MH FEATURED POLL #17: Do you prefer male or female vocals in J-music?

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Definitely male, but I don't have any logic or reasoning to back it up other than most females in VK I haven't totally loved although I'm certain I haven't listened to enough females in VK to make an informed decision. However, when it comes to American rock/pop or even J-Pop/K-Pop I prefer female vocals. 

[Slsr 207]

I am very picky when it comes to male vocals in Japanese music so I guess it gotta be female vocals for me, both can be awesome though : P.

[peffy 3568]

It totally depends on the quality of the singer's voice. Doesn't really matter to me if they are male or female, as long as I think they sound good/unique/interesting...

 

...That said, I would like to hear more females in visual kei, cuz like 99% of VK bands are male-fronted. Jyou of exist trace is THE singer who got me into VK-style music in the first place (back in 2009) and I haven't been able to find another female singer like her. I've tried out a few other female-fronted bands and either I don't like their voices that much, or their sound is more power metal (one of the few genres I really don't like).

[TheStoic 176]

Initially, I would say that male vocals are preferred, but when I listened to Anza from Head Phones President and Jyou from Exist+Trace - I can't ignore that I prefer them to some male vocalists.  The bias perception for me was always driven by the fact that male vocals are hypersaturated in the VK niche I enjoy the most - with a focus on dark, hard rock and metal instrumentation.  However - when I listen to artists that feature female vocals in this style, I don't turn away from them, but usually embrace them.  However - they are just rare in the scene in comparison as stated above.

[Pretsy 1343]

I don't have a preference and don't give a fuck. I prefer fitting vocals. Doesn't matter if they're male, female, can sing or can't sing for shit. It just have to fit the music.

[evilcoconut 109]

I voted male, the majority of what I listen to is male dominated, so I guess I prefer it? I don't have anything against female vocals most of the time though, except for in Korean music 90% of the time lol.

[CAT5 9075]

While I agree with everyone on the "whatever fits" notion and don't particularly have any overbearing preferences, I've still noticed a few trends within my own taste. The most significant being that the bulk of my favorite bands all tend to be male-fronted, yet if I were to give you a list of voices that I feel a particular fondness for, they'd mostly be female (whether solo or not). So with that in mind, I've gone with female vocals.

[Des 289]

Slight preference for women's voices. Although both can be annoying or great.

 

I noticed that women in pop music have a tendency to copy the talent show-ish way of singing in which it's obligatory to alter from high to low to high to low at least six times in one line of "I love yooouououououou" as if they feel it is a necessity to showcase one's vocal range, while men in "indie" and "singer-songwriter" scenes today have a way of going all-out male drama queen and put on an act of fragility and fake emotions to camouflage their unremarkable voices in hopes that (mostly) women think this feminine side is attractive...? I hate this desire to prove skill or emotion that singers have. Stop doing that. Stop pretending you have voices like MTV's divas or sensitive baby bunnies, please.

Give me genuine voices like SYOKO's or badass ones like Demon Kogure's or get the f... out.

[enyx 903]

Generally speaking I don't have a preference. I do tend to listen to more bands with male vocalists, but I think that's just a side effect of the fact that I tend to stumble across more of them in general. Typically, the most important things for me are a band's compositional qualities; instrumental & vocal melodies, rhythmical synergy and interplay, song structures, etc. The aesthetics of the band and their range of timbres tend to be secondary to that, so the sound of a vocalist's voice doesn't tend to play a huge part in how I feel about a band unless I feel that its significantly at odds with what the band as a whole is trying to get across.

[Visutox 188]

I mainly listen to female vocalists but I don't really have a preference, as long as the artist does it right. That is to say that I don't pay attention whether it's a man or a woman but rather if I like the song or not.

[diamondAss 114]

i must say male. men tend to play around with their voice more than women in my opinion