Monday, October 19, 2009

Girls Aloud vs. The Saturdays. Vocally.

You've read my intro, watched the videos, now it's time to read my thoughts. Let the showdown of the British girl groups begin!

10 girls, 10 different voices but each girl in both groups has a certain persona - they all give both groups the dimension and talent to make them worthy of their success. There's no one in the groups who's boring and each voice complements the rest, without any one of them neither GA nor The Sats will be who they are.

Please be advised, this is in no particular order!

The BIG voice

The girls who get the most lines, 90% of the ad-libs at the end and are what they call the 'lead singers' in Korea. It's unsaid but I really think these are the 'lead singers'.

Girls Aloud: Nadine Coyle
This girl has the big, show-stopping voice - she's known for her predominantly rich and deep timbre. Nadine, like Jonghyun SHINee, gives the group another dimension because you have got to put her only slightly auto-tuned vocals to contrast the rest of the group's heavily processed ones on songs like Untouchable and you need her intensity to balance off the other fours' subtlety on songs like The Loving Kind. In short, Nadine has a gorgeous voice and although it may not personally be my favorite in the band, you need her in Girls Aloud - without her GA is not GA.

The Saturdays: Vanessa White
The only similarity Vanessa has with Nadine vocally is the fact that they both have the big voices in their respective bands. Vanessa has a much smoother voice and this all boils down to personal taste now - I prefer hers over Nadine's but that's purely my opinion. Her voice is a lot more fitting for the stuff The Sats are doing and may I just say, this girl knows how to sing her head off - properly. Unlike a lot of other singers we know.

The SMOOTH voice

The description is enough - these girls are the mediators, the ones who balance off the rest of their band member's colorful and sometimes even outrageous voices. Even if they don't get as much attention as some, you can't go without these girls, you really can't.

Girls Aloud: Kimberly Walsh
The first thing that pops into my head when I hear Kimberly's vocals is that she enunciates really well. ANYWAY. Her vocals are smooth, very smooth. They're so smooth that if you auto-tune them it still kinda sounds similar to when you just use the 'regular' amount of auto-tune. But really, she has a beautiful voice that gets overlooked by Nadine's gigantic one and Sarah's screaming - I wish she got a heck of a lot more solo lines! No really, you listen to GA songs and I think the problem with her is that her voice is so smooth that producers don't want it and think it's a little too boring for the material, which it's not. HOWEVER, that broadway thing she did for Passions was jaw-dropping for me.

The Saturdays: Frankie Sandford
Frankie, Frankie, Frankie. This girl's voice has always been smooth - since she was in S Club 8 she got the most solo lines because their songs needed smooth voices, it was dance-y for crap's sake! Hahah. I first noticed exactly how damn smooth her voice was and still is when I heard Just Can't Get Enough - her first line really made the entire song for me vocally. On Forever Is Over she sounds a little whine-y during her solos but over-all she pretty much just sounds older - her voice is STILL smooth.

The predominantly PRETTY FACE

These two girls can sing, they really can but they're not as good as their other band mates. For me personally, they're the ones who bring the MOST 'attitude' or anything not directly related to actually singing. But they can sing, why else are they in the bands?

Girls Aloud: Cheryl Cole
Compared to the other members, Cheryl's probably the least vocally capable. She's better than a lot of other singers, which is why she's in Girls Aloud and she sings those R&B numbers very well but after you hear Nadine and Nicola, she just pales in comparison. There are times when I think her voice gets a little to whine-y but there are also times when I think her voice is jut gorgeous - it's just that she's inconsistent. Fight For This Love is pretty good vocally (NOT musically and you guys know that) but I believe that once Nicola hopefully gets some solo stuff out, Cheryl will be blown completely out of the water.

The Saturdays: Mollie King
Mollie isn't JUST a pretty face either, but if you don't take how she matches The Saturdays' songs into context and just take her as a singer, I wouldn't be too impressed. HOWEVER if you listen to her vocals on Work (I believe she gets the most airtime on that - the entire first verse), they match the song very well. It once again boils down to the fact that she can only sing a few types of songs and not everything you throw at her BUT she does what she can pretty damn well.

The ROCK CHIK

Rockers - they do their fair share of screaming (Sarah mainly) and the name pretty much says it all.

Girls Aloud: Sarah Harding
Sarah's voice is a little shrill for me, enough said. But the girl can sing and she has a high voice but it doesn't have a deep timbre like Nadine or a very, very smooth one with equally smooth delivery like Kimberly - Sarah just can't help but let loose. There are times when that can be an especially good thing but there are also times for me when it can get a little annoying. However she has her own niche in the group and kudos to her for sticking to it!

The Saturdays: Una Healey
What I like about Una is the fact that she isn't just a rocker - she can do the ballads and the dance stuff, it's just that the timbre of her voice fits the rock stuff more than it does the other girls'. I first heard her sing a good, solid solo part when I saw a live performance of Chasing Lights - her part is just insanely brilliant. By the time I heard her solo on Forever is Over, I was convinced she was made to sing these kinds of songs - she has the technique and the timbre to pull it off and that middle 8 of hers pretty much made the entire song.

The quiet one who sings DAMN GOOD

The label kind of applies to Nicola more than it does to Rochelle but let's just stick with it, OK?

Girls Aloud: Nicola Roberts
I'll say this now so you know what to expect - Nicola is my favorite voice in Girls Aloud. She's my favorite because her voice is so different that she actually pulls it off very well! Voices like hers that are shrill at times but thin and smooth, if not delivered and thought of well can be very annoying and ugly but Nicola's is beautiful - it's not too much but it's not held back or boring, it's just right. Her voice matches the GA aesthetic the best - she embodies everything GA has and the music they're making.

The Saturdays: Rochelle Wiseman
Rochelle. I first noticed her voice when I saw the video for Issues - I was surprised to hear that voice coming out her her mouth! She sings the part of the verse before Vanessa and when I heard the striking contrast between their voices I was baffled not by Vanessa's but by Rochelle's. Rochelle sounds like a deeper, more predominantly smooth and less excessive version of Vanessa and I personally like those kinds of voices a lot better, as you guys may have noticed over the past few vocal commentaries. Therefore, my favorite voice in The Saturdays is Rochelle.

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