The debate about who is the "better singer" brings to mind a relevant IMO story.
Take the example of a great technical vocalist: Barbra Streisand. She had a great voice, NO DOUBT, but IMO she could also miss the point of a song like few others. On her "Broadway" album (for one good example), she covers "Pretty Women" (in a mash-up with "Ladies Who Lunch", IIRC). The first song (from Sweeney Todd) is a tale of deranged lust, sung beautifully in the Sweeney Todd soundtrack by Len Cariou, who has no voice at all. Whatever he lacked in native ability, Cariou offset by effectvely communicating the point of the song - he wants to kill these girls and make them into meat pies. Barbra sings the song as a light romp in the park. The Streisand performance was so bizarre that I was left wondering for years whether it was tounge in cheek.
Many years later, I got a chance to put that question to one the many co-producers of that record (who shall remain nameless for reasons about to be clear) who turned up at a local party. When I asked him about it, he just trashed her inability to interpret songs or take any advice on the subject.
Diva seems to be the right word. That may alienate and color the opinions of the people she works with, but IMO she's a great vocal technician but a frequently bad singer I understand that justifying that statement based on that story is just using one person's opinion of one session, but he's a well respected pro and his comments certainly square with my observations.
Notwithstanding her superior technical skills, I'd prefer to listen to Adele (and dozens of other less precise vocalists) than to Barbra. There's more to singing than range, tone, and pitch precision, so it's always gonna be "different strokes", not right/wrong. It's just the nature of singing.
