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Hello ONTD! As a continuation to the lovely
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revertigo's "
Five Vocalists who Aren't as Great as People say They Are" post, I've made one about underrated vocalists on ONTD and for most included, in general. Like revertigo, I also got help from vocal coach
AhMin33 on twitter who is also an admin at kpopvocalanalysis. In addition, I also asked for help from
bIacksoshi on twitter or
thevocalvortex on tumblr.
The vocalists included in the main list will all qualify under
kpopvocalanalysis's standards as at least Above Average. That would be higher than any vocalist included on the overrated list, who's best technique wise was Ariana Grande who is Average to Above Average. Every vocalist included on both the main and honorable mentions list has been regarded as someone who "can't sing," "a whisper vocalist," or a worse vocalist than someone far inferior to them in technique.
Since this may be confusing, I included a guide that should explain terminology, how notes work, technical pros and cons, and how supported notes sound vs unsupported ones. This video from mrskinnyjeanz3 is also really great on identifying different types of strain and support.
Note: This is purely on vocal technique, NOT tone, emotion, personality or how problematic a person is.VOCAL GUIDE NOTE IDENTIFICATION![]()
"One of the commonly used methods to name a note is through the “Scientific Pitch Notation”.
The musical notes consist of (in order): C, D, E, F, G, A, B. If you count the next C, it would be one octave. So one octave is eight notes. The number next to the note is the octave. For example, C5 is the note C (from the piano) in the fifth octave.
A key of a song means within the key signature of the song. There are 12 notes in total, C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B and back to C, completing one full octave. A tone is from a note up two semitones, so the distance between C and C#/Db is a semitone, whereas C and D are a full note apart. A major Key will follow a tone tone semitone tone tone tone semitone pattern, so C major is C D E F G A B C. Although there are no sharps or flats between E and F or B and C, they’re a semitone apart. # stands for sharp and b stands for flat and whether or not you name a note sharp or flat depends on the key, i.e. C# major and Db major are the same key with different names, C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C# and Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db, on a piano the same notes are played, just with different names."
(explanation from kpopvocalanalysis.wordpress.com).
Note: kpopvocalanalysis is the most accurate site on vocal pedagogy, although it only focuses on k-pop artists. Still, there are great guides on technique and the incredibly nice admins will answer questions about western artists, even if there aren't profiles on them.
Example of someone's range: Whitney Houston's live vocal range was C3-G#5-C#6. C3 represents the lowest chest note. G#5 represents the highest mixed voice note or belt. C#6 represents the highest upper register note (falsetto, head voice, whistle; in Whitney's case it's head voice). Whitney's range would be 3 octaves, one note, and a semitone.
Registers: Chest/Lower Register, Mixed/Belting Register, Upper Register/Head Voice/Falsetto/Whistle
Tessitura: Where someone is most comfortable singing or projecting. For example, Ariana Grande, who is a light lyric soprano, has a very high tessitura, while Cher, who is a contralto, has a very low tessitura.
Supported Range:Notes connected to the body that have proper breath support and technique- netural larynx, freedom, proper placement, tonality, stability, projection, open throat, no tongue, jaw, glottal, etc. tension, no excessive throat or air pressure, etc. Although it's important for disconnected registers like falsetto and whistle to have these same factors, they don't count as part of someone's supported range because they aren't connected to the body and can't be "resonant."
Placement:Vocalists should place their voice in their chest, head, or mask (cheekbones area), NOT throat or nose
Resonance: The "ringing" full, clean sound notes should have. "A vocalist may be able to be resonant in their mixed voice by normally placing their voice in their mask with chest resonance, or as they go higher, with head resonance," (kpopvocalanalysis). Resonance should not be confused for brightness or volume and CANNOT be achieved on unsupported notes. For example, Ariana Grande has a lot of ease and brightness on her upper belts, such as the G#5-Bb5s in Be My Baby, leading some to call them "resonant" when they are not due to tongue tension, high larynx, etc. Video Explanation by BzBlaner and translated by Vocal Verdade: Part 1:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Xpj1f5eX4 and Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDIomujmSs8
Larynx Position:"The larynx is the part of the body where the vocal cords are located. The vocal cords are very small and are divided into two parts that vibrate against one another in order to create sound. The speed of the vibration generally determines the pitch someone sings in. Much like tuning a guitar, the more stretched the vocal cords are and thinner they become, the higher the pitch and the thicker they are, the lower the pitch is. In order for a note to be hit, one should have a relaxed opened sound in the larynx, without any restrictions from the throat muscles. If the larynx is pushed down, it creates a froggy and fake “soulful” tone, if it’s pulled up, it creates a thinner, squeezed and tight quality to the voice. The natural state of the larynx is being neutral when it’s relaxed, if it’s forced either up or down, that means the muscles in the throat are creating tension and the larynx is trying to reposition itself in an uncomfortable and unnatural position to hit notes that are not within the individual’s supported range," (kpopvocalanalysis). Video Explanation by WestVoice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oiZ_jEkW6s For example, Demi lowers her larynx for a thicker, more soulful tone in the National Anthem and Stone Cold when her natural voice is much lighter (Instaoke). One of the most evident high larynx singing examples is Jessica Simpson's upper belts, which are showcased in WestVoice's video.
Vibrato:The fast shift in pitch (usually less than a semitone) on a note. A natural vibrato will come with proper breath support and technique (ie. Mariah Carey), but some try to fake it with their throat, larynx, tongue, jaw, etc. (ie. Demi Lovato)
Agility: "Vocal agility is an embellishment and it means, being able to sing many notes accurately and quickly, by separating each individual note while still being able to connect them within one sung vowel. Those are usually called melismas or vocal runs," (kpopvocalanalysis). EX: Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera both have very agile voices capable of lenghty, speedy, and complex runs, but Mariah's fit with the melody and are very accurate in pitch, while Xtina's can be excessive and pitchy (Holy Night).
Musicianship/Musicaltiy:"Musicianship is the act of changing any song given to you and making it your own, usually on the spot. This includes melodic changes, rhythmic changes and added embellishments. Musicality is the act of interpreting music correctly according to each individual genre of music, by adding the correct use of vocal effects (e.g. raspiness, breathiness, growls, vocal runs, vibrato) and playing with the song musically by adding dynamics (e.g. singing softly, loudly, powerfully on the right moments of each song)," (kpopvocalanalysis). An example of excellent musicianship and improvisation is Mariah Carey basically making songs up on the spot here, here, and here.
Examples of Supported Notes vs Unsupported Notes:
Head Voice: Perrie Edward's supported A5 in Change Your Life vs Demi Lovato's unsupported A5 in Hello
Mixed Voice: Ariana Grande Supported D5 vs Ariana Grande Unsupported D5
Chest Voice: Mariah Carey Supported F3 vs Dinah Jane Hansen Unsupported F3s in We Know
BEYAWNCE VIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Lyric Coloratura Mezzo, Rating: ExcellentBest Vocal Performances:Love on Top (a mezzo doing a G#5 belt, D6 in head voice, and FOUR KEY CHANGES), I Care, Dangerously in Love, etc.
Some "sweet spot" notes:Belted/Mixed Voice F5s, Head Voice C6s
On a
technical level, Beyonce is one of the best vocalists mainstream music has seen. She isn't considered a "great," or even the best of her generation because of subjective issues like her "inability to emote" or "bland tone." Emoting is irrelevant to vocal pedagogy. Tone is relevant in how well a vocalist maintains it throughout their range, which she does very well, but some still think it is "girlish and thin" when she's singing "cleanly" or "hoarse, aggressive, and shouty" when she growls. Due to her ability to sing without unhealthy means like lowering her larynx or pulling way too much chest in her mix, much weaker vocalists with more "unique" or "soulful" voices have been given more praise.
Beyonce basically demolishes the others with one of the largest supported ranges (C3-F5-D6), control in every register (chest, mixed, head), a natural, even vibrato, and incredible agility, breath control, and resonance.Beyonce has one of the strongest lower registers, being able to sustain notes as low as Bb2/B2 (Dangerously in Love) and project (without a microphone!) and support C3s (Halo).Some people claim that Beyonce screams due to her "thin" tone when she actually resonates on belts. Resonance is the "ring" a vocalist should have and a great example of resonace vs screaming is her performance at the Oscars with superior actress, but way inferior vocalist, Jennifer Hudson.
At 1:49-2:06 and 2:42, Beyonce drowns out Jennifer, despite Jennifer naturally having a "bigger" voice and more ease/comfort in upper belts.Jennifer is a spinto soprano who would shine on these upper belts, if she had good technique, but instead raises her larynx and basically shouts from her throat for volume/projection.
Beyonce is a lyric coloratura mezzo; lyrics naturally have smaller output than spintos and sopranos have higher tessituras than mezzos. Thanks to her fabulous technique she supports and resonates on upper belts like those F5s when mezzos usually start losing ease this high.Again, timbre is subjective, but in my opinion, the one place you can't critisize Beyonce's timbre, is her
head voice.It's beautiful, rich, weighty, resonant, connected to the body, retains her natural vibrato, and operatic. She usually uses it in the fifth octave, but can also effortlessly support into the 6th octave or soprano tessitura (Flawless (SERIOUSLY WATCH THIS IT'S MAJESTIC), Emotions, Holy Grail/Forever Young, 1+1, etc.)Beyonce is a coloratura, meaning she has enormous agility and is a master at ornamentation. She travels up and down the scales with incredible pitch, precision, speed, and accuracy. Her transitions between head voice, mixed voice, and chest voice are done without any noticeable breaks. She also has the ability to do really complex runs like legato arpeggios and staccato.And what really sets Beyonce apart from other vocalists, including some of the greats, is her insane volume control.
She has the ability to sing in many different volumes- pianissimo, mezza-forte, forte, fortissimo, etc. in both her mixed and head voice (explained better than I can starting at 2:54 in this video or 1:55 of this video). She is even capable of crescendos (gradually increasing in volume), decrescendo (gradually decreasing in volume), and probably the most difficult volume feat, mezza-di-voca (getting louder and softer in one breath/note).
Beyonce also has excellent musicianship, being able to change up a song and make it her own (YES I KNOW SHE STEALS CREDITS, I MEAN VOCALLY) or improvise and change up her own song arrangements with excellent runs. Her greatest show of improvisation is arguably her excellent scat singing (vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all) in Deja Vu. Further proof of Beyonce's excellent ear and instrument, is her ability to imitate instruments (a saxophone in Naughty Girl, an electric guitar in I Care) and intricate harmonies with herself in the studio (I Care) and others (Destiny's Child Say Yes, National Anthem, Amazing Grace, etc.).JOJO
VIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Lyric Mezzo, Rating: Great
Best Vocal Performances: When Love Hurts,
Crazy/Crazy in Love, A Little Too Late, Who's Lovin You, etc.
Jojo is actually pretty loved, so I don't have any sarcastic hate comments or misconceptions to start this off with. Still she deserves more fame and even if people who do know her know she has a great voice, she isn't considered one of the best and her posts hardly get any comments. Maybe this is due to not having much success (ugh her flop label), but fellow in general underrated queen Carly Rae (in music not vocals lol), is always talked, posted, and commented about here, while Jojo gets like 20 comments in her posts.
Jojo is by far the best vocalist of the younger generation (25 and younger) and actually one of the best current vocalists overall (only surpassed by Bey on this list and probably in general when you consider all the other mainstream artists tbh).
She is fantastic, supporting C3/C#3-Eb5/E5-A5/Bb5 and is close to being an excellent vocalist by kpopvocalanalysis standards (girl needs to lighten up her mix and learn to support her F5s), but right now is great.
Jojo's lower register is my personal favorite and arguably the best right now when you take how low a vocalist can support and feats in this register into account.
She can retain tonality and projection down to B2 (Demonstrate). She can support down to C3 and consistently supports down to C#3. In my opinion, this is one of the best C#3s ever. Along with the ability to phrase and sustain notes, she can even do little runs here. Jojo's mixed voice is one of the best in western pop, since she supports higher than most of her fellow mezzos. She even supports higher than sopranos, who have a higher tessitura, but a lot of pop sopranos are sad these days anyways :/.
Her mid-belts (around A4-D5) are excellent. She almost always has ease, support, and resonance there. Her upper belts (around Eb5-G5) are sometimes pushed, since they are out of her tessitura and her chesty mix definitely doesn't help. However, she still is able to support consistently to Eb5 and most of the time to E5. Above this, she can have trouble with some nasality and shoutiness. She has had good placement on F5s, such as the sustained F5 in "A Little Too Late," but F#5-G5 is usually a struggle.Jojo's transitions into her head voice are excellent, showing how well connected it is. Her head voice is resonant and supported up to A5/Bb5. She has also shown nice B5s (Say Love). Her runs here are excellent like they are in her other registers. She has even showcased a whistle register in the studio (ie. the G#6 in her 2nd album "The High Road")
Jojo's agility is excellent and definitely one of the highlights of her voice. She is capable of very speedy runs in every part of her range with great pitch accuracy. She is also capable of legato runs."JoJo has also demonstrated great musicianship, showcasing that she is anything but a karaoke singer, by changing melody, adding unique harmonies and blending in with her own style of melisma to fit her covers and utilizing her variety of timbres to play with. This is another large strength in JoJo’s voice. JoJo has also shown excellent musicality, diligently staying with the feel of a song and being able to play with volume at will," (thevocalvortex.tumblr.com).LADY "WE DID IT KIDS" GAGA
VIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Lyric Mezzo, Rating: Good to GreatBest Performances: Sound of Music Medley,
National Anthem 1&
2, Bang Bang, etc.
Despite being known for her as ONTD would say, "gimmicks,"
Gaga is one of pop's best vocalists and definitely the best of her generation. I mean some might say it's not hard when Gaga's competition at her peak was Katy, Rihanna, Taylor, Bieber, etc. But some people legitimately think that the contrast between Gaga's pathetic, desperate gimmicks and Adele's "amazing vocals" ended ha! The KOONS is that Gaga's vocal technique is actually faaaaar superior to Adele's, despite some GENIUSES like LEGENDARY PRODUCER PHARELL!!! putting Adele in the same league as Whitney and Mariah (I actually love Adele, but lol even people like Demi and Ariana have better technique).
Gaga supports her chest voice down to Eb3 and from her last supported note and up, especially E3-G3, her lower register is the best in the game. Her ease and phrasing is incredible here... No airiness is present and it's almost as if she is speaking or singing middle register notes. She also has the ability to play with the "texture" of her voice to express different emotions.
Gaga's belts are incredibly resonant and have a beautiful, rolling, even vibrato up to C#5/D5.She has also shown good placement up to Eb5/E5.In fact, her notes would be one of the best examples to help a "normal listener" identify what vibrato is (I was gonna use her in my vocal guide, but decided not to put any of the artists showcased here :P).
Listen to that very noticeable shifting sound on the belts in her acapella gay pride national anthem. Gaga is even able to project over a cheering crowd without a mic as seen multiple times in the Cheek to Cheek tour. Although Gaga doesn't utilize her upper register as much, she has a lovely falsetto and a connected head voice.
Her head voice is supported to G5/G#5, bringing her supported range to Eb3-C#5/D5-G5/G#5. Her transitions to this part of her voice are also quite smooth, as shown in the "Whitney note" aka upper register "Freeeee" in the National Anthem.
Gaga is also capable of dynamics and volume control, as shown by the Bb4 crescendo in her acclaimed Sound of Music medley. ST!NK
VIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Lyric Mezzo, Rating: GoodBest Vocal Performances: Blow Me One Last Kiss, Just Give Me a Reason, etc.
To many ONTDers St!nk is a bitter and irrelevant loser who uses a tired rope cirque du soleil imitation gimmick.
Well, when you take away this "gimmick" P!nk is still one of pop's best vocalists and dancers right now. And you know, it's pretty incredible that she can support F3s and D5s in different forms spinning in the air, something many of today's sopranos fail to do sitting on a chair. And even some of the best vocalists and performers opt to lip sync, use playback for choruses, or have dance breaks, so they can sing the verses while doing minimal movement, but P!nk has proved that she can do very difficult feats while singing live (I'm 90% sure she's singing live since each performance seems to sound different, meaning she doesn't have a pre-recorded track or use the studio vocals and also this incident with her mic falling/not working:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CThJ2FcxevM)
P!nk has developed 2 registers (chest and mixed) of her voice very well, although her falsetto/head voice should be utilized and developed more.
She has a good supported range for a mezzo and one of the best of today's pop stars, E3-C#5/D5.Her lower range keeps support down to E3. Her mixed voice actually reached its "prime" late into her career, most likely thanks to quitting smoking.
Due to stylistic choices to "express emotion" or sound "rockier", her belts can get a bit too chesty and throaty. However, she can still support up to C#5/D5 and although she applies a bit too much throat/air pressure, resulting in a lack of support, her mixing and placement in upper belts (E5-G5) is very nice. She has also shown very good stamina in all parts of her voice, including her upper belts, shown by the multiple F5s and F#5s she hit in Blow Me One Last Kiss and some of the E5s and even F#5s she hit while doing acrobatics.In her RnP!nk days, aka what ONTD wants back,
she did do melisma on her Take Me Home album (Love is Such a Crazy Thing) and some live (Joyful Joyfuk).TORI KELLYVIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Light Lyric Soprano, Rating: Competent to Good
Best Vocal Performances: City Dove (the resonance on the C5/C#5s!!!, also hey
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citydove), Confetti, Hollow, Crazy, PYT, etc.
Tori can be overrated on social media, but she is pretty underrated here. She's basically known for getting promo spots everywhere because of Scooter, despite not having the most commercial success. She did get some love because of the gif of her reaction to Taylor's 1989 AOTY speech though, lmao. Regardless, I do see people say on both social media and ONTD that Ariana or Demi are better when Tori outclasses them by far and is the best vocalist under 25 right now (Jojo is 25 so!).
Tori's lower register is currently one of, if not, the best for a soprano. She can retain tonality down to C#3 (Halo), can support as low as E3, and consistently to F3, which is personally one of my favorite notes from her. Tori also has consistent support up to D5 in her mixed voice (O Holy Night, Crazy). She's probably one of the only sopranos in western pop who consistently supports to D5 right now, which is kind of sad tbh.
Above D5, Tori loses the ease she should have as a soprano, places her voice in her throat, and raises her larynx. She has show better placement before as high as a F#5 (Dear No One) and can still do complex runs at her upper extremes (G#5 run in Nobody Love).
Tori has shown a connected head voice up to C6 (Talk live @ Jimmy Kimmel). She also sustained a very nice F#6/G6 whistle while saying "good" with Mitch and Scott of Superfruit/Pentatonix.
The most impressive thing about Tori's voice is her seamless vocal transitions and runs. She can do runs very complex runs with speed and pitch accuracy in every part of her range. Her most impressive run is her PYT run, which includes an F#5, around 40 notes, and has very quick transitions from register to register.
Tori also has great musicianship, being able to mash up and make her songs her own with the use of melodic changes and her signature runs (ie. Suit & Tie/PYT/Thinkin About You).NICOLE SCHERZIALJFDSLK
VIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Full-Lyric Soprano, Rating: CompetentBest Vocal Performances: Phantom of the Opera, I Hate This Part, etc.
Nicole is hated on ONTD for flopping solo, PCD drama, and having "no talent." Apparently she cant sing... people were even insulting her Phantom of the Opera performance or saying she may be able to sing "fake opera" but fails at "normal singing." Nicole's head voice is her most developed register, but she is competent in the others as well.
Nicole has been able to support belts up to D5, though her support is inconsistent due to stylistic choices. Up to B4, she always sings cleanly. However, C5-D5 she either fucks up her notes for a more throaty, rock like sound or supports and resonates (I wish she always would). Note: Nicole is underrated on ontd and in general, but a few people think all her technical flaws are intentional, since she has had vocal training, but they are not and she always strains on belts from Eb5-Bb5.
Nicole's head voice is very, very, well connected and her stamina here is insane. She is able to phrase (I Want to Know What Love Is) and sustain notes, as well as do runs. In Phantom of the Opera, she goes all out singing head voice notes from Eb5-E6 for over a minute. Every note up to Bb5 was well supported and very operatic. At the end, she sustains many C6s and even an E6, which is quite a feat, but the C6s aren't supported due to slight shrillness and the E6 is also shrill, as well as pushed. MILDRED DESTINY HOPE CYRUS
VIDEOS TO WATCH!!!Vocal Fach: Lyric Mezzo, Rating: Above AverageBest Vocal Performances: Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High, Drive, Cyrus Skies, Jolene, etc.
Miley or "Mildred," lol, is someone most of yall would say can't sing for shit because she sounds nasally, annoying, and only has one "receipt" aka the Jolene video you've seen posted by her stans over and over again. The truth is most of your faves have just as much nasality in their voices and even more issues.
Miley's peers like Demi and Ariana are usually thought of as better vocalists because of their constant high notes. Too much merit is put on those high notes when people like Ariana and Demi dont even support them. As Miley herself has said, people don't appreciate how difficult low notes are. Well, what puts Miley ahead if she can go lower, while Demi and Ari go higher? Miley supports much lower, while Ari and Demi only support around a note higher, despite being sopranos.
Miley's lower register is definitely the best of her peers, since she effortessly retains tonality and projection down here even at her lower extremes. She has also shown good ability to sustain and phrase notes. She can sing without vocal fry, harmonies, or octave unison down to G2 (Cyrus Skies), something many women can't do. She has even hit a D2 live once, but it was heavily mixed with vocal fry.
She has sustained notes as low as B2 live (Hilarity for Charity 1& 2) and consistently supports to D3 (Don't Dream It's Over, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover)Miley's mixed voice and belts also have had good placement and support up to Bb4/B4 (Drive, We Can't Stop, Wrecking Ball). Above that in her midbelts she uses a chesty mix, raises her larynx, gets throaty, and loses her support. Her upper belts have most of these issues, but better mixing, which allowed her to phrase multiple F5s in her cover of Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High. It was basically shouted, but she also hit a G#5 in We Can't Stop and although range isn't really relevant to pedagogy, especially compared to supported range, she does have 3 octaves just in chest and mixed voice (G2-G#5), which is impressive since most need falsetto, head voice, or whistle to have that much range.
Miley has also shown great musicianship being able to change her own covers up (
Silent Night). On
The Voice, she also did a great job of helping contestants change up their own songs with the addition of sustained notes, low notes, specific emphasized notes or climaxes, etc.
Honorable Mentions:Tinashe (hey
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iigoru)
Vocal Fach: Light Lyric SopranoRita OraVocal Fach: Lyric MezzoSource:
Kpopvocalanalysis Wordpress/
AhMin33 Twitter,
MrSkinnyjeanz3 YouTube,
Beyonce Vocal Profile Videos 1&
2,
Jojo Vocal Range Videos 1&
2,
Lady Gaga Vocal Range Video,
P!nk Vocal Range Videos 1 &
2,
Tori Kelly Vocal Profile and
Vocal Range Video,
Nicole Scherzinger Vocal Range Video 1 &
2,
Miley Cyrus Vocal Range Video 1&
2,
Tinashe Vocal Range Video 1 &
2,
Rita Ora Vocal Range Video
season, we want to honor this fire sign with the best of the best! Aries are daring, courageous, optimistic and stand up for themselves and what they believe in. Will the Aries faves show these traits? C'mon in to find out!
! Can you believe we're almost done? There are a lot of great Taurean celebrities out there! Tauruses are known for being dependable, persistent, and loyal, but they can also be stubborn, lazy, and materialistic. 
