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HeresAThought (not gonna quote all that)
I personally am offended that you put Beyonce into the same sentence as any of those people. I think if you're going to compare "average" vocals this day and age you're talking the people you mentioned, I'd say Bey, Christina (as of late), Kelly, Carrie, people like that are more than average. I'd have even put Mariah in with those singers in her prime. Take away her whistle and you've got a good vocalist, but nothing over the top or special. If we're talking flawless vocalists, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone (outside of classically trained people like Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban) who I'd consider as flawless as Whitney and Celine. I think Beyonce's power isn't even evident because, like you said, no one has time for it. Hence Jennifer Hudson flopping even though she has some GREAT R&B music.
I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree about Janet. I don't respect artists who lip sync THAT much (I'll be the most honest Bey stan here and say the woman lip syncs every night she's on stage. She hasn't sung Love On Top live outside of the Superbowl and Get Me Bodied live since 2006, with the exception of acapella parts), especially if their voices aren't spectacular to begin with. I think Janet's credibility has always been due to Michael's success, honestly, and Michael is the only artist I have ever fully excused lip syncing from because, afterall, how can you criticize a man when he moves like that?