000 hours of practice and/or experience at something in order to become an expert at it. Charice was probably well on her way to achieving that 10,000 hours by the time she was 15. I think this is the main lesson to learn from the Charice Case Study. Like you said, “be patient (It took them years to accomplish this)”. Yes, it did take years. Years filled with practice, experience and hard work.
Now consider Alizée. She got her 15 minutes of fame which hooked her up with MF/LB at the age of 15. She may have had a lot of hours under her belt as a dancer, but she was just getting into singing. She was fortunate that her first single was a huge hit and she was able to continue her career for 3 or 4 more years. Mylene had her practice everyday to prepare for her concert tour in 2003-2004. But after a career of 10 years, how many hours has Alizée actually sung or worked on singing? Almost all her TV performances were lip-synced because that’s the way it’s done in her country. Then there was her long break. I just think Alizée has not put in nearly as many hours perfecting her craft as many of her extremely successful peers have.
I think one of the most important things Mylene did for Alizée was to provide a practice regimen. I’m not sure that Alizée has that now. I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes days or even weeks at a time without a real singing workout. Alizée has the raw talent, but I believe she is still somewhat in the development stage as an artist. I only wish she would intensify her efforts. Having said that, I’ve always liked the sound of her voice and I’ve always liked her music. But I think she can take it to another level if she wants to. And the important point here is that it is up to Alizée, and no one else. It’s obviously her choice.
We can talk about clothing and hair styles, dancing, marketing and promotion, choice of music and arrangements, fan promotion and fan relations. These are all important. But in my opinion, the underlying fact of vocal practice and experience may be the most important over the long term. Of all the musicians and singers I've known over the years, the better ones are almost always the ones who simply play and practice more.
For those who haven’t seen it, here is Charice at the age of 15 on Oprah. Sorry for the poor quality.
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