While scrolling through some of the blind auditions from The Voice, I immediately recognized Dia Frampton (or at least was able deduce who she was from her not so popular first name and her sister/bandmate Meg in the friends and family room) from the rock band Meg and Dia. The band was an afterthought for me in the bland emo chick rock genre that eventually got popularized by Paramore.
Then Dia popped up on The Voice performing the antithesis of emo rock, the breezy "Bubbly." Dia played a folkier version of the song, changing the phrasing ever so slightly to make it interesting (and wisely dropped the "Will you count me in" intro). Where most singing competition contestants pick songs where they can sing with their hands (think Mariah Carey clones), Dia went the other way, and it paid off when Blake Shelton set the record for fastest button press on the show. She then became one of only three singers from the blind auditions I cared about. Granted she almost lost all the goodwill she built up from the blind auditions when she was part of the single worst performance during the first season of The Voice when she “battled” Serabee during "Can’t Hurry Love" (which was not all her fault, but unlistenable nonetheless). The performance was so bad the judges, who never met a superlative that did not want to overuse, could not find anything positive to say. But all that changed with one single performance.
When Dia performed "Heartless," it was a jaw on the floor performance which I instantly called the gold standard for singing competition performances, and any hyperbole couldn’t do the performance justice. All right, Cee-Lo Green's "greatest rendition of a song I ever heard" quote may have been a bit overboard. But it was at this point when I thought maybe I should give Meg and Dia another listen starting with their YouTube page, where Dia uploaded some amazing and interesting covers by the likes of some of my favorite artists like The Avett Brothers, Mumford and Sons, and Adele.
Article comments
1 - anon
Meg and Dia have finally gotten the recognition they deserve!
Cocoon is by far one of my favourite albums.
I'd say my top 2 songs would have to be Unsinkable ships (which i'm pretty sure is about the band and warner brothers) & Said and Done (i love meg's vocals!)
2 - JCD
I agree. This album is awesome. If I had to pick my top two songs, it would be Love Is and Bandits, but Unsinkable Sinks is right there with them. Honestly, all the songs are strong.
3 - jk
good review, love all their stuff. also,
"Then the sisters trade verses on the next track "Said and Done" and the contrast of their voices make you wish they would do this more often."
THIS
4 - FRR
OK you're talking there about Cocoon, but about the brilliant debut called "Something Real" and even the sophomore "Here, Here and Here"? Those are two of the most albums ever. This is already their third album (not counting the long number of EP's). You should really check those out.
5 - jack
You're right. There's a maturity I believe to their album "Cocoon" that I find much more appealing than their earlier work, save for a few tracks here and there from their previous albums.
6 - Scooter McGavin
FRR: I did already check out the previous two albums but found them bland and just like every other bland emo records released around the same time, but Cocoon really showed their growth and musicianship that was not there on the first two.