I don’t even know if I always entirely get what I’m trying to say right away with lyrics. I like a lot of things that are more subtext. I grew up mishearing lyrics my whole life, but somehow there’s so much more, too, that’s implied in vocal delivery and the music itself and the gestural quality of it.
I’ve had problems with my throat over the years, playing with loud bands for years, and I’ve had bruised vocal chords and nodules.
Initially we were spitting lyrics over garage beats, in that eight-bar gap where there wasn’t a vocal. But we were rebellious towards garage because they were rebellious towards us; a lot of their gatekeepers said grime was too violent.
The most effective instruments do have a vocal quality.
‘Can’t Get Closer’ I originally recorded in about half an hour, just on my bed with a microphone. I actually re-recorded the song with a cleaner vocal take, but I decided to leave the demo version on there, just because I felt that instant where it was created is what captured the most emotion.
Sometimes, after I finish the lyrics and have all the melodies and harmonies and the pop and vocal, I’ll be like, ‘I have to keep it. I love it too much.’
The most vocal fans online are girls, which is interesting. I didn’t expect that.
I always felt each instrumental and vocal inflection had to be special… I’d spend almost as much time on those as I’d spend on the song itself.
I remember my doctors examining my vocal cords and asking if I had an eating disorder, and I instantly said no. But then my mom, who was in the room with me, said my name in her ‘mom voice,’ and I just lost it. I didn’t realize that she knew or that anyone knew.
When I’m in a situation where I’m working physically, I think I can push myself mentally. I’ll never quit. But I think mentally, I probably suffer a little bit with self-confidence and stuff like that. I’m probably not very vocal and I’m not much of a leader.
We are the kind of people who obsess over one word… but we have only one shot to get it right in concert. It was hard the first time I practiced with them. I was so nervous that my vocal chords were paralyzed for about a half-hour.
I like Brandy a lot. She’s a vocal prodigy.
I’m very much of that old-school mentality of believing that if it works with an acoustic guitar and a vocal, then it should work within any format – and especially when most of my live work is just guitar and vocals, so it really does have to work with only that.
I have to learn how to be more vocal. I’m not good at that and I have to improve.
Our music is an answer to the early Seventies when artsy people with big egos would do vocal harmonies and play long guitar solos and get called geniuses.
Dysphonia is not a singing problem. It’s a voice box issue in the muscle on the voice, very different from having a nodule on the vocal cords, which I’ve never had. I’m lucky that I’ve never had that. It needs a long renewal time, and even today, I am still addressing it.
As a state representative, I have consistently supported our state’s investment in Israel and our vocal support of Israel’s right to exist.
Where prominent writers are expected to have a socially, politically responsible voice, musicians sometimes find meaning only in the voice which produces melodies with vocal chords.
When I sing, I go somewhere else. Every time after I sing, I’ll ask, ‘Did I do OK?’ Because I feel like it’s like my soul squeezing out of my vocal chords. I don’t sit there and think about ‘I’m gonna do this next…’ I just sing. I sing from my heart, and my heart’s got a little lonesome in it.
I’m completely open about the fact that I don’t love every genre of metal. I like what I like. It’s got to have some vocal quality and some semblance of melody.
I’m a big perfectionist, and I like to make sure everything 120 percent, from the production to the vocal performance to the lyrics, the melody and everything.
The vocal chords are like most other muscles that need to be worked out.
Artists often become vocal advocates of freedom of expression because we depend on it so heavily in our work. But it is an inalienable right that belongs to everyone on an equal basis.
I went to a performing arts school, and we studied musical theater, jazz vocal performance, and they kind of start you out on those things because they feel like it is a good foundation, and it was.
I’ve never taken vocal lessons. My early trumpet training and a fortunate talent for singing has always been enough for me. In the case of rock singing, I’ve always felt it was better to remain a bit untrained to maintain your individuality.
Two very great players. A lot of similarities and some differences, but they are extremely serious about their game. They work their body hard, how to take care of their bodies and lead their team. Obviously, Kawhi is not as vocal as LeBron has been over the years.
I have always been vocal about preserving water and living a nature-friendly life.
My mom is one of those women… she don’t take no mess. She is very vocal about what she wants and what she doesn’t want.
I was a vocal presence in the dressing room as an 18-year-old at Leeds.
I’ve never had anything as formal as vocal lessons.
Just the way my voice sounds now, it’s always had this little hoarse thing to it. And I’d have to do vocal exercises to make my voice clear.
A lot of the vocal music I’ve been doing recently has been quite clubby. But that’s mainly because I’ve had more time to go to clubs, and that normally breeds that kind of influence.
The Ahmaud Arbery video was the final straw for me in being silent. That shook me to the core like nothing has in the past. Something flipped inside of me to be more vocal and stand up for racial equality and make sure we get a hold on that and change the face of this world and get it to a better place.
I didn’t have any social skills at all, but my mom noticed I was way more vocal when I had a Nintendo controller in my hand. So she’d set up play dates with other kids to come over and play video games.
I’m more vocal about my ideas in person and music.
Brenda did some little vocal arrangements for us and she got to sing as well. So, we’re happy to be able to work together and that’s another reason why we look forward to doing more of these.
I think that there are a lot of beautiful girls out there in our industry who are really taking a stand and being advocates for happiness and size diversity, and so the consumers are also very vocal.
And I loved Fats Waller. I love his instrumental abilities, his vocal abilities and his sense of humor.
My family is certainly very vocal. They’re very Italian. A lot of our holidays end with people screaming at each other across the room. And everyone’s very opinionated and intelligent. A lot of my aunts and uncles are wildly educated, and their opinions reflect that. We’re all very liberal.
The American audiences are more vocal and enthusiastic. British audiences tend to sit back a little more.
I definitely don’t subscribe to the theory that more instruments, or more vocal tracks, harmony, or double tracking the voice, is a good thing. People do their early albums very stripped down, then each album becomes bloated.
A lot of things about my way of leadership is to be vocal, but I try to lead by example – how I approach work and study the game. Do the things the right way. It’s a great responsibility I love to have.
James Ralston, my guitar player, has performed with Tina Turner for about 22 years. Jim Hanson on bass has played with Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell and Bruce Springsteen, and they’re fantastic musicians and amazing singers they get a really cool vocal sound together.
I get called Harold the most. I think maybe ‘Harold & Kumar’ fans don’t know my name, and ‘Star Trek’ fans do know my name… Harold fans are vocal!
The inspiration for our vocal harmonies was sort of Appalachian. It’s sort of at weird intervals, and it almost has an Appalachian kind of feel to it. The harmonies were really spontaneous. And the way we jammed, we would just get into a trance.
I’ve never had vocal training. No one could ever say that they helped me carve what my voice has become. It’s just been more of self-training: me just continuously going into the studio every night and trying out different beats.
Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.
On tour he gets in, gets out and does his business. But in the Ryder Cup he’s definitely vocal and will be talking to everyone. That’s the thing about Poulter; he’s not scared to be the leader in that environment.
I usually like to hide my vocals behind the music. I don’t like to hide them consciously, but I have a tendency to prefer the vocal at the same level as everything else and put lots of reverb on it.
You see people you identify with, and you take pieces of people you like and shape who you are. Like, I sound just like my dad. But that’s literally my vocal chords. I can’t sound like anything else… I sound like him, but I act like myself.
Puffy produced four of the tracks on the album. Those are the four songs that are collaborations between Puffy and me. And he gives me my space to work even when we work together, like with my producer and my vocal coach.
Maybe I was just born with a little bit of vocals or natural talent, but I feel like I taught myself. I just started taking vocal lessons to just work on my breathing, my vowels and stuff.
