emotional female vocals

[Rednaxela]

Voice type - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Timcognito]

Reb Fountain - Reb Fountain, Sarah Vaughan - Swingin' Easy, Madredeus - o espirito da pas, Joan Shelly - Over and even

 

[Triliza]

@musica Are you a native English speaker? If not (like me and many others), we have the disadvantage of not been able to understand the lyrics (or part of them) in many songs, it may help to look for the lyrics online, it's not necessary to enjoy a song by any means, but obviously it will add to the experience (or diminish it sometimes, there are many dumb lyrics out there). There are even some sites where people try to understand the meaning of some lyrics, as they may be some times a little bit hard to decipher what the person who wrote them wanted to convey.

https://songmeanings.com/

 

[musica]

@musica Are you a native English speaker? If not (like me and many others), we have the disadvantage of not been able to understand the lyrics (or part of them) in many songs, it may help to look for the lyrics online, it's not necessary to enjoy a song by any means, but obviously it will add to the experience (or diminish it sometimes, there are many dumb lyrics out there). There are even some sites where people try to understand the meaning of some lyrics, as they may be some times a little bit hard to decipher what the person who wrote them wanted to convey.

https://songmeanings.com/

I am not a native English speaker.
do you think you have to know the meaning of a song to have any kind of emotion?

 

[threni]

I am not a native English speaker.
do you think you have to know the meaning of a song to have any kind of emotion?

Uh... replace "song" with "opera" or "movie" or "book" and you'll have your answer.

 

[rdenney]

I am not a native English speaker.
do you think you have to know the meaning of a song to have any kind of emotion?

Certainly not. The point of emotional performance is to reinforce the words, not merely to present them. If they can be reinforced with enough clarity, the reinforcement can be understood without the words.

I've listened to a lot of opera without much understanding of the words, though I always had a basic notion of the narrative. I've listened to loads of rock music where the words were utterly unintelligible or meaningless. But much of it is still emotionally powerful. Even after 50 years, I still get an emotional charge from the music of groups like Yes, and that music certainly did not depend on the lyrics.

Most pop singers, however, try to emote on purpose, with the effect that it loses its authenticity--one simply doesn't believe that they are feeling the emotion they seem to be expressing. Even if they are good singers (and usually they are not, at least not without Autotune), they are not good enough actors. Performers often don't actually feel what they are performing--doing so would often be distracting to them--but the good ones sustain the illusion that they do.

Rebecca Pidgeon put out an album skillfully recorded by Chesky a decade or two back. Her singing is nearly minimalist in its lack of decoration. She doesn't use much vibrato, nor does she modulate the dynamics a lot. What she adds, however, is a superb sense of timing and phrasing. She is an actress who sings, and is therefore trained to express emotion subtly to give the impression that we are seeing only the tip of the emotion iceberg. The result is that of strong emotion felt but restrained rather than exaggerated, which makes the emotion stronger in my ears. I recall from my youth an acting teacher (the teacher was Jeanette Clift, and I was not a student, but was on-hand when she gave this advice to one of her students)--if a scene calls for crying, instead of crying, try hard NOT to cry, and the audience will do the crying for you.

Someone mentioned Aretha Franklin whose more overt musical decoration consistently supported the illusion of felt emotion. That authenticity is the reason she is legendary. And Barbra Streisand who--no surprise--turned out to also have real acting chops.

Rick "vibrato is not an emotion" Denney

 

[Triliza]

I am not a native English speaker.
do you think you have to know the meaning of a song to have any kind of emotion?

@rdenney said it all.

Something to keep in mind also is that there are days and weeks for all of us that music just don't appeal to us. Take it easy, if you don't feel like listening to music at a time, take a break. Sometimes just listening at a radio station is the best thing to do, other time your mood will dictate what you'll find more to your liking. If you want just to relax, some jazz will do the trick, not every song has to be (and most of the time isn't) a deep emotional experience.

 

[Martin]

I saw Sarah McLachlan in concert three nights ago. On stage were her and a single female accompanist. Instruments were piano, cello, and guitars. Sarah is masterful in conveying emotion in her songs. It was a fantastic evening.

Martin

 

[ahofer]

Maria Callas was legendary for her emoting and technical ability.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/...usic-maria-callas.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/...aria-callas.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

[musica]

then no pop singer can have a vocal classification like classical music cantatas?

 

[jp4573]

A voice that can do the low regions as well as the highs

Yma Sumac - She stand your definition, but not my taste.

 

[unpluggged]

then no pop singer can have a vocal classification like classical music cantatas?

There are attempts to classify voices in non-classical music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_classification_in_non-classical_music

 

[diddley]

Yma Sumac - She stand your definition, but not my taste.

Well she certainly goes low and very high.
Once there was a time this music was very populair big bands and rumba's etc.
Not my taste eighter but more a novalty
Thanks for sharing

 

[Bren Derlin]

It comes down to context of the piece combined with the performance.

Cindy Lauper’s - “girls just wanna have fun”. Upbeat emotional. …ugh. I loathe 80’s pop.

Srvcina - “Wish You Well” and “Island” definitely explore the opposite spectrum, singing about loss and isolation.

Then you have…

Isabel Bayrakdarian - “Tall As A Poplar”, feels like her soul is being squeezed.

I appreciate and listen to all styles.

Some of my favorite women singers right now?

Svrcina
Fleurie
Gabrielle Aplin
Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) - “the Silence” - play it and crank it up.
Marina Kaye
Julien Baker - “Go Home” is a gut punch
Alisa Xayalith (The Naked and Famous)
Melanie De Biasio
Ruelle

 

[sarumbear]

pretty much anything by Barbra Streisand

Especially this…

 

[sarumbear]

Certainly not. The point of emotional performance is to reinforce the words, not merely to present them. If they can be reinforced with enough clarity, the reinforcement can be understood without the words.

Sometimes the meaning gets confused though

 

[mhardy6647]

Well -- when I saw the thread title "Emotional Female Vocals", my mind fairly leapt to... 4 Non Blondes.

 

[musica]

 

[Steven Holt]

My wife after I buy the MA5300. Not music, but man there will be plenty of emotion in it. More serious, try Freya Ridings.

 

[muslhead]

This immediately comes to mind - Concrete Blonde - Joey