'Live for Loving You' is a kind of song that really can live in many different genres. And, of course, when you do your live performances the first time that you perform a song you want to stay true to the record: because tha's what people want to hear, they want to hear the hit. But then after you have done it fifty thousand times and through many, many different tours, you start experimenting and doing stuff to surprise people. So, the cut that we are doing here for the 'iTunes Orginal' is something that we love to do -- because we just took it and really broke it down to a Samba. You know, the Brazilians have an amazing edge -- percussively, I think -- they have amazing rhythms. And this song really fit that rhythm very nicely. So, we wanted to do it acoustically and really cool -- and like we've done many times on tour. Just break it down to just acoustic, no synths and things of that nature: just make it organic. And I love that song for that reason: because you could perform it with just a couple of bongos and some vocals if you had to. And it would still work.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker describes balancing fidelity to the original record with experimentation in live performances.
- In plain terms
- She plays hits as recorded at first then experiments to surprise the audience later.
- What can you take from it?
- Audiences expect familiarity, but artists can surprise them after establishing trust.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How much should a performance change from the original?
- When is it right to experiment on stage?
Another view
Some audiences may dislike changes to familiar songs.
More from Gloria Estefan
For the rest of my life, the one song that people will remember -- regardless -- is 'Conga' . . . I never get tired of singing it. It never gets old for me.
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