Yes, I have finally gotten around to writing another commentary - this time for f(x). No, not the algebra function, the girl group.
It took me quite some time to be able to even start writing this because of how new f(x) are. 2 singles, 6 recorded tracks and only a handful of performances but what makes it worse is that Victoria, their leader and the oldest member, hardly got any lines I could refer to in writing this. Thankfully the one example I needed came recently, in the form of their rendition of SNSD's
Kissing You. But we'll get to that later.
f(x) are very, very far from SNSD in terms of vocal ability - there may be good and outstanding vocals in SNSD but if you take the percentages, f(x) clearly win. They're more like the younger, more contemporary version of CSJH, just like how SHINee is the younger version of DBSK. But unlike SHINee, I can order their vocals from best to worse if you give me time and more solo stuff from each member. Sadly, I don't have either right now so I won't. lol.
Their only two singles as a little background before I start firing insults and praises. Hahah.
OK. Shall we?
Victoria
Victoria is being pushed as the dancer of the band but even before she got in she got a ton of publicity - appearing on Rain's video for Samsung + the 2008 Olympics and even SHINee's
Replay. As I said earlier, Victoria was the reason why it took so long for me to write this commentary, but I think it was somewhat worth the wait. It's not that the girl can't sing and it's not that her voice is ugly, the problem is that her vocals are very weak. She doesn't have a gorgeous voice with no technique nor does she have a mediocre voice with a lot of technique - she has a plain, untrained voice with hardly any technique. She doesn't know when to breathe, where to push and how to sing. With a little work she can be decent, like Yunho.
(solo at 0:36-0:40)
Sulli
I don't like Sulli, and I don't like her a lot. lol. I know
aa-chan is gonna kill me for this but whatever. There's a Filipino slang/Taglish (Tagalog+English) term for her voice -
Pa-cute. It basically means that she's trying too hard to deliberately be cute. It works for publicity but when you get down to the music it's kinda pathetic. There's this concept that all pop-based girl groups have to have a cutesy/just a pretty face member and I hate that (*ahem* Sandara *ahem*). I hate those members and I hate the fact that it doesn't happen often in boybands with talent (*ahem* DBSK, SHINee, Big Bang, 2AM *ahem*) but just HAS to happen in girl groups whether they have any semblance of talent or not. Why? Because it brings down the group musically. If Sulli stopped being cutesy, she'd have a pretty decent voice. Not fantastic or anything but competent and I've learned to accept the fact that Korean girl group members won't always have brilliant voices.
(Solos at 0:36-0:40 and 1:26-1:31)
Krystal
I don't like Krystal either - never have, never will. One because she gets too much publicity just for being Jessica SNSD's sister and two because she isn't as good as everyone says she is. She isn't a Junsu who has an excessive but at the same time great voice, she just has an excessive one. It's squeaky but not in the Sulli way. That duet with Luna on their 'first single'? She practically got pulverized by Luna. Yeah, sure she can hold a melody and yeah sure she can sing but the timbre of her voice is very plain. When she does all these vocal gymnastics she can't pull them off because her voice is shrill. It's shrill and it gets even shrill-er when she hits high notes. Personally, ONE BIG
NO.
(Krystal's the one on the right)
Amber
Amber is the tomboy rapper in the band who looks like a guy who looks like a girl. She is in fact a girl. (I made that up one day. Works, right?) I've been told by several friends that she's a good rapper but obviously I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to rap so let's skip that altogether. When I heard Lachata I though she should've gotten more lines because I thought she could sing pretty damn well - better than SOME of the girls in the group. For the longest time that was my impression of Amber - the girl who didn't get that many lines in songs but could sing pretty damn well. But then I heard a live performance of
Chu and that impression was completely changed. She has a voice, yes, and to a certain extent she can sing but she can't sing live - her vocals need more technique. She's a lot like Minho SHINee and I mean A LOT.
(Amber's singing solo is at 1:18)
Luna
Luna, Luna, Luna. I have one word for Luna's voice -
spectacular. It completely pulverizes every other member but her voice isn't excessive not does she try too hard to make it sound good, it's just the way it is. From the very beginning Luna caught my ear - the first line of
Lachata was just perfectly-executed and brilliantly-sung. It's very uncommon that you have someone who can sing this well in a pop band this new but of course I wasn't around when SHINee first sprouted out so I don't know. ANYWAY, Luna not only has a nice voice, SHE KNOWS HOW TO SING. HAVE YOU HEARD THAT HIGH NOTE SHE DID ON
YOU ARE MY DESTINY?? Krystal is ABSOLUTELY NO MATCH FOR THIS GIRL. The timbre of her voice is to die for. There are times when she does sound older than her age (aka when singing Whitney) BUT, she can sing without sounding older. It's not excessive but it's rich - high notes sound GORGEOUS. It's stunning, spectacular and I could use every possible praise word for it. You have to hear to believe - I get goosebumps just thinking of her voice.
Comments? Disagreements? Fire them away in the comments section.
BUT FOLLOW THE EFFIN' RULES - RESPECT. In short, NO BASHING PLEASE.
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