Polina Gagarina is the strongest vocalist on our stage
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
Over the past year, our stage has changed. The leaders of the hit parades have been updated, some of the masters of the scene have recorded new songs and are again at the peak of their careers. The most popular singers, however, are not always professionals in their field. Fans of artists often argue online because of the vocal abilities of idols. We asked a professional – which of the pop stars can sing.
Expert Yulia Taravkova, vocal teacher, songwriter and sound producer, for kp.ru analyzed the vocal data and capabilities of not only popular, but also the most discussed pop singers of 2023.
Expert Yulia Taravkova (vocal teacher, songwriter and sound producer) analyzed the vocal data and capabilities of the popular and most discussed pop singers of 2023
Photo: Personal Archive
Polina Gagarina
Polina Gagarina has been named the best singer in the country for two years in a row, according to VTsIOM. The main thing is that the mentor of “Voice” regularly releases high-quality musical novelties. The only domestic performer who participated and made it to the finals of the famous in Asia, the most popular Chinese music competition Singer.
Expert Yulia Taravkova: “A talented, gifted singer. As a child, when she entered a music school in Saratov, Whitney Houston sang (the strongest vocalist, whose repertoire not many adult professionals can perform). We studied with Polina at the Gnessin Music School of Variety and Jazz Art of the Russian Academy of Music She always sang strong range songs and it was heard a mile away that Polina sings. I dare to assume that Polina has the largest range on our stage – I think about three and a half octaves. True, we never heard the whistle mode in her songs like Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey, but realizing her support and breathing, I think she definitely knows how to hit these super high notes.In addition to the range, Polina is a very technical singer – vibrato (changes in pitch, strength, timbre – approx. Auth), melismatics (on one syllable of the text accounts for four or more sounds of the melody – approx. Auth.), chic belting (vocal technique with high notes – approx. Auth.), twang (reception allows the voice to sound louder, more piercing, more powerful – up to frequencies above 2000 Hz – approx. . Auth). Polina is the strongest vocalist in our country.”
MakSim
Due to severe coronavirus pneumonia, the artist had 95% lung damage two years ago. Due to health problems, she was at the peak of public interest and decided to restart her career – she went on a tour of the country, part of which was postponed. Since her health failed, she simply “whispered” a couple of concerts on stage. But did MakSim ever have great vocal abilities?
Expert: “MakSim is more than just a singer, she is an author whose songs are loved by people and sung by entire stadiums. Write “Do you know”: the hit that became the anthem of “Spartacus” is a merit! But if you narrow the scale of the personality to just parsing her vocals, then not everything is so rosy. For many years as an artist on the big stage, I have not seen significant progress in vocals. Is it possible to sing (when in a resource state) Marina (the real name of the singer is Maxim. – ed.) has become cleaner intonation. MakSim’s vocals cannot be called professional singing – it’s more of a humming. The love of the audience was earned by her gentle youthful timbre, sincere message in the songs, kindness. Not everyone and not always needs to have vocal technique in order to earn people’s love. In my experience, the strength of sound directly depends on the character and emotionality of a person. For example, belting and elements of extreme vocals (roar, splitting) can be used by those people who know how to be aggressive, strong, punchy. The voice can tell the character of a person. If the voice is soft, gentle, then the person is most often just like that. Often, big bosses have a voice set even without a teacher!
Anna Asti
In April 2023, Anna Asti became the best in 5 nominations of the Heat music award at once: “singer of the year”, “artist of the year”, “album of the year”, “female video” and “best song”. Asti had many other awards. The tracks topped the charts in Russia and neighboring countries. The Phoenix album was in first place on the VKontakte album chart.
Expert: “Anna Asti is a gifted singer with her distinct style of performance. Her idols, like Polina Gagarina, were Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Jessie J, which often leaves a professional imprint on her vocals. Which shows how important it is to form a high-quality musical taste from childhood! Just like Polina, Anna has a fairly large vocal range, judging by the songs: it’s exactly two and a half – three octaves. Very nice subtone, strong top notes. But I think its main feature is rhythm and this “cat-like manner” of performance, which many people now copy. There is a lot of air in Anna’s very timbre, belting is bright, dense and manifested, mixed. The voice is technical and flexible, it’s just that Anna’s songs do not imply an emphasis on melismatics. But she definitely knows how to improvise, and clearly intonationally perform melismas where it is appropriate. I think she would definitely sing Whitney Houston’s greatest hits with dignity, we just always heard only her author’s repertoire.
Larisa Dolina
The People’s Artist has long received both recognition and awards. But now Larisa Dolina is experiencing a new wave of popularity among a young audience: a victory in the Three Chords show, participation in the Two Stars project, new duets and songs.
Expert: “Larisa Dolina is a person of the era. This is the strongest pop-jazz vocalist of the Soviet era (a huge number of songs for films) and the brightest singer at the moment. Huge legacy: albums, musicals, awards. A huge store of professional knowledge that she shares with students. This is a professional with a capital letter. The current generation of minus players do not know what it means to sing to a live orchestra. Larisa Dolina knows how to combine genres and styles, she can brilliantly sing a jazz concert with Igor Butman’s live orchestra. Or release a duet, for example, with an aspiring singer in a modern pop sound. That is why she is still so in demand: because she is not a prude and feels the trends of the time, works hard and supports young people. A vocalist who sings jazz simply cannot sing badly. This is vocal flexibility, and range, and improvisation, and super technicality, and a special sense of style and rhythm in music. And please note: if she sang incorrectly, then after so many years of vocal practice and load on the apparatus, her voice would have changed long ago (hoarseness, decreased in range, and so on). At the moment there are minor changes, but Larisa Alexandrovna is still in excellent vocal form and sings in a way that many on our stage cannot sing at 20 years old.
Lyubov Uspenskaya and Tatyana Plaksina
Lyubov Uspenskaya is now singing on Channel One with her daughter Tatyana in the show “Two Stars”. Ouspenskaya is preparing a big solo program for her daughter – she will make a star out of her.
Expert: “Forgive me Lyubov Uspenskaya, but for me, as a vocal teacher, her sound is imperfect. There is a lot of narrowed, nasal overtones in her manner of performance. He became her hallmark. I can’t say anything about her range, because it’s not particularly in the songs, with the exception of “Cabriolet”, where there is a rise to the top in the chorus – there is not much to remember. Her style of performance does not imply special vocal technicality; this is not accepted in chanson. Uspenskaya sings with her heart and emotions, she lives her songs artistically. Love knows how to convey the meaning of the song in such a way that it was impossible not to fall in love with the audience. This is a folk singer. Unlike her mother, Tatyana has a freer sound, beautiful timbre, deep dense low notes. I would like her to reveal her individuality and not take off her mother’s manner, the second Lyubov Uspenskaya will not work. Tatyana is musical, it is important for her to find her own style of performance and her own style in songs.
Lyubov Uspenskaya decided to make a superstar out of her daughter Tatyana. Tanya sings better than her mother. Frame Channel One, the show “Two Stars”
Olga Buzova
Olga Buzova knows how to surprise. The other day she shocked another statement. Olga retold the dialogue with her vocal teacher: “Do you know that you have three octaves?” I asked: “What is an octave?” It was difficult for many to believe in such a “discovery of the year”.
Olga Buzova recently shocked the public with a statement that she had three octaves
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
Expert: “In vocal lessons there is such a chant – a lip trill, this is the simplest warm-up, without phonetics, based on one breath support. On this chant, most people will have the largest range, even a completely non-singing person can shoot up to three octaves. But when phonetics and vowels are turned on, then for the majority the sound quality leaves much to be desired: all clips and nasal sounds are immediately detected. Each person can give out at least two octaves in karaoke. But what quality will these octaves be? If Olga’s range (according to her teacher) is three octaves – then why are we forced to hear what we hear? In my opinion, if you look at things realistically, then with the natural gifts that Olga has, she will sing live with pure intonation after two or three years of stable vocal lessons twice a week. The rest of the aerobatics technique (melismatics, belting, mixed, rhythm, elements of extreme vocals) will take a few more years. In principle, in all vocal schools, learning to sing takes from three to five years, depending on the starting point – the degree of giftedness. But I would not consider Olga as a singer, she is a showwoman in the first place. She moves well on stage, really creates a show. And if Buzova finds time to work with vocals consistently twice a week, then in a few years we will hear the result!
