Lee Ya Hi
Vocal Type: Lyric Mezzo-Soprano
Vocal Range:C3-E5, 2 octaves, 2 notes (F#2-F#5 outlier range which includes exclamations).
Tessitura: G3-D5 (1 octave, 3 notes)
Whistle Register: No
Vocal Pluses: An incredibly mature voice for a 16 year old girl-though it is clearly evident that her voice is still developing. This voice does not rely on its range to impress, but leans more heavily on its emotive quality to do so; managing to convey the message of a song regardless of the language barrier. As well as being an incredibly emotive singer, she also possesses an amazing tone. Overall the voice, is thick, smoky with a raspy lower end, and a naturally coarse upper chest. Her falsetto is connected well to her chest register too.
The lower register (C3-F#3) is easily accessed with plenty of weight. It sounds mature and well developed- as heard in the song
Because. She can also change the tone to a more mechanical one, if so needed- as heard in
Am I Strange whilst maintaining a D3. Her tone remains rather mature at these depths [Hear: D#3 in
Fool For Love], but she can add a slight warmth to the natural nasal quality to produce a melancholy tone [Hear: E3 of
Because]. Overall, her lower register is versatile and brilliantly connected.
Her mid voice (G3-F#4) has even more tonal diversity; all stemming from her gorgeous nasal tone. Her mid voice also shows a great ability for ornamentation, such as that found in the intro of
It's Over - where she demonstrates a gorgeous scat. However, like the lower-range, she can also add warmth to this middle register, creating an entirely different emotional vibe [Hear: in the A#3 of
One Sided Love]. When she adds warmth, the weight lessens but it allows the voice to become more nimble, allowing for some fairly ornate flourishes [Hear:The F4 of
Am I Strange]. She also can carry that nasal tone up to F#4 before her falsetto breaks, as heard in the F#4 of
1.2.3.4.
Her belting register(E4-E5) is utilized in a unique way. As she ascend into it, her voice loses weight and thickness but keeps the signature nasal tone. She can retain a considerable amount of weight up to a G4- as heard in
Rose and
Fool For Love, where that same G4 belt contains a vocal run (at the end) that has become somewhat Lee Hi's signature style- but as she ascends up to around a B4, her tone changes, becoming noticeably brighter. It's a brightness which she puts to good use helping to convey the message of her music [Hear: The D5 melisma in
Dream]. (Other notable belts include that found in
1.2.3.4 -which ascends upwards to an E5- and in
It's Over - where a rapid rising melisma takes her to D#5.)
Lee Ya Hi relies heavily on Falsetto, rather than true head voice (A#4-E5). The sound is soft, sweet, and delicate. It is the only tone she has that ditches the nasal quality. Despite that, it remains brilliantly connected as shown in the beginning of
It's Over , and
1.2.3.4
Vocal Negatives: Some may find Lee Ya Hi voice to be squeaky as she ascends the fifth octave in her chest voice. Also, her falsetto tends to sound frail (which personally bothers me).
[
Note about the Vocal Fach: The only way it was possible to tell that she was a mezzo-soprano was by gauging where her falsetto starts. Her voice is still developing which is why there is such a considerable difference in vocal weight of her lower register and her middle chest.]
