Are Popular Singers & Good Singers the Same Thing?

How can you reconcile something that's popular and something that is good? Is it the same? Do you have to reconcile the two?

How many times have you gone to a restaurant and asked the server "What's good?" and have the server respond, "The meatloaf is the most popular item here." I don't know about you but I didn't ask what the most popular item was I asked what was good. In my opinion the two aren't always the same but yet we frequently assume and treat them as if they are the same.

Something popular can be good and something good can be popular but neither is true of the other all the time. Popularity, however, is not an indicator of quality. Something doesn't have to be good to be popular. Our culture has been conditioned to automatically assume now that if it's popular is MUST be good! But why? Have we lost the ability to judge quality for ourselves?

How does any of this apply to singing? Well I have A LOT to say on that topic! I frequently find popular singers are not good singers. What creates that popularity? A particular song that touches people? A show? A movie? Perhaps someone who is good at one thing and has branched out to other disciplines? I'm hear to say that good singing is about a mixture of several things like technical ability, tone, emotional connection to the song, lyrical interpretation and presence. A singer can have one of a mixture of these qualities and be a good singer but if one of these things is out of proportion it can be downright offensive for those of us who can tell what's wrong. Celine Dion, for example has a beautiful voice but I don't consider her a good singer. Why? She has technical skill and presence yet lacks any emotional connection to what she is singing. Everything she sings sounds good but is emotionally hollow yet she is phenomenally popular...and rich! But I challenge you to listen to her and I mean REALLY listen. Just because she can hold a note for a long time doesn't qualify her as a good singer. Compare several of her songs and I bet you'll find that while pleasant to listen to everything she sings sounds the same. Or Idina Menzel who shot to popularity and fame as Elphaba in "Wicked" and cemented her fame as the voice of Elsa in "Frozen". As a singer she is a technical mess. She doesn't know how to support her voice and her tone is almost a constant screech. Yet, she is popular. Why? Because the public is will to overlook those deficiencies because she is a compelling actor. It's her presence and acting ability that transport listeners, not her singing.

I'm interested in what YOU think. Tell me YOUR opinions about what is good singing vs. what isn't. I want to hear!