I miss 'This' Kelly Clarkson! Options

[katharinekatkat]

I love Kelly Clarkson and she's still an amazing vocalist, but I was going through some of her old performances, and I came across this performance.

Trouble With Love Is (live on On-Air with Ryan Seacrest). Look at 2:50 onwards especially.




Anyone know of any recent performances where she sings this high and with this much power?

This post has been edited by katharinekatkat: Dec 18th 2011, 1:16 AM

[AdamLfan]

I bet you anything if Kelly were to sing this song right now, she would still be able to slay it, if not better.

[katharinekatkat]

I bet you anything if Kelly were to sing this song right now, she would still be able to slay it, if not better.

Man those notes at the end are some of the highest she's ever hit....EVER. Like she's BELTING A5s and B5s.

[Liat275]

[kclarkson1323]

Yea she doesn't have that kind of mind blowing range anymore. There used to be a video out there called Kelly's high notes and it was a compilation of the highest notes she's hit from Idol to 2004. It was insane but can't find it anymore on youtube. It was 10min long.

I know I shouldn't but I kinda miss that Kelly too, she hit those so effortlessly.

This is a good video.



This post has been edited by kclarkson1323: Dec 18th 2011, 12:17 PM

[aifanatic100]

I bet you anything if Kelly were to sing this song right now, she would still be able to slay it, if not better.

Yea she doesn't have that kind of mind blowing range anymore. There used to be a video out there called Kelly's high notes and it was a compilation of the highest notes she's hit from Idol to 2004. It was insane but can't find it anymore on youtube. It was 10min long.

I know I shouldn't but I kinda miss that Kelly too, she hit those so effortlessly.

I think AdamLfan said it best. I really do believe that if she performed this song now then she would choose to do it the same way and it would be just as great. The fact of the matter is that Kelly likes to have fun when she performs and rarely sings songs exactly how they are on the album. These notes make the song so much more interesting, and while I don't think it would be identical, I think she'd do just as great of a version because she is great at improvising onstage.

I don't think it's fair to say that she doesn't have the range anymore. We don't know what her voice is capable of now, we only know what she shows onstage. On Idol, and right after Idol during promo for Thankful, she was singing soulful power ballads like "The Trouble With Love Is" and those types of songs allowed her to showcase that part of her range more. Now she is singing songs like "My Life Would Suck Without You", "Mr. Know It All", and "Stronger" which are all great Pop songs, but if she threw those notes in these songs it would be awkward and weird. Truth of the matter is that she just doesn't have the opportunity to showcase the range anymore and for all we know, she may be able to do this perfectly fine now.

Sure, her voice was kind of shot during the My December era, but it has been made quite clear that she has gotten it back into prime shape because I remember reading fans talking about a performance she did recently and saying that her G5 in "Since U Been Gone" was the best one since 2007. She's back in her old form and yes a weight change may alter your vocal/breath control slightly, and 10 years later her voice will sound a bit different because it has matured. But I would love to hear her try this today because I think that she would prove a lot of people wrong

This post has been edited by aifanatic100: Dec 18th 2011, 1:47 PM

[kclarkson1323]

I didn't mean to come across like she isn't as good as she used to be. Her voice is perfectly on point now and its better than its been in a long time. She uses it in a smarter way now. What I mean is early on she would throw around the G5s left and right night in and night out. Now she picks and chooses when to add in the big notes and has a more matured and controlled sound. Also thats a good point you make with the changes in her style of music being part of the reason you don't hear those runs and big notes. I agree I'd really like to hear her sing TTWLI now to see how she'd sing it.

[Idol Analyzer]

Watch "Why Dont You Try" from earlier this year

[katharinekatkat]

I still feel like those notes aren't as easy to hit as they were once for Kelly. If she could do it, I'm sure she'd do it more.

That was mind-blowing. Dunno if you guys actually watched the end of the video I posted, but that was Mariah Carey range right there.

To be honest, I had forgotten that Kelly used to be able to do that.

This post has been edited by katharinekatkat: Dec 19th 2011, 12:55 AM

[Treefroggiefreak]

Kelly is still able to do that, but she doesn't because honestly it's not smart to constantly perform like that. Especially when you take into account that it's been almost a decade now and her voice is naturally going to take some wear being a singer. She takes it easier on her voice than she used to because she could permanently damage her voice doing all of the crazy stuff constantly. I feel like her songs now are naturally higher than what they were back during that era anyway. There's a reason why her voice was kind of shot during the My December era and it's because of the touring and constantly wailing out songs like SUBG and BTHE for sure long during the Breakaway period.

[aifanatic100]

I still feel like those notes aren't as easy to hit as they were once for Kelly. If she could do it, I'm sure she'd do it more.

Like TreeFroggieFreak said, I think she still can, she just knows not to as often. She'll pull out the notes when necessary but I'm sure after the My December era and what happened to her voice throughout that, she knows what is healthy for her voice and what isn't and she wants to protect it now. I think she's probably just more cautious nowadays and I believe that she has more artistic knowledge and likes to keep it simple instead of wow-ing people with runs all the time. Does that make sense?

[katharinekatkat]

Like TreeFroggieFreak said, I think she still can, she just knows not to as often. She'll pull out the notes when necessary but I'm sure after the My December era and what happened to her voice throughout that, she knows what is healthy for her voice and what isn't and she wants to protect it now. I think she's probably just more cautious nowadays and I believe that she has more artistic knowledge and likes to keep it simple instead of wow-ing people with runs all the time. Does that make sense?

Oh yah I agree she's matured vocally and all of that, but I honestly don't think she can hit those notes as effortlessly as she did back then, which is only normal.

She also has this rasp in her voice that she didn't have before...almost like her voice isn't as clear or as "easy" to deliver as it once was. She still sounds incredible but I think you know what I mean.

[aifanatic100]

Oh yah I agree she's matured vocally and all of that, but I honestly don't think she can hit those notes as effortlessly as she did back then, which is only normal.

She also has this rasp in her voice that she didn't have before...almost like her voice isn't as clear or as "easy" to deliver as it once was. She still sounds incredible but I think you know what I mean.

I can agree with the last point that you made. She definitely has a rasp that she didn't have before and I think that might come with strain on the voice for 10 years. People don't really think about it but she said on Idol that she didn't really sing until her high school choir teacher told her she was good. And if you figure she was 19 on Idol, she hadn't been REALLY singing for that long...so her voice was in prime shape. I think now the rasp comes in because of how long and often she's been singing, and I'd that's normal when you sing like she does.

I also wonder though if the rasp is something in the style that she sings with. Does she choose to inflict it? Or is it natural? I feel like she has it more on certain songs than others, but maybe that's just me imagining it. Like when she sang "Why Don't You Try" earlier this year, did she have the rasp as much there? Or does she just inflict it into her more Rock stuff?

Just to clarify, this post is not trying to contradict you whatsoever. I agree with you 100% that she does have a slightly different sound to her voice now. This is just for the sake of argument and contemplation I suppose

[katharinekatkat]

^I think she has that rasp mostly in her middle register...when she belts out really high notes her voice is clearer than when she belts in her middle-register for some reason.

Also, her high notes are not as powerful as the once were...I feel like she uses some kind of "mixed" voice where it is not completely just chest voice (like it used to be).

Maybe I'm dead wrong but I've noticed her really high notes are a little "thin" sounding.

[kclarkson1323]

Yea she definitely has more rasp in her voice now. When she was on idol her voice was more crisp and clear. Like aifanatic though I don't know if thats just due to natural wear if she intentionally does it since her music changed from R&B to more rock.

I also agree with KatharineKatKat in that those high notes aren't as effortless as the used to be. She can still hit them here and there but they don't come as easy and aren't quite as clear and strong.

She has shown though that when she has time to rest her voice she can be as good as ever. When she first started the promo for this era and even going back to the Microsoft store performance this past summer she was in flawless form hitting those big notes.

[AdamLfan]

I prefer the raspy sound tbh.

[Clarkson_Is_Life]

ngl I miss her oversinging too. I think her foray into the country genre kinda ruined her performance stylebecause now she's more prone to holding back and singing subtly.

For this reason, I don't want Kelly doing into country music, cause too much of it gets really boring really fast. I want her wailing her face off to R&B / Soul music.

As for Kelly's rasp, I definitely think it's intentional. I remember a couple years back, she was on Canadian Idol (2009, I think?) and there was a girl that Kelly couldn't stop admiring for her rasp. But anyway, the reason I say it's intentional is because, on all of Kelly's performances of "Don't You Wanna Stay", her voice was as crystal clear like it was back on Idol.

Comparing her vocals back then and now, I think it's obvious her range isn't what it used to be, but that's likely die to her not working those muscles too often. Or maybe she damaged her voice after all the Breakaway tours? I still remember how bad her voice got during the Addicted tour... D: But her power and control since her Idol days is it an all time high. I don't think I've ever heard her voice as powerful as it was during the AIEW tour and I'm glad she's been using her head voice a lot more.

This post has been edited by Clarkson_Is_Life: Dec 20th 2011, 1:37 PM

[clarksonnumber1]

Hitting those notes may hurt her voice so it may mean more longevity if she does it less. Personally I feel there's too much emphasis on them, so I don't have a problem with her doing it less.

[katharinekatkat]

Hitting those notes may hurt her voice so it may mean more longevity if she does it less. Personally I feel there's too much emphasis on them, so I don't have a problem with her doing it less.

I get what you mean, but those notes put her in a different league than almost every other singer in today's industry.

[aifanatic100]

I get what you mean, but those notes put her in a different league than almost every other singer in today's industry.

I see both sides of this case. But quite honestly, there are SO MANY things about Kelly that put her in a different league from most artists today. I mean...to put it simply...she sings live. That automatically boosts her above most artists today But yeah I get what you're saying and I LOVE when she belts those high notes too. I'm just saying that if you are concerned that people won't respect her as much as a singer or something like that, I don't think she has much to worry about right now