Jenny Lind vs Bessie Smith: should a voice soar or ache?

JENNY LIND vs BESSIE SMITH go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.

JENNY LIND

I trained my voice like a violin, Miss Smith—pure tone, perfect breath, a sound that lifts the soul toward heaven itself.

BESSIE SMITH

Honey, I never studied a lick of that—but when I sing 'Downhearted Blues,' every soul in that tent knows I've felt it, and so have they.

JENNY LIND

But polish is discipline; I filled Barnum's halls in America precisely because I gave audiences flawless beauty they'd never heard.

BESSIE SMITH

You gave 'em heaven, sugar—I gave 'em the truth about earth, and truth always sells out the house twice.

See this debate come alive — the faces, the voices, the roast — on the channel.

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