Lower register: A very underdeveloped and unstable register. For the most part tone is present in her lower range, but the tone production is very flat sounding, throaty and unstable. She tends to either lose projection in this register or easily lower her larynx to create a thicker lower sound in her voice.
Mixed register: The middle part of her voice is the most stable and better placed voice she uses. For the most part, from C4 ~ G4, her voice is clear, somewhat supported, projected and comfortable. Anything above G#4, however, can often sound opened in sound and really forward in project, but with a lot of pushing, compression in the larynx, pressure of the vocal cords and tension in the throat.
Upper register: Her falsetto register is very underused and is always disconnected. She doesn’t generally have the correct control of her falsetto and her transitions can often sound sloppy and poorly done. Her falsetto is generally thin and airy, not projecting very well and never really becoming a connected head voice.
Jiyoon’s voice is not one to play around with styles of music that require great vocal agility. In general, her performances are usually sung straight and don’t have many embellishments when it comes to vocal runs. For the most part her usage of a Thyroarytenoid muscle dominance, responsible for the chest voice, causes her voice to lack flexibility and often sound too push, loud and thick in texture. Logically, a voice needs lightness for it to be agile, so by adding too much weight to the voice, the speed and flexibility will be affected, which causes Jiyoon to lack agility. The few moments in which she has done vocal runs, she shows a lack of ability to keep good separation of pitch and precision of notes, as well as a clean legato line that flows through the notes smoothly, seen for an example in her runs when singing “If I Were A Boy“, “길에서” and “또만 났네요.”
As the lead vocalist of 4Minute, Jiyoon keeps her spot as a strong vocalist in comparison to the less highlighted vocalists in the group due to how much more volume she is able to create with her voice. Contrary to popular belief though, her power is not due to a strong and powerful technique, but instead one that goes against the natural lightness of her voice and tone. In terms of voice type, Jiyoon’s voice carries a very soft and light color to it, sitting most comfortably in the fourth octave and above, characteristics of a light lyric soprano voice. Her voice, however, barely ever shows such characteristics due to the improper technique she employs in her singing.
From the bottom of her range, Jiyoon lacks the proper cord connection and support in her range. The muscles responsible for the strength of her chest voice are overly employed in the upper bridging area of her mixed voice, but aren’t as emphasized when singing in her lower range. Therefore her voice ends up lacking projection, resonance, support and strength when singing low, as well as stability. The pitch is often uncentered and her overall legato singing becomes very chopped up and disconnected. Her lower range shows some support around B3, but below B3, her notes become more softly sung, as if half-spoken, without any proper connection of vocal cords and placement for singing. As she descends below B3, there is also a tendency for her to slightly push her larynx down and cause her voice to sound more blocked and lack even more projection. Examples include her Bb3’s in “미워도 다시 한번” and her F#3’s in “If I Were A Boy” and “If I Ain’t Got You“.
As a Soprano, her natural voice tessitura should lie somewhere above C4 up to as high as C6, or higher. When it comes to the aspect of middle voice, where one should first train their voice in order to properly sing songs in a comfortable mid-range that is neither too high nor too low, Jiyoon has enough support ranging from C4 up to G#4 for her voice to project well and handle most melodies given for her in songs. However, as she approaches notes above G#4, her voice starts to increase in volume too quickly and sound too pushed, yelled and strained. Above G#4, the tone is usually more opened and less nasal than below, but can also sound nasal and pushed out. Her overall tone in her comfortable range is often harsh, thick and overly chesty, with too much compression of the vocal cords and too much tension in the throat. As she ascends into her mix, instead of lightening up her voice and adding more head into the equation, Jiyoon opts for more volume, more chest voice and more pushing, causing her to sound louder and yelled.
The issue with Jiyoon’s mixed voice lies in the fact that, although she possesses quite a bit of range and doesn’t generally crack when singing higher, she has created a bad habit of always relying on the use of chest voice and never really blending in both the chest and head voice to create a mix, causing her sound to be either too weak, airy, nasal and falsetto-y, when she sings more softly, or suddenly too harsh and loud. Notes around A4 and Bb4, such as in her musical performance “My Love By My Side” and “담다디“, will often sound tight in the throat and pushed, with an overly opened and lowered tight jaw. As she ascends higher, the strain becomes even more clear as her throat starts to close on B4’s, such as in “또만 났네요“, C5’s, such as in “미워도 다시 한번“, “No. 1“, “난” and “늴리리아“. The higher she gets, the less stable her intonation becomes, often sounding flat and pitchy, such as in the Eb5’s of “Firework” and “Volume Up” and the F5 of “Shut Up” which, due to the tightness in her throat, high larynx and improper support, become a sharp E5.
Her upper register is for the most part a disconnected falsetto, which lacks in terms of placement and projection, like the rest of her range. The falsetto register often sounds airy and nasal in tone, not projection properly and seemingly being disconnected from the rest of her range. In her duet with dickpunks, “Soulmate“, Jiyoon uses a falsetto quite often, placing it heavily in her nose but at least showing enough control of it to transition into it without lack of confidence. The transitions from falsetto have shown some inconsistency, at times being smooth such as in “또만 났네요” and other times being weak and pitchy, such as in “길에서” and “One Of The Boys“. The falsetto register can extend up to C6, as done so while warming up in a cover video of “California King Bed“, where her sound was freer but still disconnected, suggesting the lack of confidence with the register in general.
Without taking into consideration the lack of development of all of Jiyoon’s vocal registers, the part of Jiyoon’s voice that lacks the most is the basics of singing. Intonation and dynamic wise, due to Jiyoon’s poor vocal development, her voice is often either too soft, uncontrolled and weak, or too loud and yelled. Musically speaking, that keeps her voice from being able to properly deliver any sort of musical and emotional message through her singing alone. Her singing is often also pitchy, flat sounding and shallow in tone. Since most of her sound is heavily done with her throat and a compressed larynx, her singing is disconnected and her voice sounds as if she is half-speaking her way through songs. Her tone is often flat in sound and in pitch, with a nasal quality and it has no depth of color. The color of her voice is not portrayed well due to the heavy forced sound she employs. The overly heavy pushed chest-dominance in her mix can often pull her flat, such as in her duet of “이별이야기“, or her pitch is just not centered even when singing through the melody of the song more softly, such as in “이세상 살아다가 보면” , or the recent performances of 4Minute’s comeback, where her tone just lacks color and sounds shallow in placement, such as “1절만 하시죠“.
She is technically lacking in many basic aspects of singing, which can very well also be the fault of the vocal education she has been given as a trainee, having many other main vocalists and lead vocalists from companies show similar issues to Jiyoon in terms of technique. When she raps, her voice shines more tone wise, even though the full control of her voice is still not there dynamically and musically speaking. For a long term singing career and solo career, Jiyoon’s main focus should be on re-learning the basics of singing and having a skilled instructor help her sing through her vocal bridges and better showcase the true tone of her voice, hidden behind all the unhealthy bad habits she has developed over the years. Even then, Jiyoon has proved herself numerous times as a performer and entertainer and hopefully will continue to improve her abilities if she chooses to further take singing into a more serious light as an entertainer.
With a lack of ear for music, musicianship wise, Jiyoon’s vocals often sound off in terms of pitch and appropriate melodic improvisations. She will often add random-sounding runs, harmonies and adlibs to performances, such as “If I Were A Boy” and “길에서” , where her pitch accuracy and added adlibs often sound random, not well thought out and off in terms of key center and musicality. Her harmonies also can come off flat, pitchy and don’t blend in well when singing with other vocalists, for the most part.
Soon? haha I mean they debuted in 2009, it’s about time haha Gayoon will be soon enough, probably on my next batch. I first have to get through my current batch of drafts.
So.. “As the lead vocalist of 4Minute, Jiyoon keeps her spot as a strong vocalist in comparison to the less highlighted vocalists in the group ………” Was that mean she is a strong vocalist but not the strongest vocalist in 4minute? Who is better between jiyoon n bom?
I am not sure, I believe Jiyoon and Bom are kind of even. It just means Jiyoon has a loud voice and is better than Hyuna and Jihyun lol
Aaah i see.. I hope gayoon got a higher rank. I mean, she is a main vocalist. She should be better than the rest of her group. So on k-pop.. Is there any lead vocalist that singing better than main vocalist? Besides 2ne1?
Few days ago, yoseob tweeted on his twitter and ask his fans what is lacking when he sings. So i give this blog address straight to his analysis. I wish he understand english. And i hope…. you don’t mind ahmin. Thank you, good job again
Yes 2NE1, Big Bang as well. Any other groups with a lead vocalist stronger than the main? Well Junsu is considered a lead vocalist but he’s better than Jaejoong, Kyuhyun is also often not considered a main vocalist, but a lead while Yesung is the main.
Awww you did? haha it was you then! haha I also linked him when I saw it, I wish he had read it but I don’t think he did haha
So is she better or worse than Sohyun, because after hearing an MR removed, I was surprised to hear that she wasn’t as bad as I was expecting her to be.
What makes Sohyun a (kinda) better vocalist then Jiyoon? Is the kinda due to a limited range and the better due to less screaming?
I am not sure I could say she is better because I don’t know her THAT well, but she does push much less.
Isn’t she a rapper, I’m kinda confused as to why analyzing her but… OK. I mean she’s listed as lead vocalist but Cube doesn’t really showcase her as a vocalist, well. To each, their own.
She was analyzed because she is considered a lead vocalist and many people actually seem to think she’s also better and “more powerful” than Gayoon.
Ah, I see… well I guess it’s how they see Bom so I understand to some level. Ironic how they happen to be under the same category. Hope people learn to differentiate technique from style. Personally, I prefer her as a rapper… thanks!
I don’t get how people think she’s better than Gayoon. Lol Gayoon is not good she’s average but to me it’s obvious that she is better. Honestly, I like 4minute but vocally they are pretty weak. I think Sohyun might be better than Jiyoon. Umm, may I ask…why is a lead vocalist weak? Don’t they train her? Maybe they don’t realuze her flaws. Like her chest voice is so nasally and strained.
I mean Cube’s new group, CLC, ain’t doing so well vocally either so Cube to me seems kind of weird in terms of training.
Wow I only heard their song pepe so I just looked at a few lives and oh. That’s pretty weak. They remind me of the dancers in SNSD. Like all of them sound like Yoona and the main vocalist sounds like Sooyoung wiwith some Tiffany. Entertainments like Cube and YG have to care more about vocals abd really go to this website. I just hate how people say YG and other entertainments are for takent and SM is for the face. SM obviously has better vocalists! They have a good to great vocalist! Their training vocally is the best in my opinion.
I’m not sure if she’s weak, not sure if she’s average either. I am planning on doing her soon though, on my next batch.
Hi, Ahmin. Jiyoon vs Yuri who’s better? I know it’s really funny question lol 😀 Yuri weak vocalist too?
Yuri definitely. She’s more of a weak to average vocalist imo, better lower range, more consistent in her mid range than Jiyoon.
hmm this is tough lol cause I don’t get to know all of them but imo Eunjung is the worst of them all, one of the worst lower registers in K-Pop and so is her falsetto. Don’t know about ChoA though, but Min can be either Weak to Average or Average (I still haven’t listened to her enough). Then we have Krystal, Yuri. No idea who’s better between Seungyeon and Gayoon (and Hyosung also).
Unrelated question but I came across the profile of one of the writers, and he mentioned one of his favorite singers is Boni. I’m so surprised because I feel like Boni is just so deep under the radar it’s ridiculous. So using your scale, where would Boni range?
I legit thought she was a rapper! I clicked the analysis page and was like dafuq?? Lol she’s one of those ppl who need to y’know slowly stop singing and just rap. Her rapping is actually pretty good too (better than hyuna) #jiyoonforunprettyrapstarseasontwo lol
I apologize but I will refrain from answering questions that are just funny questions and do not have anything to do with a lead or main vocalist.
Silly Sone. Everyone in SNSD has received SM training and can at least stay on pitch in their mid range at this point in their career, so they’ve got that over these weak vocalists. Let it be.
Yes. I love reading plainly stated what I’ve always felt about all these vocalists. I know there’s a very nice voice hiding in there Jiyoon, someone just has to actually let it out. In the meantime, I’m going to hop you stay transitioned to a rapper. Honestly, I think that might be why Bravesound put her there in the first place.
Cube is built on trainees from other record labels. Their sub vocalists barely breath their sound out years after debut. Hyunseung is hurting his voice with the way he’s singing in this comeback and no one at Cube has any idea how to fix it or even notice it’s happening. They know how to market their idols, and they know choreography, but they don’t know vocals.
Yknow I never really understood why they made her sing and Hyuna rap. LOL Oh well though, I’m glad you feel that way. I wish she had a good vocal coach to get her through all that she has to go through. Cube is not so bad though, I mean look at Pledis minus Raina, or YG… Many companies don’t care.
Will Key from ever get a proper analysis considering that he was one of Shinee’s prominent vocalist when they started? Also do you think Key suffers from the same issue as Minho by not being allowed to sing in a more comfortable lower register when Shinee makes songs?
It’s hard to say because SHINee already has 3 vocalists analyzed and for a group of only 5 members, that’s a lot of people already. I usually only consider 2 people from each groups, sometimes only one. So considering 3 for SHINee already shows a lot, so if I’d analyze Key, who’s at most an average vocalist, that’d be a bit of bias towards SHINee. Yes I do think Key sings way outside of his voice fach’s natural range. He is a Baritone trying to sing like a tenor, which does not work in his favor.
To me, 3/5 of SHINee analyzed is completely fine act since they are all beyond AA. Well , compared to 3/4 BEG when they are not even THAT good, same goes for 2AM all 4 in the future project when the strongest is only AA. It’s understandable, because they are vocal groups and quite overrated. Truth should be revealed yknow LOL. Also this is my personal opinion, I think all the popular ones should be analyzed whether they are good or not (since ppl are curious about them all the time) and all the good ones should be analyzed whether they are popular or not (so they’ll get recognized)
Anyway about Key, it’s again understandable you are not considering doing him since he’s the 4th vocalist but seriously tho SO MANY are curious about him. and maybe just me, I think his issue being a Baritone that always sing like a tenor to match his members are really interesting
I agree, the popular ones should be analyzed and people who debuted sometime ago should be prioritized like 4Minute and AS over people like Shannon or Mamamoo or even BTS. So at least a main and a lead from each group…if not, at least the main.. lol So yeah bad ones for popularity like Suzy, and good ones for skill, like Dia or Ben.
Yeah I might consider Key for the future only because he’s such an interesting case… It’s good to add in more baritones, like Key, Youngjae, John Park and Hwanhee…
I wonder if Key and Youngjae even know they are a baritone.. and most idols. Do they actually know their voice type O.O
I wonder so too, but I doubt they do.. many Korean vocal coaches don’t know voice types and they also don’t tell that kind of thing to the vocalist. USUALLY, from what I’ve experienced and know.
Ahmin ~ I heard Park Jung Min (from SS501) is also a baritone, so can you rank him with these baritones you mentioned? I remember you’ve said (before) that PJM’s voice is even lower than HwanHee, how can it be? His voice seems lighter to me :-p
And EXO Chan Yeol is a baritone too, right? Among all the baritones you know, who has the lowest voice and who has best vocal technique?
I can’t because I’m not familiar enough with him, he’s close to the Key and Youngjae level surely but I don’t know good he is. Well Id’ say Park Jungmin’s range is lower, but not that his voice is lower. He doesn’t mix as high as him either. Yknow it’s hard to say, they all seem like lyric baritones to me, even Chanyeol. I don’t know whose voice is the lowest and the best technique is Hwanhee’s without a doubt. It’s okay, baritones interest me too. ^ ^
Beside Yoseob, Cube has Eunji as a strong vocalist. Don’t forget her kkkk she’s the best vocalist in Cube.
Thanks for the analysis! You had to go through all these poor live performances, your ears must have been bleeding, lol) You wrote that “… Cube, whose only skilled vocalist is Yoseob” – you definitely forgot about BTOB)) I guess Sungjae deserves some compliments)
I actually did forget BtoB is part of Cube but I am not aware of how good or not good she is.. Wait Sungjae? What about Eunkwang?
I’m really glad that I read this because I was one of those who initially thought that Jiyoon was better than Gayoon when it came to singing, but I guess they both aren’t that good hahah. I do agree that Jiyoon should stick to rapping since she has a sick rapping voice. I personally like Jiyoon’s voice but it’s a personal preference I understand. I’m excited for you to check more into BtoB however since I believe overall they are Cube’s most vocally powerful and most underrated group. Their main main main vocal is Eunkwang but they have like 3 lead vocals pretty much Sungjae, Hyunsik and Changsub, so i’m excited to see who you might review from that group.
I already have some thoughts on all their vocalists but I’m more interested in their baritones, Sungjae and Hyunshik, than their tenors. Eunkwang I’m pretty much set on where he’d be. Changsub won’t be analyzed.
And where would Eunkwang be? Please tell me, I’m curious :D. I love all four of them, but Eunkwang’s voice is the first that i can recognize. Btw, i like reading your blog. Thanks!
Thank you that’s sweet! I’m afraid I’m not sure where he would be yet, but the answer will come soon!
i just wanted to comment on how you thought Changsub wouldn’t be analysed and now he’s one of you favourite vocalists, oh how the table have turned. Haha, (no need to reply)
He has said stuff about the soft palate before and because of what he said, I take what he says as with a huge grain of salt. The thing is this guy is a tenor and I can tell that by his speaking voice that he is a tenor so you can be trained wrong in a different voice type classically, but that doesn’t change your natural voice type. The speaking voice he’s talking about is tenors who speak in an unnatural low range, so yeah that can be tricky. So you can be trained as a baritone but truly be a tenor or be trained/sing as a tenor but be a real baritone, like B.A.P.’s Youngjae, SHINee’s Key and Hwanhee. I don’t disagree with this video anyway yes it is true that you can be a tenor but people may say you’re a baritone or some people can be told that they’re baritones but they’re truly tenors.
Did he do well? I like his voice, but i know nothing about vocals so i have to ask haha. Thank you so much!
Hi there! No problem asking, this was asked in the Future Projects page before so I’m going to copy paste my answer from there if you don’t mind:
“So before any time stamps come in, a foreword. This song is a song that doesn’t focus much on belting or mixed voice, as much as it focuses a lot on the head voice/falsetto area of the voice and allows me to hear if the vocalist has that register in good control. His pitch was good throughout but this is studio and I’m sure he had many takes to do this recording so it can’t be accounted 100%. First of all low notes, the lowest this song goes is at 0:21 0:36 2:09 2:20 2:25 the E3’s. Most of them were quite airy and it could be an effect since he was singing quite softly, but they could’ve been a bit better supported. As for the mixed voice, the notes at 1:08 1:12 2:57 3:01 are F#4’s, most of which had clean mixing and support, a few issues with glottal tension due to the Aye vowel, a bit of nasality due to the N consonant, but those are details, for the most part you can tell he’s comfortable and well supported in that range. Now the issue comes when he goes up at 1:42 3:31 4:01 4:08 to the E5’s, those are not comfortable for him, his throat closes and his larynx raises on E5’s for sure, shows tension in that area. Even at 3:41 3:53 the C#5’s sometimes have tension too, he could definitely work on easing up in that range, they get a bit throaty. Now the bigges red flags for technique for me, aside from the high larynx in the upper falsetto are the 1:49 larynx vibrato, look at the larynx shaking, like literally it’s not good to use a larynx vibrato, it’s not healthy and although it’s taught, I don’t agree with it. Then at 3:08 jaw shaking due to tension, not a jaw vibrato but it’s tension caused by the larynx vibrato again. His issue for me is the larynx vibrato, his mix seems to be good up to G4/G#4 or maybe even A4, but his larynx has to stop shaking because thats when more tension and less freedom happen. He was mostly using a falsetto, lacked full connection and he could also work on his extremities, like the E3 and the E5 for sure.”
Ok, I really hope she is cause Sohyun is my bias. And one question can you be a good vocalist without being able of singing high notes?
Singing high notes doesn’t make anybody a good vocalist. You can be a very well self aware vocalist within a limited range but a good vocalist has developed support, evenness and placement throughout their full ranges, from bottom to top. It’s not just about high notes, it’s low notes too. It’s also not just about being able to hit them, it’s being able to hit them without hurting yourself in the process.
Hit them without hurting yourself. That’s really hard for me, lol do you know the song Joker by Dalshabet, I can do the very very very little high note that Serri does without hurting myself, but I tried to do the high note Subin does in the end of the bridge, and omg it was hard for me to sing it out lol. I felt like my throat was about to die. And idk but this kind of high note is weird like I felt like I had no choice but to push my voice a little bit and it didn’t sound that bad but well it was weird and I have another problem when I sing the whole song my jaws omg no more jaws at the end of the song, like my jaws hurt so much after I sing the whole song. Same for the song called You’re Pitiful by Fiestar
Can’t all Sopranos should be able to hit Soprano C..? that’s not really a strength imo or did you just wrote it as a strength because she doesn’t really have anything good as a vocalist lol…
Wait, so would Hyuna not even be considered a weak vocalist? I mean, I know she’s mainly a rapper but I thought she sung a bit as well? Like hearing her latest A+ album and audio teasers for her future album, it seems like she can sing okay….
I mean we make it a rule not to call anybody anything but weak, if they’re below the average rating category.