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michael jackson vocal analysis

I have seen this Video (and, the previous two others before it, that were taken down). The man narrating it (“B.M.A.”) still has a very strong bias in favor of the “Motown” era on up to the Jackson brothers’ 1981 “LIVE” album of their “Triumph” Tour, but against any- and everything that Michael had ever done from “Thriller” on up until his passing. That’s one issue I have. Why not give equal credit to Michael for his vocal abilities in ALL phases and eras of his 40+-year career, and not just during the eras we like of it and consider our “most favorite” ones? It would have been fair of “B.M.A.” to at least fully acknowledge such great vocal abilities and skills that had remained with him even after the period of time that “B.M.A.” considered was his best (and, that “B.M.A.” is SO heavily biased towards).

Another issue with “B.M.A.,” is that his “research” is faulty —— Where in THE WORLD does he get this ridiculous idea that “All boys whose voices were Sopranos before puberty will eventually develop either Baritone or Bass voices as they grow up into adulthood.” from? Not every boy has the same type of voice, nor will it develop at the exact same rate for everyone; There are as many different vocal types between individual men, themselves, as there are between Males and Females as separate groups, or between children, teenagers, and adults. Each individual HUMAN voice is unique and different on its own. —— and, is only used as another attempt to further emphasize and back up the views he already had. He goes along with this nonsense of Michael (supposedly, allegedly) having “faked” the natural sound of his voice, and calling it a “Baritone” when it clearly NEVER was. Like a lot of people who really don’t know very much about Michael’s Vocal Range, he very easily mistakes THE absolute physical bottom limit of that enormous 4-Octave (and, probably even wider) “after-puberty” Vocal Range for something else altogether. At either end/extreme, from bottom to top, the voice may sound completely different than what we think it “should” sound like.

“B.M.A.” also heavily favors certain genres, while he extremely dislikes others. His views on “raspiness” of the voice are clear evidence of his views. While he will allow for a “Gospel” singer* (*or, someone whose music is of a particular genre that he really likes) to use a raspy/hoarse-sounding voice as an expression of emotion in a song (as he has actually said this when narrating such Videos on “Gospel” singers), when Michael did the same thing with his voice, however, “B.M.A.” views it as a sign of “deterioration” rather than a change in vocal style and a way to express emotion.

He also shows his bias through the sound-bites/snippets of other singers’ quotes by misusing them and taking them completely out of the context in which they were probably made, as we don’t what interviews the quotes were taken from, when the interviews were given and what their subject matter was originally about. These other singers either may or may not even have been talking about Michael at all, but....Who knows? No one will ever know.
 
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Agreed with @DDTT33442233 here,as well. Definetly not a baritone to me either,rather a tenor incapable of belting above A4 from around the Victory/Bad era and on,from what I've heard from his live shows at least.
 
I remember seeing this video before. apparently it was taken down and re uploaded.

I actually agree with most of it. I always felt that the screaming and raspiness began during the early jackson 5 days. he gained more control when he started recording solo albums for motown in 1972. I believe ‘music & me’ captured child michael his best, with the exception of ‘johnny raven’ where his voice was transitioning.

I don’t think that his speaking voice was deep during this time, when he spoke to dick clarke though.

I think there’s a difference between his live and studio voice, particularly when touring. I still maintain that touring is unnatural for the human body, and will cause damage regardless of what kind of performer you are.

I think michael would have been able to sing in the original key more often during tv appearances instead. I wish his performance of ‘ease on down the road’ on the diana ross special in 1981, was used as an example of this. these kind of performances would have him singing for a shorter duration and would have been less strenuous as a result. michael could also be heard singing along to the playback on the set of the ‘beat it’ video. he was clearly capable.

I agree that michael’s range expanded when he began recording for cbs/epic. however, i think that additional clarity came between 1978-1983💜i personally think his voice was at its peak between 1980-1983💜i wish they spent more time covering the ‘triumph’ era. I’m curious as to why michael sounded so much younger than he did the previous year on ‘off the wall’. he sounded so effortless and tender, like he was speaking at times. some claim that the album was pitched up. I don’t really hear much difference between the official release and the supposed original versions or demos..

I always thought that the ‘wall of sound’ was to make up for the absence of his brothers. it provided a great support for his lead vocals and wasn’t necessarily a crutch.

I loved that they used ‘wanna be startin’ somethin’ as an example of his high register 💜 however, they skipped over ‘we are the world’ as an example of him doubling his voice on the chorus.

I felt that this analysis was nitpicky at times. I certainly don’t believe that michael was a natural baritone. he was more of an emoter than a technical singer in my opinion, constantly adapting to the material and experimenting with sounds he found interesting. I also thought they waited too long to say that michael danced just as hard as he sang simultaneously. I agreed with the majority of it though.
 
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