Critic of Music

Vocal Range: Bb2 - C6 - E6 
Longest Note: 15 Seconds
Vocal Type: Lyric Soprano (3 octaves 3 Notes)
Vocal Rating: A-
Recommended Listenings: All By Myself, I Surrender (Live in Las Vegas), My Heart Will Go On

Vocal Positives: Resonant belts. They can be held for long periods of time, without the slightest wavering in pitch. The sharpness in this register allows for her voice to pierce through the heaviest instrumentation. Celine projects her voice in all registers, and maintains vocal agility throughout each octave.

Her lower notes are generally well supported down to D3. The mid-range sometimes carries a rasp with it, but it is soft and makes lyrical lines with ease. The mid-range transitions into the belting register with ease. The head voice carries an operatic ring to it.

Vocal Negatives: The nasally quality to Celine's voice is an acquired taste, though this quality isn't one of bad technique however, as singers in Quebec place their voices in the nasal cavity. Though Celine manages a neutral larynx in the lower part of her range, belts around Eb5 and higher are hit by raising the larynx, which gives the voice a throaty and coarse quality. Her mixing is also uneven from about A5-C6, making the belts thin and heady (though it is remarkable at all that she can mix at all that high). Notes below D3 become very breathy, while intonation and register transitions as a whole are inconsistent. 

Beyonce has made a massive regression to places unseen before. 4 was easily her best effort to date, it was her first album that combined rich vocals, with rich music. But Bow Down does not continue down that lane.
Her vocals, are confident and growling, nobody is going to stay standing when she commands "Bow down B****es."And those operatic vocals are stunning (haters beware). This makes the first half of the song bearable. However, the production and the deep rap vocals in the 2nd half are not doing her any favors. The production sounds like it was made on a 1990 Game Boy, and the deep vocals sound more demonically possessed than anything else. The song just turns into a hot mess, all too quickly.

Beyonce, please, I'm begging of you, if this is the style you have chosen for your 5th album, go back into the studio, and do it over. This is not the path for you, or for anyone.

Vocals: A-
Lyrics: D
Production: D-
Overall: D+

Vocal Range: Bb2 - G#5 - C#7 (D7)
Longest Note: 20 Seconds
Vocal Type: Lyric Mezzo-Soprano (4 octaves, 2 notes)
Vocal Rating: B-
Recommended Listenings: Your Body, Beautiful, Hurt, You Lost Me


Vocal Positives:
A nimble voice that is capable of singing complex melisma. She has the ability to hold notes for extended periods of time, live and in studio. Her voice can transcend through multiple genres, such as Jazz, Blues, Rock, R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop, and Gospel. The lower register is smooth and velvety down to C#3, and is reached with ease. The mid-range can be soft or weighty, and is where the voice is it's sturdiest. Notes sung with a more open throat (mainly those in a studio setting) are more powerful and resonant. The head voice can be bright and piercing or thick and airy.

Vocal Negatives:
Criticisms have been leveled at Christina's technique, thus giving her name "The Noise." Notes as "low" as A4, and consistently around C5, become very forced, throaty, and coarse; which indicates bad placement of the larynx (though some fans find this edge to be a positive feature). Her unsteady movement of the larynx also causes her to have a deeper tone that what she would naturally have if she held a neutral larynx. Her whistle notes are actually rarely whistles, and are most often a bright falsetto. This could be an artistic decision, though it might also be one of poor technique.

Her longer notes are usually warbled; the notes are re-articulated dozens of times, which shows that she is not comfortable holding the note. Higher notes are not hit head on when they're not mixed, rather they are glissed until the note is reached. Her vocal runs occasionally sound labored, and have been criticized for lacking musicality. The lowest notes occasionally lose clarity.

Oh Paramore, how I love you so. With Hayley's rocking vocals (without the unhealthy screeching), thought provoking lyrics, and sonic diversity, Paramore is a machine of its own. But after the crushing disappointment of Now, I had almost given up on my favorite band. Then, Paramore did what it does best, simple yet genius love songs.
The lyrics lead you to believe that it will take the stereotypical, mainstream direction, then Hayley jerks you to a place of originality, showing how much unseen song-writing prowess she really has. The result is heart warming, toe tapping jam. If I had known this was in Paramore's arsenal, I wouldn't have been so devastated by Now. But now that I know they haven't thrown everything away, I'm more excited than ever for their latest album. This new single gives me more appreciation for Now, and it seems obvious to me that Now was a decoy single. Now wasn't supposed to be an airplay dominator, it was a song for the fans, to show that they had some new material up their sleeve. While Still Into You shows that the signature Paramore is still there.

Well done Paramore. Well done.

Oh and the lyric video? Best lyric video in history. So simple, so adorable, so charming.



Lyrics: A-
Vocals: A
Instrumentation: A-
Overall: A

Range: C#3 - F5 - E6 (A6)