TRON said:

I ALWAYS liked madonna. she does exhibit a good strong voice as far as i'm concerned! her songs R cool. sometimes it sounds like she does have a bit of an echo chamber helping her out in some of her work, but 4 the most part, she's got talent.

She needs to learn how to breathe when she sings. She has a quaver in her voice that's not a vibrato - it's her trying to hold a note when what she really wants to do is gasp for air. You'd think after a couple of decades she'da pulled it together, but honestly, she's a rare example of someone who actually sounded BETTER before she got experience. Listening to her sing live is painful to me. Bleargh.

Anxiety said:

Listen to something like Holiday or Like a Virgin and then listen to anything off of Ray Of Light and tell me she hasn't improved.

TRON said:

"Hasn't improved" That just proves my point either you are blessed with the ability to sing or you are not!!! If you have to work on it that just shows that you have a average voice.

gman1966 said:

WHAT??? So, what you're saying is that people such as Pavarotti,Celine,Cecilia Bartoli,or even Kathleen Battle have average voices?? They work on their voices just as much if not more. Are the then not considered blessed??

XXX said:

Awww man!! That is a crazy comparison the people you mentioned are world-wide renowned critically acclaimed vocalists for their genre anyway. You have to have the raw ability to even make it to that level. Madonna's claim to fame is manipulation of the media and making videos to make up for her lack in vocal ability.

gman1966 said:

Not trying to make a comparison, just going by what you said. And why is she not in that catagory? As far as style of music, sure that's understood. However she has sold more than some of them...of course people will say, "oh it's because she's good at marketing..blah blah blah" Her albums sell because she is a talented vocalist and musician. A person's desire to sing shouldn't be slagged off by their ability to sing. There is always room for improvement for any artists. I hope this far in her career people are buying her records for the music... there are always going to be people who don't like her or say she can't sing. Fine. Like any othe performer, she's had her not so good moments, but in my opinion she has few. When she sang "Ray of Light" and "Little Star" on Oprah some years back she tore it up! (that's a good thing btw ) "Sooner or Later", "Evita" soundtrack. And Andrew Lloyd Webber songs are not necessarily the easiest to deliver. We have our opinions..there's mine; but I respect yours!

TRON said:

Yeah, better production quality!

I'd say her recordings have improved. And damn, she must have worked hard on Evita. But she still doesn't have it live. She's just not a great singer. She's a great entertainer.

CarrieMpls said:

Carrie: I totally agree with you. She's definitely not a great or good singer. Madonna has waivers in her voice that's her own unique style, but she's just an entertainer and smooth businessperson.

CarrieMpls said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree then. There's something in her voice that I really connect with. Have any of you tried to sing her songs? They're among the hardest to carry all the way through. Until then, none of y'all know what you're talking about.

I love her voice.

She may not be as technically proficient as, say, a Mariah or a Whitney, but what she lacks in that department, she makes up for in being able to emote.

There's nothing more boring to me than listening to a supposedly "great" singer just warble up and down a scale or just sit there and sing notes.

With Madonna, I actually hear a spark of emotion in her voice. She infuses her vocals with rawness, especially in the old days. on the True Blue album, she's pleading and you can hear that in several songs (Papa Don't Preach, Open Your Heart, Live To Tell).

I was less thrilled during/post Evita when she'd been taking singing lessons for the film role. I felt that her voice had become dull. She was trading in the warmth and feeling for a crisper, more accomplished voice. In fact, I think that's one of the downfalls of the Ray Of Light album. Yeah, her voice sounds great. But to me, it sounds boring and stilted. Luckily, on Music, she moved away from this a bit, and on American Life, she retains what she learned from the Evita coaching but throws back in the mix every bit of emotion that she used to sing with in the past.

And you're right, TRON. Madonna songs are often hard to sing. Try sining Open Your Heart or Oh Father at full tilt and see if you aren't huffing and puffing by the end.

She has the perfect voice for pop. It's emotive and endearing, fun or pleading, but not so technically flawless that it seems detached and untouchable.

CarrieMpls said:

You can't tell these Madonna fanatics anything. They are the only ones that think that woman has a beautiful voice. God bless them!!!

For me personally, asking this question is almost irrelevant.
Being that I am 22, and her career spans 20 years of omnipresent pop life, her voice has the calming, recognizable, soul-pacifying effect only rivaled by my biological mother.

It's true!

TRON said:

The production on Ray of Light is light years better than Like A Virgin - but I don't think Ray of Light was produced by Madonna's voice.

However, I think Madonna's voice was very well produced.

If anything, I think her voice has gotten WEAKER since the old days - back then, she was squeaky and a bit shrill, but at least it worked with her image. Now, she's working so hard to appear refined and sleek, but when she sings live her voice quavers and she can rarely even finish a phrase without gasping for air. I think it's painful to hear her sing live.

Anxiety said:

Madonna just can't sing. Period!!!

i don't think she is the greatest singer alive, but i think she has a great voice

Raven said:

Amen! Maddy's voice sounds better now than it ever has, but she keeps using the friggin' vocorder effect. Her new album would be so much better if she'd just left that effect out of there.

She has definitely come a long way. I was listening to Material Girl the other day, and I realized that back then (and particularly on that track) she sounded just like Britney Spears does now. It was uncanny.

However, I don't think Britney will ever improve to reach the vocal maturity of a song like Take a Bow or Substitute for Love...

She's a better singer than she gets credit for, at least.