BTS V’s Voice type

Vocal Analyses

Hello everyone,

Happy new Lunar year! I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday for those of you who celebrate and if not, I hope you’re healthy and well in general.

I’ve been away for a while for many reasons. I’m still active responding to comments, but I haven’t really felt motivated to write a new analysis in a long time. Some of it has to do with the lack of reward I felt I had received over the years compared to the effort I was making. Some of it has to do with a general lost of interest in idols or fandom culture (though as I live in Korea, I’m still very much interested in K-pop and in music.)

I’ve been busy with my own musical activities and I’d like to apologize for the long absence. I know some of you really counted on me posting new analyses. On the other hand, I know many of you also rooted for me to fail and to stop posting analyses because to you, your idol being the best is more important than accepting their flaws and wishing for their improvement (for their health as well). To each their own, I’ve got better things to do than argue with random unknown people online.

Now the real point I want to make with this post is to talk about BTS’ V and his voice type. It was brought to my attention by user @100000loveand on twitter that he thought V was a tenor, as opposed to a baritone. Interestingly enough, I didn’t feel it was a far fetched argument. I just had never personally considered it myself. I’m not one to have an issue admitting to being wrong, I just need time to adjust and to be convinced first.

In the past I have mislabelled Hwanhee of Fly to the Sky as a baritone but then with some experience in voice types (I’m contemporarily trained as opposed to what some may spread around) so my voice typing experience is still growing and I like to learn everyday. I stand by the fact that I was wrong, Hwanhee is definitely a dramatic tenor. And I have thoughts on Hyunmin of DGNA and Lee Hi as well being mislabelled.

I personally have a student who at one point I had mislabelled as a baritone. Actually two of them. After then singing with him and another friend, who’s a dramatic tenor, I realized that his voice was higher than both of us and was just an untrained tenor. Same thing for my other student who turned out to be a dramatic tenor and was what gave me the confidence to realize Hwanhee is also a dramatic tenor.

As for V. I pondered and truthfully, I have stated my observations on his lack of vocal technique development already in his vocal analysis, which I’ll link here just in case. But the thing is…For an untrained baritone to be able to mix as high as he does, as naturally as he does and as consistently as he does…It is actually quite puzzling. The point was brought up to me and after pondering for a while, I’ve come to agree with said user who told me he’s a tenor. As an vocalist with majorly stylistic choices and underdeveloped vocal technique, the way he sings wouldn’t match an untrained baritone. If I compare him to any other untrained baritone I know, even students of mine, or even myself with training, singing all the way up to G#4 that often is just difficult to understand. Even if he does sing relatively breathy and light, which only adds to the fact that his tessitura is a little bit above that of a lyric baritone. I don’t think that V is by any means a lyric tenor. He’s a low type of tenor for sure, which is unfortunate on the baritone pride I try to spread. But I also want to spread pride for every voice type out there. Be proud of who you are, especially when you’re a unique non-lyric voice. As for V, if he ever chooses to sing without as much stylistic choices without the base support and vocal cord coordination behind in the future, his voice type could become more obvious. I don’t know for sure what he is, if he’s a dramatic or a spinto tenor but after this recent clip of him singing with our more well known spinto tenor, Park Hyoshin was released, I believe it’s fairly obvious how similar in weight both vocalists are.

Park hyoshin is another example of a vocalist who in the past was often mislabelled as a baritone. After his huge vocal improvement starting in 2007, he’s shown us all what a real trained tenor can do. Perhaps someday V could do the same, if he chooses to. If not, that’s fine as well. Whatever he’s happy with, as long as he takes care of his voice, I hope we should support.

As for my closing statement. I don’t know when I’ll come to write more analyses. Maybe someday I’ll feel motivated again and happy to do so. For now, I’m enjoying my life with my friends, teaching singing, performing, living in Korea and being happy how I am. Since it was something I did for free, if one day I feel happy doing it again, I’ll return. Until then, I hope you’re all healthy, happy and have a wonderful day.

Matheus/Ahmin

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46 thoughts on “BTS V’s Voice type”

  1. Oh finally you agreed that V is a lower tenor. Then what about those like NCT Jaehyun, BTOB Sungjae, WINNER Seungyoon, and 2PM Junho? I think they have similar vocal characteristics to V and Park Hyoshin as well, and they have also been considered as low tenors as well, especially Jaehyun.

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      1. I don’t know why y’all are acting like baritones are like…a mystery. Low tenors are the impostors here lol But seriously, I stand by Sungjae at least with 100 certainty. Seungyoon and Junho get the benefit of the doubt. Also it’d be great if you could all comments in one, this is getting repetitive and confusing.

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    2. For Jaehyun, I think he has been thought to support up to C#4/D4 as a baritone, but I think he can support up to F4/F#4 (way higher than C#4/D4), and even his G4/G#4’s aren’t too bad.

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    3. Also from 2PM Junho’s vocal analysis as well: “His mixed voice is actually quite extensive in range, as he’s been able to mix up to even D5, which for a baritone is quite a challenge.” I also seen someone say that Junho also sounds pretty light for a baritone as well lol.

      Also, haha I think I’m commenting way too much now. I just think this discussion is quite interesting considering that vocalists that are not lyric tenors aren’t that appreciated much in terms of vocal ability.

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    4. I dont think Sungjae nor Seungyoon are tenors but Jaehyun could be. Junho I’m not sure. Jaehyun I lean towards yes, Junho I’m in the middle leading towards no slightly.

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      1. No. There was no significant improvement from him or even from any of the other BTS members despite popular opinion among the fandom lol. In fact, I think he may regressed a bit due to his now-messier approach lmao.

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  2. well, it takes some courage to admit you were wrong while being a person who’s so heavily scrutinized in the kpop community. personally, I totally understand not being as active, people’s times change so often and, even if you got some revenue from this blog, it would be nowhere near your main source of income. as always, it’s a pleasure to read you. greetings

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  3. To be honest, I was never quite sure what V’s voice type was either. He’s never seemed to have too much of a problem (in terms of tension) hitting notes in the middle & higher fourth octave, which would be fairly high for a baritone if I’m not mistaken. However, I also think aspects of V’s technique remind me of early Park Hyo-Shin, in that he’s presses down on his larynx to try to give his voice a more soulful quality. That makes things quite confusing at times, so I totally get thinking he’s a baritone.

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  4. Good Day. Happy New Year. Thank you for your honesty. Actually, I have always thought many of the Kpop singers sang off key and flat. Often times we base the vocal range of a performer on the songs they sing but oftentimes it doesn’t always reveal their vocal ability. I have learned alot and improved my vocals from your analysises. I hope you do get paid one day for your work. You could write a book about what you do. It would fly off the shelves and be a best seller. I agree and hope Kpop performers will take care of their voices and improve upon their craft. Kamsahamnida

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  5. I have a question. Isn’t it a little bit weird for an untrained tenor like him to support down to C3 if he had the same voice type as Park Hyoshin? In the Park Hyosin’s analysis, it said that Park Hyoshin couldn’t even support E3 when he was untrained. I doubt that V would spend his time developping his lower register, esspecially when BTS’s songs are so high.

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    1. Well Jung Yonghwa is a lyric tenor and he supports B2. Relatively speaking, V isn’t lyric so his C3 is like a lyric’s D3. So it’s not really “developed.”

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      1. So you mean that a low tenor’s tessitura would be 1 note lower than a lyric tenor? Also I want to ask a question about Junho. Would you consider him a low tenor? In this clip at 1:40 he sang the chorus with Jun.K and I think their voice have similar weight.
        https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FlXDyWT3VlKg%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1EOJQ09zpbVSobne8z6Gr9_AW_CgBBbM4yKVJz4FAfXvCbbTwyUDV5_zk&h=AT3yV_WyTSuOrz-uzzxRSdh4zjd05q0KyDPb_wHvQwjDKZe3R0tIMSB9JLKQpzkbF2oD31NNAYohQ_xV77oQ-2aUBZDmUbVd6AThSKkzkQEn-J-7VfpPIqjIdPfLynzaCZofYYMfg41tqSVRhwqs&__tn__=R%5D-R&c%5B0%5D=AT21S8Inky_Pw5YUdTEVWS9QI7LBRiJ7L48NTWJeYjs9FTKHvvIoguNxfpcS3R19paEJil5drlEMXSkXKKnyM3EDmMUo7ElM3HkoCuGkMMmRdOAhpF0WwHnr5spMB2-RQ7Z_WWFFhIbMPjI1LEONnO-VQPigmgcvlCDTf2wkcqz7Ln0

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      2. Of course that depends on the kind of tenor they are. A spinto or dramatic, I’m just putting it in perspective. I’m not sure about Junho yet.

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  6. Thank you. Also will you continue making vocal tips’s video? Your tips has been really helpful to me. And Sungjae sang really high in this clip:

    could he possibly a tenor as well?

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  7. Hi, it’s me again. I know you might be annoyed with me now because I ask too much. But could people like you and John Park are actually basses and those “baritones” are actually baritones?

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      1. yeah, may I am LOL! Also would you consider making vocal tips video on how to have smooth register transistions and exercises to develop agility? I’m having trouble with those. Sorry if I make any grammar mistake, English isn’t my first language.

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      2. Perhaps in the future. As for agility, I recommend Natalie Weiss. She can teach it a lot better than I ever could.

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  8. Do have a post or know any resources that talks about how to tell the difference between spinto and lyric tenors? Would love to read up more on this. I find that the general public is more aware of the different type of female range voices as opposed to men so it is my first time hearing about these different types for male voice ranges other than tenor baritone and bass.

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    1. I generally used to use singwise and her page on voice types and passaggi. It helped me become more familiar with other voice types and it gave me a guideline back in the day. I mean spintos, dramatics, they’re all different voice types that exist not just for tenors, but also sopranos. A dramatic tenor to me generally sounds a lot like a baritone but sings in a slightly higher tessitura without losing tonality or weight. Whereas a spinto tenor sounds like a tenor who has weight up in his higher range but can still compete in their lower range as well. I have a friend who’s a spinto and he could sing about as low as me without losing much tone but his higher range was definitely not a baritone’s. He kept color and consistency despite strain and sounded a lot like Park Hyoshin, which made me more sure of his voice type.

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  9. Hi, may I ask what’s your highest mixed noted? There has been many arguements after V being reclasssified. So I want to ask you who is a 100% baritone that can you mix as high as those “baritones”?

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    1. I mean Sungjae is a baritone and mixes high, so is Key. The highest I’ve mixed was maybe Eb5 like once? On a regular, I can mix Bb4/B4? But phrasing that high, not in exercises, is the tough part. It’s not just about your highest mix note, it’s passaggi and tessitura.

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      1. Hey ahmin i remember u saying key was a higher baritone, could sungjae be one as well? also nobody here seems to have mentioned b.a.p’s youngjae, how do u feel as of now about him in terms of him being a baritone? still sure or would u perhaps be open to him being a lower tenor? his tone has just always sounded very non baritonelike to me

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      3. oh i see thank you, by the way just double checking, did u mean sungjae is sus or youngjae? because the names are similar im just checking u didnt mix em up lol

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  12. thanks for letting us know about this ahmin, for many of us u are our one source of singing knowledge so if you dont let us know something u tstated was incorrect we may think our whole lives that such info is correct lol, anyways this makes a lot sense, i always thought it was crazy how soft his F4s and aboves sounded, everytime i tried to do that i would instantly switch to headvoice

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  13. I’m sorry that there were people rooting for you to fail
    I personally enjoy this site and all the analyses and I think most of us that post in the comments fall into that category

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  14. I think that using voice types in a modern context is unnecessary. I am born with a lower voice than most males, and so I had teachers classify me as a baritone verging on bass. This led me to believe that g4, a4 was my limit. However, after many years of practice, I am able to “mix” up to e5,f5 which is pretty much the limit of my head voice. I see a lot of singers here that think they are baritones, and so stop developing their mix voice. I know “bass” and “baritone” singers that ahmin would probably classify as a tenor because of how much ease they have in their higher registers.

    Is V a tenor? A baritone? Does that Matter?

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  15. Hi, not ahmin ….but I think it does matter to some extent, because of tessitura. Different voice types have different range of notes that they are comfortable with. And by knowing voice types, then U can deliver the song how its ment to be delivered, low notes are meant to be low, high notes high…for example if a bass would to sing a tenor’s song at the same key, then almost every single notes would be high notes wouldn’t it? And thus the performance would be belting from the start of the song all the way to the end.
    That aside from of course vocal health, cos if a baritone keeps hitting A4 all the time, especially without proper technique would invite vocal damages.

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  17. For real though, baritones are so underrated! Baritones have such a beautiful tone, hopefully, more and more people will recognise them!
    Also thank you for all the effort for your blog, I always come back to read them, it has taught me so much about singing. whether you decide to continue or not, you have given a lot to the kpop community ❤ Glad to know you are enjoying yourself and good luck with whatever you do Ahmin!

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  18. who is top 10 male vocalist according to you? i did my research and here is my list:
    1. Kyuhyun from Super Junior
    2. Chen from EXO
    3. Ryeowook from Super Junior
    4. Eunkwang from Btob
    5. D.O. from EXO
    Is this list right?

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