It seems like female singers in the 90s tended to have strong ranges, and lots of melisma, while male singers tended to do that monotone rap-rock thing. Think of Celine Dion and Mariah Carey and then think of Beck and Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind). They're basically your typical 90s singers.

Today, aside from Adele and to some extent Lady Gaga, most of the female singers tend to have a narrow range or rap-like lyrics. Even Adele's lyrics aren't really the same kind of 'ooh ooh yeah' lyrics you associate with 90s pop. Katy Perry, Cheryl Cole, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, all have fairly low to medium level range and often are pretty much rapping or talking rather than singing. The male singers like Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, and the guy from Passion Pit on the other hand all have pretty vast ranges and sing the same kind of range girls sang in the 90s.

What do you think caused the change? Do you think the whole dolphin-whistle thing in female singers and the whole I'm-so-ironic-and-chill lazy rap rock vox in male singers got overplayed?

I think male artists are becoming more feminine in look and sound. Honestly, I cannot name any current top male singers with a voice like that of Bryan Adams. I miss singers with voices like his.

I think male artists are becoming more feminine in look and sound. Honestly, I cannot name any current top male singers with a voice like that of Bryan Adams. I miss singers with voices like his.


Mat Kearney would be kind of close. I wouldn't say he sounds like Bryan Adams but he has a pretty manly voice.

Adele, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry are contraltos. That's why they sing lower than usual. Most women are in fact mezzo-sopranos, but Celine Dion and Mariah Carey are generally classified as sopranos. Contraltos are the rarest type of female voice which may be why you noticed a difference.

I personally prefer lower songs because I am a contralto.

Also, I want to add, the range isn't necessarily more diverse on any type of vocal range. I can hit notes much lower than your average female. My highest note happens to be a E5 while my lowest note is a C3. It varies from person to person.

I think male artists are becoming more feminine in look and sound. Honestly, I cannot name any current top male singers with a voice like that of Bryan Adams. I miss singers with voices like his.


Agreed. After post grunge died off the opposite extreme took over and now most male singers have unbearably girly voices.

Clear, girly, male voices sound the most like autotune/sound the best with autotune.

T-Pain was the catalyst, but hordes of other artists, namely Kanye West, helped the general cultural shift from "natural masculine" to "artificial unisex" of which preferences in male voices were a part.

I think it was "edgy" at first (because it was the opposite of everything we'd come to expect), but in the late 00's after it had worn out its shock value, record companies intentionally got rid of everything BUT the whiny voices in order to narrow its market. That's why the domination of whiny voices tends to correlate to the domination of the pop charts by tween girl oriented singers.

I think male artists are becoming more feminine in look and sound. Honestly, I cannot name any current top male singers with a voice like that of Bryan Adams. I miss singers with voices like his.



Agreed. After post grunge died off the opposite extreme took over and now most male singers have unbearably girly voices.


These. Women are becoming increasingly masculine and men feminine in American society.

It also seems like women are singing racier lyrics than men now too.

These. Women are becoming increasingly masculine and men feminine in American society.

It also seems like women are singing racier lyrics than men now too.


I think that's something that swings back and forth. I agree, though.

A similar thing I always notice about 90's and early 00's alt rockers is that they tend to use extremely white Standard-American English when they sang, but never afterwards; now, like before, its just the typical black/"rockstar" accent. I think its related to what belmont was talking about, although obviously post-grunge wouldn't have to do with it, since post-grunge always used the rockstar accent.

A similar thing I always notice about 90's and early 00's alt rockers is that they tend to use extremely white Standard-American English when they sang, but never afterwards; now, like before, its just the typical black/"rockstar" accent. I think its related to what belmont was talking about, although obviously post-grunge wouldn't have to do with it, since post-grunge always used the rockstar accent.


I also notice more rockers put on a faux-British accent, such as The Killers, Imagine Dragons and even Passion Pit.