What style of vocals do you prefer in music?

[MaryKB]

My favorite singer of all time is Enya, I do not believe anyone has a more perfect voice than she does.

I don't especially avoid male vocalists, I rather enjoy Neil Diamond for example, but the music I listen to is mostly made by women (Enya, Celtic Woman, Loreena McKennitt, Celine Dion, Adele, Diana Ross, etc)

 

[AmazonQueen]

I hadn't given a lot of thought to different genres favoring different voices, but that is almost certainly true. I also have to admit that I favor a good song over a good voice. Thinking of my favorite artists they would predominantly be singer/songwriters that are much more respected for their songwriting than the actual quality of their voice. They have to be capable, but generally they aren't going to be mistaken for an opera singer.

I'd agree with this.
Looking at my favourite artists many of them have distinctive voices but not always outstanding.
Don't think I have a strong preference for male or female artists although my favourite, Patti Smith, is female.
I do like a singer to be passionate, to sound as if the song really means something to them, and I'm not convinced exceptional polish always helps with that.

 

[Senethro]

None at all. None of that meat flapping human generated noises for me, thank you.

I typically use music to control my environment so I can get some real thinking done and lyrics get in the way of that.

 

[Zardnaar]

My favorite singer of all time is Enya, I do not believe anyone has a more perfect voice than she does.

I don't especially avoid male vocalists, I rather enjoy Neil Diamond for example, but the music I listen to is mostly made by women (Enya, Celtic Woman, Loreena McKennitt, Celine Dion, Adele, Diana Ross, etc)

You might have liked the 80s. Enya was big along with Clannad.

 

[warpus]

First of all you guys are coming off pretty ignorant right now. You can't assume someone's genitals from their gender.

You can with about 99.999% accuracy. Although to be fair in the music industry that number goes down

I hadn't given a lot of thought to different genres favoring different voices, but that is almost certainly true. I also have to admit that I favor a good song over a good voice. Thinking of my favorite artists they would predominantly be singer/songwriters that are much more respected for their songwriting than the actual quality of their voice. They have to be capable, but generally they aren't going to be mistaken for an opera singer.

Like.. I think Cobain's voice was perfect for Nirvana.. Norah Jones is perfect for what she does.. Bebel Gilberto also..

I'm open to the musician wowing me with whatever they got though, whether they're male or female. If a female vocalist could make Nirvana sound great, I would be into it. Of course in my mind I don't know how that would even work, but I'm also not a vocalist

 

[hobbsyoyo]

If a female vocalist could make Nirvana sound great, I would be into it.

Try this -

 

[warpus]

Yeah that works! I wish her voice was raspier, that would have been great

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Here she is at full-rasp

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Huh. I don't know. I can't even copy Truthy and pick which I listen to more frequently because I'm not sure.

Definitely prefer having vocals to not having them in most cases. Video game music gets a pass since there are other things which take concentration, but when just listening to music itself lacking vocals feels like something is missing.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

yeah no offense but this poll makes zero sense for me. between male and female and everything inbetween I really don't have a "favorite". pretty 50/50 for me.

also, I listen to a lot of non-vocal music. maybe more than music with vocals, or maybe that has changed.

some of my favorite vocalists are:

male
nick cave
tom waits
marvin gaye
bob dylan
lou reed
jim morrison
isaac hayes
david bowie

female
nina simone
astrud gilberto
beth gibbons (portishead)
joni mitchell
aretha franklin
erykah badu
lauryn hill
janette monae
ella fitzgerald
sade

somethin else
jamie steward (xiu xiu)
howlin wolf
captain beefheart
björk
brian wilson

I dislike a lot of vocal styles, for example current EDM, anything that resembles adele, lana "god I feel so incredibly bored while recording this studio album" del rey and honestly, a lot of current female hip hop and rnb is complete garbage.

And I don't like to hear a dude's voice during sex.

what are you, scared you're gonna "like" it?

 

[Lexicus]

My favorite singer of all time is Enya, I do not believe anyone has a more perfect voice than she does.

Ever heard Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, or Aretha Franklin? Give them a listen sometime if not

The majority of music with vocals that I listen to is hip-hop and rapping is generally pretty different from singing. Hip-hop is obviously a male-dominated artform but there are some excellent female MCs out there including Ladybug of Digable Planets, Indeed, Bahamadia, Lauryn Hill, Scarlo, Sa-Roc, and Kola Rock.

 

[EgonSpengler]

So male and female are 'styles' now? I can't keep up with the lingo.

As for singing styles, I'm all over the place. One way I sort singing styles in my own mind is 'powerful' or 'delicate' (that's not a gendered distinction, either, fwiw).

Powerful: Brittney Hayes

Spoiler :

Delicate: Al Green

And I don't like to hear a dude's voice during sex.

For me, it's all about what gets her in the mood, and I've known women who get turned on by masculine music. Who am I to say no?

 

[Broken_Erika]

I prefer robotic vocals

 

[The_J]

Really depends on the mood. Sometimes I prefer one, but most of the times is random. -> can't vote, because I don't like instrumentals ^^.
In metal music, I think the ratio is also not very skewed, so you can have all styles, with male or female singers.
The Salsa/latin stuff I listen to ist mostly male dominated, so there I actually don't know.


Since @Zardnaar already pointed out Arch Enemy: When I heard the first song of the singer (then at the previous band The Agonist), I didn't realize it was a woman/only one person singing .
For reference, the song:

Spoiler :

At 2:40, you really can't hear it's a woman singing.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Depends on the song

 

[Zardnaar]

So male and female are 'styles' now? I can't keep up with the lingo.

As for singing styles, I'm all over the place. One way I sort singing styles in my own mind is 'powerful' or 'delicate' (that's not a gendered distinction, either, fwiw).

Powerful: Brittney Hayes

Spoiler :

Delicate: Al Green

For me, it's all about what gets her in the mood, and I've known women who get turned on by masculine music. Who am I to say no?

Unleash the Archers is interesting.

Most of the new metal and rock I'm listening to has female leads or duets. It's mostly European, rock in USA seems dead.

 

[Zardnaar]

Song from 1994 redone as a duet.

Megadeth fr Christina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil.

Lacuna Coil being one of those metal duet bands.

First LC track I heard about 19 years ago. Italian metal.
Senzafine

 

[Gorbles]

I genuinely don't know if I have a preference for vocal style, mainly because my musical taste is all over the place. Sometimes it's hard to separate the instruments from the vocals in what I like about a particular song (or even band), too.

Just going to throw some out there based solely on my preference for vocals, see if they group together at all:

Florence (and the Machine)
The Cranberries
Garbage

(okay I'm seeing a specific trend there already, but bear with me - Garbage is a pretty recent hook of mine, so that skews my listening preferences a bit)

The Pretty Reckless
Halestorm
Red Hot Chili Peppers (vocals-wise, the more mournful stuff like Otherside and generally the By The Way album, me thinking Kiedis is a dirtbag aside)
Meatloaf
Foo Fighters (more than Nirvana, definitely prefer Grohl's range to Cobain's, as sacrilegious as that might be )
Some other scattered bits and pieces, like I love this cover by Gerard Way:

Those are probably the bands where the vocals resonate best with me, there's a ton more music out there I like for their instrumental qualities, or just because I need a specific genre of music at the time.

 

[AdamCrock]

I thought You mean "type" and not to whom the vocal talent belong . I don't really choose my preference based on wheter is a male or female vocalist . Depends on the music though - sometimes I like man singing and sometimes woman and in some cases both. True male and female vocal range and differs a lot so there are parts (in classical music especially) that can't be done by specific sex.

My favorite type of vocal is clean with a little dose of hoarse in it with the just the right amount of high pitch. Add too much high pitch and it sounds like squealing I also love opera and chorus vocal parts <3

 

[cardgame]

I don't choose my music based on it, but my favorite music happens to be [gender preferenced] would be an alternative phrasing, I suppose. @AdamCrock