Which do you prefer? Pretty polished pop voices or raw ragged soul voices..why or why not?

I ask this question because I am entranced with the voice of Bettye Lavette. I try to expose her to so many people and they say " she sounds tired" or "she has an ugly voice" or "she'd never win American Idol."(as if that means something)
I even LOVE Fantasia's voice(tho I HATE her most of the songs she sing)


which do you prefer, pretty pop voices or raw soul voices

Depends on the mood, if I wanna feel smooth, the polish pop of someone like Diana or Janet, if I feel a little naughtier or rough, I blast Martha Reeves, Otis Redding and the like. Just depends.

Sometimes you love to hear a Nancy Wilson. Sometimes you love to hear an Etta James.

Sometimes you love to hear a Dusty Springfield. Sometimes, a Stevie Nicks.

All depends.

i usually lean toward female singers who have more of a blues/rock style, though i have many exceptions to that rule. it all depends on the music. i don't want to hear courtney love or joan jett trying to sing a kate bush or sade song, and by the same token, i don't to hear annie lennox or olivia newton john trying to squonk out an L7 tune. well, i'd like to hear all the examples above TRY those covers, but i'm sure the results would be less than delightful.

I like a little bit of both, but sorry, I can't stand Fantasia's voice.

definitely depends on the style

I don't want to hear Al Jarreau sing Smells Like Teen Spirit, and I don't want to hear Bob Dylan sing A House is Not a Home.

PurpleCharm said:

what the hell kind of voice is that, anyway? a homing beacon? a foghorn?

Just listen to Marvin and you can have it all.

i like it rough! seriously, i think mary j. blige's voice is nice and gritty. clean and polished is nice too but rougher voices have more charachter.

NDRU said:

Good point...

Depends on the style of music, really. Though I'm much more accpeting of male performers with pretty voices than I am of women. Female singers have got to have a bit of edge to their vocals for me to really get into them. Unless they're Joni Mitchell, but she's God anyway.

AlexdeParis said:

Co-sign!

a little of both love smooth sounds of amel larrieux, sade but love to hear the power houses patti labelle, phyllis hyman, jennifer hudson just depends on what mood I'm in

Dirty Funk, Polished Soul and all of that melismatic style stuff you can keep (unless it's Gregorian Chant)

Slave2daGroove said:

LOL!