S01.E10: Queen Latifah vs. Marlon Wayans

[The Crazed Spruce]

Actress and rapper Queen Latifah lip syncs against actor Marlon Wayans.

[phane00]

As expected, Queen Latifah came out and ruled the stage in both performances.  I loved her En Vogue Performance.  However, Marlon was a surprise.  He was better than expected.  His 2nd performance was very good, and just slightly below the Queen's.  It was a good matchup, but I think that Marlon would have done better against Stephen Merchant and Queen Latifah would have been great opposite Terry Crews or Jimmy Fallon.

[Taeolas]

Maybe it was the backup vocals or something, but I could swear during Queen Latifah's second song, we could hear her even with the mic (assumably) off. 

 

Her first song, she did it without the mic prop as well, but she's someone you could easily believe can (and would) fill a noisy room just with her lung power. 

 

Marlon did well with his two songs, especially the second one; but he was greatly outmatched in the end sadly. Against a more balanced competitor, he could probably have won easily. 

[Irlandesa]

I guess I didn't like Marlon much of all and I can't think of any winner who I'd say Marlon could have beaten. He had some funny moments  but he didn't really lip sync his first song.  And he relied too much up on rubbing up on Chrissy, Queen and the other women in his performances. 

[Violet Penner]

Did not like Marlon's rubbing himself on everyone. Did not like Chrissy's dress. I thought Queen L was very good, but she held her mike up to her mouth too much in the second song so it was hard to see her actually lip syncing the whole time.

[nicolin]

I agree about holding the mic up to her mouth too much that song. I think Marlon did that too much his first song. I can't stand that - it takes away from the whole premise of the show.

But I had been wondering when someone was going to do an LL Cool J song and Queen did not disappoint overall. Definitely deserved the win.

[Irlandesa]

She did do that but every time we saw her lips, they were moving.  I don't think she was doing it as a crutch. It's just the way many rappers rap.

[dusang]

She did do that but every time we saw her lips, they were moving.  I don't think she was doing it as a crutch. It's just the way many rappers rap.

 

Absolutely.  You cannot do LL without a mic!!

[Violet Penner]

Yeah, I didn't mean that she was doing it as a crutch (as I think some others have) - and I agree with you that she was killing it with the actual lip sync!  It was just harder to see with the mic.  I wish they'd hold it down lower so we can see their actual lips do the actual syncing.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Violet Penner

[dusang]

I love how much LL Cool J clearly loves the whole thing.  I mean, the whole lip sync thing -- he looks so happy when Queen is out there doing En Vogue!

 

ETA: Rock the Bells came out in 1985?!?!  DAYUM!!

Edited June 1, 2015 by dusang

[Impish Dragon]

Queen Latifah totally deserved the win.  I too was wondering when someone would lip sync an LL song and she didn't disappoint. 

 

Marlon did nothing for me.  I felt like he was trying to be funny instead of actually being funny.  And his rubbing on all the women rubbed me the wrong way. 

 

I forget how tall Latifah is.  She was nearly eye to eye with LL without her shoes.  *does a quick search*  She's 5'10" he's 6'2".   Oh and is it just me or did they have a bit of a sizzle together?  At least more than I remember them having in the movie they did together. 

[leighroda]

I read an interview with Chrissy Tiegen that they do have an issue with the guests actually singing and being picked up on the mic, even if the one they are holding is off it can still be heard I guess.

[Taeolas]

I'd assume that would especially be a problem with the professional singers since they're used to belting out regardless. But in general, it's not as easy as you might think, especially if you're getting into it. You have to go through all the right motions and *just* stop yourself from making noise while still doing the right mouth movements; you get into the zone and you'll be doing a singalong instead of a lipsync easily.

 

As I said earlier, it was obvious with Queen Latifah that she was actually singing at some points. :)

[Violet Penner]

Can't they just turn those mikes off for the performances?

[dusang]

Can't they just turn those mikes off for the performances?

 

They are off.

[leighroda]

Yes, that was my point, even with the mics off the sound still gets picked up I guess between the other people with mics on the stage, I don't really know how sound works ( I mean stage wise, I understand the general concept of sound).

[Taeolas]

Yeah, they would have at least 5 mics in play at any time. ( 1 for Chrissy, 1 for LL, 1 for each Syncher and an ambiant mic for the crowd). The active Syncher's mic would be turned off, but the other 4 are still live so they can record reactions and commentary and such. If you have someone with a distinctive or powerful enough voice, (or they are close to one of the other mics), then the other mics will pick up the syncher's actual singing. Editting can probably mute much of that, but I'm sure they leave some in just because.