RITA ORA CAME under fire this week for lip-synching at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.

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After fans reacted angrily to her performance on Twitter, John Legend stepped in to explain why artists – including himself – lipsync for the event.

As it turns out they’re not allowed to perform live.

Rita Ora reaffirmed his statement in a follow-up tweet:

Now, some people continued to call “bullshit”after Ella Mai’s performance, in which she appeared to sing live from a float. Judge for yourselves from the below video …

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Back to lip-syncing – miming is still widely regarded as being one of the worst things an artist can do. Let us never forget Ashlee Simpson’s 2004 “performance” on Saturday Night Live (SNL), in which her pre-recorded vocals went out before she started singing forcing her to walk off stage.

Can’t see the video? Click here.

During her recent reality show in which she co-stars with her husband Evan Ross, Ashlee opened up about the incident. Apparently, nodules on her throat meant she’d completely lost her voice, adding that she should have taken responsibility and not committed to the performance. 

For me, it the was the most humbling experience of my life. The whole world thinks everything that you just put your heart and soul into writing is a joke – and that sucked.”

Elsewhere, Cheryl has been dogged for years about miming claims when it comes to her X Factor performances – something which the singer has vehemently denied.

In her most recent performance, the single performed Love Made Me Do It in a 100% live performance. But, due to the extensive choreography – and let’s be honest, the song didn’t suit her – the singer was severely criticised. 

It prompted her to release the following statement, addressing the negativity surrounding her.

No doubt, a similar level of ire would have been levelled at her had she chosen to lip-sync. Where’s the line here?

Obviously, a large part of an artist’s job is performing. You shouldn’t really be expected to pay top dollar to watch someone mime their way through their back catalogue, unless a) you want to or b) it’s Britney, bitch.

It’s not as if anyone paid to see the above examples though, so does it really matter, in the grand scheme of things? Does it really warrant the level of vitriol dished out to them on social media, without consideration for the vocal strain and fatigue that is so common among artists?

What do you reckon – is lip synching good, bad or are you indifferent to the whole thing?

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