Latest on MJJC

Favorite MJ vocal style?

Favorite MJ vocal style?

  • Falsetto (f.e. Someone Put Your Hand Out)

    Votes: 4 17.4%

  • Hard incomprehensible scathing (f.e. This Time Around)

    Votes: 3 13.0%

  • slight agressive vocals (f.e. most things he sings during ad libs)

    Votes: 5 21.7%

  • clean soulful voice (f.e. Remember the time)

    Votes: 11 47.8%
  • Total voters
    23
Blues_Away2023 said:
I've often wondered if all that aggressive singing had caused some serious damage to his vocals as was evident during HIStory tour?
I believe this to be the case even before then.
Anyway, I love the youthful clean and smooth vocals of the OTW album especially on songs like I can't help it
Click to expand...
I agree. I think his voice was almost flawless between 76-85💜
 
83magic said:
he was also shaky leading up to that point in my opinion. with few exceptions, I don’t think he was as strong in his lower range.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by this?
 
I love the smoothness, power, clarity and breath control that MJ had in the Triumph-Victory era.
 
83magic said:
during the verses, middle 8, and any part where his lead vocal was not using the ‘grit’. he sounded unstable to me.
Click to expand...
Just to be clear, we are talking about Remember the Time?
 
83magic said:
yes
Click to expand...
Then I’m clueless as to what you mean. I just finished listening to the so called a capella (attached below), just to reassure that there wasn’t anything I’d forgotten in regards to those vocals. But no, they’re just as I remember: rocksteady. And, if I may add, it’s an outstanding performance overall.

What exactly do you mean when you say ‘shaky’?

 
Blues_Away2023 said:
Hey @Agonum what is your favorite MJ vocal style?
Click to expand...
I don’t have one favourite. Michael’s greatest strength as a vocalist was in how he could fundamentally alter his voice to fit the story he wanted to tell; in other words, it’s in the diversity of vocal styles. He was a brilliant actor, if you think about it. The verses in Who Is It? and Dirty Diana, versus those in Speed Demon and Blood on the Dance Floor, contra those in Human Nature and Heal the World, vis-à-vis those in Scream and This Time Around – it’s like they are respectively sung by completely different persons! That’s how brilliant Michael was.

Edit: Replaced accidental use of Swedish word with English counterpart.
 
Last edited:
83magic said:
he was also shaky leading up to that point in my opinion. with few exceptions, I don’t think he was as strong in his lower range.
Click to expand...
I disagree about Michael not being strong in the lower parts of his register. Perhaps most famously at display on Rock With You, his lower range was conversely quite beautiful.

Other notable examples are You Can’t Win, Liberian Girl, and Monkey Business.
 
Agonum said:
I disagree about Michael not being strong in the lower parts of his register. Perhaps most famously at display on Rock With You, his lower range was conversely quite beautiful.

Other notable examples are You Can’t Win, Liberian Girl, and Monkey Business.
Click to expand...
we’d have to agree to disagree about ‘remember the time’.

I think the likes of ‘rock with you’ (the first verse), ‘blues away’, and ‘billie jean’, were some of the exceptions I alluded to in in my initial post. yet he even had difficulty replicating those vocals live (the lower parts). ‘you can’t win’ was literally just three low notes, at the end of a song that was sung in his typical higher register. ‘libeiran girl’ wasn’t that low - especially in comparison to most other male voices.

I was referring to songs like; ‘will you be there’, the ‘we are the world demo’ and now that you’ve mentioned it, definitely ‘monkey business’, when I stated that I didn’t think michael was strong in his lower register. I didn’t mean every song that he used that range in, just most of them. that’s probably why he rarely sang that way. michael’s vocal coach seth riggs, said that he preferred to sing (and speak) higher. I think he sounded better that way in both respects. just my opinion. I’m not trying to sway anybody either way..
 
Agonum said:
I don’t have one favourite. Michael’s greatest strength as a vocalist was in how he could fundamentally alter his voice to fit the story he wanted to tell; in other words, it’s in the diversity of vocal styles. He was a brilliant actor, if you think about it. The verses in Who Is It? and Dirty Diana, versus those in Speed Demon and Blood on the Dance Floor, contra those in Human Nature and Heal the World, vis-à-vis those in Scream and This Time Around – it’s like they are respectively sung by completely different persons! That’s how brilliant Michael was.

Edit: Replaced accidental use of Swedish word with English counterpart.
Click to expand...
Great response, thank you 😊
 
This Time Around is my favorite example of hard incomprehensible scathing so yeah.

Best soulful singing though, that's Time Waits For No One. I can listen to that all day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top