The Vocal Vortex

Dedicated to the ranges of popular singers!

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(PROFILE) Hayley Williams

Hayley Williams

Vocal Classification: Lyric Mezzo-Soprano

Vocal Range: Bb2 - G#5 - A6

Supported Range: Eb3 ~ C5/C#5

Low Register: Hayley’s strongest and most consistent register. Even in her earlier years, Hayley showed a strong sense of connection and support in her low register down to F#3, shown in The Only Exception. With time, this register has actually seen even more improvement from the already good support she had in her low voice, extending her support down to Eb3 consistently, such as in Landslide. Overall, this register is very solid, and one of the best low registers for any female in pop music currently.

Mixed Register: Hayley is able to maintain consistent resonance and produce a healthy vibrato up to C5 consistently, shown in Renegade. This resonance can extend up to C#5 occasionally, but she has support usually on her C#5s as well. Inconsistently, she’s shown the ability to carry this support as high as D5 before, but that support is very inconsistent. Hayley’s mix is inconsistent, with it sometimes being even and sometimes being more chesty, which has become more frequent with time. Above C#5, Hayley struggles with a high larynx, throatiness and poor pitch.

Upper Register: Not usually ever shown, Hayley has shown she can carry a falsetto as high as A6, and a connected head voice up to G5, shown in Miracle. Whenever she has used a head voice, Hayley’s shown proper support up to F5, but above that, it becomes tight and strained. Hayley should work on using this register more, as she doesn’t use her upper register very often at all, due to the style of music she sings doesn’t require it.

Agility: Due to her repertoire, Hayley doesn’t need to use agility, and shows little to no interest in doing them. However, recently she’s shown an interest in pursuing more agility, but since she used to neglect developing agility, if she does try to execute a run that’s more than a simple vocal trill, it sounds mushy and un-coordinated, such as in a more recent cover of The Only Exception.

Musicality/Musicianship: Hayley has a good musical ear and uses stylistic embellishments like airiness, nasality and throatiness well, and changing her approach to higher belts sometimes as well, and usually staying in a range that suits her voice. However, a downfall of her musicianship is that she usually attempts more stylistic musical embellishments with a very dangerous technique, such as yelling out higher belts with a chesty mix and a high larynx, as well as no desire to even try and support the note. 

Overall: With a richer, darker and weightier voice than a lot of sopranos, Hayley would be most likely classified as a lyric mezzo-soprano. Hayley has shown a desire to be a vocalist before, and still shows that same desire to be a vocalist, and has overall maintained her vocal ability rather decently over the years, with improvements in some areas of her voice being shown more often. If she wants to continue the path she has got going for her, Hayley should try to even out her mix, and explore her head voice more, but since she’s a rock-style vocalist, it might not be truly necessary. Regardless, Hayley has shown a respectable level of vocal technique over the years.

Rating: ☆☆☆ ½

Best Vocal Performance:

Vocal Range:

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(PROFILE) Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato

Vocal Classification: Light-Lyric Soprano

Vocal Range: C#3 - Bb5 - Eb7

Supported Range: Bb3 ~ C5

Low Register: Demi’s weakest register. Down to Bb3, she’s able to consistently retain support and volume, but below that is inconsistent with support, although she has been able to inconsistently keep it down to A3. Even with that, Bb3 has been proven to be inconsistent in support for her at some points. Below this, Demi will either muffle her sound with a lowered larynx, or lose a lot of tone as she ascends. However, tone can be retained as low as G3. 

Mixed Register: Although Demi’s resonance in this area is very consistent up to C5, such as in For You, this resonance is unnatural and pushed. Demi pulls up far too much chest in this part of her voice, as well as using a throaty, fast larynx vibrato and pushing her voice to try and have a bigger sound, most often present in songs such as Stone Cold. Due to this damaging technique, she has inconsistently strained as low as Bb4 here, although she’s inconsistently been able to maintain support as high as C#5, shown in her cover of Thriller. Above C5, Demi is plagued by a closed, throaty and thin sound, that she carries all the way up to her highest belt, Bb5.

Upper Register: Demi is able to achieve a successfully connected head voice up to C6, however no support is present in her head voice consistently. Demi tends to underuse this part of her voice, since her repertoire doesn’t usually have her sing in her upper register too much live. As she ascends in range, Demi’s head voice becomes tighter and more laboured in sound, such as in Hello. 

Agility: Demi is a vocalist that has a good idea of whenever she tries to perform vocal runs, but due to her level of vocal skill, these runs usually are at a high level of difficulty too, and she usually will fall off-pitch and slide through the runs without a proper rhythmic bounce, such as in Confident. By the rare chance Demi does do a non-complex vocal run, she’s able to successfully run through them, but this is extremely rare.

Musicality/Musicianship: As a musician, Demi has ideas about what she does want to do in a cover, however these ideas either are usually minimal, or they’re executed with very dangerous technique and damage her voice. Demi does tend to be quite a bit of a karaoke vocalist, and really truly hasn’t developed her own flair with covering songs yet.

Overall: With a naturally light and girly voice, Demi would most likely be classified as a Light-Lyric Soprano if she were to forgo classical training, however it may not seem that way at first due to the amount of pushing present in her voice. Overall, Demi is a vocalist who has shown a lot of potential, but seems to not know what to do with it vocally, which has caused her to regress in technique by a fair amount since when she first started singing, from around 2008 to 2011. Demi should seek out a vocal coach and lighten up her mix, as well as let natural, true resonance occur instead of it being pushed. As well as that, she should also seek training to further improve her head voice and low register as well.

Rating: ☆☆ ½

Best Vocal Performance:

Vocal Range:

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(PROFILE) Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande

Vocal Classification: Light-Lyric Soprano

Vocal Range: Eb3 ~ B5 ~ E7

Supported Range: G3 ~ B4

Low Register: Although Ariana is known for her high-lying and light voice, her lows are able to maintain consistent support down to G3, such as in Don’t Dream It’s Over. Ariana is able to keep a consistent tone down to E3, but she has issues with airiness here that sometimes blocks her support from happening, as she’s inconsistently had support as low as F#3. All in all, this a nice register.

Mixed Register: Ariana is able to consistently support her voice well up to B4 here, shown in Dangerous Woman. She’s been able to keep resonance as high as C5 before, shown in The Wizard And I, and support has been retained as high as Eb5 before inconsistently. However, nowadays above B4, she has issues with glottal, tongue and jaw tension, as well as throatiness being apparent in her mixed voice. Around D5/Eb5, Ariana’s larynx starts raising, and thinning out her voice. Alongside this tension is a larynx-produced vibrato that can become laggy at points in her voice. However, she has been able to lessen the strain on her voice by using a head-dominant mix, allowing for a brighter, lighter sound in upper belts, as well as letting her being able to go very high in her mixed register, as high as B5.

Upper Register: For stylistic purposes, Ariana mainly uses falsetto. She has gone as high as E7 in her upper register, and her sound in falsetto is usually relaxed up until about G5. Above that, her voice becomes shrill and tight, such as the E6 in Right There. However, she has shown the ability to use head voice before, and her head voice has shown connection as high as B5. However, her head voice is unsupported and lacking in development, causing it to be a weak spot in her vocal range.

Agility: One of the weaker areas of Ariana’s voice. Although Ariana has the lightness and flexibility in her voice that does enable her to execute challenging runs, she’s shown that she has to use her jaw in order to execute runs, and they tend to be more slide-like and somewhat sloppy when she does execute complex vocal runs. However, she’s able to properly sing through slow to mid-tempo vocalizations consistently.

Musicianship/Musicality: One of the strongest parts of Ariana’s voice, Ariana has a good sense of musicianship that allows her to add flair into songs, by adding embellishments, such as airiness and vocal runs that although sometimes can be a bit off, she shows a good sense of thought whenever she plans out what she’s going to do when she covers a song, however these plans do tend to have her sing outside of her supported range often. However, Ariana has also shown a great amount of skill with harmonizing by herself, shown in the harmonies of One Last Time. 

Overall: With one of the brightest and lightest voices in today’s music industry, Ariana’s voice is immediately identifiable, thanks to the nasal and airy character of her voice, as well as the light, girly tone present in her singing. If she were to pursue a career in classical singing, she would most likely be classified as a Light-Lyric Soprano, no doubt. Ariana has shown already that she’s willing to improve her singing, by being able to improve very much since 2013, and showing signs of wanting to continue her improvement, as she has a large amount of potential. Ariana should learn to eliminate the nasality present in her voice, as well as learning to not move her jaw while executing vocal runs and improving more on her upper register, as well as eliminating the larynx vibrato that she has been used to using in the 5th octave.

Rating: ☆☆ ½

Vocal Range:

Best Vocal Performance:

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Requests

Feel free to request a vocalist you want to see profiled on here! However, there’s a chance I might decline the vocalist, depending on the situation.

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(PROFILE) Beyoncé

Beyoncé

Vocal Classification: Lyric Mezzo-Soprano

Vocal Range: A2 ~ G#5 ~ E6

Supported Range: C3/C#3 ~ F5 ~ D6

Low Register: Beyoncé is able to retain tone as low as Bb2, and resonance is present consistently down to C#3, and occasionally C3, such as in Halo. Although nowadays support can be reached as low as B2 inconsistently, Beyoncé’s always shown a fair amount of strength when venturing into her low register. Below C3, her tone is still present, although there’s a clear loss of volume and connection when she does venture into that area of her voice.

Mixed Register: As low as F#4, Beyoncé’s able to create a very well-projected, resonant and ringing sound, and she retains it very consistently throughout her mixed voice, such as in Dangerously In Love. This resonant, supported sound is consistently achieved up until F5, shown in Be With You. Above F5, Beyoncé tends to become shrill and raises her larynx, however she still retains good tonality as high as G#5. Either way, Beyoncé’s strength in this region of her voice is once again admirable.

Upper Register: Although Beyoncé has shown usage of falsetto stylistically, Beyoncé prefers to use a supported, resonant head voice instead. Beyoncé is able to control dynamics in this part of her voice, as well as being able to keep resonance up into the sixth octave, such as in Emotions. This area of her voice has been able to keep support as high as Eb6 inconsistently, but it consistently ends around D6, which is very respectable once again.

Agility: Over the years, Beyoncé has shown an excellent usage of agility, being able to execute extremely challenging vocal runs, such as in Crazy In Love. She is able to transition from chest to falsetto and still maintain resonance, as well as keep the rhythmic bounce intact as well. She’s shown to be able to switch dynamics in this area too; a rare feat for any vocalist. 

Musicianship/Musicality: Beyoncé has developed a very strong sense of musicianship over the years, being able to make songs her own, as well as turning her own songs around and making them unique by embellishing them with challenging riffs, and airiness and occasionally stylistic throatiness too. Due to the level of skill required in her musical discography, most vocalists wouldn’t be able to do Beyoncé’s songs justice. However, Beyoncé is at a very high level of technical and musical proficiency, allowing her to take on extremely challenging songs, and succeeding very well. She’s also able to consistently not overdo songs, although she has had a couple times where she has overdone songs a bit, although those occurrences are very rare.

Overall: Due to the womanly, dark and rich character of her voice, Beyoncé would be classified as a Lyric Mezzo-Soprano. However, thanks to the support and lightness present in her upper register, it’s possible for her to be actually classified as a Coloratura Mezzo-Soprano (although I’m not going to classify her as such to avoid arguments over usage of classical terminology). Beyoncé has developed her voice very well, not only technically, allowing her to keep a very healthy voice, and very good technique. The only thing she might ever want to consider thinking about is not belting above F5 as much. However, Beyoncé remains a near-impeccable vocalist.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Vocal Range (the Bb2 slightly peaks down to A2, and she has an E6 in Happy Face):

Best Vocal Performance: 

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Update

I haven’t posted in a long time, so here’s what’s happening: I’ve decided to restart the blog, starting with everything. So, I’m going to start fresh, and hopefully you will enjoy. I’ll start off by doing a new criteria, and refreshing the entirety, from even to the profiles. I’m sorry about it, but it’s going to be in mine, and your best interest.