I think you guys know that I had a little problem including Big Bang in this special, mainly because 2 of the 5 members are predominantly rappers and to be completely honest with you guys I know nothing about rap and I most probably will never learn anything because it's not something I particularly enjoy listening to. I tried asking around what made a good rapper but the problem with asking someone else is that I won't be able to form my own opinions and my own concept of beauty - it'll be just me 'emulating' someone else's opinion and that's not the reason why I blog. I prefer forming my own opinions on things before asking people what they think.
So I've solved this problem - I will only comment on the three vocalists. G Dragon sang on his debut album but it was so damn auto-tuned that I can't properly 'analyze' his voice. Therefore, I will comment on Taeyang, Seungri and Daesung only.
Big Bang are Korea's R&B/Hip Hop/Rapping boyband so it's only natural that they don't have pop voices but those that the hip hop experts find good and suitable for the songs they perform. These guys aren't big ballad singers, they're R&B slow song singers and they're not rock singers, they're hip-hop uptempo singers. Their voices weren't made to sing songs like DBSK's Rising Sun or stuff like that, they were made to sing songs like Usher's Burn. Therefore, the way I look at their voices varies a bit from the pop bands - because even if they still do make pop music, it's a different side of the genre.
Together these three guys are strong and individually they're good but one voice really just stands out for me. We'll get to that later. Below is a slow song recorded and live and an uptempo recorded and live. Feast your ears on their vocals:
The slow song: A Fool's Only Tears (2006)
The uptempo: Sunset Glow (2008)
Taeyang
This guy has a voice that I would class as stereotypical and always present in a more hip-hop band in Korea. It's nasal, it's on the thin side and it sounds insanely good auto-tuned. In short, it's a stupid record producer's dream come true to be able to process this guy's voice because it comes out insanely good. He has his strengths, the guy can sing and it sounds good to some but I personally don't like his voice because it's too nasal live and he only sounds good autotuned. However for the uptempos his voice does well and he makes the group very distinctly hip hop. Without him Big Bang would not be hip hop vocally so you gotta commend the guy. He also sounds good when you combine him with the other two so as long as he helps make the band as a whole, doesn't matter if he doesn't appeal to me individually - he's in a band and he should be able to blend with everyone else, not overpower them or stick out like a sore thumb.Seungri
Seungri is like a less nasal and deeper version with Taeyang with a much nicer timbre. It's still nasal and ideal for the songs they're doing though. If I were to chose between this guy and Taeyang, I'd chose this guy. I personally think he has the right mix of the nasal voice hip-hop people want and an over-all nice timbre. Thus, he is the guy with the nice timbre in the band. His voice may not be predominantly smooth and it may not be right next to the Key and Tiffanys of the world but the timbre is enough to carry him as a singer. He does the uptempos well, he does the ballads well - he's probably in between Taeyang and Daesung.Daesung
Oh dear, here I go again with another insanely smooth voice. Daesung Big Bang is right beside Taemin SHINee and Jaejoong DBSK in terms of smoothness - the guy's voice is so damn smooth that I was falling at my feet just hearing 3 - 4 lines from him in an entire song. For someone with a predominantly smooth voice, he surprisingly also has a nice timbre. It's not exceptionally nice like Key SHINee but it's unusual for someone with a smooth voice like his to have a timbre on the deeper side. He's flexible as well - he sounds pretty decent autotuned, sounds great when he hits high notes and can sing trot (Korean traditional music mixed with pop. Very big market in Korea.) although not my type. His main role in the band is to smoothen out Taeyang's nasal voice and Seungri's deep one. I think you already know by now but I'll say it anyway - Daesung is my favorite voice in Big Bang.I knew he had that kind of voice since the very start of my acquaintance with Big Bang but it took me this song so really be blown away with it. He takes the lead in choruses at 0:48 - 1:02, 1:49 - 2:05 and 3:11 - 3:26, solos at 2:22 - 2:30, 2:33 - 2:43 (that's the high note) and an ad lib from 3:30 - 3:35.
Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Put everything in the comments section! Hahah.
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