In the world of musical entertainment, one of the biggest issues in the industry revolves around the inherent fact/problem of live talent. When artists record master tracks on the CD it is obvious that everything is done to ensure that the voice comes out perfect, anything from multiple takes of a part that is difficult or even support from technical aspects such as backing vocals, echo, auto-tune or even pitch manipulation. Let us delve into this issue a bit deeper using our girls as the example set with my opinions, again, opinions, pitchforks away and lets debate this like civilized humans :).
It’s no mystery that a lot of mainstream media is lip synced in live performances, Every countries entertainment media will do it in order to make shows go without a hitch. Some artists swear to always sing live (Michael buble, John Mayer, Foo Fighters, Muse) and if forced to lip sync, will simply not perform or take the complete piss and have some fun at the companies expense (One example is Muse, upon hearing that they were to perform with a recording of their song, promptly switched positions of every band member and blatantly did actions that didn’t sync up to the song). There are artists that cannot go live without some sort of backing help (many mainstream artists fall into this category so I’ll spare the long list, mostly American/English/Australian) and will continue to do so to keep their image.
So how does Soshi come into the fray with all of this?
Lets take one performance in particular and look that each member’s part in this live performance and also note the difference in levels throughout the song.
For today let us pick their performance of “The Boys” in the KBS 2011 Gayo Daejun.
Let us remember three very important things:
1 – Unsupported – the singer is singing her part without help
2- Supported – the singer is singing, but is supported by a backing track of the same voice (you usually hear a weird echo effect in which it sounds like there are 2 of the same voices)
3 – Lip synced – no singing from the singer, just dancing and mouthing along.
So I recommend you just pause the video and watch it with me and lets note down differences and changes.
lets get the spazz out “OMFG HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT” ok done? lets move on
song starts at 1:20
Jessica at 1:25 – Chorus backing track but her verse is unsupported, she is singing live, this is also noted that her volume is considerably lower (mic issue probably) making the singing much more human.
Taeyeon at 2:00 – Unsupported with no backing at all makes it very easy to tell she is singing live, along with Jessica her mic volume isn’t very high so it’s very easy to tell she is singing.
Yoona at 2:06 – Live singing, but supported by the Yoona on the master CD, this gives the double echo effect and is very hard to differentiate if she ever goes off, but it just doesn’t sound live in any case.
Sunny at 2:16 – Unsupported, this is further supported that you can hear breath with every start.
Seohyun 2:24 – Unsupported and by god does she sound the closest to her Master CD counterpart, I’ve always adhered to the opinion that Seobaby is the most consistent of all the girls, further supported that you can hear her breathe in before she sings.
Chorus at 2:35 – Choruses are the worst, because that’s where EVERYONE sings, so even if backed up by the master CD, it’s the hardest to tell. but lets break this down and look at the level inconsistencies. At 2:35 you can hear live voice somewhere by someone, but then at 2:39 all of a sudden that voice has evidently disappeared leaving the master CD running by itself (easily noticed when Yuri is lip syncing pointing at the camera).
Sooyoung at 2:44 – Lip Synced, supported by the fact that she is straight after the master CD chorus and the levels don’t change and an extra voice is not added by her and she just stops and smiles while the song word GIRLS is playing at 2:50.
Jessica 2:54 – Unsupported, sounds human
Sunny backing Jessica – Supported, she sings with her live voice cause the pitch note actually changes, but you also hear the Sunny from the original song, easiest to identify with “YOU fly high”
Seohyun 3:10 – is a robot, so consistent….but you hear breathing.
Tiffany at 3:31 – supported, but she’s not really singing…”girls generation make you feel the heat….” and the backing track of the entire group kicks in as well.
Hyoyeon 3:30 – Unsupported, there’s no mic problem so she’s actually louder than everyone, it’s very easy to tell, not singing, more rapping but the voice is evidently there.
Ok now here’s the biggest level change of the entire performance
3:49 – GIRLS BRING THE BOYS OUT – is sung by not only the master CD but also live, you hear the giant surge in volume and pitch.
But…here’s where it goes wrong, at 3:51 when yuri starts “I wanna dance right now” everything…just goes back to the original CD…and becomes kind of bland and sounds like you’ve heard this a million times when you repeated The boys on your Mp3 player again and again..
Further supported when Yoona comes out and sings live with her supported track, there is another drastic change in levels.
We’re going to stop there, lest I’ve already bored 99% of you guys, but you guys should understand the trend here. Korean pop does this a lot where specific performances one member will sing live and the others just lip sync whether it be voice issues, hurt throats or even not being able to replicate a high note on a regular basis (see B.E.G sixth sense and IU’s good day)
So what’s the problem? nothing really…but to me there’ s giant inconsistency within the performance and it pulls away from the performance itself, sort of like when you play a video game and a bug just makes the game look weird and you just lose focus.
My hope? is that maybe groups can decide if they want to lip sync everything, or sing live. It’d be so much more consistent and sure, some might find that intimidating, but it’s a damn sight better than hearing the volume jump up and down and go from human to altered voices.
Thanks for reading this, I really hope this gives some insight with analyzing performances and working out what’s real and not. Obviously the groups that are performing have their own reasons (consecutive performances, sickness, or even dancing cause sometimes you can’t sing on the same level if you’re dancing a hard bit of choreography etc etc) and again, I can be wrong with one or two things, but I hope I’ve supported my opinions with the use of level changes and human qualities of the voice.
So, finally, here’s something for you all to think about
Does this bother you?
Would you rather a completely lip synced perfect performance? or a live one where you can hear humans with ALL their set backs? do you not care and just think “Dreadtech…you’re a nutcase and I don’t care about the constant level changes in this performance” or is it “OMFG DREADTECH YOU’VE RUINED PERFORMANCES FOR ME FOREVER, SCREW YOU!!!”
❤ you all
dreadtech
SNSD Korean 
i agree with u…,its not easy than we think, they must dancing, sing along etc. They try to give the best even their not in good condition.
i ever heard once from my sister in japan when netizen complain about lipsync when SNSD perform there. if all people can analyze like u, i’m sure its not become misunderstanding between lypsinc, supported and unsuported things..
SNSD Jjang !!!! Author daebak 🙂
Tbh, the inconsistencies is due to the fact that 9 of them are singing, the voice is different, but most importantly, some is soft, loud and just simply squeaky. I would deff prefer back tracking than lip syncing cause that is when they loose me completely, the inconsistent moving of the lips and the sound of the music really bugs me
i learnt a lot about listening to live performance with this post..
thank you..
This is so interesting !!
As a musician myself, I used to despise pop music due to the fact that most live performances are lip synced which simply means nothing at all.
However, snsd changed my opinion on pop as a whole with their dance and singing.
We must take into account that most music shows have them lip synced in order to promote the artist at it’s best.
But go search on YouTube, especially Japanese lives, you can tell it’s all unsupported and people like taeyeon and jessica can nail their parts perfectly.
With all that said, lip synced should be BANNED in all kinds of way. If you can’t sing or perform live. You’re as good as nothing but someone out to cheat the innocent. (people who lack of knowleadge on performing arts/music/dance).
I lol’ed at this:
“Seohyun 3:10 – is a robot,” :))
But I agree. She really is consistent. She’ll always deliver.
Relax bro, knowledge is always good to be shared. And (maybe) it’s normal for someone with a music background like you to bring this thing up. Because it kinda bothers right? You really did elaborate it smoothly bro hehe.
To my opinion, I think why they (as in the entertainment agency) prefer to mix the lip synched and live vocals in live performances is to maintain the quality of the artist’s image and also to give audience the feel of live performance of the artist. Simply as that and it’s fine for me.
Personally, I prefer to hear any singers live, so that I can grasp their greatness in delivering their vocal talents. But compensation is needed (actually, created by us, by the power of love to them :D) where in a kind of entertainer like any other K-pop groups which is often not only consist of great singers, but great dancers and image models. Besides, sometimes them agencies makes so complicated songs for the groups to be sung.
Anyway, I still love SNSD and I screamed out loud when I was watching them in Singapore! F yea
Sorry if my grammar is so-so,if anyone is offended, and if I kinda sound like a know-it-all. hehe
Peace yo!
a very good post.. i prefer our 9 ladies singing live performance rather than lip syncing.. singing live is better because when mistake occur it can be noticeable.. lip syncing is just like you have been shown by a fake performance.. remember when a time that YURI forgot the lyrics when she sung “Honey” a long time ago in a live recording.. i found it pretty cute mistake rather than saying she is not good to sing in a live performance.. P.E.A.C.E 😛
What about the boys performance at SM Town in NYC. Was that all lip synced cuz I was there and it sure looked that way.
yeah, they lip synced, but that is because it’s completely normal to do it in the USA. as dreadtech stated, lots of artists lip sync. in korea, however, i heard it’s illegal to lip-synce the entire performance unless the performence is for charity, they have technical difficulties with their mics or speakers or equipment, or if the audience is told beforehand that the group will be syncing. it’s much more common in korea for a group to sing select parts and lip synce the chorus (2ne1’s ‘I am the best’, miss A’s ‘good bye baby’)
realised it too.. they always goes live with back-up.. anyways, I’ll still love them.. ❤
Actually, good education here. I kind of always wondered about this stuff.
dreadtech – just curious. Do you know how much of their live concerts are live/supprted/unsupported, etc…. I can’t imagine them singing all 30 some songs live unsupported Some of their solo performances, like Sooyoung’s, are supported by back tracks right? Due to the involved dance steps and whatnot I would imagine?
if I wanted to find out I’d have to re watch or re listen to every performance and write down which parts were pre recorded or live, there’s jsut way too many.
“can’t imagine them singing all 30 some songs live unsupported Some of their solo performances, like Sooyoung’s, are supported by back tracks right? Due to the involved dance steps and whatnot I would imagine?”
it all comes down to real life timing as well. Lets say soshi has to perform everyday for 1 week, 3 days in they are going to start lip syncing cause it’s going to start having negative effects on them.
If they did 30 songs just standing…maybe…
Health also becomes as issue, lets say Taeyeon starts noticing her throat scratch whenever she sings “MY HEEEAAAARRTTT” fomr then on she probably won’t do it anymore (IU, B.E.G comes to mind)
and of course, dancing has a big effect on it, some songs can’t be done when the choreography is so intense, you need your breathing to be intact and concentrated to dance well.
Understood, thanks for the reply.
Dude, this is a good voice up. I do support some part and definitely lip syncing is very common here. Try look into any Korean live video. Definitely there are out of tune, soft, squeaky. Funny but very disturbing to hear.
Who cares? Lipsync-ed or not, we’ll still love them just as much.
good article..i like…for me it doesnt mater lip sycn or live performance…because we knew our girls can sing…
awesome post. now that you’ve mentioned everything i started to realize lots of things about the girls’ and others’ performances. and ive got to say that i agree with you. it’s a lot fun to watch a pure live performance rather than lipsynced ones (but of course, unless, if the situation calls.) thanks for sharing!
If it’s a ballad or a solo song without much strong dance moves, then i demand they sing live. Otherwise it’s just fine to me.
I agree with Maro.
For performing artists, they need to compromise (or concede) the level of dancing and/or singing in each performance, in order for the viewers to get the most out of it. This is the way i look at it:
If a performance is lip synced, you get good value for the dancing, but you lose out in the vocal department, as you don’t get to hear live singing.
If a performance is sung live, you get your value in the vocals, but the artists would be forced to sacrifice some of the dancing part of the performance, as their breath is required for singing (if they didn’t make this sacrifice, then instead of hearing singing towards the end of a song you would more likely hear coughing and wheezing and think it’s some kind of remix haha).
If artists could sing and dance at the same time while maintaining a high level of quality, they would. But because of fatigue, this isn’t possible.
So I am happy with how each performance is arranged, as it gives the viewers the chance to hear at least some live singing, while being entertained by the dance routine. At least this way you get a taste of both, as opposed to only one or the other. I think this is the happy medium.
This is just my opinion. You know the best thing about opinions? They say everyone is entitled to one…..but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it! hahaha 🙂
i think all sone know this….
but still our girls does a great step from time to time.
(see & listen their live performance when 1st album to 2nd album)
in this 3rd album most of them trying to challenge their self to go live without backing
make me love them more
great post.
(jempol buat anda)
I found this article very interesting, thanks 😀
I think that lyp-synching is good for a nice performance, but hearing live singing is always impressive. The difficulty is the dancing. Dancing is what makes Kpop especially entertaining, but it’s hard to do live. So it’s really hard to say. I say if they’re going to do a performance they should be sneaky and record another track in the studio that is made to sound live, but makes it sound better. That, or tweak whatever equipment they have live to work on volume consistency and pitch. Reguardless, I notice all of the hard work put into SNSD’s performances, so I love them the same whether they’re the best at live performances or not. 🙂
SO NYEO SHI DAE FIGHTING! ❤
woow, u r good, u can tell which 1 singing live n not, love ur post
Snsd forever … Snsd dance is really cool and there singing is always impressive. How it’s cool to see them in your really Eyes써니 I love you I’m telling you with all my heart …
Snsd fighting
I love it when SONEs are intellect
YEAH
Well, in most cases, if the group has a dance performance along with the singing, then they would just lip-sync and just focus on the dance steps because that usually takes more energy. That’s pretty common especially in the west. But Korea usually tries to do both at the same time. It may be difficult, but at least it’s genuine, in my opinion.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Girls’ Generation still managed to wow the audience with their recent performance despite the many inconsistencies. And there are also times that actually calls for lip-syncing due to certain circumstances. However, for those who prefer to hear their actual voices during the live performances, I totally agree with them. It makes me notice their true talents and abilities more, and I want to recognize them as who they really are as artists.
PS: At least they still opted to do “Into the New World” with their own voices and dancing in recent years. That is always PRICELESS.
“PS: At least they still opted to do “Into the New World” with their own voices and dancing in recent years. That is always PRICELESS.”
-Agreed!! My favorite forever and ever ^^
I’ve noticed this too, glad someone brought it up! The 5 singers (Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany and Seohyun) always sing the boys live (except one performace where Taeyeon was sick and lipsynched). In the beginning of promotions, all of the 4 dancers (Hyoyeon, Yuri, sooyoung, and Yoona) lipsynched, but then Hyoyeon began to sing her parts live, Sooyoung sang her first part with background support but lipsynched the second part, same with Yoona, but her background music in her first part was louder. To me, it just seems like Yuri just lipsynched all her parts of the song. I would like to think they could all sing live, but I assume the do whats best for the performace of the song, so if someone’s voice is not strong enough, it needs support. I just feel bad when Taeyeon and Jessica’s voices are tired and you can tell they are forcing themselves to get their notes out. Seohyun and Sunny’s voices are begining to get tired as well.
But I will say that I am impressed with Hyoyeon, seeing as she is the only dancer in the group singing her parts live all on her own. Throughout the “The Boys” promotion, Seohyun’s voice has impressed me the most. Her voice has been clear with power, better than the studio version. She also doesn’t have to force notes out (although Jessica and Teayeon’s parts do require more vocal power)
Either way, their performaces are always the best. I find that Sooyoung and Tiffany exude the most stage presence during these promotions 🙂
I’m quite impressed, dreatech. I too always wonder who’s singing live and who’s not because I’m very nitpicky about this haha. Nice step by step analysis 🙂 Not boring at all!
…isn’t it just general consenus that Seobaby is a robot? JK!
-sLaVe
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME!!! <3<3<3 COME BACK TO THE FAMILY!
I’ve been… well you know, life gets busy haha. I still support you guys, don’t worry! But I think like Cindy, my time’s up when it comes to blogging and keeping up with the girls. Plus, anything I post will most likely be too lewd or perverse, overly critical, or too out-there-loony and editorial-like. And I see you guys have turned this site around to be anything but 😉
So for now, I’ll just stay a supporter like a mama watching her babies~
-sLaVe
Well it looks like you’ve singled out Yuri’s lip synching in that very long pointless article. Yes, I take major offense. No matter how much you’ve coated your article with an intro and ending, the heart of the article is Yuri lip-synced.
In Yuri’s defense she was dreadfully sick during that time and if you can remember the picture that came out when she was being dragged by manager-sshi at the airport… this was the perf before that.. It was even amazing she was able to dance that powerfully at all. Seriously, would you rather hear her sing in a raspy broken voice? That would destroy the performance more than when she lip syncs. This was just one time, why make such a big deal about it?
*sigh* I ask you to focus on Yuri during the whole performance and you’ll see she was unsteady and nearly stumbled thrice during the whole performance. =/
==O==
Just so I’ll be on topic: Live would be preferable and live is what SNSD does nowadays. Why? Because a long time ago when they used to lip sync as a group(like you’re suggesting) they had that toe-curlling incident of the “Master CD” skipping three times. It created such a buzz that afterwards, they didn’t attempt lip-synching as a group anymore because that will hurt their reputation as artist. It may sound annoying to some but at least they(most members) are trying to sing live.
then be offended, you’re the only one who wants to nit pick it that way
I didn’t even highlight her name and you think I’m focusing on her. I used 3 girls in the bridge example to show differences. she lip synced, get over it, I’m not making a big deal out of it, you are by pointing it out.
The song doesn’t go bland because of her, it goes bland because of the master CD track, did I say she was inadequate? weak? not a good singer? no, you jumped to that conclusion. I focused on the master track and did not ever say that yuri cannot sing and never sings live.
Have the last word if you want, I’ve said what I needed to say against your accusations, the simple thing would be for you to ignore my post if it was a “very long pointless article”.
I retract my statement, I ❤ everyone but you :), have a wonderful day though
So when jessica is singing her high notes 4:46. She would be singing, but supported by the master track. rite?
Jessica usually tries to sing the first three notes by herself, but for the highest one, she relies on the master track cos that one takes the most energy to reach even for her.
I agree. Though I’m not too bothered if they lip synch (They’re only human, really.), I’m kind of tired of hearing Yuri’s part suddenly go lower than the next person is obviously live.
Excellent analytical article, dreadtech :D.
Personally, I prefer them to sing “live”, but, all things considered (health, time, type of choreography and its level of difficulty), a “mix” is fine with me, since I want to hear our 9 ladies sing and dance for a long time more yet 😆 !
My 2 Singapore cents ;).
Cheers !
Kenneth.
Mix is fine, but if I go to a concert, I expect to get something which I couldn’t get from listening to an album or watching an MV.
I want the imperfections, so I lean on preference of natural singing w/ backtrack.
Very excellent attention to their voices. I have to say i prefer a little bit of the mix because the vocals in songs such as the boys are mixed in a way that would be different to hear live such as the rap and the backing vocals of tiffany and sunny in the verses.
Good article here. It is really nice for someone to open up this kind of issue. In the end, we all know they are still human and even we hear them do these stuff the fact is that we still love them.
Oh by the way, I love the part where dreadtech said “Seohyun – is a robot…but you hear her breathing”.
Wow, great analysis of the whole singing live/lipsynching deal. The supported singing idea really helps explain what I’ve been hearing in a lot of performances but never realized they did that (until now). I would have to agree that it doesn’t sound live at all, but obviously not the studio track.
Personally I feel like they should sing live, all members (unless they’re sick or something) since it brings consitency to the performance and eliminates the wierd volume changes that always seem to happen randomly from time to time. They’re good enough to sing live so why not? It would also stop all that crap about anti’s saying they’re not talented and lipsynching “all the time” and would raise the general level of respect for soshi as singers. Also, even if one of them messes up a bit, its really not that big of a deal is it? If anyone remembers the time where in one of their first few performances of ITNW jessica had an epic voice crack during her solo and nobody even cared =)
Anyways, thanks for the article dreadtech, will definetely never look at performances in the same way (in a good way). Really insightful. Keep up the good work!
I prefer for the girls to sing without backtrack, like really singing because I feel like whether they can really sing on stage or not determines if they’re a great performer or not. A person lip syncing on every stage just means that person only sung once. I also don’t like backtrack because it gives the singer’s voice a weird sound and plus, singing with backtrack is like not singing at all.
I agree with what you want, in this case it would be a perfect world if all singer’s sang live. But between bad live singers and and shoddy equipment. Shows are booked long before they know what’s going to happen, you can get hurt a day before or just not feel correct when you wake up. Like what a lot of commentator’s say, I don’t really mind cause I’m invested enough to know the singing talents of our girls.
“singing with backtrack is like not singing at all.” I would disagree with this one, there are singers that need some sort of backing to get into pitch. There’s something called perfect and relative pitch, if anyone has seen dream high that show touches base with the elements of pitch to help understanding.
Basically, Seohyun and Taeyeon and to a lesser extent Jessica have close to perfect pitch, they don’t need music to KNOW the original note of a particular song.
Someone like Tiffany has relative pitch, Tiff is known to always start sort of weak, and then builds into her rhythm. This is because she needs something relative to gauge her own scale and get into the correct pitch. TIff is my bias and I’m a relative pitcher, I need the music to be in tune and I can use backup vocals to get myself into the correct note, I’m not very good at singing with no musical accompaniment, it might sound good, but it won’t be the exact note.
Wow, cool post! I never considered that some parts are unsupported, supported, or lip synced and that different members do different things.
I think it would be nice if all of them sang supported; it seems like a good middle point between unsupported and lip synced.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on some of this. Sooyoung is not lip-syncing at all. To me, it doesn’t sound lip-synced. Another thing, you have to realize that Yoona is actually a very good singer. The only thing about her is that she doesn’t have as powerful of a voice as some of the other girls. Nevertheless, she is actually very consistent. You yourself said that it is difficult to tell when she goes off and on. That can be considered as being consistent.
One more thing, you don’t have to analyze this as much as you have. If you want to know which parts are truly lip-synced, just listen to the parts that are lower, since the master track is never played at a louder volume than their voices unless they are ALL lip-syncing, as was the case in New York.
At the end of the day though, I can never be mad at these girls for anything because I know how immensely talented they are, don’t you agree?
And another thing Yoona doesn’t have is the ability to sing in tune while dancing. Sure she can sing while standing still like in Mistake or Dear Mom or Honey but a simple choreo throws her pitching way off. Take for example her solo song with 2 of SuJu’s members (LeeTeuk and someone else?), she wasn’t singing in tune for more than half of the song, yet the dance wasn’t that tiring, just simple waving of her bouquet.
I think that’s true with any singer though, which is why a live performance like “Genie” is, to this day, one of their hardest performances to pull off flawlessly.
Also, why do you think Taeyeon has to stand still whilst doing her high note towards the end of “The Boys?” The only time she dances during that high note is when they’re all lip-syncing. Case and point: compare the video above to the 2011 KBS Entertainment Awards:
/watch?v=r6odPHpp_Zw
New York case,is just SM’s remake,the fancam is not lip-sync.
Fancams are all I have seen. It is lip-synced.
ooo, now i understand. thats why when yoona is absent, when tiffany is singing yoona’s part, its still yoona’s voice. so its mean yoona is always lip sync.
That’s not true. The backing track (MR) is always there in the background, just the volume of it varies in every performance.
For eg: Seohyun takes over Tiffany’s part in Hoot when she is injured, u can still hear the background vocal of the original singer.
The factors that plays a part in singing live: Health, Pitch, Lazyness (jess’s lol!)
<3, peace out
good article, i like it so so much thx u, i dont care if they sing live or not because i know those girls have talents.
Nice post, I too have noticed these changes in levels and I think I personally have a decent ear for LIVE and lip-sync, Im glad that there is a SONE daring enough to warp our perception that their always the same and perfect. In the end it IS true, that perfection is something they have been taught and that lip syncing and ‘supported’ singing is required. I enjoyed your post alot, and glad that Im not the only one that realized this too.
Btws, does anyone else think that Sunny’s dress is a little to tight around her chest? 0_0 …>_>”
LOL yea…. makes them look…. huge…
hell yeaaaahhhhhhh… that’s why i like lee soonkyu LOL..
Hi,
I am a jpop person and i just recently got into the kpop because of running man. I personally is also a performer and singer.
I can confirm they are singing live. Just one simple reason, they are panting and you can hear and also their breaths. They are trained in a way (like BoA*I am her loyal fan* I guess as they are under SM, jogging and singing at the same time) that is why they can sing so well while doing their dance routine because their stamina is of course so much more better than us.
Their voice in the show is also raw, and if it is lipsynced, it will sound way too perfect and normally a sound engineer will lower down their breathing, however in here you can hear they are breathing hard to sing their next line and honestly…it’s not easy.
I am not a loyal fan of SNSD but i can assure you that most K pop bands are extremely well trained before their debut and they can definitely pull off live performances easily.
peace
wen
That was a really interesting read! I see you pay a lot of attention to detail when watching these performances.
I can’t really turn it off nukem haha, you know my background so you should know why I can’t turn it off
Honestly i don’t really care because i know they can sing well… most of them…
Yoona is not lip-sync ~
Don’t you hear the news,Yoona’s vocal tech is increasing,the actual thing Yoona’s part was Tiffany’s and Tiffany’s part in ‘Bad Girl’ was Yoona’s part,So they switched part,because Fany want to show fans about Yoona’s vocal in the main song,and in ‘Bad Girl’ Yoona only sing/say “alright”.
So many elements are involved in each performance. Are they dancing, are they sick, is singing what that particular artist really brings to the performance…
If you start breaking things down they just end up getting complicated and you forget why you watch in the first place, to be entertained. As long as the artist I am watching can do that, I don’t really mind.
entertainment is the inherent factor in performances, but if you ask anyone that’s in the industry, every performance has to be like it is your best, otherwise why perform so much? breaking things down is how we look at things to critique and improve, ignoring it for the sake of just wanting to be entertained gives you every trash TV show that most normal TV gives us, they never build on to new things, they just recycle.
If you want to know what happens when singers sing every song all the time look up Jonathan Davis of Korn, Chino of Deftones, or even John Meyer.
Jonathan Davis and Chino both around the same time had problems with their vocal cords from singing, JD ignored it and ended up having to have surgery to fix his vocal cords, and in the end couldn’t sing a lot of Korn’s earliest songs, same thing almost happened to John Meyer last year.
Almost every artist has to either take a break to rest their voice or lip sync.
I rather than take the break, but that’s hard considering the structure of korean pop entertainment
I like them performing live. But I like the cd as well. 🙂 Sometimes they are sick, sometimes the microphone doesn’t work but on the other hand, they are better than some k-pop artists.
tbh, i’ve always wonder about this and sometimes due to the inconsistency eg i tend to think that seohyun had lipsync till i heard the mr version. This is a rather useful post because i sets some of doubts to ease and cleared some misunderstandings i had. Thanks for sharing! :>
Well, it’s actually fine with me if they wanna perform half-half.. I mean, dancing while singing isn’t really that easy esp if it’s a whole song and not just a part of the song. It’s exhausting and even if they’ve been doing it for a long time now, one can’t just expect them to be perfect. I always prefer them singing ballad though, coz you can really hear their voices and it’s beautiful. I’m a Filipino and when it comes to singing, our singers don’t really have a problem with singing live, can belt powerful notes and all but mix in a little dancing and their voices [some of them] tend to waver a bit. Um, as long as SNSD9 is performing on stage, it’s okay with me.
well personally how go u know all of this stuff ??
I’m an actor
I’m professionally trained in singing (tenor)
I’ve done theatre for half my life (been in a paid production of Shakespeare’s Othello, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and FAME playing schlomo amongst countless other shows)
PS. ( I COULD HAVE BEEN ACTING ALONG AS FANY’S LOVE INTEREST LOLOLOL, just a joke don’t kill me)
I’ve done tech backstage for 3-4 years to increase my understanding of what goes behind shows, I’ve done everything from costume design to mic testing, so I know when level’s are off and so forth.
that’s how I know all this stuff, not a day goes by where I don’t sing, act, or do SOMETHING that has to do with stage. I can’t really turn it off when I see/hear it, it’s like the dancer spotting awkward body movement.
i dont care too much of how they do there performances they are only humans after all. and they work very hard perhaps too hard if you ask me.
as a sone i hope they get a month holiday this year even thoug i doubt that sm entertainment should agree with that and that Hyoyeon get a possibility to travel somewhere with her family so that she can have some more quality time with her father (she has mentioned that in a interview lately)
As far as i know, these technique called “minus one” it make the singer can stop singing live and charge their breath at the mean time like at intro or refrain part or another specific part. It’s hard even for the profesional to dance while singing live all part. But for this case i blame the mixer guys for their amateur skill to mixed of equo volume from master track channel and singer live voices channel that gone out unconstant, unbalanced and too raw. Let’s take a look of some live individual singing or ballad song performances from our girls, we can’t tell they have a bad singing skill but we can tell they singing from their heart.
This “dreadtech” thing can give a perfect result when it handled with profesional, because yeaahhh…for the shake of entertainment industries, snsd (or other idol group) as a product must have a perfect live performance.
sorry for my poor english..
dreadtech is my name…so I’m not sure what you’re pointing at.
But yes the mixer man or just the sound tech’s in general need to make sure it doesn’t sound wrong.
i mean your topic.. sorry for my confusing words
I agree with most of you’re thoughts on who lip-syncs or not, but I’m pretty sure almost everyone except YuRi sang live. SooYoung sung live for all of her parts and so did YoonA, it only seems like they didn’t because of the fact that they sound exactly like they do on the original track. Because SooYoung’s breaths could be heard when she sings her two solos. Plus they were all louder than YuRi’s.
Please understand that I put Yoona down as Supported, which means she IS singing live, I’m not refuting that, what I’m saying is that she is being supported by something else, otherwise her voice would be as raw as Taeyeon’s or Jessica’s, which it is not.
Yoona singing live but when I saw his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman when Yoona singing the first part there appear clearly Seohyun helped his vocal. Just look at mic Seohyun.
I loved this article. I love the way how you took the time and patience to make an opinion, and the way you approached this whole live performance thing with honesty and courage. Your article might have offended some, but I really liked it. I am a SONE as well, but because I’m not a “die-hard” fan – I tend to be quite critical when I look at their singing/modeling/acting performances and show personalities. I don’t share my opinion with everyone (i.e. praise/bash the girls in an extreme manner on online forums), but I do find myself paying attention to details which you have covered in this article.
“It’s no mystery that a lot of mainstream media is lip synced in live performances, Every countries entertainment media will do it in order to make shows go without a hitch.”
Exactly – : ) and I’m very happy that you brought up the issue of lip syncing without making a big deal out of it (although it seems from the comments that some take this personally). My favourite soshi member is Seohyun, and I truly admire her consistency in pitch and performance. Seohyun dances with impeccable strength and poise – no matter whether she is at the centre, at the back or at the side, and no matter whether it is at the beginning of the song, the chorus or at the end. She really impresses me.
Thank you very much for this article anyways! I loved it (<— repetition/reiteration for emphasis).
that’s the problem isn’t it? there’s so many white knights that will neglect the wrong. How can you ever improve and build if you think everything you do is right? People try to scour the Internets looking for the chance to shield their celebrity biases, are we not all human? can we not critique and love at the same time? it’s like you can’t dress someone down without being labeled a hater
but thank you 🙂 YONGSEO FOREVER!!!!
I prefer the girls to wear skimpy outfits, shake their money makers, and look hot. I don’t care much about live or recorded singing. Kpop is all about the hot young girl groups when there are hardly any in the English music market.
Add up all their performances in one year and you’d realize that SNSD lyp synchs less than 1% of their performances. Also, take into consideration that this group has twice as many performances as any other group and their activities are doubling every year. Every one uses back track these days so it doesn’t bother me and when kpop singers lyp synch certain parts of the song, it doesn’t bother me either considering they have 10x more performances than most american singers.
I find it strange that you chose one performances to do the critique and not an over all view. There are two options to why Yuri isn’t “live” here. First that she was extremely sick (and no one faulted Taeyeon for her lipsing, “The Boys” when she was sick) or second that her mic just didn’t work, not a surprise given the quality of the equipment. If you go back and listen all to other performances and the music removed you can tell both her and Sooyoung do sing. Yes even during the rap part. The fact it got quieter during her part is actually proof she usually sings there. You’d also notice things like Sunny rarely sings/speaks the “you fly high” parts and Jessica switches up how many of the last high notes she sings. Not saying that the article isn’t interesting or that you’re targeting her, its just incomplete and someone with as much experience as you claim to have, should know better than tat.
If I did an overview it would be an over generalization and I wouldn’t have the time to do it. I did not use this as the example that “this is what they do all the time”. I used this because it was recent and it was an impressive performance despite it’s flaws, but it’s flaws were enough to highlight and critique, if I put a perfect performance…then that’s just stupid, there is nothing to learn if it’s perfect, are we all here just so we can constantly idolize GG? There would be no discussion, it would be just comment after comment of people praising, not what I want.
Did I say that it was Yuri’s fault she didn’t sing live? no, but it’s not live, that’s all, no pro or con with it, it’s just not live, I didn’t say it was bad, I didn’t say “hurr durr yuri can’t sing live”, none of that, it just pops into people’s head when they can’t handle a bit of critique. I say it RIGHT there in my post that there are factors we don’t know about (sickness, delays, equipment) and that will cause performances to be lip synced.
I did not want this to be complete. If it was complete in my eyes it wouldn’t need a discussion.
I’m sorry but saying that I should know better is kind of….I really don’t wanna say rude, but that’s honestly the first thing that popped into my head, I apologize for my honesty, I really do, I did not insinuate that it was the leading example, it was AN example, just one that I picked. The question that ultimately pose isn’t even about soshi, it’s about the format of performances, but…I guess the last 2 paragraphs were not noted at all.
but…in any case, thank you for the comment
Very interesting post n’ comments :-):-)
Everyone’s got their own opinion n’ we have to appreciate it, but I agree with MARO.
I think they’ve been trying hard to make a great performance, but everything can change at any time.
As SONEs, let’s continue to support our GENIES whatever happens, ‘cos they just have one purpose, make us smile. n’ so far, they’ve managed to do it.
Good post, thanks
(Sorry, lack of english,,, I’m Indonesian)
Salam damai (peace) :-):-)
I found this article EXTREMELY interesting since I tend to analyze every performance this way…
It’s always been this way, though who sings live/has the backing track/lip-syncs changes by song and by performance etc.
In the studio mixes, 90% of SNSD’s songs have a blend of Jessica and Taeyeon (with some Seohyun and Sunny, maybe) doing the choruses/background vocals (though sometimes the bg vocals are done by non-SNSD members). That’s why you never hear Yoona/Sooyoung/etc. even though they have their mics up to their mouths whenever they’re doing it live to make it seem like all 9 are singing together.
It depends on each song with who sings live in the choruses — for instance, for HOOT promo performances, you could hear Taeyeon loudest.
Over the years, there are completely random moments where Tiffany’s mic is way too loud and a lot of times where Jessica’s mic is not loud at all.
Here are some more examples:
Jessica (my favorite) used to have somewhat of a deeper tone in her voice (now she pretty much has the highest, most feminine-sounding voice) and lipped “Ooh nal moreu janha yo” in Girls Generation whenever they sang it live. She also never does the “wae neomun neomun moreuni” speaking part live in OH!.
Here are two performances where she lipped due to being sick:
Run Devil Run (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww03fzUixYw
The Boys (2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQmqS3UmlJU
In Mr. Taxi, you never hear Yoona and Yuri sing their lines in the chorus live.
Taeyeon has had several (sick) performances where she does not sing live at all, such as:
Star Star Star (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpykZZXOr8 — neither does Yuri
Into the New World (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAq04pOcH6c
HOOT (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haQDFTWQXA4
Yoona always seems to heavily rely on her backing track to sing her solo in HOOT live.
In terms of all 9 lip-syncing, in concert they tend to sing about only 35% of the setlist live, which is mostly at the end. In the 2009/2010 and 2011/2012 tours, their solo sets weren’t live.
Sorry if this post was kind of a mess, just wanted to give some info 🙂
For me, I know SNSD don lip-sync during their live concert, thats the fact. I enjoy myself through their hard work and I knowledge their hard work, thats the fact. I agree that lip sync is not as good as singing live, however, sometime dancing and singing at the same time can be very taxing, in term of catching breath. Since the Girls are not preforming live concert, they can somehow give and take, example anyone who is not feeling well can choose to lip-sync. The rest will just continue singing live. As long as the outcome is good and not their live concert, I think lip-sync should be fine for me.
Simple… “It’s really hard to sing and dance at the same time”. This is POP music. That would be agonizing for them if they don’t have the back-ups and hear themselves lose their breath at the performance. But at some performances where they sing ballad songs, as a MUSICIAN myself I don’t like them doing lip syncs. After all you are a singer and you should do your job. But as a FAN, WTF! I DON’T CARE XD.
What MUSE did is amazing hahaha! ALL THE BANDS SHOULDN’T DO LIP SYNCS!!!
That’s really a mortal sin! \m/
Oh well, this lip syncing issue doesn’t really matter as long as you’re enjoying what you see and what you hear…
WoW!! 85 Comments!! Kudos for the Article writter..
For me this is the reason why our nine angels have splitted their main talents “TaeYeon, SeoHyun, Tiffany, Jessica and Sunny for singing” then “Yoona, Yuri, SooYoung and HyoYeon for dancing”, you can evidently notice this on most of their performance, the singers don’t move that strong compared to the dancers cause they have more parts than the dancers and vice versa the dancers give they’re all because they have less line than the singers..
Anyway this make them the Perfect Nine (Everyone Agrees, right??) ^_^
sunny’s boobs XD
i don’t expect SNSD to be good at singing live. it’s an idol group… enjoy the girls for who they are but… when people bring up stuff like “oh she is pretty good” when in reality not really…it kind of ticks me off.
they are “singers” for their image and looks (well hyoyeon might be a exception. AHHH!! hyohunnies with pitchforks!!!) …. that is exactly why SM picked them as trainees… i enjoy the mp3s of the songs, not much of a “live singing” watching type of person.
Very good evaluation.. i knew that at times some members were singing some were not, Seohyun Sica Taeyeon and Sunny are consistent in their parts but singing and dancing is something that IMO only Kpop groups can do. Look at Jason Derulo’s ‘Live’ performances, sure he’s singing but he has backup vocals plus his dance is not as intense compared to Soshi. I’ve never heard Sooyoung sing alot before so i’m not sure about her vocal prowess but i DO KNOW that Hyoyeon can sing! Just that her parts are little. Yoona has always been the centre of attention and the image of SNSD, correct me if i’m wrong but all of SNSD’s performance she ALWAYS has backup vocals when she sings/rap. i’m still a Soshi fan and always will be! Putting aside singing and dancing, they are great people to talk to cause of their bubbly personalities and respect for sunbaes/hoobaes. (i know i’m off-topic but just so ya know :p)
what you pointed out is interesting, as soon as i read a quarter of this post without seeing the author i knew it was you who wrote it. my opinion is that i dont really mind. kpop is, really, a blend of dancing, singing and looking good. when combined it is difficult and i dont blame the companies for using backing tracks or anything. its been like this all along, and for the main dancers (who usually sing during the second verse onward and/or bridge) it may be too hard for them to sing when they have focused so much on dancing. Also take into account when the mic screws up without notice, thus they place the track once they edit the video for display on the net (sica at kpop fest sydney). Nevertheless i understand where youre coming from. Great post.
we are talking about dancing and singing the same time here… its not like they are michael buble and the foo fighters where they just stand in one place and sing. they do the performance for the fans so its a good thing.
It depends on how to define them and what do you expect from them when we are discussing this topic.
From what I see, SNSD are artists – who did alot of stuff other than singing like shows, programs, hosting … etc … and because of that they can solely focus on singing and its understandable when they are not doing so good on that and therefore need to lip-sync when doing live performance to cover it up. (PS: they were better I know.)
But as a person who likes to sing, I see SNSD as singers more than other thing. I have the feeling of being cheated when I found out that they are lip-syncing. Sorry but I just have that feeling, and of course I understand that having singing and dancing both at the same time is very tiring where you can get out of breath easily. But again dont you feel this – its not an option. Its like in an exam, though you know are going to do it badly but stil cheating is not an option, no matter what. You should work harder instead of cheat during exam and you should spend more time in practising to improve your singing skills instead of lip-sync, right? I just want to listen to your singing, I dont care you are laying down, sitting or what. Dancing? I am fine if you have lesser of that, even better with it provided it didnt affect the singing part.
If you were to ask me to list out singers out there that can sing and dance at the same time – sorry I cant , I dont know any and does it matter? If you really want to make comparison then it will just get uglier. This is the expectation I have for SNSD and I really hope they can do it.
In the end of the day, SNSD are artists. The are doing alot of stuff and its not a bad thing. Just that whenever I watch their lip-syncing live performances I will just sigh.
Definitely a good post, I thought it was only me who did analyses as such on their performances. Ok moving on to what I want to share. Of course I miss Soshi’s perfs like ITNW. If only all their live perfs can be executed like so, 100% unsupported; definitely a mastery of vocal power combined with a tiring dance routine. But of course, you must consider a few factors as to why they do supported perfs:
1.) Tiring schedule- Unlike other genres as mentioned from the article. K-Pop is a round-the-clock job. They have bookings here and there, and they practically don’t end! Unlike artists from mentioned genres, they promote their album whenever it’s launched, they do tours periodically but they mostly lay low whenever they are in the process of compiling tracks for a new album. Unlike for Pop, the artists are just given songs to sings generated a workforce of more than a handful of composers. They have little or no time at all in between albums, the result? Tired vocal chords from rehearsals and live perfs.
2.) Try dancing and singing at the same time, pretty self explanatory right?
But doesn’t it just amuse you when you hear ballads from Soshi? Totally lip-sync free! Which is why I hope they get to have more live perfs of their ballads from the albums! Like, in your typical album be it a mini-album or a full one, there’s at least more than 3 ballad songs, and usually they just perform 1 ballad from that album. Oh and even worse, they just perform it once!
It makes you wonder why they won’t make the girls sing it live right? What if they sung all their ballads from an album? Let’s make “The boys” as my example. You have Vitamin, how great is your love, and Sunflower. And what did they perform live out of those 3, only how great is your live right?
Oh how I wish they sing the other two songs live as well~ Like, perform the hit single then perform a ballad or vice versa everytime they go to music shows! 😐
Let’s just get over this and accept that these girls are extremely talented and they do whatever they need to do to give their best performance =]
Watching this makes me soo happy, their vocal talent as its best
I think all the girls sing relatively well, but it’s hard to sing as well when they’re doing an intensive dance and they’re moving around a lot. They’ll get shtick for lip-syncing AND for not singing well live, so if this is the balance they like, so be it.
yoona improve alot in her singing . its not her fault if she is lip sync or being supported , maybe SMEnt didnt give her a chance to sing live but if she really choose not to sing live or being back up by master cd , who cares , well, i dont . the voice that we hear from the master cd is still her voice . well we cant expect much from her to sing eventhough she is a singer . sone should know that singing is not her specialty . not like she never sing live before . never watch running man ? you should hear when she sing jessica song naemgyun? idk . her voice is great, she can sing but not the high note ==’ but its cute when she scream her voice out during the high note . got to admit , her voice is better than me and maybe some of you who had said she cant sing or she never sing live .
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