Just Putting This Here Because It’s Blowing My Mind
Posted on November 17, 2016 Posted by John Scalzi 46 Comments
This video is from the musician Sting’s kid, and holy buckets, does she (who identifies as non-binary so I may not be using the right pronoun) sound like her pop vocally. There’s no problem with that, and it does nothing to diminish from her own talents. It’s just, wow, eerie. I listened to the whole album this single is off of, called Information. It’s pretty good, so if you like this song, check out the rest of it.
For someone who grew up in Wiltshire and was educated at Bryanston (which is dead posh) she sounds surprisingly Northern. This is not a bad thing.
If I’m not mistaken, she toured as opening act for some Sting shows. My brother saw her live and told me the same: her voice sounds almost like her father’s
wow, chip off the old block for sure. and a good song, too:)
I’m not 1000% sure, but I *think* non-binaries use neutral pronouns like they/them. Like I said, not absolutely sure, though.
But yeah, they sound ridiculously like their dad to the point that I thought it was his voice dubbed over theirs.
It’s like listening to Sting singing just slightly lower and without the stressed/breathy feel he puts into most of his singing. Catchy song too.
@Jason – I was going to use “they” in my comment, but then I was afraid to be wrong, so I restructured my comment so that I was talking about the singing instead of the singer.
I read an interview where Eliot Sumner discusses gender identity, etc, here — it appears she still uses “she”.
Dammit Scalzi, isn’t it enough that I buy your books? Now you have me buying music too? Also, thanks for this.
Sting’s other kid (or one of them, I don’t know how many he has) is opening for his upcoming tour.
Songs that have a creepily stalkerish vibe must run in the family. LUL
Fantastic music. Thanks for sharing.
Reminds me of the first time I heard Julian Lennon sing. Although she doesn’t have some of the top notes Sting had while doing falsetto, but that gives her a more polished and controlled feeling to the voice.
The song itself has some 80s vibe going too, especially with the keyboards, that perhaps increases the Sting-sense.
First time my browser loaded the page, the link was blank, so there was no name associated with your entry, just ‘musician Sting’s kid’ and the album name. Luckily a re-load took care of the problem.
Very eerie similarity – I wonder how a duet with her dad would sound?
Thank you for sharing this. A long time Sting fan I’ve been kinda listening to other music for a bit. Eliot has certainly come into her own. Thank you!
Wow, very cool!
As for the non-bianry, we now know that she uses “she” – but remember that the singular “they” and “them” ARE proper grammar (I’ve had people fight me on that, lol). I have a friend who was born intersexed (what they used to call “hermaphrodite”), and back in the day they’d do gender-reassignment at birth. Sometimes this works out, as in Jamie Lee Curtis’ case, but in my friend’s case, the doc & her parents chose poorly. Because of chronic illness they can no longer take hormones so appears to everyone as female, even though inside they’re really male.
So, for a lot of people, non-binary isn’t just an affectation, if someone tries to tell you it always is. When a young person I used to babysit came out as trans, she was told “You can’t just CHOOSE your gender!” To which she replied “No, you can’t, and I was suicidal trying to live as the wrong one.”
If you think she sounds like her dad, you should hear her brother Joe, who plays with a group called Fiction Plane that opened up for the Police on their last tour, where I saw them. We arrived a little late due to traffic and I thought the Police had already done on.
According to Snopes, there’s no proof at all that Jamie Lee Curtis is intersex.
I remember her starting as “I Blame Coco” some years ago (e.g. “Caesar” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS_6dK15gPI ), but her voice seem to have been a bit lighter back then.
Not online, Helen S, but decades back she had talked about it in an interview. So, you’re correct that there’s no proof (as is Snopes, who I love), but as my archeology professor always said, lack of evidence isn’t evidence of lack.
My spouse saw her in concert, liked her a bunch, and bought us the album, which I like a bunch too.
This….this is really good. What an unexpected pleasure. One typically doesn’t look to one’s favorite space opera author for music recommendations, but maybe that needs to change.
Charlie:
As it happens, I was a professional music critic for years. So there’s that.
You had another tweet about Sting’s new album not sounding like Sting. Maybe Sting’s powers are being transferred to his next incarnation, like the Dalai Lama or something.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/11/17/psychiatry-professor-transgenderism-mass-hysteria-similar-1980s-era-junk-science/
Good song, thanks! She also looks remarkably like her dad. If she buzzed and gelled her hair, she could probably remake some of the classic Police videos no one the wiser.
She is interesting. Thanks!
Just watched the Fiction Plane video from earlier in the thread. Also good, also like Sting, but, interestingly, to my ear not so much like Eliot. Rather like the way that Charlie Sheen and Emilio Esteves both look just like Martin Sheen but not like each other. Joe also appears to move similarly to Sting while he plays.
It’s also interesting that they both chose bass as their instrument.
Saying she said so in “an interview” is no better than just a flat assertion. It’s gossip.
That was amazing.
Dude. You’ve gotta check out her cover of Creep.
Thank you! Music can be so intensely personal, it’s always nice to have a recommendation work out. This is fantastic.
@John Scalzi: That’s a great song! I’ll check out the album, thanks.
@Shirley Will: From Snopes – “Contrary to common assertion, Ms. Curtis never made such a relevation during an interview or public appearance.” (shrug) Weird how people just repeat rumours.
@wizardru: Good song; I’ll check out Fiction Plane, too, thanks!
(Sorry for the double post!)
Artistic alchemy at its finest. . .
I have heard Sting’s new song & then when I heard this I actually wondered if there was any “swap” going on.
Thanks to Julio & irilyth for letting me know that they have seen Eliot in concert & can confirm.
I think “Xe” is the correct pronoun to use for people that do not identify as a specific gender.
The correct pronoun to use is, generally, the one the person wants you to use. Singular they is good as an indeterminate placeholder.
Chuck Wendig used zhe in the latest Aftermath book, so that’s what I usually default to for gender-neutrality.
*Hit the comments thread to mention Fiction Plane.*
*Discover that the great and noble work has already been done.*
*Thank the heavens that people make things and that people like things that people make and talk about them, and that no U.S. President has ever managed to stop art from happening.*
*Dissolve into tears.*
This is amazing. Her voice is like his, but richer. Good song.
Kind of looks like him too, but with his defects all turned to graces.
I think “Xe” is the correct pronoun to use for people that do not identify as a specific gender.
How on earth did you come to that conclusion? I’d have thought anyone who had gotten as far as hearing of the word “xe” would also be aware that it’s far from the only possibility out there, and moreover that it’s polite to ASK what pronouns a person prefers.
HelenS: I think Gerd was trying to say that until you can *ask* a person which pronoun they prefer, “xe” (or “zhe” or “zie”, I’ve seen it spelled several ways) is a better default than just randomly picking male or female pronouns. “They” also works, but is potentially confusing.
I hope the young lady (since she does identify as XY) goes far. And if she decides to ever do a duo with her brother…. well my ear-bones will be happy-er. :-D
May the gods damn my stupid ass still asleep fingers. XX
Identifies as XX XX XX. seriously stupid mind cramp after a week and a half of no more than 4 hours of sleep per day cycle. Shoot me now please? With Diphenhydramine and barbiturates.
My first job out of High School was at St Paul and over the next 5 years Learned so very much. Seeing the hospital torn ddown tears a small piece of my heart out. The Daughters of Charity and the doctors and staff of St Paul Hospital will always be with me.
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