Lovelyz’s Vocal Analysis: Kei

0. M Vocalists: Mid-range vocalists, Companies: Woolim Entertainment, Groups, Sopranos, Vocal Analyses, Vocal Ranges: 3 Octave Ranges, , , , , , , , , , ,

Vocal Range

E3 ~ G#6 (3 octaves and 2 notes)

Supported Range

Bb3 ~ Bb4/B4

Voice Type

Soprano

Strengths/Achievements

  • Strongest vocalist in Lovelyz
  • Support is consistent throughout her mid range
  • Mixed voice remains supported up to Bb4/B4
  • Mixing is very balanced and healthy
  • Able to use a connected head voice
  • Very good harmonization and blending skills
  • Able to support her lower range down to Bb3
  • Head voice produced up to E5

Points for Improvement

  • Issues with the aye vowel
  • Throat closes above B4
  • High larynx in the fifth octave
  • Wobbly vibrato
  • Resonance is never produced
  • Head voice lacks development and support
  • Lower range below Bb3 is very underdeveloped and airy
  • Falsetto tends to be used only above E5

Registers

  • Lower register: By far her least developed register. She’s unable to maintain proper support in her chest voice below Bb3. Her muscles lack development and tone quality is mostly airy and quiet.
  • Mixed register: Her mixed voice is mostly consistent in support up to Bb4/B4. Above B4 she tends to sound shouty and uneven, either with a lot of head-dominance or with too much chestiness.
  • Upper register: Able to use a head voice and a falsetto at will, but her head voice lacks development. The support in her head voice has yet to be discovered.

Agility

In general this area of her singing isn’t very explored. For a vocalist to have agility, they need to be able to sing through many different notes within an opened vowel sound without any consonants in the middle. This requires a lot of control of the movement of the vocal cords in order to have very precise and centered pitch, as well as smooth rhythm and flow. Kei seems to not have developed this kind of skill and it is rare for her to even attempt runs in her vocal performances. The very few times she’s been known to attempt vocal runs, it’s possible to hear that she hasn’t developed the correct muscle coordination in her vocal cords yet, making her runs sound more like slides instead of truly smooth and articulate melismas. Examples include the runs in “I’m in Love“, “야생화“, “영동 부르스” and “사랑의 바테리.”

Overall analysis

Kei debuted in late 2014 as the main vocalist of Lovelyz under Woolim Entertainment. Through her promotions as a member of Lovelyz, she’s been able to showcase that out of all the members, she’s the one member with the most developed technique. She is the one member with the best sense of breath support, as well as the one who sings with the healthiest approach overall. Her voice is very light and bright in tone, very feminine and quite delicate overall. Her lightness, as well as the high placement of her range would most likely have her classified as a light lyric soprano.

The lower portion of her chest voice is noticeably her least developed and explored register. Most of the songs she sings stay within a fairly mid to high range and she doesn’t often sing below A3 for most of her vocal performances. The few times she’s done so, one can hear the lack of development of her chest voice muscles in that range. Her vocal cords haven’t been stretched low enough with the proper amount of breath support, so whenever she sings below Bb3, she tends to become airy and lose projection almost completely. This is caused by her vocal cords not coming fully together and so too much air passes through so there’s a lack of tone in her lower chest voice. Examples of this include the A3’s in “야생화“, the G#3’s in “영동 부르스“, “Rain“, the G3 in “야생화“, and the E3’s in “금요일에 만나요” and “그대와 나, 설레임.”

Her mixed voice is fairly well developed technically speaking within her comfort range. She’s able to sing with a clean approach in her mixed voice and with support up to Bb4. Kei has learned how to support her voice with a light and more head-dominant mixed voice, where she’s able to stay relaxed and fairly opened. This can be heard on many of her phrased A4’s and Bb4’s, such as in “Beat It!“, “Atlantis Princess“, “야생화“,  “Title” and “If I Ain’t Got You.” Occasionally she shows some signs of support even up to B4 and C5, as heard in “Reflection” and “Word Up“, but that’s not something she’s able to do consistently. Technically speaking, having a more head dominant mixed voice reduces the strain and pushing on the vocal cords overall because of the lack of weight a vocalist carries when singing higher, but that’s not always the case with Kei.

When singing with more power, Kei tends to use an overly excessive push of tension from her throat muscles while using more chest in her mixed voice. The result is more powerful and louder belted notes, but with a lot of strain that causes them to sound fairly shouty and tense. This happens mostly because instead of allowing her voice to open up, while maintaining a relaxed throat, she uses too much air pressure to push her voice out. This glottal tension accompanied by a high larynx causes her to strain in her mix, as heard in the B4’s in “We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together“, “나의 지구“, C5’s and C#5’s in “Atlantis Princess“, C#5’s in “Kiss“, “사랑의 바테리” and D5’s in “Word Up“, as well as the C5, C#5 to D5 climax in “야생화.” This kind of vocal strain can also be heard with less intensity when she sings in her mix with less chestiness, as she pushes less but her throat and swallowing muscles still close around her larynx as it raises, heard on her C5’s in “Rain“, Eb5’s in “야생화“, “A-Choo“, “내 남자친구에게“, and E5’s in “Destiny.”

Her upper range is a mix of a falsetto and a head voice. On one hand, Kei has shown multiple times that she’s able to smoothly transition into a head voice actually quite consistently. Most of the time below E5, she’s able to sing with a connected head voice. However this head voice although connected still lacks development overall. Her muscles aren’t sufficiently strong, so there’s a tendency for her to lack proper support and for airiness to come through in her head voice. Her head voice usually is used in phrased parts in songs, such as in “Atlantis Princess“, as well as “White” and “그대에게.” The peak was an E5 in “욕심쟁이“, with no sign of proper breath support. Above E5, she’s only heard singing with falsetto. Most of her performances have her use a falsetto stylistically but above E5, only falsetto seems to be used. The few times she’s gone above E5, she tends to sound very airy and thin, such as her F5’s in “Rain“, and F#5’s in “Twinkle” and “금요일에 만나요.” Her currently highest falsetto note is over an octave above her F#5, which was a G#6 in a high note battle with fellow Lovelyz member Sujeong. She seems to be less comfortable with her falsetto above F#5, as she tends to skip the A5 in falsetto when she performs IU’s “금요일에 만나요.”

Her musicality is actually quite well developed, as she’s able to understand dynamics quite well. Even if she may use chest-dominance in her mix improperly, she still is able to choose quite well when to use more chest or more head depending on the dynamics of the song she’s singing. Likewise, within her comfort range she’s able to choose airiness at will. Breath support wise, she tends to use a quite steady flow of air, but many times it seems she lacks full development of support as one can notice her vibrato tends to be quite shaky and wobbly. Otherwise, her overall technique is quite clean. She’s able to produce open notes and doesn’t show many issues with nasality nor pitch.

As an overall vocalist Kei has the fundamentals of singing down. She’s able to support quite well and is the only member of Lovelyz with a clear understanding of connecting breath support with her singing. The next step for her as a vocalist would be to further develop her technique in order to allow her to open up her throat, while eliminating glottal tension. This would help her have more ease and sing more challenging songs, while still developing the full potential of her voice. Working on developing her chest voice muscles as well as further developing her head voice muscles would help her have an overall more rounded and connected instrument from the bottom to the top of her range.

Musicianship

Having debuted not too long ago, Kei hasn’t had many chances to truly showcase her artistry and if she’s able to truly make songs her own. Only recently as a member of the cast of the TV show Girl Spirit has she truly had a chance to showcase her own singing skill solo without her other bandmates. Through this she’s had a few chances to showcase her ability to change the arrangement of songs vocally and add her own musical ideas, such as in “Gee” and “야생화.” As a member of Lovelyz or even during some of her duet performances, she’s shown that her ability to harmonize and blend her voice with others is quite well developed. She tends to soften her approach and place her voice well, allowing her to unify her sound with others. This can be heard in the harmonies in “Beat it!“, “Something“, “Word Up“, “Title” and “욕심쟁이.”

Label (Type of Vocalist)

M Vocalists: Mid-Range Vocalists

Vocal Range Video(s)

video by: Viet Tien

Best Vocal Performance(s)

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Analyzed by Ahmin (Kitsunemale)

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112 thoughts on “Lovelyz’s Vocal Analysis: Kei”

      1. Red Velvet’s analyses aren’t on my list. They’re on Pandayeu’s list so I don’t know when they’ll come out. My next analyses are Ali, Lee Hyun and K.Will.

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  4. Ooooh what a surprise, Ahmin! Thank you^^. Kei is my favorite singer in kpop though I know that she’s not exactly a good vocalist. But I must admit that I was surprised when I saw that her lower register was the least developed. I thought she sang rather deeply but it was her tone I guess lol

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      1. Any form of hateful immature comments isn’t welcome here. If you don’t like her voice and it “hurts your ears” then leave.

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      1. I forgot Yuju I personally would guess she’s AA to C but she’s AA at least. Jihyo and Jungyeon should only be average according to Ahmin.

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      1. Can seunghee be above average? And is there a possibility that you’ll make her analyses? I know she’s in your future analyses list but not certain. Thanks for Kei’s analyses ^^

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      2. She’s in the future analyses list. She’s not uncertain, what’s uncertain is when she’ll be analyzed since there’s a lack of material for now. Seunghee’s rating is still unknown.

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  7. Thank you so much for the analysis! i expected her to be an A to AA vocalist after Girl Spirit, but it’s not happening 😦 (at least not yet….)
    anyway, ‘Very good harmonization and blending skills’ is one of Kei’s strengths, do you think it could also be one of Sujeong’s strengths?

    Also one more question; are Sujeong, JIN, and Babysoul as weak as Infinite’s Hoya, Dongwoo, and L? or are they better vocalists than them? I have been wondering about this

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    1. That is definitely one of Sujeong’s strengths too actually! I think Jin is better than Dongwoo, Hoya and L, Sujeong may be somewhat better but their ratings could potentially be the same.

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  8. So she was ur surprise analysis I see… she’s like Sunny except for a supported head voice, no wonder people says she’s like a little Sunny XD

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      1. Well actually I think they meant personality-wise since she’s small, cute, full of aegyo like a ball of sunshine XD kinda like Sunny during the earlier years where she was said to be the energy pill of the group or something like that, but then vocally they are kinda similar too 😀

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    1. There’s an obvious gap between Kei and them. I’ll copy-paste a comment reply to someone else who asked about Jin, let me know if you need more information.

      “Hi there! I hope you check our blog later today cause you might find something you would like. ^ ^ Mhmm what do you mean by stable? Because that particular part you highlighted wasn’t very challenging, the only higher note was the Bb4 at the end of the phrase, on the aye vowel. The thing is Sujeong not only has weak support, she tends to be very airy which is a sign of improper vocal cord positioning and improper support. Jin also pushes and has tension, both of them had very closed throats on the Bb4’s, which for Sopranos shouldn’t be a challenging note. So neither of them can support that high, but Jin at least has a slightly better approach overall to her singing, less airy and a little bit more support is present.

      Honestly speaking from listening to Lovelyz, I hardly hear Baby Soul being highlighted vocally so it’s interesting you asked about her because I haven’t noticed much about her yet. She’s a lot more head dominant than Jin, a lot less airy than Sujeong. She sings with a high larynx quite a bit, Jin sings with a chestier mix and pushes a lot more. They’re both quite nasal in placement, they lack openness overall. 0:43 the highest note was F#5 in that section and the lowest was C5. 1:43 Bb4 flat and tight throat, she sounds really whiny and closed throat. 2:08 closed Bb4 there too. For sure Jin can’t support Bb4 nor above, which is already not a high expectation for her as a Soprano. Sujeong can’t either so in fact, there isn’t a huge gap between them. It’s somewhat of a noticeable gap, but it’s not a big difference. It may be the gap of a weak vocalist to a weak to average vocalist, if anything.

      So I still don’t have much of an opinion on Baby Soul, but I know more or less what to expect of Sujeong and Jin. There’s no big difference between them. If you don’t mind me asking, would you happen to know Kei’s full range? I know E3 and F#5 from Friday but I was wondering if she’s mixed higher than that. Like did she also hit those F#5’s around 0:48 in the last video in that song? Did she also sing that high in that song?”

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  11. So I notice the bottom of her supported range is pretty much even with Sunny’s and even the wording in each analysis is similar in that A3 and below they both struggle to get notes out. Does that mean Kei also has a really weak chest register since Sunny’s is said to be one of the worst among main/lead vocalists. Or is Kei’s more developed because while she struggles A3 and down, she’s not struggling as much as Sunny would?

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    1. Kei’s chest voice is still better than Sunny’s though yes, since she has better tone development at least a semitone below Sunny.

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  12. Hello, did you get a chance to see Kei’s newest performance? What do you think? I think Kei is learning more about using her voice with each stage she’s done, she herself has mentioned this. She only trained two years before debuting so I feel like she’s still exploring her talent.

    I kind of wish you had waited for Girl Spirit to be over before writing Kei’s analysis but what’s done is done. I say this because it looks like she’ll definitely be making it into the top 4 and things are sure to get more intense from here on out.

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    1. I haven’t seen this yet. The range in the beginning sounds like she’s going for many A3’s and slightly lower, her lower still sounds fairly airy. 0:38 that was one of her best C5’s for sure, although not quite there yet. Her placement is really not bad although she can sound pretty pushed. 1:11 B4, her placement can be nice but she pushes way too hard and so she sounds kind of shouty. Not closed, but just shouty. This is better, more comfortable than Wildflower key wise. She sounds pretty pushed but it’s a lot less strained since it’s not as high. It’s a more comfortable key. I’ll use this as a best vocal performance, since I prefer it compared to Wildflower. Very good placement throughout honestly, she has a nice mid range honestly. I wish she had more of a lower range and a more of consistent head voice, if she were more well balanced out she could come out as a much stronger vocalist but she is very limited. She reminds me of Seunghee a lot, but with less technique.

      I understand your wish for me to wait for her to be done with Girl Spirit before the end of the analysis, but honestly if there is no change in her technique, which there hasn’t been within the past two years since her debut, then there’s no reason to wait. Although, what do you mean Top 4? I don’t really know how this TV works in terms of how it goes and rankings or whatnot.

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      1. Oh, well there are 12 contestants and for the last however episodes they’ve split off into two groups and within those groups (chosen by the winners of the first episode), they battle it out. The audience is comprised of music/vocal majors and each is responsible for casting a vote for whoever’s performance they enjoy, similar to how Immortal Song works. The purpose of the rounds so far has been to tally up all the scores and the top two performers from each team move onto the final four, where the best four will battle it out to come out as #1. It looks like those moving to the final round could be Kei, OMG’s Seunghee, Sojung, and Uji, but a fifth wildcard member has been announced to participate who could very well be Bohyung (that will be seen next week probably). Obviously these are skilled singers so the pressure to do well is going to be there. If Kei wants to win she’s going to have to really bring her A game.

        Now I know you say there hasn’t been any change in her technique, but I believe that’s because she hasn’t been challenged yet. Girl Spirit is the first platform where anyone in Lovelyz has gotten to experiment and demonstrate various styles of music, and what’s more is hone various ins and outs of singing. I understand there won’t be a great difference between the Kei now and the Kei at the end of the show, but I was just reminded of how one single performance from other idols has changed their analyses. It isn’t completely out of hand to think that Kei could have one of those performances, and in that case I wish the analysis had waited at least just a few more weeks.

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      2. Vocal majors and music majors? Mhmm Well they’re still students, so it’s understandable that they may be somewhat unreliable but it’s a cool concept in itself. Sojung is definitely the odd one out when you see Kei, Seunghee and U.Ji there. Bohyung should be up there over Kei, Seunghee and Sojung for sure. They’re definitely the top 5 in terms of skill from what I know as well. Soyeon, Jinsol, Hyemi, Sungyeon, Minjae and Oh Seunghee would definitely be at the bottom. Dawon is a question mark for me, I’d say she should be above Sojung from a technical point of view and possibly above Kei as well.

        By challenged you mean not with a challenging song but by having to do better than others full on? Since of course Wildflower is definitely a challenging song. Mhmm I understand how you feel. This performance definitely was a better overall performance for her tbh, I feel like she showed a lot of good moments.

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    1. You mean Kei’s rating? I’m sorry but you can’t just throw in a performance and a random rating and expect this performance to make her be that rating. What’s your reasoning? What in this performance shows the qualities of an Above Average to Competent vocalist? Did you even read the criteria? Can you explain what parts of the criteria fit with how she sings in this particular performance for her to be anything but in the average rating? Because we don’t use random guesses for the ratings, we have a criteria so please refer to it when questioning someone’s rating. That performance was already analyzed as well.

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      1. In this case the criteria is nothing. This performance obviously is not the average rate. The girl is perfectly placed voice.
        You write that it has no resonance, but I hear it.
        It is your ranking and your criteria. But if we talk about the vocals, the singer must first singing in tonality, but not to sing out of tune the listener causing ear pain.
        Why did you completely ignore the good intonation, which is absent in the majority of those who are standing on the same point averages vocalists your ranking, and even at the point of most competent intonation floats?
        Why for some stylistic airy recorded as strengths, while others entered into weaknesses?
        Why C5 in this performance is not worse and sometimes better than those who are competent?

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      2. You’re asking for her to be rated as above average to competent which is part of our criteria, but then you’re saying in this case the criteria means nothing. Please don’t contradict yourself. Also are you sure you understand what resonance means? Resonance isn’t being loud. Yes Kei is loud in this performance but she’s also pushing, there is tension which indicates improper technique.

        Most of the vocalists we analyze can sing in tune. Singing in tune isn’t anything to be complimented for, it’s a basic standard for an instrumentalist. If you’re a guitarist, you tune your guitar before you start playing it so as a vocalist, singing in tune shouldn’t be a criteria for someone to be anything but average. Again read the criteria to fully understand our standards. Singing in tune is too basic for that to give anybody a high rating. Intonation sometimes goes off, we are all human anyway. Intonation sometimes goes off but having perfect intonation doesn’t mean one has perfect technique. Kei’s intonation isn’t perfect all the time either.

        Again if you read carefully you would know but stylistic airiness is only stylistic if done on purpose. There’s a difference between a vocalist who can’t support and sings with airiness ONLY 100% of the time, and a vocalist who can choose to be airy on purpose and turn it on and off at will. So that’s why we watch a lot of videos to make sure it’s a stylistic choice instead of a bad habit.

        I don’t understand your last question. It doesn’t make much sense, you do know C5 is a note, right? Competent Sopranos in this blog all are completely capable of producing resonant C5’s quite easily. Kei’s C5’s are strained in this performance.

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  14. Yes, I am sure that this resonance. No, I do not hear any tension here, I hear the beautiful notes sounded full and not squeezed. Yes, the competent vocalists in your rankings sound on most of these notes are often worse sound squeezed, thin and ugly.
    Technique in all of them different, depends on the vocal school.
    Intonation or have a clean birth or a tried and tested. With the turned singer still will constantly swim, and from congenital most of the time it will remain in the key.
    Musical notes invented in order to sing the notes, rather than past them, so false notes – the biggest trouble for any singer.
    I’m not a fan of Loveliz, i’m sone. But then even that half-deaf hear clearly Kei sings better than Tiffany, Suhyun, Mina and others Average Vocalists your rankings.
    Let Kei you your criteria is average, but there is no objectivity here.

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    1. Kei does sing better than Tiffany and Minah, being in the same rating as another vocalist doesn’t mean they’re the same in terms of skill. You can have somewhat better technique than another vocalist in the same rating as you. What competent vocalists produce strained thin, squeezed and “ugly” C5’s? I have to be honest with you, it’s not my fault that you can’t hear the tension. Kei didn’t produce resonance, she was singing with opened placement but pushing her sound with too much chestiness, too much air pressure and throat usage. She wasn’t fully relaxed at all, so it isn’t resonance. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t resonant. So I can’t say I agree with you. I’m not sure what you’re saying about clean birth and swimming and congenital.. I truly don’t understand that paragraph. As for the last paragraph, I don’t think you can argue the objectivity of the analysis without enough knowledge. You can just disagree with the analysis, that’s fine and we can agree to disagree.

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      1. Why suddenly when different stylistic techniques open sound production technique called incorrect technique? It’s not tension.
        I’m sorry, but I have more than enough knowledge and absolute pitch. My trouble is poor English, for which I apologize.
        But if you prefer to write off the criticism of your analysis to my incompetence, there is no problem)))

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      2. Well like I said, if you can’t hear the tension then I can’t really help you there. The throatiness would only be stylistic if Kei could produce resonant C5’s and choose to be throaty. Kei has never produced resonance, if you believe you hear resonance then I repeat, you should probably check what resonance means and how to identify it. Having perfect pitch has nothing to do with knowing about proper singing technique although it is very admirable. Mhmm I mean it’s just we can agree to disagree because I don’t hear the same things you do, so it doesn’t even have to be anything about your incompetence. I would take the criticism if it made sense, but I just don’t hear what you hear. I don’t mean to write off the criticism, I just don’t agree with you. You also didn’t provide examples of the “ugly”, thin and squeezed C5’s sung by the vocalists we rated as competent.

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  15. I already wrote that I have more than enough knowledge. And I know very well that this resonance and how it sounds. Rather, you select only certain resonant sound, ignoring the rest of his symptoms, possibly due to the fact that you as your teacher taught.
    We do not get together here for the simple reason you hear voltage where I do not hear, I hear the resonance where you do not hear.
    But one thing is clear, that your criteria are very far from perfect, hence the strangeness in the rankings.

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    1. You don’t need to tell me you have knowledge, instead show me your knowledge. Resonance has to be healthy and without tension, Kei had tension. It’s not about me not hearing resonance, it’s you not being able to identify the tension. It’s not a problem with the criteria, because Kei does not produce resonance. Kei can’t support her voice up to D5, she can’t support her voice below Bb3, she can’t support nor produce resonance in her head voice. She doesn’t fall in the competent rating because she doesn’t meet the criteria. The criteria is both objective and consistent. So like I said, don’t tell you have knowledge and instead show me it. Show me the ugly, thin and squeezed C5’s from Competent vocalists you claimed to hear.

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      1. Too many criteria to bind invented by you, when it is ignoring the stability, fluency and voice of a great musicality and understanding songs. A good half of the competent vocalists have with all these problems.
        You and I have very different vocal school, and you should not be so idealize the school. I see no reason to throw your performances with the competent vocalists, your notion of strained and resonance does not match mine.

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      2. We don’t ignore musicality, understanding of songs, flow nor stability. Those are all taken into account. Again you’re saying vague comments without showing me any examples of these issues you claim to hear in the competent vocalists we have in our criteria. Quite honestly the issues you mentioned exist even with good vocalists, some of them have issues with musicality or stability here and there. They’re not perfect vocalists, none of them are.
        1:11 in the video you sent, Kei is not even hitting a C5. She’s hitting a B4, with very pushed air pressure, a slightly high larynx and opened placement. It gives off a false impression of “resonance” but you’d have to ignore the obvious shouty quality and the pushed chestiness. A high larynx, constricted throat muscles, tense swallowing muscles, those are indications of tension. Despite her being “loud” and having good placement, the tension and pushing cause the note to lose natural healthy resonance and to sound shouty. That’s what I personally hear. Perhaps your understanding of what the word “resonance” means is simply just not the same as ours. So we may be using the same exact word but because we are using the same word while having different definitions for the words, we are contradicting one another. So maybe that’s the issue here. From the definition I know of “resonance”, Kei is not able to produce opened and healthy resonance.

        3:07 That’s what we identify as resonance. Opened, free, lifted soft palate, supported, relaxed, neutral larynx. Kei’s is too tense in the throat, it can’t be considered resonant. It can be considered loud, but not healthy.

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  16. Nonsense. Key songs in A minor. at 1:11 sounds dominant – dominant note is E, G#, B. There can be no C5! There is absolutely clean and precise B. And I’m sorry, but it is not a high larynx.

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    1. I know she’s not hitting a C5, that’s why I said it wasn’t a C5, I said it was a B4. My point wasn’t that she was off key, she is NOT off key. My point is that she can’t even produce a B4 properly without tension, how is she supposed to produce anything higher than that with proper support? You’re right, if we stay within the key center of the song without any accidentals, there can’t be a C5 in that key and that’s why she was singing B4 yes I understand. She was at the center of pitch, again pitch isn’t her problem, tension is. If you can’t hear the high larynx, the pushed tension, the shouty quality…then I don’t know what to tell.

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      1. It is only in your opinion, it can not reproduce, and you hear there is tension. She has a slightly different style of singing, but it is a good technique and it is not a high larynx.
        And there was not only B4, there were points and D5 and E5.

        2:00 – this is how it sounds really high larynx.

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      2. Yes I know there were other notes but I was talking about only the B4 because the other notes were too high for me to even comment on. Yes you’re right, that is a high larynx but there’s a problem here. That note has MORE tension, it’s MORE strained. The larynx is more closed. But strain isn’t always that intense, tension can be present even with less intensity. The B4 is also strained, it’s tense, with a high larynx but it’s not AS strained. So maybe you’re just not sensitive enough to more subtle strain that can be masked away with reverb and more volume, because Kei’s B4 may not be as strained as Sejeong’s Eb5 but it’s still strained all the time. You make it sound like a high larynx HAS to sound like this all the time but strain comes in different shapes and forms and you have to train yourself to be able to hear all kinds of tension even when they’re less obvious. Let’s just agree to disagree and end this discussion because it’s not going anywhere.

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  17. Tension present in mixed starting from the top 4 octaves higher than that of any vocalist. This is complete nonsense that it is someone is absent, a different physiologically impossible. Technique exists to maximize open sound on these notes and to reduce tension to a minimum.
    At Kei is the tension is just not audible due to good technique.

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    1. I am not sure I understand everything you’re saying, but I appreciate your point of view. I believe we’ll just agree to disagree and end this discussion because it is going nowhere, since we don’t think the same way about the concept of resonance vs tension.

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  18. At the above… wow! Your responses were clear and concise and respectful.

    Anyways! Lovelyz did a performance of one of their debut songs on music core and it sounds live and has minimal dancing (as in they get up to more or less sway and spin slowly halfway thru lol) Might be helpful someday should you analyze the 2nd lovelyz vocalist.

    A few questions if you don’t mind 🙂

    1) Jin’s 0:24-0:29 is sung with a lowered larynx? Is there any support present at the end of her line?

    2) When Baby Soul is singing in mixed voice starting at 0:48 is she just bright or is it nasal or both? (also to confirm, bright means a heady mix, right?) 0:56 is falsetto?

    3) Kei 1:12 is falsetto or unsupported head voice?

    4) Baby Soul 2:00 Unsupported head voice or falsetto?

    5) Probably not but was Yein supporting at all with her line starting 2:13?

    I’m still so bad at identifying support, nasality vs brightness, and head voice vs. falsetto…

    I don’t expect to become an expert by casually following your blog, but I find it very interesting regardless

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    1. You think so? Sometimes I’m scared I may come off as mean, since I try to be as patient as possible. I really don’t mean to come off as arrogant nor intolerant. Anyway.

      1) The range for that line that Bb3 ~ F3, she had no true support. Just a lot of airiness, and pushing down of the larynx down to the F3.
      2) Bright does not mean a heady mix, if it was a heady mix I would say a heady mix. Usually brightness has to do with placement, as in the placement is higher in the mask. Baby Soul is singing with a lot of nasality and a high larynx throughout that part.
      3) I would call that a falsetto.
      4) I’d rather call that a falsetto.
      5) Not at all, the sound is completely shallow and in her throat/nose.

      Oh don’t worry! You’ll get there! ^ ^

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      1. Thanks for the clarification! And as someone who has worked years in customer service, I think you handled that fantastically. Lol while I don’t recommend it (it’s not fun at all), you would do well in with angry customers.

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  19. hiii! does Kei sings better overall than tiffany and sunny? cos ive heard u said she had better mix.. but is her overall , lower, mix, head voice.. better than them? i mean.. is she better than the two? since those two are like the top tier of average as of now.. thank you!

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    1. Kei and Tiffany both have shown head voices with inconsistent support, Kei’s pitch and overall support are much better than Tiffany’s, as well as her mixed voice. Tiffany does have the better lower range. You’ll find out who’s better than whom once our chart comes out. ^ ^

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  20. It least, not only me hear resonance in her perfomance. And it first time when I dont undetstand conclusion of analys in this blog. Its pity!

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    1. Again that user and most likely you are confusing loudness with resonance. There’s still tension in that performance, although she did have pretty nice placement overall.

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  21. Hi ahmin3,

    I have been a long time lurker of your blog and thanks for your analysis of Kei! I have become quite a fan of hers through the program, Girl Spirit, and was wondering what your analysis of her voice was. Using what little knowledge I have about singing, I agree with your assessment. Although Kei does have some vocal shortcomings like little to no resonance and an underdeveloped lower register, she does have a sweet sounding mid-range and delivers consistent, satisfactory performances as a singer (I guess this is a personal opinion). She seems to know her strengths and weaknesses on the show, and she chooses her songs well to showcase her voice. While she may be an average vocalist compared to Uji and Bohyung, I think of all the contestants on the show, she has shown the most versatility. I have a few questions for you:

    1. She does have a nice mid-range, but what exactly is “mid-range” in musical notation? I have a vague idea but I am unsure.
    2. This is a speculative question, but do you foresee Kei developing more resonance in her singing in the future? She is a young singer, and I believe she has been singing this way for some time, so it probably would be difficult to change/improve. It is a pity that her singing lacks that round, bell-like quality for her higher notes. Most of the time it just sounds loud with a little bit of vibrato towards the end.
    3. I found myself preferring Kei’s rendition of BoA’s “Atlantis Princess” and IU’s “Friday”, and as all these singers are average vocalists (I this blog has classified BoA as average to above average), where do you think Kei ranks at the moment when compared to other average vocalists? I feel she’s on the upper end of it.

    Sorry if this came out as a block of text. Keep up the good work, ahmin3! I look forward to more analysis!

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    1. Hi there!! Thank you so much for your comment and don’t worry about it being long! So mhmm let me see:
      1 – Mid range depends on your voice type but for a Soprano B3 to B4 is more or less their mid range or maybe A3 to D5 at most. For a tenor, E3 to F#4? Ish? It’s the supported range for average vocalists if you think about it. Haha
      2 – That definitely depends on her and not me but sure she could, if she has the right instructor.
      3 – You’ll find out once our chart comes out but your guess is pretty good! Haha

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  22. Agree, most people seems to think that Jin is the best just because she can sing high notes but Kei proves otherwise.

    Nothing against Jin though (actually she’s used to be my first bias).

    Hey kpopvocalanalysis, I’m no expert on vocals but you all seems legit here because you try to find actual real live performances to support your analysis.

    (PS: Been lurking on your blog since early this year)

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    1. Tbh, I don’t agree with your assessment. While Kei is an average vocalist, the group itself is fairly well balanced vocally. In other groups, say GFriend or Twice, there are really great main vocals, but they do have some pretty vocally weak members. I would rather liken Lovelyz to a choir, with a more balanced distribution of voices and sounds. The objectively least strong singers, Jisoo and Jiae are fairly solid imo. Technically they aren’t extremely advanced, but there is a pretty solid technical grasp nonetheless, even if execution seems to lack at times. To judge the entire group based off one analysis hardly seems very fair. Furthermore, I do think Kei is, as the analysis mentioned, solid in her mid range. Not everyone is born a soprano; there are mezzo sopranos and contraltos, and many of them are good singers — when they sing in their range. Your voice is your instrument, and I think a good singer need to know how to work within their limitations and work around it as well. In Kei’s case, I do think her range is limited, but that should not discount her quality as a singer.

      Also, I think it would be important to stress that the concept of a ‘powerful’ vocalist as good is inherently flawed. Power, without technical stability, does not make a good vocalist.

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      1. Just a quick comment, I do believe every vocalist of Lovelyz has shown characteristics of being Sopranos. I have not noticed any of them to be anything lower than that.

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  24. hiii// it says that Kei can produce head voice up to E5 and above that is a falsetto.. i just wanna ask if it’s supported? is the E5 supported or she can just use/produce head voice up to E5? and if its not then what is her supported note in head voice? even if its inconsistent? thank you..

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    1. Please avoid posting a spam of performances all at once in a comment, especially when there is not specific question included. I wasn’t aware that she had other performances on Girl Spirit, I thought it was done by the time I posted this analysis. I also wasn’t aware she went on Duet Song Festival, I wish these videos would’ve been posted more frequently as they came out, not all at once. lol Either way I don’t really hear any significant changes in her singing technique and approach at all.

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    1. Generally it means the vocalist has more tension in when singing with the Aye vowel than they would on other vowels.

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  28. Hi there!!!!! 🙂

    Lovelyz went on Immortal Song again awhile ago and I have a few questions on their performance. Wasn’t sure to post this here or the future analysis page since I mention the other members.

    Kei – I know you said her B4s are inconsistent so I was wondering how she did at 1:05-1:09, 2:03, 3:25. Also a C#5 at 1:16

    Babysoul – 0:15 – I think you have mentioned her before but did you ever say she supported, even to a certain degree?
    2:47 – She sounds less whiny and “fuller” when she belts but I’m not sure

    Sujeong – I feel like her belts sound better here although there isn’t much to compare to since she usually sings in her soft acoustic style. 0:37, 1:38 and 2:25 in the background

    Jin – I know you said that she is better than Sujeong and produces more tone than her but for some reason she sounds more thin and airy to me 0:41, 0:52 . Maybe the ‘huskiness’ of Sujeong’s voice deceives my ears to making it sound like she is less airy.

    Also, random quick question, is being shouty the same thing as being throaty?

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    1. Actually I’d prefer if you’d post it here since it’s more relevant to Lovelyz than future analyses, so it’d help other fans be able to read if they’d be curious about it.

      0:15 Babysoul She does support with shallow support to a certain degree. It’s just she’s generally relaxed within a reasonably low range, but it’s tight and whiny whenever she adds more volume. Same thing for Sujeong, she has very thin and shallow support but then she starts to push. 0:37 that B4 for an example. 0:41 B4 again for Jin, tight and whiny. High larynx for both. 0:56 closed throughout the chorus for Jin. She doesn’t sound breathy at all, just tight and whiny. Huskiness is breathiness, it’s raspiness, it’s air coming through the vocal cords.

      Kei isn’t as tight but she is pushing and she’s not relaxed. 1:16 same thing, pushed and a high larynx. 1:38 again strained for Sujeong, she may be not using as much breathiness but because she’s so used to breathiness, when she adds more tone she strains. 2:03 there’s very little glottal tension for Kei, but the support is there. 2:14 Sujeong sounds really thin, Jin is a lot tighter but more connected. Sujeong just sounds thin and tight. 2:25 Oh a mixed D5 for Sujeong, I’ve never heard her try to mix higher much. It’s strained though.

      2:47 high larynx and pushed. Again the thing with them all is that only Kei supports properly, the rest are all either too tight, whiny or breathy. They’re all shallow with support, Sujeong having the thinnest support and Baby Soul and Jin being really tight and whiny. 3:25 not badly placed, there’s just some glottal tension on Kei’s B4’s.

      To an extent yeah being shouty and throaty are similar but I usually think of shouty as yelling and throaty as sounding like a smoker laughing? lol For lack of a better way to put it.

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  29. Thanks so much!!!! Okay I see, its just that since you might be analysing another member I wasn’t sure to put it in the future analysis page. I’ll keep that in mind next time! Btw if I were to post a bunch of vids for another member just to give you more references for the future, would you prefer if I post that on the future analysis page or here?

    Ohhh I think why I thought Sujeong produced more tone is because Jin is tighter when she sings. I probably don’t notice breathiness as much since I listen to a lot of artists who use it stylistically. Makes more sense now.

    LMAOOOOOO A SMOKER LAUGHING I’M CRYING RN lol but yeah that makes more sense now

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  30. I hope my question does not deviate the purpose of this thread. And, my query is about A capella and harmonization attempts of lovelyz.

    I once saw a comment saying, “You should not boast about lovelyz A capella and harmonization skill and that any group can master it with a few practice sessions”. And, yet I hardly find any kpop idols being able to perform as good as them. Or, am I being biased here? I know they are not exceptionally good at it but still far better than most of other idols and are pleasant to listen to. Is harmonization also a skill?

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    2. Acapella harmonization is not an easy thing to do but it’s unrelated to proper vocal technique. Harmonizing is a completely different skill than solo singing. It’s not an easy thing to do at all, but it also doesn’t mean that each individual vocalist has good technique either. Harmonization is a different sort of skill than vocal technique, you don’t need to be able to support to sing in pitch and blend. Many K-pop idols are known for their ability to harmonize such as DBSK, CSJH The Grace, DGNA, 100%, Mamamoo, SPICA, etc.

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    1. Well YeIn is not a main nor lead vocalist. She’s a sub-vocalist. She does not support, she may have a bit more tone than Kei but that doesn’t mean she’s able to support in that range. The song only goes down to G#3, so it’s not really an issue for Kei. It’s not THAT low. It also stays going only up to Bb4, so again not that. But this is a good example for my current video I’m going to work on now, so thanks! lol

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  34. Hi, Admins! I’ll humbly ask about something. I’ve read Kei and Sunny’s analyses. I thought Sunny would be slightly better than Kei because of her head voice, occasional resonance/support up to C5, and neutral larynx on her C#5/D5 range, though I am aware of her pitch issues. Kei has a bit better lower range, less issues with nasality and pitch. I am not sure who has a better B4’s Thank you. 🙂

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    1. Occasional lucky inconsistencies aren’t enough to put a vocalist above another one. It’s like saying “Hey most of the time you’re at a 6 but sometimes you’re at a 7!” Whereas Kei is like “You’re always a 6.5! Good job!” (These numbers are random, don’t read too much into it.) Just because sometimes Sunny is at a 7, it doesn’t change the fact that more consistently than not, she’s at a 6. Whereas Kei more consistently than not is at a 6.5. On a very good day, Sunny may be able to show better technique than Kei but on an average day, Kei is a more reliable vocalist with more control in pitch, more control in her vocal cords, not a wobbly vibrato and generally cleaner support. Sunny may have had a few lucky moments cause she’s heady, but that doesn’t equal consistently better control nor consistently better support. Again, people think we emphasize supported range more than we do. It is deeper than how high they support, even consistently.

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    1. I don’t hear a drastic enough change. I didn’t analyze so I can’t really give you a degree of how tight/whiny she was before, but I still don’t hear a supported quality on the first video with the Bb4. The second video has a better quality but I think the sound from the reverb is helping it sound better.

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  37. I have some questions about the Lovelyz cover of “Sixth Sense”. What Note was Kei’s high note at 3:38 and how was it as it sounded like she has improved since her cover of “Wild Flower”? Also how was Babysoul’s/Sujeong’s highnote which took place after Kei’s( Babysoul was the first to start after Kei and Sujeong Joined in the middle after Baby soul) as I feel that they might have been strained? And how was Sujeong’s descending run? I’m sorry if this is a lot to ask.

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    1. Okay one thing at a time. The note was F5, which is expected that is a famous high note so unless they had changed the key I expected it to be F5. Are you basing off her improvement off of one high note? Cause that’s what your question sounds like and I would like for you to have a more expanded mindset when it comes to singing. It shouldn’t be about the high notes. One high note is not going to determine whether or not she’s improved, especially considering that the highest note is Wildflower is like D5 and this is an F5 and if she wasn’t supporting D5 then she’s hardly going to be supporting F5’s now. F5 is a very high note and we can count on the fingers of our hands how many sopranos in K-pop, idols, can support F5. Honestly I am counting 3 right now actually, so F5 is not a realistic note to expect most sopranos to support. So yes they were all strained, Kei being the best mixed in terms of mixing itself but not necessarily support. Sujeong’s run was pitchy and it was more of a slide than a run. It’s not a lot to ask, it’s a specific question and I like that so good job. But yeah that one high note isn’t a sign of improvement.

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  38. Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I apologize if I was trying to imply that Kei had improved from a single high note as I don’t think I had worded it properly before. The main reason I was curious about it was because to me it didn’t sound as shrill as her D5 in Wildflower and her E5 in Destiny. In the analysis you mentioned that above E5 that she is only heard singing in Falsetto so does that indicate any possibility of improvement lower than that if she was able to mix up to F5 even if strained? I apologize if it still sounds like I’m basing improvement on strained highnotes as I’m just curious because I don’t think there was much improvement in regards to her singing in her lower register when she performed “I Wish You Were Gay” other than that she is starting to explore that register more than she typically has to in than in her songs as a member of Lovelyz.

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    1. Oh no baby, there’s no need to apologize at all! I just wanted to make you sure you didn’t have some sort of misconception on like vocal ability in general. I do think that it did sound cleaner than I expected, but that’s also because the D5 in Wildflower is much chestier and pushed, whereas she used a much lighter mix for this which may explain the change in quality and the ease it seems to have in contrast. I’m sure she was able to mix above E5 before, she just hadn’t shown any examples of it that I could’ve found. It could be an improvement, but that’s only if we could be certain she was unable to mix that high before at all.

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  39. Hello,
    Hope you are doing well!

    I have a question regarding 2 members of lovelyz. It is clear from your blog that kei is the one with the best technique in lovelyz. However, just wanted to know whether babysoul and jin has at least shallow support or not. I am attaching videos from their concert, if that gives you any idea.

    Thank you 🙂

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    1. Sorry for jumping in but they do sound supported to me, Jin seems to be more relaxed and has better breath support tho. But I do feel that their support only extend to G#4/A4 max and yes, it’s a bit shallow as well.

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  40. Kei performed “The lonely bloom stands alone” which has a long C#5 followed by multiple phrased F#5s! (she sang it one key down)
    Higher chest/mixed notes start from the second chorus at 1:59

    How’s her C5??? 2:29
    seems like her upper belts are chestier than before?

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  41. I read that Kei has been taking vocal lessons ever since queendom are there any improvements in her C5/C#5’s?

    C#5 in speechless

    Multiple C#5’s in this performance

    Long C5

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