While listening to Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” this weekend, a friend asked me if I thought Beyoncé was a good singer. I immediately did a spit take with my vodka soda, and glared at him as if he were speaking a foreign tongue.
To be fair this friend isn’t a singer, and while they knew she was an incredible performer, they weren’t sure if her vocals were being masked by production values and autotune. I assured him this was not the case, and we then spent the next hour watching YouTube clips and listening to audio of Beyoncé’s live vocals.
So why is Beyoncé a good singer?
There are many reasons including the fact that she has an impressive range, sings with an incredible amount of flexibility, and expresses with an unparalleled sense of stylistic nuance. To top it off, she makes it all look so easy!
The element of Beyoncé’s singing I want to discuss today, however, is the fact that she simply sounds “cool.”
This ability to sound confident, fresh, original, and “cool,” is the very thing that eludes many Musical Theatre singers with a freshly minted B.F.A. They can belt the high notes, they can powerfully sustain 8 shows a week, yet they feel that this element is lacking. There is nothing that makes a Musical Theatre singer feel less “cool” than being told they sound too much like a Musical Theatre singer.
Why is this?
First of all, I think it comes down to how you train as a singer. If you are training in a way that is dictated by sounds that are right/wrong, or good/bad, you end up training rigidity into your system. A belief that certain sounds are “right” and others are “wrong” or the mindset that your voice “just doesn’t make those types of sounds” limits possibilities. Beyoncé’ is a perfect example of someone who has trained flexibility and possibilities into her system. She makes vocal choices dictated by the mood of each song and reinvents herself with each new album. Beyoncé’ makes many sounds that would frankly sound bizarre out of context, but in the moment come across as sexy, bold, and innovative.
Are people just born sounding cool or can it be developed?
Yes and yes. Each of us has our own anatomy and personal histories which contribute to the way we use our voices. We also have autonomy over how we want to sound and how we define what “cool” is. Unfortunately, it is possible to train this innate uniqueness out of our singing voices. While it’s often done with good intentions of “vocal health” and a bias for a Western Classical aesthetic, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can train in a way that both promotes efficient vocal function AND cultivates originality.
If sounding “cool” can be developed, how does one go about that?
Here are 3 things that I’ve done with singers to unlock new possibilities in their sound:
Develop vocal skills that encourage Dynamic Variation- Examples include Breathy/Balanced/Vocal fry in your sound, Dark vs. Bright sounds, Emphasize Vocal Breaks vs. Blending Vocal Breaks
Engage in Focused Listening- Listen to your favorite artists in an effort to understand what choices they are making and try out those choices without judgement
Observe your own tendencies and exaggerate them- What unique things are you already doing that may make your sound more interesting? Do you have a tendency to mumble, do you have an accent, do you often chew diphthongs, do you speak with vocal fry?
May we all make more “cool” sounds this week and feel (to quote Queen Bey) :
“Comfortable in my skin
Cozy with who I am
I love myself, goddamn (cozy, cozy)”
If you’d like to explore your singing, you can set up a lesson here