When Actresses and Models Try To Sing...

It's usually a disaster. (Unless you're Zooey Deschanel, of course, because her voice is gorgeous.) But such musical talent is not always automatically embedded in actresses.

Like most people, when I found out Scarlett Johansson was releasing an album of Tom Waits covers, I was confused and intrigued at the same time. Scarlett is an actress who I really, truly admire - hell, she starred in my favorite movie of ALL TIME - and I appreciate how she doesn't seem to whore it up like other young actresses her age. She seems to be a truly intelligent and classy girl, but also a fun, youthful girl at the same time. And how cool was it when she sang with The Jesus and freakin' Mary Chain at Coachella last year??! So, in all honesty, I really REALLY want to like her album. It's called Anywhere I Lay My Head and will be released on May 20. It was produced by Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and features guest vocals from David Bowie, so it can't be all bad, right?

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much I like what I've heard so far. The first single, "Falling Down," has a dreamy, hazy atmosphere to it, but Scarlett's vocals seem to fade in the background. Although, that may be a good thing - she seems incredibly off-key in many parts. Here's the video for the song - it's always nice to look at Scarlett, no matter what the song sounds like, and it is a pretty little piece of film. But what the hell is Salman Rushdie doing in there?



Again, I really want to like this album, but I'm on the fence after hearing this. What do you all think?

Even worse than a singing actress, however, is a singing model. British-born Agyness Deyn is currently the It Girl of the fashion world, with her face showing up in magazines everywhere. I do really dig her look...to me she seems like a cross between a Til Tuesday-era Aimee Mann and Jean Seberg (whose picture is at the top right-hand corner of this page). She definitely has a very British air to her, though, which I think is cool. Anyway, Agyness recently recorded a song with a New York-based band called the Five O'Clock Heroes and they released a video to go along with it. The interesting thing is, it's not that bad! The song is decent enough, and it actually gets better when she starts singing. Check it out!



Oh well. Both valiant efforts on Scarlett and Agy's parts. But perhaps they should both stick to their day jobs. What do you all think?