THANK you. The secret line made no sense in context with the rest of the song, and neither did the video, which, again, was just... I did not understand it, it had nothing to do with the song. Was the no running no yelling no fun thingy supposed to be an attempt at humour, maybe? They keep zooming in on it. Fail. Then they started going up and screaming in people's ears, which would personally freak me out, and then people started throwing their shirts in the pool. What? I hate the JB even more.

And no, yell-singing would be Nick Jonas, not SRS. ;)

Also, on a random side note of my own, I listened to almost all of the TL5Y songs, and some of the Aida songs, and I think that your taste in music is slightly addictive.

I think my favourite song in the play would be IWtGTB, followed by PUS(r) and then IWtTB(r) and PUS tied. And then If Only, and the finale, and Sweet Child and its reprise... *rambles*

Yes, I agree, even with the crazy wig and the decidedly creepy makeup, SRS still does look pretty.

No name calling, I promise.

I do, however, plan to debate the point (namely, that the JB cover is superior to Pat Carroll or SRS or Faith Prince or even Heidi Blickenstaff or- *pied*)

((No! Wait! "Dying is easy, dying is easy/You simply fall asleep/And let them plant you in the yard/I tell you dying is easy/It's comedy that's hard!" Hem.))

Now. In my opinion, the ranking of professional singers who I have heard sing Souls goes like this:

1. Sherie Rene Scott

2. Pat Carroll

3. Faith Prince

4. Heidi Blickenstaff

5. Jonas Brothers

Mainly my reasoning for disliking the JB cover (intensely) is that (a) they CHANGED THE LYRICS and (b) I maintain they aren't very good singers anyway.

Now. Assuming most people on here haven't listened to SRS, FP, or HB, I'll be using the original Pat Carroll version as reference here.

The first way in which I feel the original version of Souls is superior to the JB cover, well, quite frankly, Pat Carroll manages to ham it way up while still being believable, scary (I was terrified of Ursula alone of all Disney villains), and generally without narm. At all. Narm, for those who don't know, is a moment meant to be serious, intense, or frightening that just comes off... silly. Anyway, I think we can all agree that the original scene in the animated movie is distinctly unfunny. In fact it's got a rather large amount of Nightmare Fuel (i.e., the polyps in the entrance, the hands that Ursula conjures to steal Ariel's voice...). Aside from that it is, of course, a well-written Villain Song with interesting lyrics and a vaguely disturbing yet still awesome context. It helps that it's a complete Con Man (Cecaelia?) song, et cetera. The content of the song fits nicely into the story and makes perfect sense in relation to the scene.

However, the Jonas Brothers cover... First of all they changed several lyrics, some of which made sense (i.e, replacing "woman" with "person", because obviously none of them are female), while others, ah, didn't (i.e, "know a little secret/It's a talent that I always have possessed", see previous arguments). Which was annoying, though they seem to have a habit of doing that so I suppose we must move on. Second, they sped it WAY up, almost halving the song length. And unfortunately for them, Souls is the sort of song that sounds better the slower it's played (though not too slow); see the theatrical version of the song which was a wee bit slower than the original song, to excellent effect. Speeding it up, however, messes with my ear (dunno about anyone else), and is generally distracting. Thirdly, I have a major WTH issue with the percussion in the JB cover; to me it seems sort of repetitive yet scattered (as compared to the vaguely march-like percussion in the theatrical version, for example). Fourthly, and this is my main problem with the cover, the music video had absolutely NOTHING to do with the song. 

You see, the music video taken separately from the song itself appears to be centered around a boring swimming pool where you aren't allowed to swim but everyone's there anyway for some reason. Then the JB show up, lead the people in a mass rebellion against the stupid pool rules and everyone is happy hooray. Except the lifeguard, who probably got fired.

All very well and good, until one adds in the lyrics. Obviously, of course, there's the issue of the music video apparently portraying the JB as "heroes" or some such, while the song it's set to is a villain song centered mainly on manipulation and taking advantage of people. There is a clear disconnect here. Below that, there is the matter of this "secret" (as opposed to "magic") that they mention in the first verse; their knowledge of said secret has nothing to do with the apparent plot of the video, unless the "secret" is knowing that people are a bunch of sheep (but that's not a secret). Their secret doesn't let them help (or "help") the bored people (who are pretty dumb anyway, sitting around a pool where they're not allowed to swim), as opposed to the "magic" in the original version which is the basis on which Ursula forms her entire contract with Ariel (she can do magic, therefore she can help ("help") Ariel get her prince). The same issue goes with the whole "in the past I've been a nasty" thing. Again, what does this have to do with anything in the video? Whereas in the original this is Ursula reassuring Ariel that she isn't evil anymore (she LIES).

Furthermore, later on in the song they have the verse, "the men up there don't like a lot of blabber/they think a girl who gossips is a bore/Yes on land it's much preferred/For ladies not to say a word/And after all dear what is idle prattle for?/they're not all that impressed with conversation/true gentlemen avoid it when they can/but they dote and swoon and fawn/on a lady who's withdrawn/It's she who holds her tongue who gets her man" This has quite literally NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the video; they're not talking about not being able to talk, they're talking about not being able to swim, and they're on land so they've got no reason to be talking about how things are "on land". And finally they're definitely not talking about helping someone "get her man"; they're talking about letting people swim. Of course, then comes the line, "it won't cost much/just your voice", which doesn't make any sense in the context of the video.

And so on. 

Okay, no names!  But I have to agree with TNO and others.  I really thought it stunk!

@ TNO (umlaut): Yes, the bit in Climbing Uphill (which I just listened to today for the first time it's very good). And yes again, screaming more than yelling.

Ear Worms? Within Temptation? ...should I know what those terms mean...?  Instrumental is no singing, just instruments, right?

@ Charlotte: Have you ever heard the original? Not the Pat Carroll Disney one (though that's great too: "Come in dear, we mustn't lurk in doorways, it's rude..."), but the original Broadway version by Sherie Rene Scott? Look it up on YouTube, it's brilliant.

@ Meadow: Maybe the idea was that the people being screamed at were poor and unfortunate souls? ;)

Jk...

Oh my gosh, the video was horrible! It sounded like they were dying (and in a way, the song was). But I guess it was better than them dressing up like mermaids or a sea-witch. No one would enjoy that but Kevin... *shivers at picture that just came to mind...*

@ Charlotte: Consider it an LM thread.