If you listen to a handful of different pop singers, you will notice that each one of them is vocal in its own way. Phil Collins sounds very different from Michael Jackson’s vocals because, apart from his own vocal color, he also uses other vocal stylistic devices in his songs. Nevertheless, both are well-known singers from the pop genre.

What is pop and how long has pop music been around?

If you start researching pop music and pop singing, you come across different descriptions and approaches. Everyone tries to outline what exactly pop music is. The free encyclopedia Wikipedia, for example, describes pop music as follows: […] The pop music produced for the “mainstream” does not only refer to its own original tradition from the vaudeville (an early form of the French hit song), the folk song, and the art song but incorporates various current styles of music. In doing so, it usually removes the complexity of the original forms of music, removes what is unusual and irritating for the common listening habits, in order to make them more accessible and consumable for a broad mass of people. […] The Beatles and Abba were among the first known pop groups of the 1960s and 1970s. Both groups reached a large audience around the world and brought completely new impulses to the musical landscape with their music.

What is good pop music?

This question is a very personal question that has a very personal answer. Because in the end, everyone should be able to decide for themselves what kind of pop music or pop voice they want to embody. So whether you choose the mainstream or the revolutionary offensive one.

Then singing according to this genre can be very easy. For every expression, there are good role models that you can find for yourself and whose vocal and personal diversity you can draw a lot for yourself.

What does a typical pop voice sound like?

“Allowed” is vocally that which pleases, is current and hip, or sounds like something completely new. If you listen through the pop voices in the various examples listed above, you come across sound features such as:

• Vibrato
• Breaks from chest to head voice
• Head voice
• Breathy singing
• Distortion / scratchy voices
• Ad Libs
• Twang
• Belting
• Vocal seat far back (dumplings)

These “vocal effects” listed are also a good guide to what you can practice getting your voice ready for pop songs. Of course, you can also add the vocal sounds and sound characteristics that you find in your role models to this list. And don’t forget your “secret ingredient” that makes you stand out vocally from everything.

What exactly is it that makes a good pop voice?

Despite the many possibilities of using the voice in pop songs, they all have one thing in common: an appearance that is independent of their voices and a distinctive appearance.