My taste in music is definitely in flux. Five years ago I would have found this intolerable, but now I can’t stop listening to it. I blame Pandora. The musical journeys it takes you on can be transformational.
Unfortunately the video stops before the song is over, but YouTube offers several full length suggestions immediately after. The videos themselves are all insane, so I didn’t want to endorse any. I just listen to the sound track in another tab and don’t watch them.
This question was a central theme in the movie The Nines, which I recommend. It also came up in Revolver, which I just watched tonight, though it wasn’t asked explicitly. Instead, the question is who is your worst enemy? The movie’s position is that it is not external, but internal. I think I can say that without spoiling anything. The trick is to avoid the lie that your perception is infallible. Pulling that off is a different matter altogether, though it is a helpful trait for a good scientist.
It seems like most cabaret singers have this twinge of boozy melancholy existentialism. See Eartha Kitt or Amanda McBroom. You’re not a true cabaret singer unless you’re a tough broad who’s lived a tough life.