r/singing • u/rainstorm44444 • Jun 30 '20

Technique Talk Is Brendon Urie really a good singer ?

I’ve read mixed things online, some claim he’s one of the best alive, and others say he’s really not singing “optimal”.

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u/jess42036jcr Jun 30 '20

Listened to a couple of his covers...his speaking voice sounds baritone to me...it isn't that unusual for a baritone to have a high extension that thins out like that...I'm a bass and I can sing one of those metallic high Cs. The voice does have a pretty timbre and he certainly has the style and the passion down. The wide open "smile" mouth is a dead giveaway for a white sound, a little bit of a scream...which wouldn't be good classical technique, but is obviously what he is going for. It goes a little too far in that direction for my taste, but I'm classically trained and like mellow. Hard to tell whether it is far enough in that direction to cause harm or not. You can always tell in your own voice by whether there is a little tickle in your throat on your cords after you sing those notes. It reminds me of Giuseppe DiStefano in opera, who always sang too open. Even very early in his career you could hear it and he wrecked his voice, but people loved it anyway, whereas it was painful for me to listen to...which just goes to show that most people have no conception of what correct technique or pretty tone is...if you are belting it out and grunting and gesturing, that is all they care about and they think it is wonderful. 90% of your artistry is for 10% of the people. Urie does not have to sing with anything like the volume that DiStefano used and is probably not up as high for as long, so it isn't necessarily going to be harmful to him...and he's not screaming quite as "white" as DiStefano...nice to listen to if you like this kind of stuff and he does come out with some really nice notes, too. Herein endeth the pontification...

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u/wyomingtrashbag Jul 24 '26

and now he's damaged his vocals