Top 10 Singers that Should Never Sing Ballads
I mean ballads or just slow songs of any type. Ballads are usually love songs but not only - for example metal ballads are rarely love songs, they are about something else.A really good voice is needed for ballads for many reasons. Besides, characters in ballads are either in love or hurt /vulnerable so the singer should have relevant qualities of the voice to communicate such emotions.
There are great and versatile singers who sound good on anything they sing but this list isn't about them.
I the context of this list there are 2 types of singers:
1) singers who sound good on other songs but not on ballads
2) singers who don't sound very good on anything they sing
Eligible are also singers who have never sung ballads but you definitely don't wanna hear a ballad by them.
Brian Hugh Warner, better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician, songwriter, actor, painter, multimedia artist, author, and former music journalist. Seriously, TheTopTens is the first site I know where Marilyn Manson is hated. He has excellent critical reviews and is considered an essential part of the 90s music landscape, also he's intelligent and uses his provocative image and lyrics to challenge society and along Eminem sparked the discussion of whether media and music can make a person violent.
I mean, I know that this list does not only include bad musicians but also singers with flawed vocals, which Manson definitely does have (the voice suits his musical style but that's not due to how beautiful it sounds), but really, the comments sound negative overall.
The thought of Marilyn Manson singing a ballad makes my soul crushed. It's one if the Apocalyptic omens I bet
I wonder which music style suits him, Is there any for him? *sigh* Nope...
Gary Lee Weinrib, known professionally as Geddy Lee, is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush.
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. is an American rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was discovered by Brian "Baby" "Birdman" Williams at a very young age, and was signed to Cash Money Records, where he would be one quarter of the rap group Hot Boys. In the years to follow, he would go on to find his own label, Young Money, where he would sign popular artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga, and he would go on to be one of the most popular rappers of all time. ...read more. Lil Wayne is a rapper - of whom I have to say I like his voice, which is a whole lot better than his lyrics - and never claimed to be a singer. I doubt he could sing a ballad, but I am pretty sure he wouldn't try it.
David Scott "Dave" Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actor and author. Mustaine is best known as a pioneer in Thrash Metal, being the former lead guitarist of Metallica before his dismissal in 1983, leading to finding and becoming the front man of his own band Megadeth shortly after. Don't kill me for this but I just can't listen to A Tout Le Monde - his voice doesn't sound good to me on this song. I like when he snarls on thrash songs but not when he tries to really sing.
I know I am extremely picky when it comes to vocals but I can't change it.
Too snarly a voice I feel to convincingly sing a ballad.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, and artist who has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Like with many singers that are highly praised, it is not his perfect singing that he is loved for, but for how real and honest he sounds. It fits into the context of his music and therefore it sounds good overall. Several of his most popular songs are stripped down so you rather listen to the lyrics instead of being distracted by the production, instruments and complex compositions. I highly value what he contributed to music and have much respect for what he does. Even though I don't actively listen to him. I guess I'm more the Sixto Rodriguez type, who has both the lyrics and the musical perfection (yet not the same impact and output).
His voice doesn't sound good to me on any songs. Sorry.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Barbadian-American pop singer. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, she first entered the music industry by recording demo tapes under the direction of record producer Evan Rogers in 2003. She ultimately signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president, hip-hop producer and rapper Jay Z. Her song "higher" is why she should never try to sing. She should just stick to making catchy top 40 pop songs, she's trying to be soulful now but she just doesn't have the voice or range for that kind of music. Her voice isn't good to begin with, but at least with dance/pop music there's a beat backing her.
Rihanna has a solid singing voice and her ballads are sung solid as well. I don't see anything wrong with that.
She can't sing period
Britney Jean Spears, born on December 2, 1981, is an American former singer and actress. She was born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. As a child, she performed acting roles in stage productions and television shows, such as "The Mickey Mouse Club," before signing with Jive Records in 1997... read more The weird thing is... on her ballads her singing is much better than on the uptempo tracks. "Someday" and "every time" are among the best pop ballads of the 21st century, at least in my opinion. She sounds surprisingly vulnerable on those songs.
Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is an American rapper, actor and music producer born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri. Eminem has sold over 300 million records making him the bestselling hip-hop artist of all time. In addition to his solo career, he is a member of D12 and (with Royce da 5'9") half of the hip-hop duo Bad Meets Evil.
Rolling Stone ranked him 83rd on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, calling him the King of Hip Hop. Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has had ten number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and 5 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and 13 worldwide. Unlike other rappers on this list, Eminem actually tried to sing. Emphasis on "tried". I don't want to come off as mean but he sounds like he's whining when singing. While on "Mockingbird" it fits, because he sings to his daughter and singing to your child is always emotional even if you can't sing, but I just can't listen to "Puke" in its entirety. And he didn't sing that bad on purpose even though the song is a joke, because on some of his good and serious songs (e.g. "No Love") he sings just the same. As much as he is a brilliant rapper and lyricist, he should leave the singing to the featured artists.
Is Lose yourself not a ballad?
Brian Johnson is an English singer and songwriter. Since 1980, he is the lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC, with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. As of April 2016, Johnson is not participating in the remainder of the Rock or Bust World Tour due to hearing problems. His voice was made for hard rock and not ballads. By the way, are there any AC/DC ballads?
Yoko Ono is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist who is also known for her work in performance art, music, and filmmaking. Singer-songwriter John Lennon of the Beatles was her third husband. Yoko Ono is more about the feeling and the idea than singing. She isn't the best singer and never was, but I don't think she really tried to be that. On "Plastic Ono Band", she plays her voice like a trashy guitar, on later albums she actually does sing in more conventional ways, and it works in the context of her music, but damn, she just can't sing good enough to sing a ballad. But then again, that's not what her music is about anyway.
William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician and film director. Durst is best known as the vocalist of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, formed in 1994, with whom he has released six studio albums. His music is driven by his rage and high energy, not by a good singing voice. Limp Bizkit's songs are perfect teen anarchy anthems, but yeah, ballads would be entirely unfitting and simply wouldn't work. Not only because I highly doubt Durst can hit all the notes, but also because you simply wouldn't buy this image.
(Judged by a person who has only heard their first two albums)
Too crass and annoying a vocalist to sing a ballad. Not to mention, did you hear his band's cover of Behind Blue Eyes?
Chad Robert Kroeger is a Canadian musician and producer, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Canadian rock band, Nickelback. Actually, I disagree on that, even though I also regard Nickelback's rock songs as better than their ballads. I think that while it is absolutely right that his voice does not sound as emotional as necessary on most of their ballads, it is mostly due to the fact that on more recent Nickelback ballads multiple tracks of his voice are playing at the same time, making it seem as if a group of Chad Kroegers were singing at the same time, and not because he isn't capable of doing it. In fact, on "Curb", where this technique wasn't used yet, there were several examples of emotional singing by Kroeger ("Fly", "Where? "). Even though there were no ballads on that album, you can tell he could have recorded some. If he used that style of singing for his ballads, they would sound way more believable than their actual ballads.
He sounds very good on hard rock and metal-ish songs because his voice is powerful and naturally aggressive. But he doesn't sound very convincing on ballads or slow songs because there's no softness and pain in his voice. I think ballads are not what he would sing naturally.
Kurt Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. In 1987, he started the grunge band Nirvana, which became one of the most successful bands ever. He was a talented yet troubled grunge performer. Kurt Cobain became a rock legend in the 1990s with his band. He committed suicide at his Seattle home in 1994. It depends... do "All Apologies" and "Something in the Way" (without the hidden track of course) count as ballads? He sure couldn't have sung "I Will Always Love You", but slower rock songs wouldn't have been a problem.
R.I.P. He had emotion and pain in the voice which is good for ballads but his vocal technique had many flaws for singing ballads.
Tomás Enrique "Tom" Araya Díaz is a Chilean American musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer. Raining LOVE, anybody?
Onika Tanya Maraj, known professionally as Nicki Minaj (born December 8, 1982) is a Trinidadian/American rapper / pop music artist. Minaj is most known for her songs such as "Anaconda", "Super Bass", "Starships" and her feature on "Bang Bang".
Despite her controversial songs, Brent Staples from "The New York Times" claimed her to be 'the most influential female rapper of all time', presumably distinctive for her fast flow and her use of alter egos with Cockney accent.
She has endorsed Adidas, MAC Cosmetics and Pepsi.
Minaj has received ten Grammy-nominations throughout her career, and has won multiple awards including the Billboard's Women in Music 2011 Rising Star award. Actually, Nicki Minaj can sing ballads. In fact, "Grand Piano" by her is a really great and emotional song, and the rap ballad "All Things Go" is a very personal experience. I am tired that people judge her by a few silly songs she made while obviously having been on drugs, instead of listening to a whole album by her (best one would be "The Pinkprint") and judge fairly. Yes, I include Soulja Boy on almost every list centering around bad musicians but I actually listened to a whole album before allowing myself to judge if he is bad or good.
Richard Lamar Hawk, better known by his stage name Silentó, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for his debut single "Watch Me", which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Recently, he is also known for murdering his cousin and is currently in prison. He can't sing good period so if he did a ballad it would just be a autotuned mess that would probally defeat the purpose of a ballad
David Jesus Torres, better known by his stage name Dahvie Vanity, is an American singer-songwriter and rapper born on September 5, 1984, who is best known as one half of Crunkcore duo Blood on the Dance Floor and as the face and creative mind behind Industrial project Sinners are Winners. He is also known as Dahvie Insanity and Master of Death. ...read more. Without hating on him (everything after 2011 by that band was actually not as bad as it is made out to be, but it's mostly their old stuff - which indeed sucks - that comes to people's minds. Listen to the "Anthem of the Outcast" or "Scissors" albums for a better idea of how they sounded before breaking up) he does have an EXTREMELY limited vocal range. Unlike Jayy von Monroe who has a solid singing voice, Vanity often can't hit the right notes, has a very thin voice and is far better at screaming (he doesn't "growl" like most emo/scene screamers but rather shout, in a way Chester Bennington does it) and doing Marilyn Manson-esque vocals (which he does on his new solo project Sinners are Winners, so I guess he knows for himself that he isn't really that good of a singer but figured out his strengths). But in their ballads he often tries to sing melodiously, but it simply does not sound good. Especially when he tries to sing long and loud.
Uh no a ballad by him would just be wired considering he's a pedophile
DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy Tell 'Em or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper and record producer. In September 2007, his debut single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" peaked at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The single was initially self-published to the internet, and later became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007. On August 17, Way was listed at number 18 on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2010 for earning $7 million that year. He tried to sing on "Turn My Swag On" and for me, that was it. All he had to do is carrying the tone for about two seconds and it sounds like he was in pain while recording this and forced himself to go all the way through in order to stop it.
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican singer-songwriter, record producer and actor whose singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" both topped the Billboard Hot 100. A Sean Paul ballad would be mesmerisingly dreamy.
- TheDuttyGyal
Paul David Hewson, known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist. His original nickname was Bono Vox which means "big voice". Wouldn't necessarily agree. His voice is distinctly average and faceless, hence the perfect voice for mediocre shlockly ballads.
Mrveteran, LOL - "perfect voice for mediocre shlockly ballads."
But I don't like mediocre shlockly ballads...
Armando Christian Pérez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, is a Grammy (and Latin Grammy) winning Cuban-American rapper, songwriter and record producer.Yeah, Brokencyde basically did what every other average rapper or rap group did in the late 2000s (rapping about sex and partying over synth driven beats, often with autotune, but the flow is quite nice and the beats are catchy that's why they have gathered themselves loyal fans), plus screaming. The latter is why they are more hated than other rappers, in addition to the fangirls. In fact, they are average. But gosh, there are a few tracks where Se7en of Brokencyde actually tries to sing an emotional hook and it comes off as a complete disaster. On "Kandyland 2.0" he is so terribly off-key that you have to wonder what kind of producer would let him get away with that. What makes it even more gruesome is that he sings like this both with and without autotune. So, even the program that has the sole purpose of pitch correction couldn't save him from not hitting any right notes. Wow.
Ye (born Kanye Omari West; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and fashion designer. He is regarded as one of the most influential, as well as controversial, artists of the 21st century. ...read more.
Louis Cachet, (born Kristian Vikernes) more popularly known as Varg Vikernes, is a Norwegian musician, writer, and a convicted murderer and arsonist. He is known as the frontman of the one-man band Burzum (named after a word in the Black Speech, which is a fictional language in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings), which is considered one of the most influential bands in black metal history. He's also known for murdering Mayhem guitarist Euronymous and was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 1994. His black metal vocals are not suited for ballads... or working ears for that matter.
William Bruce Rose Jr., better known as 'Axl Rose', is an American singer born on February 6, 1962, in Lafayette, Indiana. He Is the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. He is a celebrated but controversial figure in the world of rock.