How do idol main singers compare to singers in the west

Nah rubbish if anything Asians are much more methodical in the way they learn music. And I’ve found them better.

Even in the US large portion of ppl learning classical music are Asians.

Quote from MissBehave

Do you think that kpop companies' desire for looks and dance ability as well as singing talent has led to the industry accepting a lower caliber of vocal abilities?

There are mediocre singers in both the west and in Korean when it comes to pop music. Taylor swift and Katy Perry aren’t sensational vocalists and I won’t say the kpop idols are of lesser caliber than them. You simply don’t need great vocals to be a pop musician just a great performer.

And the great vocalists are not any less than the power singers either.

Singing has become more straight forward in R'N'B, like Pop, too which has def. lowered the status quo.

All I know is EXO main vocalists can go toe to toe with many of their western counterparts.

Hard to answer this question since there is actually a great difference between singers in the West and main vocalists in Kpop groups.

depends of who you are comparing them to some kpop idols can be good vocalists too

but I don't think there is any idols that come close to Beyonce, whitney Houston, Mariah Carey (in her prime) Adele, Adam Lambert, Zayn, steven tyler (in his prime) even Olivia Rodrigo is a good vocalist for someone her age.

You got good and bad in both. People tend to underestimate Kpop singers or conversely overestimate them if they prefer kpop or not but the truth is that they are just the same.

The Korean music industry has improved so much over the past 10 years when it comes to music produced in the West, it's the opposite, it's only regressing from year to year, there are far too many problems in all the system. People of western countries should stop look down what is done in Asia.

The west is better imo

Quote from daniel-cruz

All I know is EXO main vocalists can go toe to toe with many of their western counterparts.

FACTS. Baek & D.O. are a rare breed. They can sing several decades worth of musical styles under the R&B umbrella.

When the kpopvocalanalysis site still did indepth vocal analyses, this is what Ahmin, the main analyst, said about western singers vs K-pop singers:

" It’s not true that K-pop singers are less skilled because quite honestly, Jessie J is not “good”, Adele is barely “Above Average”, Ariana Grande may be “Above Average” and Demi Lovato may be “Competent” but even then, I’m not sure about the exact ratings for each, but it’s more or less accurate."

He also rated Ariana Grande Average or Average-Above Average, and Taylor Swift weak/average.

Basically you'll have weak as well as strong Western and Korean singers.

However, when comparing American singers of the past 3-4 decades, a country with 7 times as many people, with only K-pop singers that are only a small segment of all Korean singers, there will be far more American/western singers across the whole spectrum: there'll be more great American/Western singers but also more weak/average American or Western singers.

Many people in my country sound bad, especially rapper and since Youtube exist many people just post their songs onto their own channels without even needing to have a company for that ... before YT deleted the dislike-button there was even a song by a female Youtuber with the most dislikes ever who scammed her followers before relesing the CD to earn 5 million € from it without giving a hint on how she even sings like and most were pissed at the end cause they all pre-ordered the CD and than found out that she actualy can't sing

Many people in western countries seem to be delusional with singing. I saw some casting-type shows on TV and there are soooo many people who flop in the 1st round since they really can't sing ... some of them get interviewed after flopping and be like: "IDK why they don't want me. I am a good singer... they just don't have taste" and I watch this like: " Are you sure you think you can sing?"

Quote from Slayurfaves

depends of who you are comparing them to some kpop idols can be good vocalists too

but I don't think there is any idols that come close to Beyonce, whitney Houston, Mariah Carey (in her prime) Adele, Adam Lambert, Zayn, steven tyler (in his prime) even Olivia Rodrigo is a good vocalist for someone her age.

Many of the main vocalists in kpop can out sing Zayn lol.

And those big names you mentioned.. sure not everyone can outsing them but the best ones certainly can.

I’ve always found ppl overrating western musical abilities. If you ask someone whose learnt Indian classical music if those western artists even the biggest ones are good and they’d label them mediocre AT BEST Kek.

Western vocalist are clearly better singers on average.. anyone with functioning ears can tell.

Anyone saying that Ariana is a average vocalist is delusional. She is a better singer that 99% of female (and male idols too) of the last decade, and she’s only gotten BETTER since her debut.. vocals, musicality and control is top tier.

Adele is a great vocalist but she isn’t on the level of the 90s divas and many singers who people love to act like she’s better than like Beyoncé would destroy her on stage but Adele is still a great singer but it’s true she’s hasn’t been the same since her vocal surgery but she’s still great and better than most idols.

Taylor Swift was never really known as a top tier vocalist she’s more so famous for her writing and storytelling, but she KNOWS her voice and does well with her abilities, so yes there’s many idols who can outsing her but I’d still prefer Taylor voice due to her tone (but that’s a personal thing.)

Billie Eilish is another singer who I’d rate, she’s not a powerhouse vocalist but her agility and overall tone is beautiful. She always delivers live, I wouldn’t rank her as being better than most idols persay.. but her uniqueness is what’s missing from kpop. Like serious I feel many idols all sound the same.

The main thing missing in kpop is versatility, many o these idols can sing but aren’t giving the proper training.. instead there vocals are washed out by terrible production and songs are pitched up to the high heavens that make them very hard to sing live (which they rarely do anyway) even BTS falls victim to the Super pitched songs which seems nonsensical to me especially when some of them have openly complained about it and had to compromise with other members about how high to take songs. Dynamite didn’t need to raised up as high as it was imo. In fact I’d argue that all 3 of BTS English songs could of gone with a lower key, or at least lower it when signing live. Small things like this helps with presenting vocal ability, and also it helps the voice from wear and tear long run. You can clearly tell that Jin and Taehyung are often times singing out of their comfort zones during the climax of some of their songs.

They’re both way better than singers in my country that’s for sure

I barely listen to western pop, so I can't say how good western pop singers are. But when people say that they aren't comparing the average western pop singer with the average K-pop main vocalist, but with the average K-pop sub-vocalist. So, in this case, they're probably right.

A quick question but why will you just single out a subset of the Korean music industry and compare it to something as big and vague as "western industry" with a lot of history?

Something like groups in the U.S to groups in kpop would be a better comparison

Anyways i find this Korean woman So Hyang a better singer than all western pop vocalists (from Ariana to Whitney to Mariah all of them)

Also, Lena Park is a great vocalist

Quote from ISaidISaid

Many of the main vocalists in kpop can out sing Zayn lol.

And those big names you mentioned.. sure not everyone can outsing them but the best ones certainly can.

I’ve always found ppl overrating western musical abilities. If you ask someone whose learnt Indian classical music if those western artists even the biggest ones are good and they’d label them mediocre AT BEST Kek.

I don't why his name came up lol I mentioned him off the top of my head but you probably right exo vocal line and suju are strong vocalists. I guess I had most 4th gen boy groups in mind, most of them are barely average (except treasure that have a decent vocal line) and Zayn seems a bit better than average at least. I think the thing about western vocalists that makes them somewhat better (imo) is their musicality I'm talking on average obviously there are exceptions.

Quote from Slayurfaves

depends of who you are comparing them to some kpop idols can be good vocalists too

but I don't think there is any idols that come close to Beyonce, whitney Houston, Mariah Carey (in her prime) Adele, Adam Lambert, Zayn, steven tyler (in his prime) even Olivia Rodrigo is a good vocalist for someone her age.

Whitney, Mariah, and even Beyonce definitely.

But Zayn, Olivia (and even Adele)? I mean they’re good but “there is any idols that come close” is an overstatement.

Quote from Yumeku

Whitney, Mariah, and even Beyonce definitely.

But Zayn, Olivia (and even Adele)? I mean they’re good but “there is any idols that come close” is an overstatement.

but generally kpop idols are mostly average singers yeah I know sm have good vocalists and there are other exceptions but most idols are meant to be all rounders and performers at the end of the day. I'm not trying to downplay their skills since for me that's hard work actually but since we are talking about singing.

Adele might not be perfect or as good as Beyonce or Whitney but she is a decent vocalist and her musically is good and Olivia is actually a capable singer considering her age but there are more western vocalists I could bring up they are just a few.

Unpopular opinion:

Wendy, Taeyeon, Jihyo, Seulgi are all better singers than Ariana Grande

In terms of vocals, I believe Western idols are "better" in terms of ability. Ariana Grande is the first that comes to mind. With Western music though, if the artist isn't someone with a multi-million dollar budget, they could still be a great singer but have mediocre concepts that prevent people from realizing their actual talent.
The same can be said for K-Pop, I guess. But overall K-Pop seems to care more about visuals and doing whatever appeals to the public the most at the time to earn the most amount of money. Nmixx's debut seemed like they smashed a ton of popular different concepts into one song, lol.

Quote from MissBehave

ah true. It's not really fair to compare the cream of the crop when the crop sizes vary so much. Also, everyone focuses on the Whitneys and Mariahs, but we also have Britney and Madonna.

That vocal analysis sounds interesting. It would be cool if they still did it

True! There aren't even Western singers that have been able to be the next Beyonce, Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey among the many pop artists of 30+ years.

And yes, they were really good and thorough with their vocal analyses, it's such a shame they stopped with it

That's why when they say that some of those western singers aren't technically as great as some claim they are or aren't better than a number of K-pop main vocalists, then I trust what they're saying, because they can base it on facts and solid analysis.

Quote from Yumeku

Whitney, Mariah, and even Beyonce definitely.

But Zayn, Olivia (and even Adele)? I mean they’re good but “there is any idols that come close” is an overstatement.

It's like idols like Kyuhyun, Ailee, Hyolyn, Uji, Taeyeon, Luna, Eunji... doesn't even exist

Quote from MissBehave

Who are some of your fave currently active western pop singers?

I don’t really have favorites. BTS and some nugu acts are the only ones I’m following in the meantime.

But if you want popular singers I think are great, then Adele, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Mariah, Celine dion, Katy perry, Christina, and to a small extent Ariana(I don’t like how she mumbles the words when she’s singing but she does have great vocal techniques) etc

Quote from MissBehave

They're also bringing ip some legendary vocalists instead of ones that are representative of the typical talent level. I would've used examples of average western vocalists but i don't listen to western pop lol.

I also have the feeling that western pop songs are more in range so they don't struggle as much as K-pop singers to sing and thus sound less off. They also don't have to dance. You don't have to eat CDs; you just have to be able to sing your own songs.