Super Junior-M’s Vocal Analysis: Henry

0. C Vocalists: Commercial vocalists, Companies: SM Entertainment, Groups, Tenors, Vocal Analyses, Vocal Ranges: 2 Octave Ranges, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vocal Range

C3 – B5 (2 Octaves, 5 notes & 1 semitone)

Supported Range

N/A

Voice Type

Tenor

Strengths/Achievements

  • Has a good ear for pitch
  • Each register is even in development
  • Voice has not seen any form of decline over the years

Points for Improvement

  • No developed registers
  • Produces a flat, nasal, throat based tone
  • Nasality is always present in singing. Soft palate is never raised.
  • No true support or resonance in his voice
  • Neck, throat, and tongue tension are ever present in his singing
  • Lacks open quality to his singing
  • Lower register lacks support completely and often is accompanied with a lowered larynx
  • Unexplored, neglected upper register
  • Often sings with a high larynx in his mix around G4

Registers

  • Lower register:  Undeveloped, airy, unsupported sound that lacks tone up until F#3/G3. Nearly everything in the third octave is becomes mushy with a low larynx or air.
  • Mixed register: Tight, tense, throat and nasal based sound starting before his first passaggio(D4/Eb4). As he ascends in pitch, his voice becomes more and more swallowed.
  • Upper register: Entirely undeveloped and unexplored. Airy, rough, throaty sound that becomes screamed as he goes higher.

Agility

A smart vocalist, Henry avoids attempting anything complex in terms of agility, only attempting simple runs in his songs. However, even this proves to be too much for him, as he lacks the proper pitch accuracy and separation needed to even attempt simple scales such as in the “Falsetto Challenge“, “Trap” and “143“. When attempting more complex runs, his lack of ability to properly sing each individual pitch accurately by itself and then connect it smoothly throughout one sung line is more evident through the inaccuracy and sloppiness of his runs, where he attempts to add them on some of his covers but ends up only exposing his weaknesses, such as in “two” different performances of “Baby“.

Overall analysis

A very popular member of Super Junior M and solo artist, Henry Lau is credited for having multiple talents and abilities as well as his charm and sense of humor. More so well known as a musician, entertainer, talented dancer, songwriter and a lead vocalist in the sub unit Super Junior-M, after his solo debut attention has also been brought to his vocal ability. He’s since been a lot more highlighted in live performances and concerts.

Starting from his lower register: Henry is unable to produce a clear, supported sound in the 3rd octave at all, and doesn’t even begin to sing with enough tone until F3/F#3, where although tone is present, true support seems to be an issue, such as the F3’s in “I’m Yours” and “Trap“, as well as the F#3’s in “Lazy Song” and “Billionaire“. Below this, the sound comes out as air and mush while bringing nasality all the way to his lowest showcased note, C3. It is unknown what his lowest note truly is, but due to him writing songs that generally sit slightly higher in range, he doesn’t have songs where his lower range is truly explored.

Unfortunately as he goes into his mixed voice, this airy, unsupported, nasal sound does not clear up. But instead, it becomes accompanied by neck, throat, tongue, and jaw tension as with throat placement even around D4/Eb4. As he ascends in pitch, his larynx raises and the sound becomes more and more dissonant and swallowed causing him to yell in order to be heard as shown in his G4’s in “143” and Bb4 in TRAP, his G4s and C5 in “Baby“,  A4’s in “Baby“, the Bb4 in “That’s What Friends Are For“, the C#5 in “Saturday” and the D5 in “You“. Even lower in range, his mix still sounds tight and throaty, with an airy unsupported quality, such as the E4 in “당신이기에“, the F4’s in “Trap” and F#4’s in “Billionaire“. This is all caused by Henry having a very thin head-dominant mixed voice with inexistent breath support employed in his singing, resulting in a small, tight and squeezed sound in his mix, with a high larynx and a yell-like quality even below his first passaggio.

Henry’s falsetto is actually rarely used, but when used it is a breathy, nasal, disconnected, throat based, at times screamed sound all the way up from G4 – B5 (Super Junior M Falsetto Challenge). Much like the rest of his range, Henry has yet to ever use proper breath support in his upper register, unable to use a connected head voice and even in his falsetto, he’s unable to keep an opened throat, unable to stay relaxed and unable to keep his larynx stable and neutral, or his vocal cords connected, which cause the airiness in his tone and the tight thin quality he has throughout his voice.

Despite Henry’s many weaknesses, he has proven time and time again that he will keeping making music and will not give up on his dreams and goals or upset his loving fans. He is a talented individual who is able to play multiple instruments with quite a lot of skill, including the piano, the ukulele, the violin and also is able to dance well and write his own music, being able to take control of his own artistry. With that being said, the one area where Henry lacks is his vocals, where as a soloist he is more like a songwriter who’s able to release his music with his own singing but perhaps would be better off having some time for himself to work on the basics of breath support in his singing and use his songwriting skills to help fellow SM-artists with their original music.

Musicianship

Musically and harmonically, Henry has the music theory down to be able to understand his own voice. He is very skilled when it comes to arranging and finding his pitch, which is one of his biggest strengths. As a musician, despite having no breath support, Henry is in complete control of his pitch in his melodic singing. Regardless, he is not one to try and sing without a musical direction and trying to add his own musical ideas to songs, instead taking the safe road and sticking to the original melody in order to keep control of his vocal performances. The few times he attempts to show off vocally by adding his own runs to songs, he ends up sounding pitchy and exposing the lack of control in his voice, with strain as well, such as the C5 in “Baby“.

Label (Type of Vocalist)

C Vocalists: Commercial Vocalists

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Analyzed by Haruko & Ahmin

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96 thoughts on “Super Junior-M’s Vocal Analysis: Henry”

  1. I really know that Mr. Henry Lau needs to improve his singing skills. Why he doesn’t have supported range? :O By the way, please rank the weak vocalist in no particular orders whether it’s male or female. 🙂 Thanks! 😀

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    1. He doesn’t have a supported range because he doesn’t support at all. I can’t rank them all because I am not familiar with them all, but from strongest to weakest I believe it is Bom to Henry

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      1. Well he is good in many music instruments, like piano, violin and etc, and he can compose song too, i guess it can be considered as talent, right? lol

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      3. super talented! just not in the vocal department
        he took violin lessons and he took that to the audition
        and u know SM..they don’t always just go for voice..same with a lot of other companies xD

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  3. So I’m assuming this places Henry Lau as the worst vocalist so far on this site? I remember my sister used to love listening to “Trap” and I never cared for his voice.

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      1. I gasped in amusement when I saw no supported range. I didn’t think that was possible for any vocalist in the music industry, even Jungah has like 3-4 notes.

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    1. ah, the pitch. so can we say that no lead/main vocalist who are worse than weak? which mean only non vocalist that could be worse, like goo hara or yoona perhaps

      sorry, no offense to goo hara or yoona fans in here

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    3. oh wait, is hyeri that bad? i never heard her sing for real. i mean she is like a rapper to me, and yura is the 3rd vocalist.
      oh, and that bestie member in the a goose’s dream video, she is worst too, right?

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  7. A big ELF and supporter of the site so no hate when I say I actually giggled when I read these lines:
    “Voice has not seen any form of decline over the years” (too much “you tried” feels xD)
    and
    “As a musician, despite having no breath support, Henry is in complete control of his pitch in his melodic singing.” (idk why I found this funny…um ok, it was because of the no breath support)

    Oh Henry, we know your talents lie elsewhere, that’s why some ELF were up in arms when you were given a solo and they weren’t the only13 crowd. But putting that aside, he does know how to give a good performance so it was no surprise he was given his chance to shine and he is musically talented. Although tbh, I was on edge all the time during Trap whenever he sang with Kyu and Taemin xD. He loves music though and I hope he gets to improve and produce more in the future.

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      1. Except that Kyuhyun is also on Henry’s debut too, one can hear Kyu very clearly as the stronger voice on the later choruses (chori?) on Trap. And a whole verse. And the ad libs. Taemin is there too. (Perhaps SM thought Henry needed a boost, just speculating.)

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      1. Wait he’s the worst vocalist in all of kpop? Even compared to non-main vocals? That’s a little harsh… :/

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      2. No no, not compared to non-main vocals. That would have to be Jiyeon, Goo Hara or Hyeri. Someone along those lines.

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      3. Do you mean that Jiyeon is technically just as bad as hara and hyeri, ahmin?
        I think that Jiyeon can at least sing a whole song with quite good pitch so she shouldn’t be that bad. I’m not sure about support though, so I ask for your opinion.

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      4. I shouldn’t comment on that actually since I’m not familiar with her enough but I do know she doesn’t truly support.

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  9. What?! Lol no supported range.. I just like can’t say anything about him *shock*. Yeah i know he’s really nasal. How can he debut as soloist then, he go by himself? :O and then, is it like he just make a voice when he’s singing? What make him safe from terrible category? His voice is still nice tho

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  10. Why he’s the only weak vocalist who hasn’t supported range? Honestly, they all have problems even in their supported range (surface), but Henry is the only one who is not quoted at least F#3/G3 – D4/Eb4.

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      2. The others had some small hint of support or at least didn’t sing as badly. Henry literally doesn’t even have tone. His voice is mostly air, placed entirely in the nose, trapped in his throat with tension on every single note in his range. Not a single register has any actual since of development. Honestly, this is literally explained in the analysis. But in short, Henry has no supported range because he has no support real or shallow.

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  11. Ahmin, sometimes when you say that someone has “shallow support,” does that mean that there is at least some support? Like does having shallow support make you at least somewhat better than a completely untrained singer or do most completely untrained singers have shallow support already? Can Henry be said to have “shallow support” by your usual definition of shallow?

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  12. is every other SJ member (beside K.R.Y and Z) weak or worse? I ask this because I have no idea who is not part of the vocal team since they all (except maybe Shindong) sing plenty. Like I know Eunhyuk and Donghae are weak but what about people like Leeteuk, etc.?

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  13. I seriously cannot understand SM. SM is home to most of KPOP’s best singers and yet thy debuted this guy as a soloist? And before Kyuhyun (and many other strong vocalists) at that? Now I’m having doubts whether SM truly gives good vocal/music training or are just lucky to scout already good singers. I mean, no hate to Henry, but I hope SM reviews its decisions XD

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  15. Does a tenor’s lower range start somewhere at E3/F3? coz if he can only have tone starting from F#3/G3, doesn’t that mean that he doesn’t have a lower range at all LOL and he starts to tense around D4/Eb4 before he starts mixing lol no wonder he doesn’t have a supported range, it isn’t even an octave wide lol

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  16. Lol the falsetto challenge . . . Henry said that he was sick during it. If he was feeling better, would his falsetto still be “breathy, nasal, disconnected, throat based” like you mentioned?

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    1. More than likely yes. Henry has a severe lack of vocal technique he is, quite literally, one of the worst vocalist Korean mainstream music has to offer.

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    2. Henry has a song called “I would”. His falsetto is still breathy, disconnected, nasal and throat based in that studio recorded song, where a vocalist usually is in their best condition.

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  17. Can’t say I’m surprised. He has many many other talents but singing really isnt one of them. Love the kid but I really couldn’t listen to his solos for a long time bc he just did not sound good.

    At this point though would it be still possible for him to improve at all vocally? Though frankly he seems rather more keen in the production side of things (composing etc.).

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    1. Yeah if he did take the time to learn singing from scratch, I don’t see why not. It might be hard to break out of bad habits though.

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  18. Okay. First of all when I scrolled down through the article and reached the bottom page I was dumbfounded cause there was no support range and I already felt what was coming. I am a hardcore ELF and even before reading the article I know this is going to be heart breaking for me. I know Henry is really, really weak vocally but he’s talented that a fact he can do a lot of other things but somehow he ended up being a singer as well. I can’t read this article yet. I’ll just bookmark this for now and read it when I’m ready. I know you guys are not bias when it comes to your articles and I trust that you guys are professionals when it comes to this matter so I won’t take this against you but it’s just really heart breaking for as a fan. Thank you guys for making this analysis though. I’ll be fine. LOL.

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  19. hi admins! how would u guys rateTaylor Swift (just right off the bat without full analysis.. just what you think hearing her singing) i don’t really think she’s a good vocalist but my friend think she can sing well… whats your opinion?

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    1. She’s a weak vocalist or so. She sings with a lot of throat and tongue tension, literally every adlib in Blank Space at the end is so in her throat. She doesn’t support very well or high.

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    2. I agree Taylor is not a great vocalist, like Selena Gomez…I prefer Demi over her. But I do like her songs even if the lyrics are bleh. I like Blank Space even if I don’t like the theme of the lyrics. It took me a long time to figure out what blank space was…because I mis-heard long list of ex-lovers as lonely star-“sth” lovers. But that’s ok because songwriting is Taylor’s strength. Don’t know if you know Jay Chou but I think he is the same way, vocally not really special but superb song writing. Artists that are good at both in my opinion is JJ Lin.

      As for Henry, I can’t say I’m surprised by the analysis that his vocals are weak. But I like him because of his musicianship. Usually my biases are the ones who are vocally strong but Henry is special. I totally fell in love with his violin performance of Storm. I love the piano part at the front of Trap. It’s rare to hear piano in k-pop. The other song I heard it distinctively in is Big Bang’s Haru Haru…very beautifully incorporated.

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      1. I know both Jay Chou and JJ Lin, and while I’m not a pro at this I’m pretty sure they’re both weak too, average at best. They both sing using their throat and are really really nasal. A pity since I love their songs :/

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      2. But JJ Lin sounds really good so it’s hard to believe he’s a weak singer. This is especially true when he sang other singer’s songs so beautifully. I don’t really know some of the following songs but he makes me want to listen. These are lives since it’s for a game show where contestants need to identify wrong lyrics and sing the right versions.

        Guest for Li Jia Wei

        His own song

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  20. Oh My god. 😂 😂 I see people comment about how he is a decent singer and I didn’t believe them. I didn’t actually know he was this bad. Is he the worst male idol vocalist you’ve heard? I wonder, are there non lead vocals better than him, like Yoona , Kai, Hyoyeon, Dara , or Victoria?

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    2. with all due respect, henry most likely has a good ear for pitch only because he plays various instruments like the violin and the piano. and “each register is even in development” is just sugarcoating really, since if you look at his weaknesses, the first one is “no developed register.” and his voice hasn’t seen any decline over the years because he doesn’t get that many lines, and even when he does, they aren’t very vocally challenging . . .

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  24. I just watch henry video doing cover of zayn pillowtalk, it sounds so average for me (probably worse actually because it is recorded in studio, sorry henry, still love you) and when i read the “N/A” now it totally make sense -__- Lol never imagine that a singer could literally have no support range

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  26. Henry finally came out with something new, which is a SM Station song with Soyou of Sistar, but he sang most of the song. I was just curious first of your opinions of the song, and then if he still sounded as terrible as you guys said he usually does. I have no specific time stamps of notes I’m curious about, just a quick overall idea.

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    1. We usually would rather not listen to studio tracks to talk about vocal ability, but I don’t hear a real change in his vocal ability. We never used the word terrible, he just has very underdeveloped technique. The song is not really high so it doesn’t challenge him much to sing outside where he can sing without so much tension.

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  27. I’m a musical theater major and I’ve always thought that his voice was overly nasal and unsupported. I figured that he’d get a solo debut so SM could appease him and keep him happy, but I think all of his releases are weak. Thanks for the great analysis.

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  30. lol, sm gibe henry an album because he keeps asking sm to give him an album dont blame him if he become first sm male soloist because its his own effort. not like sm is stupid just pouring their cash on someone who doesnt even try to have their own album.

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  31. Omg Henry’s gonna be the vocal trainer of the Chinese version of P101.. I really wonder how he’s gonna teach those trainees 0_o

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    1. probably the way he was trained, might be a good opportunity to get a close look to how they teach idols to strain and shout so high, though i think it’s been showcased in those survival shows already, dont really watch them

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  33. hey ahmin, curious as to why you did an analysis for henry when he’s a weak vocalist, i think the only one with no supported range on this blog. have you not considered doing similar things for weaker vocalists on a technical level but still have shown a decent amount of potential in their abilities?

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    1. I think we used Henry because he’s 1. not a rapper, 2. a soloist, 3. prominent with a lot of material and 4. with a misunderstood instrument. We also needed a vocalist example at very bottom? I don’t honestly recall exactly why him but if you’re not specific, I can’t tell you why we’ve analyzed him over someone else. Did you have anyone else in mind?

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      1. I was thinking about the other singers in idol groups who lack on a technical level but have shown potential and quite impressive abilities for the training they received, I did mean generally but an example would be bts jin, although a weak vocalist with no consistent support like henry, he can belt up to G5 and has some decent moments. I understand that you don’t analyze weak vocalists but after I saw jyp and henry having an analysis I was wondering why. I also know your rules about only taking the strong singers from groups, so does being a soloist and having more substantial material make the difference then?

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      2. JYP is a soloist. Skill level was never a requirement for an analysis. How many vocalists there are in a group is a requirement. I’m going to be honest with you and say I don’t remember why Henry was analyzed specifically but compared to Jin, the reasons make sense. If you gave me another example, I might not have been able to find a reasoning though.

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      3. Aah I see 🙂 no worries! It’s your blog to do whatever you want with I just had the impression that the analysis on the blog required a certain skill level from a singer to be considered for one, but now I see it’s more to do with the fact that you simply can’t analyze everyone as it takes a lot of time so it’s more sensible to just take the strongest singers from each group.

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  34. Hi admin, just wonder how an untrained vocalist like Henry was able to mix as high as D5? You said his mix was throat-based. Was it because his “throat muscles” were strong enough? Can anyone also achieve that by just singing a lot by throat?

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    1. He’s not untrained. He was trained to a degree, but he wasn’t taught the best habits. He mixes lightly so even untrained people can mix high if they mix lightly despite tension. Yes anyone can achieve that, it depends on how they mix and their muscles.

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      1. If I don’t sing from the throat often, will it also damage my vocal cords? Are there any signs that I overuse my throat? Thanks~

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    2. i heard that D5 he sang in the collab with kai and those other guys was done by changmin, but not sure how true that is. But yea people with little vocal strenght have their own ways of using the other muslces to help them, i remember not being able to mix higher than f4 but one day i tried to imitate the way jinyoung from got7 sang a g#4 and i was able to do it too, u cant imitate vocal chord strenght but u can imitate bad habits

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