[Bonus] Girls' Generation Vocal Power Rankings

Girls’ Generation. Perhaps one of the most stacked (also including underrepresented) lineups in terms of vocal talent. However, in any group, there are some that shine stronger than others. I’ll be writing up some thoughts on each member and why they stand where they are. Included with each rank are some songs I selected which highlight a glimpse of each member.

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1. Taeyeon

- Glorious Taeyeon comes in at #1 and as such is one of the strongest female group vocalists ever. Powerful emotion, shivering falsetto, solid range, and near-flawless English are some of her qualities. Taeyeon also has amazing utility in singing multiple genres: bubblegum pop, ballad, rock, country; you name it, she can sing it, and well. Compared to Seohyun and Jessica though, her comfort range is low and while she can perfectly hit every high note you throw at her, there’s a very noticeable difference in power between her belts in Twinkle and Gee to those in Genie and Mistake.

Highlights: Genie; Devil’s Cry; I Love You; Mistake; O Holy Night

2. Tiffany

- If Taeyeon’s voice is “ying”, then Tiffany’s voice is definitely “yang”. Words cannot describe how perfectly the combination of TaeNy’s voices compliment each other. Taeyeon has high emotion and falsetto, and Tiffany brings low power and huskiness. Tiffany is really the only member who can provide those long powerful belts, and while she excels at that, she can still hit those high notes quite beautifully, too. With such a wide range, it’s almost inevitable that Tiffany can easily sing various genres. Being a Korean American, English is as easy as knowing how to breathe which gives her increased utility expanding her covers (the recent Rolling In The Deep comes to mind).

Highlights: Lady Marmalade; Rolling In The Deep; Hoot; Diamond; Rise & Shine

3. Yuri

- I 100% believe that Kwon Yuri is Girls’ Generation’s most balanced and versatile member and one of two severely underestimated singers in the group. While Yuri’s natural range is low, she has shown she can handle higher notes with relative ease (Into The New World).Yuri’s forte remains in deeper songs, so cutesy lines just don’t quite cut it (read: fit her image). Yuri unfortunately falls into the half of Soshi that doesn’t get many lines, but the few that she does get thrown her way get executed quite nicely.

Highlights: As Time Goes By; If; Oscar; Into The New World; Paparazzi

4. Seohyun

- Beloved maknae places at #4. Seohyun has a really soft and innocent voice, making her a perfect ballad singer. Honestly though, I can’t really think of anything else to say after it. Seohyun is fantastic at singing ballads, and while her voice can adapt to other genres, it’s very ordinary at best, which is a shame. Seohyun also lacks power, and the rare instances where she does showcase some power like in Twinkle show her reaching for those high notes. Aside from the Korean Americans and Taeyeon, Seohyun also has the strongest English enunciation (Way Back Into Love).

Highlights: Twinkle; Run Devil Run; Flying Duck; Journey

5. Jessica

- Jessica’s voice is one of the most recognizable in all of Korea. Pretty much no matter what she is singing, any avid follower of Korean music will be able to identify her voice without fail. Compared to Seohyun, Jessica is even better at singing medium tempo ballads than her, partly because of her mastery of high range.This same voice that is so strong on ballads and more serious natured songs very noticeably weak in other categories, more specifically cute pop music. While there are exceptions to both ends, Jessica is more at home with emotional ballads and so ranks fifth.

Highlights: One Year Later; How Great Is Your Love; Seoul Song; All My Love Is For You

6. Sunny

- Sunny has a very noticeable voice, tinted with the cutest of aegyo that becomes so familiar after a few listens. In many ways, she follows Jessica with their unique sound that is easy to listen to at times, but seems out of place at others. While Jessica excels at high ballads and slow melodies, Sunny’s forte is typically bubblegum pop and faster songs. However, because she’s got such a unique voice, it still sounds out of place in certain pop songs (Three) and sometimes just awkward overall (Paparazzi). It seems earlier (like way back), Sunny was able to sort of overcome her aegyo voice in releases like Girls’ Generation and Into The New World, which still sounded unique, but without the cutesy sound that may sort of “restrict” her in some of the songs I listed above.If Sunny’s work in future releases can mask the cute sound for more power I think she can really shine as a vocalist.

Highlights: I Love You, I Love You; Time Machine; Genie; Mistake

7. Sooyoung

- Sooyoung is the second member of which whose voice I find heavily underrated. The main problem being with such high caliber singers like Taeyeon and Seohyun why would you give Sooyoung and others more lines? That’s the primary fault in most if not all of SNSD’s music. Sooyoung’s comfort range lies in the lower half and is flexible enough to sound solid in most variants of their music, but she lacks the range to really be given any impressive lines. I would love to see a song by Sooyoung, Yuri, and Tiffany only. Maybe one of the possible rotations for the subunit? S.M., make it happen.

Highlights: Sway; Oh!; http://youtu.be/1ExGhLGKY0M

8. Hyoyeon

- Hyoyeon possesses unique voice #3 within the group. At first listen it’s kinda weird, not in the negative sense but in the “I’ve never heard a voice like this before” sense. Hyoyeon’s range is actually more expansive than most people would give second thought to, the most recent example being her notes in Maxstep. However, Hyoyeon’s representation in SNSD’s music is perhaps the worst out of anyone in Kpop and it’s extremely unfair. Okay, I understand she’s an unbelievable dancer but that doesn’t mean she can’t sing more than a four second line, right? Even in Maxstep, in which she was supposedly a member and not a feature, gets no solo vocal lines and is only there for less than half of the video. Fix your shit, S.M.

Highlights: Please Don’t Stop The Music; Into The New World; Snowy Wish

9. Yoona

- Unfortunately, someone has to come in last. Yoona is like Hyoyeon, where they both possess less expansive comfort zones than the others and aren’t given much time to showcase their ability but there are a few key differences. Yoona sounds stronger in the lower ranges and doesn’t have a distinct sound to her voice, which pretty much delegates her to a support vocal in any instance, as pretty much all the other members outshine her in other aspects. Yoona is kind of like the reverse version of 2NE1’s Dara. Whereas Dara is a very strong support singer with high range, Yoona works on lower range support like in Hoot but is also a strong transition voice like in All My Love Is For You. This low voice also lends her some rapping capability as seen in The Boys, so perhaps we’ll see some rap singing in the future.

Highlights: Introduce Me A Good Man; 4 Minutes; Girls’ Generation
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Girls’ Generation stands alongside 2NE1 and Brown Eyed Girls with some of the industry’s most diverse and talented singing rosters. If only there was more variety in line distribution, I’d love their vocals all the more.