{"id":176574,"date":"2022-08-09T09:55:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T13:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=176574"},"modified":"2022-08-09T09:57:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T13:57:46","slug":"r-i-p-olivia-newton-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=176574","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Olivia Newton-John"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DnkHf069fvA\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;Magic&#8221; is my favorite Olivia Newton-John track. I&#8217;ve listened to it multiple times a week for the majority of my life &#8211; it&#8217;s on any playlist I put together of Faves &#8211; it&#8217;s a never-ending source of pleasure. <\/p>\n<p>But we need to talk about &#8220;Hopelessly Devoted to You&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lR93L8sUMNg\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It is an <em>incredible<\/em> vocal performance that must not be taken for granted. Just because she makes it look and sound so effortless should not diminish the sheer scope of this performance and the astonishing vocal feat that it is. The song is over-played and over-heard, and a favorite at karaoke joints, but do yourself a favor: Clear your mind. Forget that you&#8217;ve heard it 100 times, 98 times against your will. Forget all that. And just listen to her performance. Listen to what she is DOING with her <i>insanely<\/i> gifted and flexible voice. &#8220;Hopelessly Devoted&#8221; requires range: it requires a high belt. &#8220;Since you pushed my love a-s-iiiiiide&#8221; &#8230; Olivia Newton-John shows no strain: there&#8217;s no audible &#8220;break&#8221; between head voice and chest voice. It&#8217;s all one. You never worry she won&#8217;t make the notes. It never feels like she&#8217;s reaching. Her voice flows up and up and up  &#8230; it&#8217;s as powerful an instrument as Barbra Streisand&#8217;s or Donna Summer&#8217;s, both of whom have equally insane ranges, with very high belts. <\/p>\n<p>My friend Alex just told this story I never heard before, and it makes total sense: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHopelessly Devoted\u201d is as good of a musical theater performance as \u201cThe Man That Got Away\u201d.<br \/>\nAnd Travolta knew it, which is why when he heard it at the studio, he demanded they write him a solo number as well (the mundane and forgettable \u201cStranded at the Drive In&#8221;)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Olivia Newton-John&#8217;s voice is one of pop music&#8217;s greatest musical instruments. Oh, and Elvis was a fan, too. <\/p>\n<p>RIP. This is a heartbreaker. She was such a huge part of the soundtrack of my childhood and teenage years. And remains so today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Magic&#8221; is my favorite Olivia Newton-John track. I&#8217;ve listened to it multiple times a week for the majority of my life &#8211; it&#8217;s on any playlist I put together of Faves &#8211; it&#8217;s a never-ending source of pleasure. But we &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=176574\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176576,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176574\/revisions\/176576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}