than to sing live, with miming you've got to make it look like your singing. Its hard I've tried it,

Too add to your point, most miming is often just done by turning the mic off, the artist is usually still singing (Mariah Carey does that), it makes it rather pointless.

I just don't appreciate miming at all in concerts, I can tolerate it, and for someone like Britney Spears I'd happily see her mime and put on her full-on energetic show.

But I've seen Take That, Kylie, Lady Gaga, Madonna etc in concert, and they sang their concerts live ( though Madonna did mime a couple o' tracks ).

I've always thought this! Making it look real, even if your mic is turned off, still means you need to be dead on time to the track even if you are singing. Much easier to just sing live.

Agreed.

Oh the irony!

Miming is much harder than people think, imo. Some artists do it terribly (Vanessa from The Saturdays over exaggerates her expressions and movements, and Britney and JLS are dreadful at it) whereas some are pretty good at it (Cheryl Cole)

Some artists are pretty hit and miss live yet ALWAYS sing live anyway (Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Pixie),

The fact that some people still think Cheryl was singing all of PT live on TXF proves that she's excellent at miming

There's a few reasons for miming:

- The act is pretty bad live, or that particular song is hard to sing live
- The acts can't sing and dance at the same time, especially singing in key without sounding breathy and tired
- The studio can't cater for the song (not an issue on shows like the X-Factor, but on low budget programs in smaller studios, it might take too long and cost too much to make it properly live
- There's a problem with the acts voice (illness, been told to rest it etc)

I think miming on a talent show is unacceptable, though. I've noticed with the X-Factor a lot of miming is done with a live backing track, where they record the track prior to performing but leave a few of the imperfections in there to make it sound live.

And I really hate it when they do that.

It annoys me that Celine Dion mimes her biggest songs in her concerts... seriously, she's a vocalist. Sing woman!

Surely it's a better option to sing and have plenty of backing track for the chorus (which, if you're dancing, is likely to have the more intense routine) because it fills in the bits you physically can't sing?

I doubt people would be that bothered if you miss a word here and there, or even let the playback cover it.

There's certainly no excuse to mime an entire song unless you're churning out major moves throughout, which is practically never.

a singer who cheats by miming... so whats the point of being a singer?... I could stand on stage and mime a britney/mariah/ whoever song... if they can do it, they should, otherswise pack up!

Miming takes years and years of practice. It's a physically and mentally demanding skill that few are ever able to completely master, something not many people are able to understand

just because something is harder doesn't make it better. I'm sure some people have no problem going to concerts and seeing the person dancing but only hearing what you hear on your cd at home just blasted through a pa system, however if the sort of music i liked was mimed live I'd be very pissed off as I don't go to see people like Shinedown or seether to hear them mime.

with Britney she DOES sing with the track, on the circus tour you can hear her singing with the backing track its just the Mic is turned really low, when i saw her at the O2 i heard her singing with all the songs her mic was just so low you can barely hear it but when i look at videos of the tour its clear she aint just miming.

people like JLS and Saturdays are TERRIBLE at miming over exaggerating vocals wtf lol

then why do it if its easier for a singer to sing?

She is getting on now and I rermembe her saying it's hard to hit the same notes as she used to and can't even make sound when it comes to those notes anymore.

She said she sings My heart will go on in a lower key now.

Because miming is a delicate craft that only a few are capable of perfecting. When one masters the art of miming they can then perform any song

My Heart Will Go On was mimed the whole way through her last tour and Vegas show to a new lower vocal.

sorry but that doesnt make sense..... ok, to employ it as a technique to enable an artist to sing better/any song, but then why mime when you can perform the real thing?... to enable dance routines? i always associate intricate dance routines as a cover/distraction from the weakness of the material.

nope, if you can sing, why mime.

Miming is for wimps. It's much better to sing live, put in some real emotion and passion, and if you hit a bum note, tough, you're human, it's live, it's not supposed to be perfect.

I'm married to a singer who never mimes, only ever sings live

Does anyone actually want to hear Britney sing live? No.

Though I love her music, performance and personality, I've stopped classing her as an artist in the creative sense of the word.

She's an entertainer, and a good one at that.

Probably because it's "safe." Speaking only for the artists with the giant voices (Celine, Mariah), they probably mime because people are expecting to hear a vocal that is nothing short of amazing, and they don't want to dissapoint. This is particulary heard performances of their more well known songs that their voice has changed since recording (Celine with My Heart Will Go On and Mariah with We Belong Together).

I can tolerate miming, but only if the circumstances are acceptable. A few examples would be Cheryl Cole because she does a lot of (good) dancing, and Mariah Carey because she's more than proved herself as a vocalist.

Some artists never mime, and I really respect them for that. Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, or Pixie never mime (I think I recall Pixie doing it once and gave an interview afterwards, in which it was clear that she wasn't well).

Ke$ha is someone who should mime though.

That's not the point. Anyway, I've seen her mention in a few interviews that she knows she probably sounds like shit but she would rather sound shit but real, than good but fake.