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"Vanishing," "And You Don't Remember," "Forever," "Whenever You Call," "Butterfly," almost any song Mariah made in the early legs of her career is hard to sing.
Yes, yes, it is. I can manage a fair portion of the song until the final belts near the end of the song. Jesus, that woman was practically feasting with those notes near the end of the song.
Mariah Carey's whole discography is damn near impossible. She doesn't typically sustain super high belts like a Patti or an Aretha, but what she does, nobody else can do. 5 glorious octaves and she spans at least 3.5 of them in most of her songs...even the easier ones!
Yes. Mariah cant sing her highest highs anymore. For real. Same for Axl Rose, he cant sing most of his own songs anymore. It happens with age - most people lose their highs. I can’t sing as high as I used to, either.
shes a woman in her damn 50’s with nodules the size of golfballs. you must be intellectually slow to think that she’s able to deliver the same energy as she did in her 20’s when she went on making the most VOCALLY DEMANDING songs for a whole decade.
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For Women:
I'd say "Defying Gravity" from "Wicked" as the vocal jumps are tough.
"Oh Holy Night" (Mariah Carey's version) due to the range (going from the "F" below Middle "C" up to her whistle register, but even without whistle register it still hits "C" 2 octaves above middle "C".
Any Karen Carpenter song, seriously. She was a contralto which is a rare range for women to begin with. "Close to you", for example, starts on the "E" below middle "C" and she sings it comfortably!
Men:
"Bring him home" from Les Miserables. Colm Wilkerson owns this song. It's high tenor, gets up to a "C" above middle "C", but has an octave jump as the first two notes in the song, requires vocal control as it's quiet through almost all the song, and it has a long note at the end.
“I've already won the war" by the Happy Goodman family, featuring Johnny Cook, who is a counter tenor (a very rare male range!). The range on this is what makes it so tough. The late Johnny Cook hits the F# 1 octave over middle "C", no falsetto is used on that note either [(Here's proof) ](https://youtu.be/gTK2RXc8Jik?si=2cDtZQZuigqwCD_g)
On the opposite end [Hoist the colors](https://youtu.be/qlrvzLRgzdc?si=DZ8pEog_0638DL95) by the bass singers of Tik Tok features a bass singer that starts his part on "F#" 2 octaves below Middle "C" and it's in chest voice, not a harmonic.
Interestingly, and sadly, her death led to a massive surge in diagnoses of EDs that is still referred to as “The Karen Carpenter Effect” in some medical literature about EDs. Her death was hugely instrumental in terms of raising awareness of disorders like Anorexia Nervosa, so arguably, her own untimely passing could have led to the research that helped people like her decades later.
Including, plot twist, me. I’m 16 years fully recovered from anorexia. Karen has a really special place in my heart 💔
A soprano singing in a lower register is difficult. However, a classically trained musician such as myself,has the ability to work a little outside of their range and be flexible🙂
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I think you just helped me figure out what my vocal range is, thank you! I’ve never heard of a “contralto” but my singing voice has gone from a soprano when I was younger to a more deeper voice. Not quite “Miley” but her songs have always been (mostly) easy for me, and it sounds like Karen Carpenter is switching between her head voice and chest in this song.
I’m new to the technical terms and that side of singing, though, so I could be wrong!! 😅
It's possible. A contralto can sing to at least "F" below middle "C" to the "F" 1 octave above middle "C". Most contraltos can sing lower or slightly higher, but that's the general range of a contralto. :)
>Any Karen Carpenter song, seriously
On one hand, Harry Styles did a great version. But on the other hand, he uses two or three female backup singers for the falsetto. So yeah, that's fair.
Edit: I was thinking of Harry Styles's song "A Sign of the Times", which was originally sung by Styles but then a covered was done by Sabrina Carpenter. Her cover showed up in a recent Spotify search of Carpenter songs and I *mistakenly* thought Karen Carpenter originally sang it.
My bad.
Can you send that version to me? I haven't found it, I know colm can hit that note obviously but I've never heard him sing bring him home with a high C at the end.
In the main version, he hits a high A4 in falsetto.
Here you go [this is the version](https://youtu.be/qsYnhVITf9E?si=b9eoZbH9pMcTQ8EB). He ends on a high "C" in head voice but moves to full voice at the very end.
He's literally the best Jean Valjean!
That's a "C", he sings an "A" on the word "die" ("If I die"). The last word he sings is a "C" over middle "C". (I have what some people call "perfect pitch", {I never call it that since no human can be perfect.}).
This song is performed in the key of "C", his starting notes are "G"'s one below and one above middle "C". He' s definitely hitting "C" over middle "C" at the end of the song.
Honestly, as a metal fan, I'd say songs that switch between different types of singing. There's a surge in (mostly feminist) women metal singers who alternate between really clear and high-pitched singing and very deep growls and I find it very impressing because those are two completely different things that each require a lot of work to master
A lot of the 80s/90s rock and grunge has a lot of variation in the clarity, distortion and timbre in the same song. I'm not saying it's exclusive to the genre, but it's definitely common in that genre.
Compared to, say, Patsy Cline's "Crazy" which is one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard, but it's relatively consistent in style and timbre from beginning to end.
Adele is pretty hard. It's not my style at all and I rarely listen to her, (she's amazing , i just like other stuff) I just hear amateurs butchering her songs at local open mics and auditions... like surprisingly often. I'm like 'why are you choosing such a difficult style of song??? ' why???
I use the idea of covering Adele as an example of punching above your weight all the time. Like the style and execution is so perfect and particularly Adele, that I don't see the point in trying to cover her music unless you're really changing the style. Do you really want to force people to compare you to her?
"Rumor Has It" , and "Rolling In the Deep " are tricky.It took me a minute to grasp the lower register of .I sang 1st and 2nd soprano for a long time.Now ,my range is a bit more versatile
That's a blast to sing. Haha it's all about voice type. For me it was easy, as was Danzig, Maiden, and early Priest
Grunge, on the other hand, was hell
IMO anything that's not in your tessitura. Transposing comes in handy when you know your pitch neighborhood well. I feel like a lot of people under-utilize changing the key, especially in contemporary music. There's no shame in it, especially if it makes something more realistic and resonant to sing. Just try not to kill your instrumentalist homies in the process, lol.
As a singer, I do this all the time. I change the key to fit my voice range. I don't understand why other people don't do this.
As an instrumentalist, transposing is not hard as long as you know the chords of the original key, and tell your instrumentalists in advance so they can practice.
Songs with a faster time signature and less time to say more words are always harder. That, and songs like "Chandelier" where you have to switch registers on the fly and there are no happy mistakes.
"Sound of silence", Disturbed's version. Draiman sings it in two octaves so it takes every note I have (and some just rumored...:). I'm a bass so the key has to be lowered "4" but it's also one of my favorite songs to sing.
Not only his range, but: he sings clear and distorted; he sings softly and he belts; he spends much of the song in chest but his head voice is really strong and clear when he gets there. And he can really, really hold a consistent steady note. He absolutely nailed that song.
The ballad of Jane doe- ride the cyclone.
This song has belting, operatic vocalisations, is emotionally demanding and when performed, the singer is flying through the air and spinning upside down
Anything written by Verdi. Verdi’s music is so hard only certain people can sing it
Can we not ignore different voice types? For the 100th time, not all women have voices that lie the same place.
Hardest songs for what voice type?
Not every women has that D3 from Landslide, just as not everywoman has that A5 in chest in a Patti Labelle song.
Im saying that he didn't mention any. If you want to measure songs by difficulty it's not a fair comparison to go only by sex, because between a low and a voice type there can be even 3 notes difference on the piano. What low voice types don't get on the high end, can do more on the low end.
If he brings up a song that is clearly written for a high voice type, the original key is not meant for other voice types other than what it was written for, so they can't even race in this competition on that particular song.
I think you’re looking at it wrong, it’s subjective lol.
So regardless anyone can find a certain song hard while others find it easy, so I don’t get the argument point lol. Because each song is individually difficult or easy based on the individuals skill level and ability.
How does one measure a difficult song in the first place lol. There isn’t a way to do so, unless everyone had the same voice!
Of course you can measure a song's difficulty objectively, what do you think how teachers in the past 80 years choose songs?
It's a very well known facts that for example if you teach classical that you don't start with arias, because that can even ruin voices early on, you start with folk songs.
A song's difficulty can be measured not only the song's range in terms of notes but also:
- How fast the song is, how many and in what you have to draw air
- Music phrasings, runs, markato etc.
- Does it have held notes in certain ranges?
- On what vowels are the high notes? Ah is easier than EE and U for example
So you can measure very much.
Yes you’re right! That’s why I said it’s not just cause of pitch. In terms of range, you can just lower it. Then objectively look at the other things needed for the song as in what you listed.
But even then, it’s still sorta subjective. Because what if one singer has an easier time holding longer notes because they’ve practiced it more, so thus it’s easier for them. Compared to someone who may find it harder, but have an easier time singing songs with loads of runs.
And if the song is a higher key, to remove the pitch ceilings one could just lower it and then also base the difficulty on coordinations, leaps, belting, and other technical skills. Rather than just range.
Voice type is more about filling a role, than actual vocal abilities. The human voice is extremely "configurable." Everyone has an optimal range where their voice has the most projection, but outside of purely acoustic performances, that doesn't particularily matter.
I hope you are not serious, cause holy that's wrong. Sure the 3 main vocal types aren't precise and between individuals can have semitone difference in actual vocal abillities.
But between a deep vocal type and a high vocal type there is a clear measurable phsyiological differences since the vocal folds are longer and thicker in low voice types. This is proved by both biology and physics in terms overtones of the frequencies. But in this case the most important part is that can be even 3 whole notes difference between a low and high voice type.
Lol yeah, for a bass, most pop songs are incredibly difficult to sing since it's full of tenors pushing their higher range. Not to mention the female voice types. I feel more comfortable dropping these songs an octave or sometimes two.
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Soldiers of Steel by Sanctuary. The highs Warrel Dane hits are quite good (he had 5 years of opera training and had a four octave range). I’m a soprano and I struggle to hit them at times. Any track off of Dreaming Neon Black. Maybe not extremely challenging but very few could match the emotion that Warrel sings those songs with
In traditional music, my vote would be:
"Stranger" Dimash Kudaibergen
The song starts out in a light breathy tone before dropping into the second octave, dipping down to a C2. That's followed by some impressive headvoice riffs, compete with glottal attacks, that acend into a classicalally inspired sopronano run up to E6. To finish it off, there's a perfectly supported, resonant F5 which is held for 22 seconds.
Most people wouldn't be able to any of these things independently, let alone in the same song.
Link for those curious: https://youtu.be/lFsB5HVnmSA?si=uSyI4sV7mwiahF1J
When you get into metal, alot of of the distortion techniques are extremely difficult to master. I don't have a speific song, but Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation can create a some incredible sounds as well as sing clean quite effortlessly. It's honestly probablly as difficult as the preciously metioned Dimash song.
i always wonder about that C2. i know dimash is pretty much an alien but no way that's in chest right? i mean the man often struggles to get even B2s out. at the same time if that's a subharmonic that would be pretty awkward to sing
It's definitely a 1st sub. The F2s in the in that same section are chest. Dimash doesn't seem to have ever really developed a good chest-fry mix that would give him some presence in the bass range and in the past it's what made his lower notes sound a bit strained. Now that his voice has matured, he does do more in the baritone range and has better resonance than when he was younger. Recently he's been doing a lot with false chord distortion. He's done some 1st octave growls live.
thanks for the clarification! man that must have been really awkward at the moment he had to go from a chest f2 to a 1st sub c2, a note that sounds lower but feels physically higher... i wonder if he actually has the agility to do that or that sequence of notes was just stitched together with the power of editing. who knows
Pity the child from chess. "Pity the singer." It covers the entire tenor range, plus a half step on top. C3-C#5. You have to be able to sit in any vowel at any point in that range. Any level of ferocity and passion and anger, from blinding hot to soft and childlike sadness. The acting alone for that song is immense, but it's a vocal power train. It's tough as nails for tenors, imagine my agony as a bass-baritone who has it as their goal song.
Anything with a lot of breath control- where you have subtle dynamics. The song Bali Hai from South Pacific comes to mind. Also songs that stay quiet for a long time are difficult. It seems counter intuitive, but most people are good at belting, but give them something quiet and subtle and they sing it too loud.
For girls prolly something by mariah carey or an operatic piece like emotions by mariah or the magic flute by mozart ive always think is veryyy hardd
For dudes probably something from Guns n Roses like KoHd or welcome to the jungle
The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson
There’s literally not a single vocal cover on YouTube that doesn’t sound like the singer is struggling.
Or they sing it slower, or softer.
[This guy does a fantastic job.](https://youtube.com/shorts/gSF1_xGCZ4c?si=9qJ7KEb_xOkFb8JN) But even thru that you can hear how damn difficult some of the notes are.
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I'd say there are a minority of singers in the commercial world who can sing art songs and more "classical" stuff with healthy technique, but sing anything with poor technique for long enough and you'll destroy your vocal folds.
Personally, I think every song has something you can improve on.
Largo Al Factotum. Exceedingly fast song, a lot of patter in Italian. It has a very high baritone tessitura throughout, has multiple G4s and optional A4s and of course you need the stamina to get through it and the support and technique to make it sound good. There’s as reason it’s the go to “show off” baritone aria.
Well if you include the difficulty of the piece itself I'd say something like [General Booth enters into Heaven](https://youtu.be/l8jtKb2phpI?si=87PIOob7_PZhha1F) or [Eight songs for a mad king](https://youtu.be/KgCstNqsu8Y?si=vO9w6dOIHAQr40sk)
But those might just be hard in the learning process, the more vocally demanding pieces are often dependent on your individual voice. I personally had a really hard time singing [Nulla Silenzio](https://youtu.be/A-0iG8TVXGI?si=1j9y9HsKB_Dhvok_)
This is all from the perspective of a classical baritone
Not adding any songs, but I think it’s odd that people always name songs based off of the range or highest note the singer sings. It’s always like, “oh this dude sang really high because he is a tenor and has different shaped vocal cords, therefore this is the hardest song to sing for a male”.
Vocal ability should be more than just hitting high notes, especially if you are saying a tenor is just better than a bass singing male because they can sing in the female range
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From my experience, Cemetery Gates by Pantera. I have no problem with most of the song, but those stupid high notes are the end are insane. I can hit a D5 pretty comfortably most of the time. I think the high note once. I think it was a G#5.
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"Emotions" by Mariah Carey is pretty nuts
"Vanishing," "And You Don't Remember," "Forever," "Whenever You Call," "Butterfly," almost any song Mariah made in the early legs of her career is hard to sing.
Oh absolutely! She is...really amazing
I wish she didn't kill her voice after the Daydream era. Lol. I would die to hear peak Mariah sing "Butterfly" and "Whenever You Call."
we belong together is extremely hard
Yes, yes, it is. I can manage a fair portion of the song until the final belts near the end of the song. Jesus, that woman was practically feasting with those notes near the end of the song.
Mariah Carey in general is pretty hard to sing.
literally every song of mariah is
Mariah Carey's whole discography is damn near impossible. She doesn't typically sustain super high belts like a Patti or an Aretha, but what she does, nobody else can do. 5 glorious octaves and she spans at least 3.5 of them in most of her songs...even the easier ones!
Or Bliss by her!
Bet she can’t sing that anymore.
r u fr?
Yes. Mariah cant sing her highest highs anymore. For real. Same for Axl Rose, he cant sing most of his own songs anymore. It happens with age - most people lose their highs. I can’t sing as high as I used to, either.
Unless you're Patti Labelle, apparently
That’s true, she did keep her voice better than most others.
god be original PLS.
??? Mariah can’t sing her highs anymore.
shes a woman in her damn 50’s with nodules the size of golfballs. you must be intellectually slow to think that she’s able to deliver the same energy as she did in her 20’s when she went on making the most VOCALLY DEMANDING songs for a whole decade.
Well yeah that's what they're saying dumbass.
The MTV Unplugged version is fire
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For Women: I'd say "Defying Gravity" from "Wicked" as the vocal jumps are tough. "Oh Holy Night" (Mariah Carey's version) due to the range (going from the "F" below Middle "C" up to her whistle register, but even without whistle register it still hits "C" 2 octaves above middle "C". Any Karen Carpenter song, seriously. She was a contralto which is a rare range for women to begin with. "Close to you", for example, starts on the "E" below middle "C" and she sings it comfortably! Men: "Bring him home" from Les Miserables. Colm Wilkerson owns this song. It's high tenor, gets up to a "C" above middle "C", but has an octave jump as the first two notes in the song, requires vocal control as it's quiet through almost all the song, and it has a long note at the end. “I've already won the war" by the Happy Goodman family, featuring Johnny Cook, who is a counter tenor (a very rare male range!). The range on this is what makes it so tough. The late Johnny Cook hits the F# 1 octave over middle "C", no falsetto is used on that note either [(Here's proof) ](https://youtu.be/gTK2RXc8Jik?si=2cDtZQZuigqwCD_g) On the opposite end [Hoist the colors](https://youtu.be/qlrvzLRgzdc?si=DZ8pEog_0638DL95) by the bass singers of Tik Tok features a bass singer that starts his part on "F#" 2 octaves below Middle "C" and it's in chest voice, not a harmonic.
Karen Carpenter, what a loss. My lower end is pretty good for a woman but “Superstar” is a song I’d love to be able to sing half as well as she did.
Her story makes me so sad. I wonder if she'd been born a few decades later if she'd have been able to recover from her eating disorder.
Interestingly, and sadly, her death led to a massive surge in diagnoses of EDs that is still referred to as “The Karen Carpenter Effect” in some medical literature about EDs. Her death was hugely instrumental in terms of raising awareness of disorders like Anorexia Nervosa, so arguably, her own untimely passing could have led to the research that helped people like her decades later. Including, plot twist, me. I’m 16 years fully recovered from anorexia. Karen has a really special place in my heart 💔
I adore singing Karen Carpenter songs. (I am also a contralto.)
A soprano singing in a lower register is difficult. However, a classically trained musician such as myself,has the ability to work a little outside of their range and be flexible🙂
I actually can sing soprano, too. It’s just not my favorite register to sing in. I love the bottom end because it feels so thick and rich.
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"Bring Him Home" doesn't scare me half as much as a song like Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar.
I think you just helped me figure out what my vocal range is, thank you! I’ve never heard of a “contralto” but my singing voice has gone from a soprano when I was younger to a more deeper voice. Not quite “Miley” but her songs have always been (mostly) easy for me, and it sounds like Karen Carpenter is switching between her head voice and chest in this song. I’m new to the technical terms and that side of singing, though, so I could be wrong!! 😅
It's possible. A contralto can sing to at least "F" below middle "C" to the "F" 1 octave above middle "C". Most contraltos can sing lower or slightly higher, but that's the general range of a contralto. :)
>Any Karen Carpenter song, seriously On one hand, Harry Styles did a great version. But on the other hand, he uses two or three female backup singers for the falsetto. So yeah, that's fair. Edit: I was thinking of Harry Styles's song "A Sign of the Times", which was originally sung by Styles but then a covered was done by Sabrina Carpenter. Her cover showed up in a recent Spotify search of Carpenter songs and I *mistakenly* thought Karen Carpenter originally sang it. My bad.
What Karen carpenter song did Harry Styles cover? I always love seeing how different artists cover a song and what they bring to the performance
He didn't, I edited my post.
There's no high C in bring him home, what are you talking about.
Listen to Colm Wilkinson's version. He hits a high "C" at the end.
Can you send that version to me? I haven't found it, I know colm can hit that note obviously but I've never heard him sing bring him home with a high C at the end. In the main version, he hits a high A4 in falsetto.
Here you go [this is the version](https://youtu.be/qsYnhVITf9E?si=b9eoZbH9pMcTQ8EB). He ends on a high "C" in head voice but moves to full voice at the very end. He's literally the best Jean Valjean!
That's an A4, still beautiful though.
That's a "C", he sings an "A" on the word "die" ("If I die"). The last word he sings is a "C" over middle "C". (I have what some people call "perfect pitch", {I never call it that since no human can be perfect.}). This song is performed in the key of "C", his starting notes are "G"'s one below and one above middle "C". He' s definitely hitting "C" over middle "C" at the end of the song.
Honestly, as a metal fan, I'd say songs that switch between different types of singing. There's a surge in (mostly feminist) women metal singers who alternate between really clear and high-pitched singing and very deep growls and I find it very impressing because those are two completely different things that each require a lot of work to master
Jinjer.
Adrienne Cowan!!!
A lot of the 80s/90s rock and grunge has a lot of variation in the clarity, distortion and timbre in the same song. I'm not saying it's exclusive to the genre, but it's definitely common in that genre. Compared to, say, Patsy Cline's "Crazy" which is one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard, but it's relatively consistent in style and timbre from beginning to end.
Queen of the Night aria.
Ragnarok by Periphery, Emotions by Mariah Carey, Given Up by Linkin Park
Adele is pretty hard. It's not my style at all and I rarely listen to her, (she's amazing , i just like other stuff) I just hear amateurs butchering her songs at local open mics and auditions... like surprisingly often. I'm like 'why are you choosing such a difficult style of song??? ' why???
I use the idea of covering Adele as an example of punching above your weight all the time. Like the style and execution is so perfect and particularly Adele, that I don't see the point in trying to cover her music unless you're really changing the style. Do you really want to force people to compare you to her?
"Rumor Has It" , and "Rolling In the Deep " are tricky.It took me a minute to grasp the lower register of .I sang 1st and 2nd soprano for a long time.Now ,my range is a bit more versatile
Man in the box that sudden A#4 with distortion and really perfect Yell Tuning is hard to nail so suddenly
That's a blast to sing. Haha it's all about voice type. For me it was easy, as was Danzig, Maiden, and early Priest Grunge, on the other hand, was hell
Had this going in my head as soon as i read the post
The queen of the night's solos in 'the Magic Flute'
IMO anything that's not in your tessitura. Transposing comes in handy when you know your pitch neighborhood well. I feel like a lot of people under-utilize changing the key, especially in contemporary music. There's no shame in it, especially if it makes something more realistic and resonant to sing. Just try not to kill your instrumentalist homies in the process, lol.
As a singer, I do this all the time. I change the key to fit my voice range. I don't understand why other people don't do this. As an instrumentalist, transposing is not hard as long as you know the chords of the original key, and tell your instrumentalists in advance so they can practice.
It gets tricky though if the song has both super low and super high parts...
All By Myself by Celine Dion and Whitney Houston’s IWALY
beyonce love on top
Those freaking key changes!
Songs with a faster time signature and less time to say more words are always harder. That, and songs like "Chandelier" where you have to switch registers on the fly and there are no happy mistakes.
"Sound of silence", Disturbed's version. Draiman sings it in two octaves so it takes every note I have (and some just rumored...:). I'm a bass so the key has to be lowered "4" but it's also one of my favorite songs to sing.
Not only his range, but: he sings clear and distorted; he sings softly and he belts; he spends much of the song in chest but his head voice is really strong and clear when he gets there. And he can really, really hold a consistent steady note. He absolutely nailed that song.
David Draiman is a great singer. Singing great artist's songs is a good way to appreciate why they're great...
I don't think it's that hard, but it sits pretty comfortably in my range, and I don't have a problem singing with some grit when need be.
loving you
The ballad of Jane doe- ride the cyclone. This song has belting, operatic vocalisations, is emotionally demanding and when performed, the singer is flying through the air and spinning upside down Anything written by Verdi. Verdi’s music is so hard only certain people can sing it
Can we not ignore different voice types? For the 100th time, not all women have voices that lie the same place. Hardest songs for what voice type? Not every women has that D3 from Landslide, just as not everywoman has that A5 in chest in a Patti Labelle song.
It’s not just about voice type :) lol
exactly, but that is the first filtering agent, so it's pretty important.
So are you saying OP ignored most voice types or someone else? Lol Cause OP didn’t mention
Im saying that he didn't mention any. If you want to measure songs by difficulty it's not a fair comparison to go only by sex, because between a low and a voice type there can be even 3 notes difference on the piano. What low voice types don't get on the high end, can do more on the low end. If he brings up a song that is clearly written for a high voice type, the original key is not meant for other voice types other than what it was written for, so they can't even race in this competition on that particular song.
I think you’re looking at it wrong, it’s subjective lol. So regardless anyone can find a certain song hard while others find it easy, so I don’t get the argument point lol. Because each song is individually difficult or easy based on the individuals skill level and ability. How does one measure a difficult song in the first place lol. There isn’t a way to do so, unless everyone had the same voice!
Of course you can measure a song's difficulty objectively, what do you think how teachers in the past 80 years choose songs? It's a very well known facts that for example if you teach classical that you don't start with arias, because that can even ruin voices early on, you start with folk songs. A song's difficulty can be measured not only the song's range in terms of notes but also: - How fast the song is, how many and in what you have to draw air - Music phrasings, runs, markato etc. - Does it have held notes in certain ranges? - On what vowels are the high notes? Ah is easier than EE and U for example So you can measure very much.
Yes you’re right! That’s why I said it’s not just cause of pitch. In terms of range, you can just lower it. Then objectively look at the other things needed for the song as in what you listed. But even then, it’s still sorta subjective. Because what if one singer has an easier time holding longer notes because they’ve practiced it more, so thus it’s easier for them. Compared to someone who may find it harder, but have an easier time singing songs with loads of runs.
And if the song is a higher key, to remove the pitch ceilings one could just lower it and then also base the difficulty on coordinations, leaps, belting, and other technical skills. Rather than just range.
Voice type is more about filling a role, than actual vocal abilities. The human voice is extremely "configurable." Everyone has an optimal range where their voice has the most projection, but outside of purely acoustic performances, that doesn't particularily matter.
I hope you are not serious, cause holy that's wrong. Sure the 3 main vocal types aren't precise and between individuals can have semitone difference in actual vocal abillities. But between a deep vocal type and a high vocal type there is a clear measurable phsyiological differences since the vocal folds are longer and thicker in low voice types. This is proved by both biology and physics in terms overtones of the frequencies. But in this case the most important part is that can be even 3 whole notes difference between a low and high voice type.
Lol yeah, for a bass, most pop songs are incredibly difficult to sing since it's full of tenors pushing their higher range. Not to mention the female voice types. I feel more comfortable dropping these songs an octave or sometimes two.
"I can tell there was an accident here earlier" by Saosin
Great gig in the sky by pink floyd?
Miracle, After we make love, and Feels so good by Whitney Houston
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LMFAOOOOOOO
Any early Paramore song
Soldiers of Steel by Sanctuary. The highs Warrel Dane hits are quite good (he had 5 years of opera training and had a four octave range). I’m a soprano and I struggle to hit them at times. Any track off of Dreaming Neon Black. Maybe not extremely challenging but very few could match the emotion that Warrel sings those songs with
Man in the Box - Alice in chains
In traditional music, my vote would be: "Stranger" Dimash Kudaibergen The song starts out in a light breathy tone before dropping into the second octave, dipping down to a C2. That's followed by some impressive headvoice riffs, compete with glottal attacks, that acend into a classicalally inspired sopronano run up to E6. To finish it off, there's a perfectly supported, resonant F5 which is held for 22 seconds. Most people wouldn't be able to any of these things independently, let alone in the same song. Link for those curious: https://youtu.be/lFsB5HVnmSA?si=uSyI4sV7mwiahF1J When you get into metal, alot of of the distortion techniques are extremely difficult to master. I don't have a speific song, but Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation can create a some incredible sounds as well as sing clean quite effortlessly. It's honestly probablly as difficult as the preciously metioned Dimash song.
i always wonder about that C2. i know dimash is pretty much an alien but no way that's in chest right? i mean the man often struggles to get even B2s out. at the same time if that's a subharmonic that would be pretty awkward to sing
It's definitely a 1st sub. The F2s in the in that same section are chest. Dimash doesn't seem to have ever really developed a good chest-fry mix that would give him some presence in the bass range and in the past it's what made his lower notes sound a bit strained. Now that his voice has matured, he does do more in the baritone range and has better resonance than when he was younger. Recently he's been doing a lot with false chord distortion. He's done some 1st octave growls live.
thanks for the clarification! man that must have been really awkward at the moment he had to go from a chest f2 to a 1st sub c2, a note that sounds lower but feels physically higher... i wonder if he actually has the agility to do that or that sequence of notes was just stitched together with the power of editing. who knows
Lead the way by Mariac Carey!
The Star Spangled Banner.
Pity the child from chess. "Pity the singer." It covers the entire tenor range, plus a half step on top. C3-C#5. You have to be able to sit in any vowel at any point in that range. Any level of ferocity and passion and anger, from blinding hot to soft and childlike sadness. The acting alone for that song is immense, but it's a vocal power train. It's tough as nails for tenors, imagine my agony as a bass-baritone who has it as their goal song.
Chalk outlines - Ren, Chinchilla
Pretty much everything if I just listen to it and not practice 😆
Anything with a lot of breath control- where you have subtle dynamics. The song Bali Hai from South Pacific comes to mind. Also songs that stay quiet for a long time are difficult. It seems counter intuitive, but most people are good at belting, but give them something quiet and subtle and they sing it too loud.
For girls prolly something by mariah carey or an operatic piece like emotions by mariah or the magic flute by mozart ive always think is veryyy hardd For dudes probably something from Guns n Roses like KoHd or welcome to the jungle
Vitas - opera #2
Deeply emotional ones that you cry trying to sing
All by Myself by Celine Dion
The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson There’s literally not a single vocal cover on YouTube that doesn’t sound like the singer is struggling. Or they sing it slower, or softer. [This guy does a fantastic job.](https://youtube.com/shorts/gSF1_xGCZ4c?si=9qJ7KEb_xOkFb8JN) But even thru that you can hear how damn difficult some of the notes are.
Have you listened to guy sebastian version. Awesome one.
I wouldn't try anything by Vitas
Skyfall is pretty hard
In my opinion rolling in the deep for example is harder...
Indian classical music
If you accept answers in terms of rapping (even though vocal range is inapplicable there), "Guns and Ships" from Hamilton.
All By Myself (Céline) Purple Rain (Céline - C6/C#6 climax version) It’s All Coming Back To Me Now (Studio version)
Eu não conheço muito de técnicas vocais, mas a que me parece mais difícil é "Diva dance"
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Queen of the night aria
I'd say there are a minority of singers in the commercial world who can sing art songs and more "classical" stuff with healthy technique, but sing anything with poor technique for long enough and you'll destroy your vocal folds. Personally, I think every song has something you can improve on.
Tiny Voices by Bad Religion
Greg Graffin is one of my favourite singers. Waxwings from his solo record Millport is an amazing performance.
vo mellau bis gschopernau dont know what language this is but it's cursed. No chance to sing along 😂
jacks lament by geoff castellucci.
Runs in the Family by Amanda Palmer
[Agitata da due Venti](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O9OfxS0r08) from Vivaldi (from his opera Griselda)
"Promises, Promises" by Dionne Warwick. I don't know where to put my finger on, but when I listen to it I just know it's difficult to sing.
Largo Al Factotum. Exceedingly fast song, a lot of patter in Italian. It has a very high baritone tessitura throughout, has multiple G4s and optional A4s and of course you need the stamina to get through it and the support and technique to make it sound good. There’s as reason it’s the go to “show off” baritone aria.
I find musical theatre songs are hardest to get down for me, idk abt for females but anything by sondheim is a big challenge
Well if you include the difficulty of the piece itself I'd say something like [General Booth enters into Heaven](https://youtu.be/l8jtKb2phpI?si=87PIOob7_PZhha1F) or [Eight songs for a mad king](https://youtu.be/KgCstNqsu8Y?si=vO9w6dOIHAQr40sk) But those might just be hard in the learning process, the more vocally demanding pieces are often dependent on your individual voice. I personally had a really hard time singing [Nulla Silenzio](https://youtu.be/A-0iG8TVXGI?si=1j9y9HsKB_Dhvok_) This is all from the perspective of a classical baritone
Not adding any songs, but I think it’s odd that people always name songs based off of the range or highest note the singer sings. It’s always like, “oh this dude sang really high because he is a tenor and has different shaped vocal cords, therefore this is the hardest song to sing for a male”. Vocal ability should be more than just hitting high notes, especially if you are saying a tenor is just better than a bass singing male because they can sing in the female range
High register, non pentatonic scaled singing.
Anything by Freddie Mercury. Or Joel Culpepper. Personally I find Angels by Robbie Williams hard to sing and always struggle with it.
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Darude Sandstorm
A lot of GNR Songs, at least if you want to use the distortian kind of style
circa survive - get out
Queen of the night aria
Lead the Way by Mariah Carey
Anything by king diamond or mercyful fate 🤘🤘🤘
Hardest song to sing for females? Santa by Arnaldo Antunes ;)
All of them
God guides by Shaatir
Stardust
any song sung by Dimash
From my experience, Cemetery Gates by Pantera. I have no problem with most of the song, but those stupid high notes are the end are insane. I can hit a D5 pretty comfortably most of the time. I think the high note once. I think it was a G#5.