Bar being a full-lyric soprano I'd say she's pretty good all round, she tends to get a bit shrill around A5 and could work a bit on her lower register but all round she's a solid underrated vocalist
Lightweight, small-medium volume/resonance capacity. Prefixes like 'light' and 'full' denote opposite extremes of the category. 'Light-lyric' = very lightweight, very soft, small volume capacity. 'Full-lyric' = medium weight, medium volume capacity.
A LARGE voice would be called 'dramatic' = VERY heavy, (potentially) VERY powerful, GREAT volume capacity. It's quite rare thing for a voice to be able to be heard over a full orchestra with little to no help, so you can't just go throwing the term around lol. And in case you were about to ask, the term 'spinto' refers to tenor and soprano voices that are near but not quite equal to dramatic voices in size and power, and also richer and warmer in tone quality than dramatic voices, which should sound cold and steely/metallic.
Thank you very much Good explanations for all of them.
ddd I don't fully agree that Chaka is a mezzo, I just said she could be some sort of mezzo or mezzo/soprano hybrid.
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You know whose hard to decipher? Billie Holiday.
No matter what, her voice is certainly light-lyric. The volume capacity and weight are 👌🏾. I can't tell if she was a true mezzo or a broken soprano voice though. Idk, prob an underdeveloped light-lyric mezzo. She wasn't a great singer, excellent emotional interpreter and performer.
Yes, there are two mezzo/soprano hybrid voice types: Falcon Soprano and Dugazon. I strongly feel Chaka is a Falcon, much like Aretha and Vanessa Amorosi.
I agree Billie Holiday is hard to categorize, that's why I never really tried
Taylor Dayne also is kinda hard to categorize. Some say Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano, some say Dramatic Soprano, other Spinto Soprano. Then I've also seen some say Falcon Soprano.
Timbre wise, I hear Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano but her tessitura is higher than let's say Anastacia. She may be the Dramatic Mezzo/Dramatic Soprano variant of the Soprano Falcon voice. The other Soprano Falcon variant being Lyric Mezzo/Spinto Soprano.
^ I'd have to hear some more operatic dramatic mezzos sing pop, but I've never really understood why Anastacia was considered by some 'experts' to be one, or at least the main example. Not that I fully agree with using classical terms to classify pop vocalists (I actually generally don't), but one's vocal fach isn't just about range and tessiture, but also vocal color. Anastacia's color is pretty masculine, I actually know a lot of people who thought she was a somewhat effeminate dude at first, though not to the extreme extent of a Cher, for example (who I was 100% was a man, or at least used to be a man, when I was a kid ). From Shirley Verrett, Marilyn Horne, Grace Bumbry, Giulieta Simionato, Agnes Baltsa, Tatiana Troyanos, Dolora Zajick, Fiorenza Cossotto... You get the point, from pretty much all the operatic dramatic mezzo sopranos I know, not one of them has a masculine tone. So I think Anastacia might be somewhere in between the dramatic contralto and dramatic mezzo fachs if she had been operatically trained. Or of course, her contralto-ish color + strong upper register could denote she might have been a soprano sfogato, as much as I abhor tossing a term like that around in pop, given how exceedingly rare it is even in opera(probably only 3 or so in the last 60 years on recording).
tldr; I don't think Anastacia is the best example to judge pop dramatic mezzos by.
^ I'd have to hear some more operatic dramatic mezzos sing pop, but I've never really understood why Anastacia was considered by some 'experts' to be one, or at least the main example. Not that I fully agree with using classical terms to classify pop vocalists (I actually generally don't), but one's vocal fach isn't just about range and tessiture, but also vocal color. Anastacia's color is pretty masculine, I actually know a lot of people who thought she was a somewhat effeminate dude at first, though not to the extreme extent of a Cher, for example (who I was 100% was a man, or at least used to be a man, when I was a kid ). From Shirley Verrett, Marilyn Horne, Grace Bumbry, Giulieta Simionato, Agnes Baltsa, Tatiana Troyanos, Dolora Zajick, Fiorenza Cossotto... You get the point, from pretty much all the operatic dramatic mezzo sopranos I know, not one of them has a masculine tone. So I think Anastacia might be somewhere in between the dramatic contralto and dramatic mezzo fachs if she had been operatically trained. Or of course, her contralto-ish color + strong upper register could denote she might have been a soprano sfogato, as much as I abhor tossing a term like that around in pop, given how exceedingly rare it is even in opera(probably only 3 or so in the last 60 years on recording).
tldr; I don't think Anastacia is the best example to judge pop dramatic mezzos by.
I wouldn't call her a Sfogato though, her voice is not carnivorous enough in her lower extremes and not bright enough in her upper register like Marie Callas. Anastasia reminds me of Mariah in the sense that she's just got extended extremities to her voice
^ I'd have to hear some more operatic dramatic mezzos sing pop, but I've never really understood why Anastacia was considered by some 'experts' to be one, or at least the main example. Not that I fully agree with using classical terms to classify pop vocalists (I actually generally don't), but one's vocal fach isn't just about range and tessiture, but also vocal color. Anastacia's color is pretty masculine, I actually know a lot of people who thought she was a somewhat effeminate dude at first, though not to the extreme extent of a Cher, for example (who I was 100% was a man, or at least used to be a man, when I was a kid ). From Shirley Verrett, Marilyn Horne, Grace Bumbry, Giulieta Simionato, Agnes Baltsa, Tatiana Troyanos, Dolora Zajick, Fiorenza Cossotto... You get the point, from pretty much all the operatic dramatic mezzo sopranos I know, not one of them has a masculine tone. So I think Anastacia might be somewhere in between the dramatic contralto and dramatic mezzo fachs if she had been operatically trained. Or of course, her contralto-ish color + strong upper register could denote she might have been a soprano sfogato, as much as I abhor tossing a term like that around in pop, given how exceedingly rare it is even in opera(probably only 3 or so in the last 60 years on recording).
tldr; I don't think Anastacia is the best example to judge pop dramatic mezzos by.
And I disagree with your assessment of Anastacia tbh. She sounds like a big scary mean evil witch to me, but not like a man lol. Her tone is extremely dark, but not confusingly androgynous enough for me to call her a contralto. I think she is quite clearly a mezzo...
It always puzzles me how people can listen to Beyonce and tear her voice apart Like she one of the most colorful tones in pop music today. Her control is amazing, and her breath support is out of this world.
I wouldn't call her a Sfogato though, her voice is not carnivorous enough in her lower extremes and not bright enough in her upper register like Marie Callas. Anastasia reminds me of Mariah in the sense that she's just got extended extremities to her voice
Hmm, on second listen I'd have to say her voice isn't nearly as masculine as I thought, just extremely metallic, so dramatic mezzo does seem to be the best fit. Such an interesting instrument she had, too bad she wasn't more popular (or sang opera, where her talents would be better utilized ).
It always puzzles me how people can listen to Beyonce and tear her voice apart Like she one of the most colorful tones in pop music today. Her control is amazing, and her breath support is out of this world.
The only criticism she gets from people with an IQ above 12 is that her tone is bland, which I could understand in her early years, but now she has such a lush, dark timbre.
The only criticism she gets from people with an IQ above 12 is that her tone is bland, which I could understand in her early years, but now she has such a lush, dark timbre.
The only criticism she gets from people with an IQ above 12 is that her tone is bland, which I could understand in her early years, but now she has such a lush, dark timbre.
An IQ above 12 Or that she has no "soul" in her voice I'm like...... okayyy.
Shirley Verrett is consider a Soprano Falcon [a hyrbid voice type] (the Dramatic Mezzo/Dramatic Soprano variant) as is Grace Bumbry. They both sang mezzo and dramatic soprano roles in their respective careers
A national anthem performance is the best way to assess someone's vocal ability in one sitting tbh
She was only 16. Good for a 16 year-old. Understandable because she was 16...I'd say,
her voice would take on such an adult quality in her belted high notes - i wish she would've experimented with a more belty style more often. but no, she was queen of softness. ok
Good explanations for all of them.
). From Shirley Verrett, Marilyn Horne, Grace Bumbry, Giulieta Simionato, Agnes Baltsa, Tatiana Troyanos, Dolora Zajick, Fiorenza Cossotto... You get the point, from pretty much all the operatic dramatic mezzo sopranos I know, not one of them has a masculine tone. So I think Anastacia might be somewhere in between the dramatic contralto and dramatic mezzo fachs if she had been operatically trained. Or of course, her contralto-ish color + strong upper register could denote she might have been a soprano sfogato, as much as I abhor tossing a term like that around in pop, given how exceedingly rare it is even in opera(probably only 3 or so in the last 60 years on recording).
Like she one of the most colorful tones in pop music today. Her control is amazing, and her breath support is out of this world. 
).
Or that she has no "soul" in her voice