Vocal Range
B2 ~ F6 (3 Octaves and 3 notes)
Supported Range
E3 ~ G#4/A4
E3 ~ C5/C#5 (with head voice)
Voice Type
Tenor
Strengths/Achievements
- Strongest vocalist in 2AM
- Voice is opened and placement is good even outside his supported range
- Resonance is present up to G4/G#4 consistently and at times up to A4
- Lower range has good placement and support down to E3
- Doesn’t try to sing far outside his supported range
- Able to produce a connected head voice
- Vocal runs can at time have good rhythmic separation
- Healthy vibrato is often produced
- Pitch and dynamics are well executed
- Good harmonization skills
Points for Improvement
- Speed of the vibrato can create constriction and reduce size of resonance
- Vocal runs are often slides and sloppy/pitchy
- Head voice may be connected but is under-explored and often weak in support
- Lower range is weakly supported below E3
- Mixed voice becomes tight and squeezed above A4
- A4’s can show much inconsistency in support
- Head voice becomes strained above C5/C#5
- Shown little to no improvement throughout the years after his debut
Registers
- Lower register: His weakest register, very underdeveloped and not well explored. Shows issues with stability in pitch, development, extension and larynx position.
- Mixed register: Resonance and openness are often kept up to G4 and resonance can be achieved up to A4, although with less consistency. Support is still present up to G#4/A4. Above A4 voice becomes shrill and shaky.
- Upper register: Head voice register is produced but with inconsistency in pitch and control. Head voice is connected in his range, but transitions may become sloppy and strain and shallow support become apparent in the fifth octave.
Agility
With a very light sound approach and a voice placed high in range and tone, Jokwon possesses the lightness that allows his voice to naturally flow with more ease in vocal runs as opposed to heavier voices with less flexibility. Having said that, Jokwon often shows ease with slow paced simple runs with accuracy in tone and separation of notes very well showcased, such as in “Slow Motion” and “U Got It Bad“. However, when runs become slightly more challenging with more added notes and a faster tempo, he has a bad habit of creating more or less pitch accurate slides around the musical ideas he has for his runs, often creating messy, sloppy or even pitchy runs in his vocal performances. This is due to his voice having an understanding of the muscle memory necessary to bounce off each individual note when doing vocal runs, but then struggling to speed that process up when trying to sing harder runs and often closing his throat in the process, such as in “Slow Motion“, “대낮에 한 이별“, “남과 여” and “10점 만점에 10점“.
Overall analysis
Debuting as a member of 2AM in 2008 and standing today as an active artist under Cube Entertainment, Jokwon has been a long time vocalist and trainee under the company. After years of experience and training, he has proven that he’s learned more than just the basics of singing as a vocalist. His voice also has always been a reason for his uniqueness, possessing a delicate and bright tone for a male, with a high tessitura and light sound, Light Lyric Tenor is the easiest to describe his voice fach. Although he may sing with a lighter tone than his natural fach, when he sings Musical Theatre, he tends to create a more true tone to his actual vocal weight, as opposed to the range where he usually speaks.
The lowest part of his range is by far the most unexplored part of his voice. By having a high sounding voice and generally speaking very high, Jokwon never truly speaks down in his chest voice low enough to allow freedom of tone and projection in his lower range. In most of his vocal performance, Jokwon stays in a E3 ~ A4 vocal range, very easily within his supported range, which causes him to not be challenged nearly enough in order to truly improve the weaker parts of his voice. As he descends in range below G3, Jokwon is able to keep a relaxed neutral larynx position and good projection down to F3, such as in “실감” and E3, such as in “죽어도 못보내“. The rare occasions in which Jokwon does sing below E3 is when we can clearly hear discomfort in that range, usually by the lack of tone present in his voice, such as the C#3’s and D3’s in “우리 사랑하게 됐어요” and “Anthem“, which should be well within a lyric tenor’s tessitura. Even as he descends lower, it is possible not to only hear but physically see his larynx dropping in his neck in order to produce lower notes, resulting in a strained and muffled sound in his lower range, such as the B2 in “Halo“. At times Jokwon even struggles to produce notes below C#3, such as when attempting to sing Seulong’s part in “죽어도 못보내“, which goes down to A2 and Jokwon ends up only being able to sing down to C#3 instead.
In his mixed voice Jokwon shows more freedom in tone and a very good habit of keeping an open throated sound with little to no nasality and very consistent resonance within his supported range. Although again this area may also be unexplored and as the lead/main vocalist, he is not given as many challenging parts in songs and does not show the same kind of extension in his mixed voice as Changmin does. For that reason, there are very rare occasions in which he sings above his supported range, which in one hand makes him a smart vocalist, but on the other hand throughout the years little to no improvement has been made in his vocal technique due to this cautious approach to his singing. Resonance and good mask placement are always a part of his mixed voice, where he shows no issues with consistently bringing that up to F#4, such as in “어느봄날“, G4’s such as in “Material Girl” and “행복한 나를” and even G#4, such as in “U Got It Bad”.
The issues with consistency generally start happening around A4, which seems to be peak of his supported range and may at times be there or at times not. This has been an issue that wasn’t really improved much over the years, considering he was able to produce resonance up to A4 even in 2009, such as in “That’s What Friends Are For“, and even more recently in his musical performance of “Anthem“. This resonance and support were never a consistent occurrence throughout his career. At times he would have issues with closing his throat and causing the pitch to go flat, such as in “Fantastic Baby“, or other moments having a slightly yelled sound, with a high larynx and glottal tension, such as in “나타나주라“. This however still isn’t the biggest issue, since support is still present with relative consistency up to A4 even on closed vowels like “ee (이)”, such as in “너도 나처럼“. Support above A4 however was never part of Jokwon’s technique, showing signs of yelled strain as often as he ascends above A4, such as the Bb4’s in “우리 사랑하게 됐어요” and “Slow Motion“.
As for his upper register, Jokwon has the ability to produce a connected head voice, something many males and females in pop music struggle with. However, although a connected head voice is produced, his head voice shows signs of strain and issues with consistency in support and stability, making this his second most unexplored register after his lower register. When transitioning, at times he might have issues making a smooth even connection from his mixed voice up to his head voice, but still being able to produce a relaxed sound, such as the Bb4’s in “너도 나처럼“, B4~ C#5 in “10점 만점에 10점” and C5 in “오늘따라“. His head voice may be connected, but it isn’t nearly as used as he could. Jokwon is nonetheless the tenor in K-pop with the highest head voice note, able to sing up to F6 with his head voice, matching the range of Brown Eyed Girls’ Gain. Above C#5, his throat generally becomes more closed causing Jokwon to either have a small sound due to his high larynx or a pushed loud sound in his head voice, such as the Eb5 in “난 괜찮아“, or the F5 in “길” or the F#5 ~ C6 section of “난 괜찮아“. Therefore, although being able to produce a connected head voice, the head voice is still underdeveloped and generally weak in tone.
Musically Jokwon is not a vocalist who lacks an understanding of vocal dynamics or even his own voice. He is able to switch his vibrato on and off at will and control when it’s used. He uses dynamics to his advantage, doesn’t generally try to over sing by adding higher notes than he can hit comfortably or straining his voice without needing to. Within his supported range he is able to perform with control, good pitch, good onsets, good vocal effects and style. Due to not being challenged enough out of his comfort zone, Jokwon has yet to fully develop the full potential of his wide vocal range.
Considering that potentially now 2AM will have less group activities, Jokwon should be given more opportunities to fully explore the potential of his voice and to be able to really venture into a solo career. His voice may develop well if given the right training and so that focus is given to his lower range in order to develop a fuller tone in his overall sound, and by exploring the potential of his head voice and his vocal agility. As a long-term trainee under JYP Entertainment and older artist, Jokwon has shown that he is a developed vocalist and has the potential to go even further in his career, if given the right training.
Musicianship
As a vocal unit 2AM might not have a set of 4 strong evened out vocalists but much like SPICA and TVXQ!, 2AM possesses a group with strong senses of vocal harmonization skills, able to blend in their voices well and keep very good pitch and blend. The issue caused by Jokwon when harmonizing is mainly his vibrato, which is a very fast vibrato and since he doesn’t necessarily control its speed, he can often lose the ability to fully blend his voice in with the rest of the group when the vibrato creates an uneven sound in the overall harmony of the group, such as in “미친듯이” and “대낮에 한 이별“. As for melodic and rhythmic changes, Jokwon doesn’t attempt much out of the ordinary and instead the most risky changes he adds to his own vocal performances ends up being vocal runs which, as previously discussed, can often be an issue for him.
Label (Type of Vocalist)
MH Vocalists: Mid-Range Head Voice Vocalists
MB Vocalists: Mid-Range Belters
Vocal Range Video(s)
Video by: Hawaiipups and kpopvocalists
Best Vocal Performance(s)
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Analyzed by Ahmin (Kitsunemale)
K-pop Vocalists' Vocal Analyses 
Is he on the higher end of the above average scale?
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Yes~
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Thank you so much! I’ve been waiting since he’s my favorite K-pop vocalist. He said on Sketchbook that he is working on a new album, but I don’t know if it’s a solo or with 2AM. I suspect it’s solo though since 2AM has potentially fewer activities now.
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Hopefully he’ll do well with that! ^ ^ Sorry I couldn’t take on Seulong for now.
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oh my, Jo Kwon finally 😀
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He isn’t that different from Junsu right… but their gap in rating are considerable. Why??
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Head voice development and support, plus consistency and evenness in the mixed voice. The gap isn’t as considerable as you might think.
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Oh ok thanks! To me one whole point are quite considerable haha when I read the analysis somehow I thought their gap should be just 0.5 point. Anyway how familiar are you with MYNAME’s Gunwoo? I badly wanna know his supported range, how good are his mix and lower range, and his possible rating. I don’t think his analysis coming out soon so please ^__^
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Well it’s not really a point thing but there’s a chart in the makings and when the chart is done, you’ll see that the gap isn’t as large as you might think since some people are closer to a border than others. His analysis might come out this year, I’m not sure but yeah Gunwoo is consistent with resonance up to A4, good support and good agility. His lower range maybe Eb3? Not too stellar, not sure about it yet. He might have a head voice, he probably is at most competent.
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How come in the weakness section it says that his head voice is strained above B4 but it’s included until C5/C#5 in the supported range?
“The rare occasions in which Jokwon does sing below E3 is when we can clearly discomfort in that range,” is the word “hear” missing from the sentence?
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Yes it was the word hear. Also it was because when I wrote it I thought B4 at first but then listening further, I realized it was more of C5/C#5
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I haven’t read it yet BUT PLEASE HIS HEADER SAYS B2 TO F6 YOU GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK.
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Well that’s his range lol
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BUT AN F6! :O LIKE WAOOOOOW *looks at supported range* meh. *thinks about own supported range* *internally dies*
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JOKWON SLAYS Y’ALL WITH HIS RANGE!!!
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Lol yeah!
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How good would you say the other members of 2am are? Also are there any other vocalist in this blog who have higher placed voices than others of the same voice type?
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The other members of 2AM have lower voices I feel like they might be baritones but I’m unsure. Jokwon and Changmin focus on the high notes and Jinwoon and Seulong focus on lower notes. Seulong is improving a lot now on his solo career and I hope he gets an anaylsis in the future!
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I’m sure Seulong is a tenor, only Jinwoon might be a baritone, I believe.
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Seulong and Jinwoon? Average I believe. I’m sure there are, many people have higher voices than other people even though they fall under the same fach, a lot of it has to do with natural tone and technique.
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Hello, although this comment comes out of place… I would like to ask you ahmin3 about my voice. You see, I find it hard to really identify my voice fach. I don’t know if my voice is really that of a baritone or tenor. So can you help me or at least enlighten me?
My voice is like that of a girl (not too girly and definitely not a manly voice. My voice sounds like Justin Bieber but a slightly lighter version. (I know he went through puberty which somehow changed the way his voice sounds) It sounds completely opposite of John Park’s voice and a little close to Taeyang. My range is from G2-F4 using full voice and can go up to E5 or even G5 but strained in falsetto. Can I be classified as a baritone or tenor? Hope you will be able to help me with this.
Btw, I am a fan of your blog. It’s really nice to know about my favorite idols’ vocal analysis. 🙂
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Thank you so much, we are very happy to have your support! Would you mind sending an audio of your voice? That’d help us figure out your voice fach a lot better. Range for untrained voices can be ambiguous.
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Thank you so much! 😀 I really don’t know how to send an audio so would you mind me if I send it through email? If yes, what’s your email add? Thank you! 🙂
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Go on my YouTube channel and check business inquiries. http://YouTube.com/user/Kitsunemale
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I already sent you my audio samples for you to determine my voice fach. I mentioned that my voice kinda sounds like Justin Bieber but just ignore it if it doesn’t. xD If you don’t mind can you do a short analysis based on what you hear, ahmin? I would be really glad if you do! 🙂
Thank you!
PS. There was something in my throat while I was recording it which kinda ruined my voice. 😀 And I’m no professional singer so forgive me in advance. xD
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YEAH!!!! JOKWON! I feel like when this guy comes out he will improve vocally and mentally. I mean Jokwon what are you waiting for??? We all know it lol. But anyways I think that he focuses on his higher range that he does not care about his lower range. But he’s such a sweetie with that little puppy he carries around from twerking on variety shows. You just gotta love some Jokwon!
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I know this is really off topic, ahmin, but were Michael Jackson and Prince ever good vocalists? Whenever I heard them sing, they came off as excessively nasal, no resonance, and in Michael’s case, a super breathy lower range. I may have heard the wrong songs, but am I wrong?
Also tell me if I spotted these trends correctly among vocalists.
American Pop – Lots of focus on agility and resonance, not the development of the mix voice. Most males stop at A4 or G4s. When they go beyond this, they strain. Only female vocalists are encouraged to mix really high. Nasality is a 50/50 thing.
Kpop- Lots of belting, lots of mixed voice, although mostly strained. As a cause of this, the lower ranges on average are bad. Runs are good or bad depending on the vocalists.
JPOP – Nasal, Nasal , nasal, some usage of the mix voice but very pushed or strained. Their Pushed singing sounds like exo wolf belts. Runs are almost always absent. Lower ranges are bad also.
Phillipines – Use of incorrect larynx positions to darken tone. Some usage of mix voice but very strained. Lower ranges are 50/50.
What country to do you think has the highest vocal averages, like competent, good, AA, Average, etc.
I think KPOP=APOP>JPOP>PHIPOP.
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First of all, no, you’re not wrong. Prince and Michael Jackson were pop icons, not vocalist supremes. I’ve heard Michael’s singing recently, a video that showed his full range in mixed voice and it was all tight, throaty, yelled, high larynx..lots of issues. He was trying to sing like he used to when he was a kid and it didn’t work. Prince, I’m not familiar enough. I don’t know if I agree because I hear a lot male vocalists in Pop music singing high, such as Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson, Maroon 5… I think Nasality is pretty common here in American Pop too, many vocalists are nasal. Mixing high is a show offy female thing but MANY R&B male vocalists mix into the 5th octave. Lower ranges in American pop aren’t that much better either for males, for females they tend to be better here actually. But american pop does put a lot of emphasis on vocal runs. I think Filipino singers are CONSIDERABLY better than Japanese singers. As for Korean and American, they’re pretty similar. Many good and great vocalists exist in American Pop music like P!nk, Jojo, Beyonce, Sara Bareilles and so on, but many exist in Korea too. So I am not familiar enough with American Pop vocally to say if their average is the same but I’d say it might be actually.
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Brave statement u got here… some Phillipinos may got hurt here… lol
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Old comment but I want to contribute either way. (The late) Prince is definitely a weak vocalist. His singing is fairly unsupported in I think all the 40+ songs that I’ve heard of him. High notes sound squeezed and he opts for style rather than correct technique. Pretty large (Baritone?) range though
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Hi AhMin!
Jo Kwon released a new song, and he performed it live on this show. He seems to be challenging himself a little more vocally with this song. I was wondering how he did in this performance. Thanks!
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Hi there, Jo Kwon recently won two music shows singing to a new remade of ‘Heaven’ on TwoYoo Sugarman and ‘Mother’ on Healing Camp. Moreover, he came back with a new album Crosswalk. These 3 songs were really sang with great emotions and I personally thought he improved as his voice seems thicker than before. Just wondering what is your opinion of his singing now?
And I think what Kwon has that makes him special is that he is able to devote a lot of emotions into his singing, making it sound more emotional. Like Yesung from Super Junior, 2AM’s Changmin and HuhGak too. Most idols does not sing with such good expressions and Jo Kwon seems to sing with better emotions now after experiencing heartbreak.
Anyway, here are the links;
(Sep 2015) Farewell Under The Sun (duet with Baek Ayeon) on YuHuiYeol’s Sketchbook: https://youtu.be/H4s9aWSh5nw
(Dec 2015) Heaven on TwoYoo Sugarman: https://youtu.be/VeriRYMaovQ
(Jan 2016) Mother on Healing Camp:https://youtu.be/jG7_gtSclHo (this really made me cried. he was very emotional when he sang the song but it was expected since he came from a poor family and work hard to be able to give his parents a better life)
(Feb 2016) Crosswalk Comeback: https://youtu.be/NJmnteJWr6c (Please support him more!!)
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Actually the Baek Ahyeon duet is in included in the analysis already. From what I’ve heard of his recent performances, there’s been no true improvement in his technique so it’s been very little time since his analysis and unless he’s been working specifically on his weaknesses, no amount of singing will fix his issues if he’s singing the same way as always. Now with that said, if you feel he connects well with songs and his emotional delivery works well with you, that’s great. Nobody can change that or take that away from you, but many people would feel the same exact way about many other vocalists and unfortunately such a subjective way of looking at singing can’t be taken so heavily into consideration when writing a technical vocal analysis.
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Hi Ahmin! Could you do a little review of Jokwon´s latest performance. Thanks so much in advance.
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I hear no change in his technique. Tension on Aye vowels, some pushing but resonance throughout. Support from F3 ~ G#4. The range was C#3 ~ Bb4 so occasional moments outside his supported range.
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Seems like it’s time to change some of the information here considering Jo Kwon is a soloist with Cube now. It doesn’t affect the analysis itself but it sure looks outdated.
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