Better Vocalist: Ke$ha or Christina Aguilera?

[Deleted]

Remember to choose the artist who you think is a superior VOCALIST, not your favorite.

[Deleted]

Jeez Louise darn! how utterly rude not to include a 3rd option?

[Mack]

Honestly? Ke$ha. Christina is still capable of a solid vocal performance (see: 'Say Something'), but she does so much screaming, growling, and straining these days that her voice can be a chore to listen to at times. Ke$ha's voice is much more pleasing to the ear, particularly when she slows things down and actually sings ('Hungover', 'The Harold Song', 'Last Goodbye', the Deconstructed EP, etc.).

[Deleted]

If anyone is voting for Christina, they haven't heard her recently. In her prime, she would have taken this; but if we're talking about right now, it's so obviously Ke$ha.

[franklin]

It's Ke$ha, there isn't any debate. Anyone who thinks otherwise really is just better off deleting their account.

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

Xtina wouldn't even be able to pull of "Timber" in STUDIO in her current condition tbh.

[Gabe]

Xtina would jump off a bridge if she saw the results of this poll. LOL!

[irice22]

Wait. Christina isn't winning? I'm not well-versed on vocals. Someone explain this to me.

[irice22]

That's what I thought at first. But people are being so serious about it!

[Physical]

Jan 2, 2014 1:39:20 GMT -5 irice22 said:

That's what I thought at first. But people are being so serious about it!

Lol, I know right? I mean, yeah Christina's vocals have gotten worse since she started out, but she's still a better singer than Ke$ha. Ke$ha is pretty awful live.

[josh]

Jan 2, 2014 1:43:53 GMT -5 Physical said:

Jan 2, 2014 1:39:20 GMT -5 irice22 said:

That's what I thought at first. But people are being so serious about it!

Lol, I know right? I mean, yeah Christina's vocals have gotten worse since she started out, but she's still a better singer than Ke$ha. Ke$ha is pretty awful live.

have you ever heard her without autotune? dr. luke's plan to sabotage her career includes autotuning her to the wrong notes.

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

Jan 2, 2014 1:31:16 GMT -5 irice22 said:

Wait. Christina isn't winning? I'm not well-versed on vocals. Someone explain this to me.

Jan 2, 2014 1:43:53 GMT -5 Physical said:

Lol, I know right? I mean, yeah Christina's vocals have gotten worse since she started out, but she's still a better singer than Ke$ha. Ke$ha is pretty awful live.

Don't speak of things of which you have no knowledge.

[think pink.]

Ooooh what I miss! Lemme perch right in this thread.

[Deleted]

Who's the better vocalist now? Ke$ha....

I swear the Xtine stans still live in 1999 with the Brit stans.

[Grün]

Both are nothing amazing.

However, I choose the one who doesn't oversing and who has an okay/alright voice that is muddled down by autotune.

[die Lotterie]

KeSha!!!!

[Physical]

Jan 2, 2014 1:56:19 GMT -5 Fat Ass Kelly Price said:

Jan 2, 2014 1:31:16 GMT -5 irice22 said:

Wait. Christina isn't winning? I'm not well-versed on vocals. Someone explain this to me.

Jan 2, 2014 1:43:53 GMT -5 Physical said:

Lol, I know right? I mean, yeah Christina's vocals have gotten worse since she started out, but she's still a better singer than Ke$ha. Ke$ha is pretty awful live.

Don't speak of things of which you have no knowledge.

Look, I know it's the cool thing to hate on Christina on this board, but there's no denying that she just has a more naturally talented voice. Even going by their most recent performances on award shows, Christina's vocals on "Say Something" at the AMA's were better than Ke$ha's on "Timber" on the same award show. Ke$ha always comes off flat live. Christina just has a better natural tone and she has a stronger voice, even today IMO. But to each his own.

[Deleted]

Physical, I'm personally not denying Christina has talent or that she was a f**king beast in her prime, but I genuinely think Ke$ha takes this. That's not even subscribing to the "lol Xtine" thing. Never really subscribed to it outside of a few Britney Spears joke polls because obviously. To be honest, I don't think the posters here arguing for Ke$ha ever did either.
--

Range: Christina has this, on her good days at least. Remember the performance on The Voice with Cee Lo Green where whatever that was happened though? I'm not too familiar with Ke$ha's highs and lows, but I don't believe she's ever showcased her capabilities. 

Tone: This is more of a preference, but Ke$ha's tone is far more interesting. It's funny, because half of the time people claim she's using "autotune" (vocal manipulation, autotune is a program), that's just her voice.

Control: Ke$ha. The Christina does runs. Cool. Ke$ha can make hers f**king flutter and s**t like a f**king swan or some kinda fuckery we ain't yet known. See the autotune comment above. She's also got a lot more variety in her voice.

Consistency: both are fairly inconsistent live. It's foolish to say that Christina's one good performance at the AMAs automatically makes up for the MANY offenses on humanity she's committed in past years. I'm not saying K$ is particularly good here either.

I just think that the same point you're making about Christina can be made about Ke$ha. People just like to undermine them both. Particularly Ke$ha, because she's marketed as someone you shouldn't take seriously (why?!).

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

Jan 2, 2014 3:34:34 GMT -5 Physical said:

Jan 2, 2014 1:56:19 GMT -5 Fat Ass Kelly Price said:

Don't speak of things of which you have no knowledge.

Look, I know it's the cool thing to hate on Christina on this board, but there's no denying that she just has a more naturally talented voice. Even going by their most recent performances on award shows, Christina's vocals on "Say Something" at the AMA's were better than Ke$ha's on "Timber" on the same award show. Ke$ha always comes off flat live. Christina just has a better natural tone and she has a stronger voice, even today IMO. But to each his own.

None of what you mentioned is relevant to a person's capabilities as a vocalist. "A more naturally talented voice." Ok. That means nothing if her technique is so bad that she's straining every time she sings. "Stronger voice." That literally is an empty phrase. Stronger in what way? "Better natural tone." Again. Means nothing. That's subjective as hell.

The facts of the matter is that Xtina lacks clarity; her vocals are a jumble of gargled, incomprehensible notes. She has terrible technique. She lacks resonance. Her belts are mostly hollow yelling tbh. Her intonation has suffered; her pitch is often all over the place. She strains so much. Embarrassingly so. She strains on notes that aren't even in the fifth octave. That's embarrassing for a soprano. And the she lacks consistency. She lacks control and musicianship. Her runs typically falter whether in pitch or connection. And people choose to ignore the obvious studio manipulation on many of Xtina'd upper belts.

I'm not saying Ke$ha is an amazing vocalist, but she's better than Xtina at this point. She rarely strains. She can still comfortably access fifth octave notes. She has better intonation. Ke$ha has more range and talent than she's given credit. She has more control also. She knows her voice and how to make it sound it's best.

And your AMA comparison doesn't work IMO. The backing track was far too loud on the Timber performance. Yet, Ke$ha still delivered a decent vocal. In addition, cherry picking one performance isn't the most effective way of evaluating this comparison.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Jan 2, 2014 3:34:34 GMT -5 Physical said:

Look, I know it's the cool thing to hate on Christina on this board, but there's no denying that she just has a more naturally talented voice. Even going by their most recent performances on award shows, Christina's vocals on "Say Something" at the AMA's were better than Ke$ha's on "Timber" on the same award show. Ke$ha always comes off flat live. Christina just has a better natural tone and she has a stronger voice, even today IMO. But to each his own.

I don't listen to enough Ke$ha to justify voting in this poll fairly (so I'm not going to) but a stronger voice and natural tone doesn't mean she's a better singer. Christina has had songs where she's knocked it out of the park but for the most part, she sabotages herself by oversinging, resulting in an unpleasant result. Re: her Xmas album and a select number of singles from her recent albums. While I'd still place her above Jessica Simpson when it comes to control, she still stands far behind most singers, including those who don't have her range or abilities.

Just because Christina has range and ability, doesn't mean she has to let loose every time she opens her mouth. The best thing she can learn these days is less is more. That's why Say Something is doing so well for her.

[Envoirment]

I think Christina. I prefer her tone when she doesn't oversing and also connect with her more at an emotional level. Ke$ha is alright though.

[kc98]

Honestly I much prefer Ke$ha's voice and I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

[ClevelandRox]

$$$$$$$$$$ > screaming

[smiley22]

I voted for Christina.

Kesha

[Physical]

Jan 2, 2014 11:21:14 GMT -5 Fat Ass Kelly Price said:

Jan 2, 2014 3:34:34 GMT -5 Physical said:

Look, I know it's the cool thing to hate on Christina on this board, but there's no denying that she just has a more naturally talented voice. Even going by their most recent performances on award shows, Christina's vocals on "Say Something" at the AMA's were better than Ke$ha's on "Timber" on the same award show. Ke$ha always comes off flat live. Christina just has a better natural tone and she has a stronger voice, even today IMO. But to each his own.

None of what you mentioned is relevant to a person's capabilities as a vocalist. "A more naturally talented voice." Ok. That means nothing if her technique is so bad that she's straining every time she sings. "Stronger voice." That literally is an empty phrase. Stronger in what way? "Better natural tone." Again. Means nothing. That's subjective as hell.

The facts of the matter is that Xtina lacks clarity; her vocals are a jumble of gargled, incomprehensible notes. She has terrible technique. She lacks resonance. Her belts are mostly hollow yelling tbh. Her intonation has suffered; her pitch is often all over the place. She strains so much. Embarrassingly so. She strains on notes that aren't even in the fifth octave. That's embarrassing for a soprano. And the she lacks consistency. She lacks control and musicianship. Her runs typically falter whether in pitch or connection. And people choose to ignore the obvious studio manipulation on many of Xtina'd upper belts.

I'm not saying Ke$ha is an amazing vocalist, but she's better than Xtina at this point. She rarely strains. She can still comfortably access fifth octave notes. She has better intonation. Ke$ha has more range and talent than she's given credit. She has more control also. She knows her voice and how to make it sound it's best.

And your AMA comparison doesn't work IMO. The backing track was far too loud on the Timber performance. Yet, Ke$ha still delivered a decent vocal. In addition, cherry picking one performance isn't the most effective way of evaluating this comparison.

I guess I just never saw Ke$ha as much of a singer. She has catchy songs, but I haven't heard a song from where she's showcases her full vocal techniques. I'm not familiar with her discography, but what songs does she have where she is able to access fifth octave notes? I don't think I've ever heard one. I dunno, to me, Christina has something special in her voice, that not many singers have. I'm not even really a big fan of her, but there's no denying that she's a great singer, even though her voice has diminished over the years. I can also bet you that if you were to ask a random person off the street who the better singer was, 99.9% of them would say Christina Aguilera. Sure she's had a few misfire vocal performances, but she's had a lot more great ones that people actually remember. Even "Do What U Want" and "We Remain" on the The Voice recently were pretty good performances from Christina, and I doubt Ke$ha would be able to pull off vocals like that in those songs.

[Deleted]

Christina's voice is shot to Hell, but I don't like Ke$ha's tone (autotuned or otherwise). I abstain.

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

Ke$ha accesses fifth octave notes (with more ease) in most of her songs, including singles - Die Young (particularly the chorus), C'mon (particularly the bridge), Crazy Kids (particularly the bridge), Timber (particularly the adlibs near the end), and album tracks - Warrior, I Only Wanna Dance With You, Thinking of You, Dirty Love, and so forth.

The public knows nothing about vocals, so that means nothing.

No comment on Xtina's The Voice performances.

I will say that in the range of notes Xtina can now sing competently live (F3-B4), Ke$ha is as competent within the same range.

[Deleted]

Jan 2, 2014 15:32:15 GMT -5 Physical said:

I can also bet you that if you were to ask a random person off the street who the better singer was, 99.9% of them would say Christina Aguilera.

Well yeah, but they'd be saying it for the same two reasons you are - one, you are conceding that you are not familiar with Ke$ha's discography (and thus, presumably not familiar with her live performances outside of a couple of award shows). And two, you are basically giving Christina points for something she used to have and occasionally still shows flashes of, but not focusing on what she has now - but that is not entirely your fault. If it was Christina vs. Beyonce or Christina v. Kelly or Christina vs. Adele, Christina would probably still keep it close to 50%, if not actually pull ahead and win over one or more of them, b/c most random people off the street don't hang around on Youtube all the time watching vocal range videos or comparing live performances, thus allowing Christina's entire image to be successfully built off her publicist's Houdini act of convincing these people of her level of talent long after proof of that particular level of talent has dissipated.

So the random person off the street thing doesn't really work b/c random people more often than not don't know what the hell they're talking about. (No offense to any random people off the street you may know and love.) And besides, the poll doesn't ask about public perception, nor is it a "Christina in 2006 vs. Ke$ha in 2014" poll. It's about Christina in 2014 vs. Ke$ha in 2014. It asks who is the better vocalist, which for a fully accurate assessment requires one to do more research than normal; if you're basing your answer off a surface impression of the two, you're basically giving an uninformed opinion.

That said, I have no dog in this fight myself. I haven't voted in the poll b/c I honestly am not familiar enough with Ke$ha's live performances yet either, though I am familiar with both of her albums. Based on that, Ke$ha does not have songs that show much range at all and her power is about average; that doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't have range or power, just that her music has thus far not required it and isn't a good starting point to make a comparison. (and just for clarification the fifth octave is mid-range for most female pop singers so it's not preposterous to say that Ke$ha can reach those notes.) I believe she has some pre-Tik Tok and unreleased stuff that some people in this thread are familiar with and they're probably basing at least part of their opinions on that. I do think Ke$ha has a really interesting and unique tone, but I concede it's quite polarizing. Christina's tone often sounds forced and dare I say, downright ugly when she goes too hard for the power notes, but when she holds back it's quite lovely. It's not often that I hear her screw up a ballad. The problem is that she has such a hard time holding back even a little bit, and because her technique is so shoddy that means when she goes off the rails there are a lot of bum notes to go along with the forced tone. Christina's level of consistency is maybe two steps above Katy Perry at this point (tbh their belting range is about the same too so uh, the fact that I could start a Xtina vs. Katy poll right now and make a somewhat valid argument for Ms. Perry is problematic to say the least). Christina has enough apparent flaws that I'm not willing to hand it over to her by default. She has a lot of potential, probably more than Ke$ha could ever dream of, but much of that potential post-Stripped has remained unrealized.

[Sir Benji]

Xtina has the better voice, and when she sings properly she still sounds really great. She has been inconsistent lately but some of her most recent performances have sounded good (except for DWYW).

Ke$ha uses proper technique most of the time, and her tone is pleasant but she doesn't display much range (live), and uses way too much auto-tune.

Even though Ke$ha is not a terrible or even a below average singer she still isn't a superior vocalist when compared to Xtina (even in her current state) imho.

[Physical]

Jan 2, 2014 16:33:33 GMT -5 @antigonerising said:

Jan 2, 2014 15:32:15 GMT -5 Physical said:

I can also bet you that if you were to ask a random person off the street who the better singer was, 99.9% of them would say Christina Aguilera.

Well yeah, but they'd be saying it for the same two reasons you are - one, you are conceding that you are not familiar with Ke$ha's discography (and thus, presumably not familiar with her live performances outside of a couple of award shows). And two, you are basically giving Christina points for something she used to have and occasionally still shows flashes of, but not focusing on what she has now - but that is not entirely your fault. If it was Christina vs. Beyonce or Christina v. Kelly or Christina vs. Adele, Christina would probably still keep it close to 50%, if not actually pull ahead and win over one or more of them, b/c most random people off the street don't hang around on Youtube all the time watching vocal range videos or comparing live performances, thus allowing Christina's entire image to be successfully built off her publicist's Houdini act of convincing these people of her level of talent long after proof of that particular level of talent has dissipated.

So the random person off the street thing doesn't really work b/c random people more often than not don't know what the hell they're talking about. (No offense to any random people off the street you may know and love.) And besides, the poll doesn't ask about public perception, nor is it a "Christina in 2006 vs. Ke$ha in 2014" poll. It's about Christina in 2014 vs. Ke$ha in 2014. It asks who is the better vocalist, which for a fully accurate assessment requires one to do more research than normal; if you're basing your answer off a surface impression of the two, you're basically giving an uninformed opinion.

That said, I have no dog in this fight myself. I haven't voted in the poll b/c I honestly am not familiar enough with Ke$ha's live performances yet either, though I am familiar with both of her albums. Based on that, Ke$ha does not have songs that show much range at all and her power is about average; that doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't have range or power, just that her music has thus far not required it and isn't a good starting point to make a comparison. (and just for clarification the fifth octave is mid-range for most female pop singers so it's not preposterous to say that Ke$ha can reach those notes.) I believe she has some pre-Tik Tok and unreleased stuff that some people in this thread are familiar with and they're probably basing at least part of their opinions on that. I do think Ke$ha has a really interesting and unique tone, but I concede it's quite polarizing. Christina's tone often sounds forced and dare I say, downright ugly when she goes too hard for the power notes, but when she holds back it's quite lovely. It's not often that I hear her screw up a ballad. The problem is that she has such a hard time holding back even a little bit, and because her technique is so shoddy that means when she goes off the rails there are a lot of bum notes to go along with the forced tone. Christina's level of consistency is maybe two steps above Katy Perry at this point (tbh their belting range is about the same too so uh, the fact that I could start a Xtina vs. Katy poll right now and make a somewhat valid argument for Ms. Perry is problematic to say the least). Christina has enough apparent flaws that I'm not willing to hand it over to her by default. She has a lot of potential, probably more than Ke$ha could ever dream of, but much of that potential post-Stripped has remained unrealized.

^Let's not compare Christina to Katy Perry lol. At least Christina sounds half-decent live and can hold a note without sounding off-key. But yeah I guess I just need to hear some of Ke$ha's songs that showcase her vocals. I just never listen to a Ke$ha song and think of how great the vocals are. Her music is mostly aimed to be fun party music. I guess I'll have to pay more attention to her vocals from now on.