Vocal Range

D3 ~ G6 (3 octaves, 2 notes and 1 semitone)

Supported Range

G#3/A3 ~ Eb5/E5

G#3/A3 ~ D6 (with head voice)

Voice Type

Soprano

Strengths/Achievements

• Most developed head voice amongst female idols in K-pop
• Support is consistent in her mixed voice up to Eb5/E5
• Able to produce a natural vibrato within a comfortable range
• Resonance is very consistent up to D5/Eb5 and occasionally E5
• Head voice is resonant and evened out
• Connection with head voice and transitions are done effortlessly
• Able to control dynamics and pitch in head voice
• Currently one of the most technically developed rookies and young idols
• Lower range is connected and possesses tone down to G3
• Support in her lower range is consistent down to A3, occasionally G#3
• Good ear for pitch and dynamics overall
• Great breath support present throughout her supported range

Points for Improvement

• Jaw vibrato is used often
• Glottal tension present above her supported range
• Tends to push down her larynx in her lower range
• Larynx raises above E5
• Lacks development in her lower range below G#3
• Vocal runs can lack pitch precision if too complex and fast
• Musicianship can come off as show off-y
• Head voice becomes shrill above D6
• Issues with keeping an open sound in her mix on closed vowels such as in “이 (Ee)”

Registers

• Lower register: Her most underdeveloped register and most under explored. She has been given a repertoire that often requires her to sing below her supported range, which generally becomes airy and muffled or simply forced out with a lowered larynx.

• Mixed register: Very balanced mixed voice with consistent support and resonance up to D5/Eb5. Above E5, she tends to either sing with a bright light mix with some support or force her voice out with a high larynx and glottal tension.

• Upper register: By far her most developed register. Able to sing with a connected head voice, with support throughout more than one octave of range with consistency in tone and control.

Agility

One of the weaker areas of Shannon’s voice. Coming from a more Musical Theatre background, since moving to Korea, Shannon has come to take a liking to R&B and big powerful diva songs. For someone so young, to be in control of her voice is hard and she often attempts songs that require a very high level of vocal skill. As such she has shown improvement over the years with her ability to sing through more high level skill, such as agility. In many songs she is usually required to sing through hard and fast movements of notes, known as vocal runs, which require her to sing through each and every single note on a single vowel sound with one breath with precision and clarity through each note, by also having the correct rhythmic bounce. Shannon used to show issues with fast and overly complex runs, but has shown multiple times that she has the correct rhythmic bounce through each individual note in her vocal runs and is able to separate each note, her only issue is her pitch isn’t always accurate. So with mid tempo and slow tempo runs, she’s able to sing with accuracy, such as in “Stickwitu“, “The Phantom Of The Opera“, “Take A Bow” and “Lay Me Down“. However if runs require a higher level of speed, she usually falls short and ends up somewhat pitchy, as heard in “Confetti” and “Listen“.

Overall analysis

Debuting at the young age of 16, Shannon is no stranger to the world of music and showbiz. Having previously been part of the cast of Les Miserables in England prior to coming to Korea and also being a young singer on Star King, she’s always stood out as a young vocalist with a lot of potential technically and musically. Coming from a Musical Theatre background, Shannon has always gone for a more developed sound in certain areas of her voice. With a bright and youthful girly voice, sitting quite high in range, she is undoubtedly a great example of a young light lyric soprano.

Her lower range is noticeably the least developed part of her range, which she knows and reasons with her being a “high soprano”. That shouldn’t mean she couldn’t further improve that part of her range, but that is yet to happen. The current development of her lower range isn’t necessarily bad and she has shown that she’s able to support her voice with a relaxed and forward tone down to A3 and occasionally down to G#3, such as the A3’s in “Confetti“, “기다리다” and “Take A Bow“, and the G#3 in “I Dreamed A Dream“. However she tends to struggle with notes below G#3, being unable to maintain her vocal cords together with as much connection and usually losing power and volume. She has the habit of pushing her larynx down below G#3 in order to project, which can bring strain to her voice if done excessively, such as the G3’s in “손대지마“, “보여줄게“, and “사랑하나요“, the F#3’s in “Listen“, the F3 in “Let It Go“, the E3 in “Lay Me Down” and the D3 in “숨.” At times she has shown that some support can be present down to G3, but such support is also accompanied by a slight tilt down of her larynx, as heard in “나보다 더 나를 사랑하는 님이시여“.

Her mixed voice is one that’s shown great improvement from her early age to her debut. She has learned to properly develop her muscles in order to have the correct blend of both head and chest voice in her mix, by not pushing too much and also not relying on an overly bright sound in her mix. Not only that, but she has also shown multiple times that she’s able to alter and control the amount of head and chest in her mix and is able to use a brighter mix to sing through higher passages with a lot less strain to her voice. Her mixed voice is not only just well developed, she also has a consistency in keeping a relaxed open throat vocal tract shape, as well as good breath support with mask placement being able to produce resonance consistently throughout her mixed voice even as high as E5. This can be heard in multiple performances, such as the C5’s in “그대네요” with Seventeen’s DK and “I Dreamed A Dream“, the C#5’s in “Stickwitu“, “나보다 더 나를 사랑하는 님이시여“, and in her re-edition of the “Korean National Anthem“, the D5’s in “Diamonds“, the Eb5’s “Let It Go” and “Breakfree“, and her E5’s in “숨” and “새벽비 (Daybreak).”

The issue with Shannon’s mix lies above E5, where most of the time support isn’t necessarily lost but tension comes in her singing. She seems unable to sing through higher passages without allowing her larynx to raise even if just a bit and bringing some tension to her throat. Despite that, she’s able to minimize strain when singing with a brighter mix, as heard in “왜요왜요” and “좋은 날“. When trying to add more power to her voice above her supported range, however, tension becomes more evident and she tends to show inconsistencies with E5’s, such as in “Lay Me Down“, as well as having a more glottal and throaty quality in her upper belts, such as the F5’s in “나보다 더 나를 사랑하는 님이시여” and “I Have Nothing“, the F#5’s in “Baby I” and “Listen“, the G5’s in “Dangerous Woman” and the G#5’s in “어머님은 누구니.” In such cases, her mix becomes more blocked and her tone somewhat whinier.

Her most developed register by far is her upper register. Being one of the fewer female vocalists in Korea who’s taken the time away from simply being a belter to develop her upper range, Shannon is a great example of a vocalist who is consistently able to produce a supported and well connected head voice. Her head voice isn’t something that happened during her trainee years in Korea, but long before that when she was just 12 she already showed great breath support and connection between her vocal cords in her upper range, being able to phrase multiple notes from the G#5 ~ C6 range with good head resonance and power, as heard in “The Phantom of The Opera“.

As the years passed, not only has her head voice improved, but also her control of it. Instead of becoming more “pop” and losing the ability to sing in her head voice, Shannon has learned to adapt to the new genre of music and is able to sing with clarity of tone and control in her dynamic approach for her head voice. In other words, instead of always needing to sing a somewhat “classically” sounding head voice, Shannon is able to add some fragility and airiness to her tone, as well as softness in volume and transitions into her head voice almost effortlessly at any given time, which can be heard in her transition to D5 in “눈코입“, her E5 in “Stickwitu“, as well as her phrased F5’s and G#5’s in “Lost Stars“. The connection and resonance in her head voice still is by far the best amongst female idols in the industry right now, being the only female idol with consistency and support in her head voice as high as D6, as shown by her connection up to C6 in “The Phantom of The Opera” as well as during her warm ups, her C6’s in “HELLO,” and also the A5 ~ D6 section of “나보다 더 나를 사랑하는 님이시여” and the D6’s in “Dangerous Woman” and “Almost Is Never Enough“. Above D6 is the only time when Shannon struggles to stay supported in her head voice, where her voice will generally become more pushed and shrill with the strain. This however is almost never the case since singing even as high as D6 is very rare in her repertoire. Examples of her straining in her head voice include the E6 in “Phantom of The Opera“, the F6 in “나보다 더 나를 사랑하는 님이시여” and the G6 in “Emotions“.

Dynamically and musically, Shannon is completely in control of her breath support and her placement. She is able to pull back her sound within her supported range, control the chest to head ratio in her mix, add airiness in tone to her voice as well as singing with great power in both her mix and her head voice. Shannon has also shown that she is able to produce a well supported and relaxed vibrato, as heard in “I Dreamed a Dream“. However her worst habit comes mostly from her jaw vibrato. She has the bad habit of always shaking her jaw when sustaining notes even though she’s able to produce a natural vibrato, which brings tension to her jaw and is just inferior to the true vibrato she possesses. This habit of hers is simply a bad habit she possessed even as a child, as heard in the “Phantom of the Opera“, which has yet to be fully addressed and is still spotted in various performances of hers to this day.

As one of the youngest female vocalists in the industry right now and possibly the youngest soloist, Shannon has a long way to go in terms of setting her mark as a singer and artist. For what she lacks in artistry, she makes up for it with really advanced vocal technique. Considering how young she is, she’s yet to truly find herself musically and to be in control of her own career. For now she’s still exploring the diva power she possesses and shows influences from Musical Theatre, pop, R&B, ballads and bubblegum pop, all of which could help her better define her sound and technique. She is not a vocalist who’s undermined for her vocal talent but most can often underestimate her due to her young age. Her focus right now as a vocalist and artist should be her finding her own definite sound that can help her set her apart from other vocalists in the industry right now and shine as an individual artist because even great singing skills don’t necessarily make hit songs. For the many years to come of her career, if she is to keep her good technique, she has only good things to look forward to in terms of vocal improvement and should focus on further developing her agility and lower range to make her a more well rounded vocalist.

Musicianship

Shannon takes after a lot of R&B diva and big musical numbers in her musical background as a vocalist. As such, she usually resorts to high and difficult songs that require a lot of vocal power and technique. With a level of technique as high as hers, she’s able to showcase ease and range without much problem in any given song. However the issue with her lies in her almost purposeless musical choices that often instead of adding more to a song, come off as showing off and trying to do all that you can within a 4 minute time frame. She’s not one to always sing with very difficult songs but here and there comes a performances where many of her musical choices become questionable, such as in “나보다 더 나를 사랑하는 님이시여” and “Listen”.

Label (Type of Vocalist)

HV Vocalists: High Head Voice Vocalists

HB Vocalists: High Range Belters

ML Vocalists: Mid-Low Range Vocalists

WR vocalists: Well Rounded Vocalists

Vocal Range Video(s)

Video by: Ahmin (Kitsunemale)

Video by: Haruka

Best Vocal Performance(s)

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Analyzed by Ahmin (Kitsunemale)