[Rob Babcock]

Okay, just curious to get some input from all of you at AC.  I'll go on record as being a long time fan of Diana Krall.  I've always liked her voice, I think she's a very talented pianist and I like the kind of music she plays.  I get that many of you probably agree with me and just as many of you don't care for her at all.  That's cool.

But I'm not sure what I think of the way she markets herself.  Krall is an attractive woman, no doubt about it.  But lets be honest- she's in that Danica Patrick league; a lot more attractive than you expect for a stock car driver but if she wasn't already famous she wouldn't be getting calendars and modeling jobs.  With Patrick I guess I can understand why she sells herself as the racing babe.  After all, Nascar is about 99.99997 percent males.  She's an anomaly, one of a handful of women to ever win a big race.

But Diana Krall?  In my estimation she's a serious musician and artist.  Love her or hate your you have to acknowledge that she is a gifted pianist.  Teen pop stars belting auto tuned renditions of songs written by corporate hacks, I get why they sell themselves on sex appeal.  Take away the shock and Miley Cyrus is basically nothing at all.  It's a little harder to me to see why a woman in her late forties with tens of millions of albums sold is still doing it, although I will admit she still looks great.   She's always used her good looks to get help her albums stand out on the record store shelves, I get that.  But her new album has her just straight up posing in lingerie!

She's a grown adult, capable of deciding how to market herself.  But I find this trend starting to get a bit absurd. Is that how the music business has to work in 2014?

For those of you that aren't familiar with her new album here are some pics I found online that are taken right from the liner booklet.  FWIW the album is actually pretty good.  It would stand on its own merits even if she wasn't pretty hot.

[WireNut]

Her album covers DID get me to start listening to her, I probably never would have if it wasn't for the cover.
After the drooling was over I do like her music but not this latest album to much, only the cover.





 

[Rob Babcock]

I'm sure her looks caught my eye too, but that was a long time ago!  You'd think that by now she's well known enough.  I'm not sure what to think of it.  Again, I don't begrudge her doing whatever she wants.  If it's helping sell albums at a time when the music biz in tanking, well...good for her!  I often joke that if I looked like Channing Tatum I'd throw away all my shirts.

It's hard not to notice and get weary of the double standard.  Monk or Miles Davis wouldn't put a picture of themselves in a banana hammock on the cover of their albums to sell more.   You notice that in 90% of the circumstances a female actor will finally do nudity to get an Oscar but that's never a prerequisite for a man.  It's not like Sidney Poitier had to get naked to earn respect as an actor.

Am I become too much a liberal?

[PMAT]

Because she can! Flaunt it while you got it because when it goes south the geese fly north. Now if she would just wear a little less I would buy that album.     
I'm prepared to be flamed.   
And I would like to play her harmonica. So there.

[Rob Babcock]

No flames here!  Again, I think she's a smokeshow too! It just seems weird that she's leaning on that so heavily.  Pop music is kind of about sex, I guess.  Women by nature dress for men, and to a degree men are dressing for women (talking about regular life not professional attire).  That also makes sense.

I am trying to think about the female artists I like the most.  Really I guess a lot of them are sexy although most of them don't market it, they just are attractive.  Holly Cole and Robin McKelle are about my age and in their younger days both were very beautiful.  But neither of them put sexy pics on their album jackets.  Neko Case and Liz Phair are both hotties, and the latter did use that fact to gain some notoriety.  But although both of them have done some provocative spreads for magazines they are better known for talent than their beauty.

I also have to note that even though Cole and McKelle are well past the point where they conform to western media beauty ideals I still love their music!  I've bought McKelle's recent albums and would buy more from Cole but I fear she retired or was dropped by her label.

It's not that women can't use sex to sell, just that it's sad that they seem like they have to.  I wonder if it's even that effective?  In her younger days Christina Aguilara was gorgeous but how many males ever bought her records?  Maybe sex got her on TV but did it sell any records?  Middle aged men were drooling over a not-quite-legal Brittney Spears but were men buying her records?  I don't know, I kind of doubt it.

Can women reclaim "power" of their media sexuality in a culture where it's their main commodity?  I don't know.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude.  I'm not anti porn or anything either.  It's just an awareness I'm just now getting that probably I should have had all along, I guess.   There's an old joke that goes like this:  An old fish is swimming along one day and comes across two young fish.  The old fish says, "How's the water today, boys?"  The two young fish look at each other and say, "What the hell is water?"   It seems we're so immersed in the commoditization of female sexuality that we sometimes don't realize we're swimming in to, so to speak.

[charmerci]

First of all, her latest is Wallflower and boy is she dressed completely conservative. Rag Doll was 2012. Maybe she got some grief from some quarters for that cover. She was in her late 40's and time is running out for her youthful looks. It's probably that last one like that.

Some people are just more ambitious than others. Sinead O. said that she has been asked to dress more sexy to sell more albums.

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

She can still pull it off she's almost 50 years old.  I can't believe she is this old as I thought she was in her late 30's.  Great musician and singer.

Cheers Rod

[mav52]

I say good for her.  She is also an entertainer and a marketing wiz and knows what sells, 15 million albums is knowing to sneeze at. .

[SteveFord]

Beats John and Yoko's Two Virgins album cover so good for her.
I'm not much of a Diana Krall fan, I never saw what the fuss was all about.

[steve in jersey]

I've deleted this posting, due to lack of interest on my part in expressing my approval or disapproval of
a non -issue artistic choice !

Sorry for the over quick finger the first time around !

[jqp]

The album is thematic of the older days, think Boardwalk Empire, the jazz age.

Involved in this marketing are Elvis Costello MacManus (husband and...) and T-Bone Burnett (producer and musician)

I found this and they confirm my suspicions    http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/10/04/162285539/diana-krall-brings-sexy-back-in-time

Now if I was Elvis, not sure I would want some of these pictures presented with the album.

[rockadanny]

she's a serious musician and artist

Agree (prior to this). In my perception, this kind of marketing denegrates her level of seriousness quite a bit. After seeing this album "art" I actually had no interest in listening to the music within. It spoke to me as," I can no longer convince you to buy my music by listening to it, therfore I'll try THIS to sell you stuff." I find it pretty sad.

[Devil Doc]

Sex sells, but has never gotten me to buy a record. I've only read about this woman. I've never heard her. I don't think I'd like the music. The fact that her records are over used as demos has put me off,  but I don't really have an opinion as to her talent. She must have some, because you usually don't get a long term record contract with out some.

Doc

[barrows]

It is pretty normal for even classical records to feature alluring photos of female soloists, and for Jazz singers it appears to be the norm, so I am not sure why one would want to single out Diana Krall...
The appreciation of physical beauty and sexuality are both normal facets of our world, it does not bother me one bit.  I do not really think there is any distinction between pop music, rock, jazz, or classical when it comes to considering physical beauty and sexuality as part of the package.

[Diamond Dog]

If an album cover had featured say - a jazz guitarist sitting in a chair with his trusty axe in his lap and an attractive woman ( or more ) off to the side lounging in the same outfit Krall was wearing, would we still be having this conversation?

Ella Fitzgerald had trouble getting material because songwriters didn't want their love songs being sung by someone with Ella's appearance instead of a sultry little chanteuse. What you're observing here ain't nothing new.

D.D.

[rajacat]

Sex sells, especially to horny, ogling, sexually frustrated middle aged men who aren't getting enough at home.

[Larkston Zinaspic]

Does Diana Krall have a tramp stamp like Galina Vale? Galina's a bit of a show-off, but she's exceptionally talented.

[FullRangeMan]

If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not believe, I have not see it in Jazz before.
The artists think that all the people have their same moral standards.

[barrows]

I must admit, I think here in the US we have still have a somewhat skewed, puritanical, view about beauty/sexuality.  I find absolutely nothing wrong with Galina's pic shown here, as long as it is something she was happy with.  There is no reason to think that there is some kind of divide between "serious musician" and someone who is being sexually expressive.  And those who perceive a musician who is sexually expressive as being less a "serious artist" because of that musician's comfort (and perhaps enthusiasm) for their sexuality should perhaps examine their own vaules.

[rajacat]

I wonder when you're going to see a couple actually having sex in some hip hop video as part of the "marketing strategy".