Hi! I'm just a teenage girl who gets bored easily and also irritated by stan behavior easily. Please don't hate me. 
I swear I've tried basing these on facts and observations. These opinions may be unpopular, but I don't think you could actually class any of these opinions as even criticism. They're not really negative. If there's any negativity going on, it's towards stan behavior. I myself fall under that category, so it's not me just mindlessly ragging on people who are big fans of stuff. I'm just pointing out how [RV voice] dumb dumb some popular ideas in fandoms can be. It's so irritating. Like every fandom has ill-informed/ill-thought-out ideas that somehow get popular. I don't know why.
I was going to make this a video, but I'm just a college student who's also an immigrant applying for document stuff. I can't exactly afford decent video software for this kind of hot take media on YouTube, LOL. I wish I could. When I get my work papers sorted and get a job, I'll see if I can acquire decent video software. LOL. This isn't starting off strong. Sorry.
This is mostly just about Loona and Red Velvet, but whatever I say here can be highly relevant to other groups, I'd imagine.
The crux of my complaints is: STANS DON'T KNOW HOW SINGING VOICES WORK, ON A TECHNICAL LEVEL. (IN GENERAL, CLEARLY. NOT ALL STANS ARE THE SAME.)
It's all "high notes" this, "powerhouse vocal" that. Whenever someone has a good and developed voice, people are obsessed with high notes powerhouse vocals blah blah blah. You see this with Haseul in Loona. Look, Haseul is indisputably one of the best-trained vocalists in Loona. Girl has technique. Girl has silken, honey-sweet, very stable vocals. But do you know what she isn't? HASEUL IS NOT A POWERHOUSE VOCAL.
Take this video, for example, with the high note in "Hi High" replaced with a version by Haseul. Stans are like "KILL BBC!" in the comments for "favoring" the member who originally sang the high note in this song, Chuu, but God... the effect of Haseul replacing Chuu here is dissonant as hell. (2:41-2:48)
That's because "Hi High" is a crazy fast-paced song that needs a brawny voice with punch. Haseul's voice is not that. Her voice is an operatic one and her high notes are from her head voice. It's thin. It's nasally. THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. I think people need to learn that. Different voices have different qualities. If your fave's voice is not a roaring, powerhouse singing voice, THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. No one will die. Your fave will not die. You will not die, I promise. Your fave's voice can even be one of the best, if not THE best, even without being the usual powerhouse vocal. Indeed, I think Haseul has among the best voices in Loona, and she's probably got the most well-honed, well-developed one. (Justice for "Let Me In" by Jo Haseul, an immaculate masterpiece.)
The same goes for Kim Lip. Her voice is high-pitched, but belting is not her forte. Not a bad thing. She's really stable. Her technique is better than, say, Jinsoul's (but Jinsoul has a voice better-suited to belting than Lip). Her singing voice is nimble and sounds very pleasant. She uses head voice very well. But, God, it really took 50 years off my poor life when Orbits (including the creator of "Love Letter"'s most-viewed lyric video, unfortunately) misattributed Jinsoul's high belting note in "Love Letter" as Kim Lip's. (2:17-2:20)
That sounded NOTHING like Kim Lip. If you've been listening to Loona, you should know that. Just because Lip is a skilled singer doesn't mean every good note in an OEC track is hers, FFS. (There were Orbits claiming Choerry's ad-libs in her own song as Lip's, too, even though Lip was not present on the track.) Lip, like Haseul, is very well-trained and has a pleasant smooth voice, but it's also thin and nasally and suited to head-voice high notes rather than powerful belting.
Again, you know who has a muscular, rich singing voice suited to belting? Jinsoul!
Jinsoul's technique can and should be improved. She's not as stable as other members. But technique is an extrinsic quality that can be changed. No matter how well-trained Kim Lip or Haseul are, they can't change the inherent characteristics of their voice. This is not to say they should never try to do things like belting or never can, just that every vocalist has their own strong points and weaker points.
Now, onto Red Velvet. Honestly, I've said the bulk of what I mean to say re: the topic of stans forcing their faves' voice into a box because omg high notes omg powerhouse vocals, but I'm going to talk about RV anyway because something I read on TV Tropes annoyed me in conjunction with other events lately.
I read that RBB's scream-y whistle note was done by Irene, and is apparently the highest note in K-Pop history. But of course, of course, people assumed Wendy did it.
Come on.
Strangest phenomenon is when stans claim to love all of a GG, but don't think anyone else can achieve any vocal feats whatsoever, or that only a select few are equipped for it.
The other RV thing that annoyed me was the comment section on a voice teacher's reaction to the Joy/Seulgi/Wendy live performance below.
Reveluvs were like, "BUT WENDY IS THE BEST! WENDY IS OUR VOCAL QUEEN!!!!" They wrote patronizing comments like, "It's good that you picked up on Wendy using her head voice rather than chest. Her vocal coach told her to do that."
Note that said voice teacher reacting never even called Wendy a bad singer. He smiled when Wendy hit high notes later on. What he said was that her voice was breathy (which he later discerned was because she was making heavy use of head voice rather than a meatier chest voice), and that Seulgi's voice had greater presence and Joy's voice was the clearest. What's wrong with that? Wendy can hit the highest notes, Seulgi has an impactful and rich voice, Joy has a clear tone. And why are unqualified randos on the Internet patronizing a professional voice teacher for picking up that Wendy was using head voice?
End rant. Please don't hate me. I think all of the girl groups above are talented. I just think stans can be arrogant, ill-informed, and/or condescending sometimes. Plus, there's an obsession with squeezing idols' vocals into the diva-powerful category. It's not always going to be like that! A vocal doesn't have to be like that for it to be amazing.
This is hardly unique to K-Pop stans, I will say that. The Internet is generally Like That. But this is, after all, a K-Pop forum. I thought it applicable to some GGs I'm listening to, too. There's that.
(End note: Yes, I have a background in being vocally trained.)
I swear I've tried basing these on facts and observations. These opinions may be unpopular, but I don't think you could actually class any of these opinions as even criticism. They're not really negative. If there's any negativity going on, it's towards stan behavior. I myself fall under that category, so it's not me just mindlessly ragging on people who are big fans of stuff. I'm just pointing out how [RV voice] dumb dumb some popular ideas in fandoms can be. It's so irritating. Like every fandom has ill-informed/ill-thought-out ideas that somehow get popular. I don't know why.I was going to make this a video, but I'm just a college student who's also an immigrant applying for document stuff. I can't exactly afford decent video software for this kind of hot take media on YouTube, LOL. I wish I could. When I get my work papers sorted and get a job, I'll see if I can acquire decent video software. LOL. This isn't starting off strong. Sorry.
This is mostly just about Loona and Red Velvet, but whatever I say here can be highly relevant to other groups, I'd imagine.
The crux of my complaints is: STANS DON'T KNOW HOW SINGING VOICES WORK, ON A TECHNICAL LEVEL. (IN GENERAL, CLEARLY. NOT ALL STANS ARE THE SAME.)
It's all "high notes" this, "powerhouse vocal" that. Whenever someone has a good and developed voice, people are obsessed with high notes powerhouse vocals blah blah blah. You see this with Haseul in Loona. Look, Haseul is indisputably one of the best-trained vocalists in Loona. Girl has technique. Girl has silken, honey-sweet, very stable vocals. But do you know what she isn't? HASEUL IS NOT A POWERHOUSE VOCAL.
Take this video, for example, with the high note in "Hi High" replaced with a version by Haseul. Stans are like "KILL BBC!" in the comments for "favoring" the member who originally sang the high note in this song, Chuu, but God... the effect of Haseul replacing Chuu here is dissonant as hell. (2:41-2:48)
That's because "Hi High" is a crazy fast-paced song that needs a brawny voice with punch. Haseul's voice is not that. Her voice is an operatic one and her high notes are from her head voice. It's thin. It's nasally. THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. I think people need to learn that. Different voices have different qualities. If your fave's voice is not a roaring, powerhouse singing voice, THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. No one will die. Your fave will not die. You will not die, I promise. Your fave's voice can even be one of the best, if not THE best, even without being the usual powerhouse vocal. Indeed, I think Haseul has among the best voices in Loona, and she's probably got the most well-honed, well-developed one. (Justice for "Let Me In" by Jo Haseul, an immaculate masterpiece.)
The same goes for Kim Lip. Her voice is high-pitched, but belting is not her forte. Not a bad thing. She's really stable. Her technique is better than, say, Jinsoul's (but Jinsoul has a voice better-suited to belting than Lip). Her singing voice is nimble and sounds very pleasant. She uses head voice very well. But, God, it really took 50 years off my poor life when Orbits (including the creator of "Love Letter"'s most-viewed lyric video, unfortunately) misattributed Jinsoul's high belting note in "Love Letter" as Kim Lip's. (2:17-2:20)
That sounded NOTHING like Kim Lip. If you've been listening to Loona, you should know that. Just because Lip is a skilled singer doesn't mean every good note in an OEC track is hers, FFS. (There were Orbits claiming Choerry's ad-libs in her own song as Lip's, too, even though Lip was not present on the track.) Lip, like Haseul, is very well-trained and has a pleasant smooth voice, but it's also thin and nasally and suited to head-voice high notes rather than powerful belting.
Again, you know who has a muscular, rich singing voice suited to belting? Jinsoul!
Jinsoul's technique can and should be improved. She's not as stable as other members. But technique is an extrinsic quality that can be changed. No matter how well-trained Kim Lip or Haseul are, they can't change the inherent characteristics of their voice. This is not to say they should never try to do things like belting or never can, just that every vocalist has their own strong points and weaker points.
Now, onto Red Velvet. Honestly, I've said the bulk of what I mean to say re: the topic of stans forcing their faves' voice into a box because omg high notes omg powerhouse vocals, but I'm going to talk about RV anyway because something I read on TV Tropes annoyed me in conjunction with other events lately.
I read that RBB's scream-y whistle note was done by Irene, and is apparently the highest note in K-Pop history. But of course, of course, people assumed Wendy did it.
Come on.
Strangest phenomenon is when stans claim to love all of a GG, but don't think anyone else can achieve any vocal feats whatsoever, or that only a select few are equipped for it.
The other RV thing that annoyed me was the comment section on a voice teacher's reaction to the Joy/Seulgi/Wendy live performance below.
Reveluvs were like, "BUT WENDY IS THE BEST! WENDY IS OUR VOCAL QUEEN!!!!" They wrote patronizing comments like, "It's good that you picked up on Wendy using her head voice rather than chest. Her vocal coach told her to do that."
Note that said voice teacher reacting never even called Wendy a bad singer. He smiled when Wendy hit high notes later on. What he said was that her voice was breathy (which he later discerned was because she was making heavy use of head voice rather than a meatier chest voice), and that Seulgi's voice had greater presence and Joy's voice was the clearest. What's wrong with that? Wendy can hit the highest notes, Seulgi has an impactful and rich voice, Joy has a clear tone. And why are unqualified randos on the Internet patronizing a professional voice teacher for picking up that Wendy was using head voice?
End rant. Please don't hate me. I think all of the girl groups above are talented. I just think stans can be arrogant, ill-informed, and/or condescending sometimes. Plus, there's an obsession with squeezing idols' vocals into the diva-powerful category. It's not always going to be like that! A vocal doesn't have to be like that for it to be amazing.
This is hardly unique to K-Pop stans, I will say that. The Internet is generally Like That. But this is, after all, a K-Pop forum. I thought it applicable to some GGs I'm listening to, too. There's that.
(End note: Yes, I have a background in being vocally trained.)
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