With a light-lyric Soprano in the 4 octave range and a note, Ariana Grande’s vocal rating is said to be an A-List. Recommended listening in this regard therefore, are her songs Emotions and The Way. I think it is safe to consider Ariana as a vocal actress, being able to mimic the tones and voices of Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion. Her lower register, however, is often weak and inconsistent, due to—according to one critic—her high tessitura and breath support issues, yet she is relatively strong for a soprano, supporting down to F#3 and extending to D3.
She achieves her belts, as it were, through mixing, stretched up to Bb5's successfully. Grande also has no issue staying in the soprano tessitura for extended periods of time. If you watch her live performances of Break Free, Dangerous Woman and Focus you’ll get the picture. She has an extensive belting register as a whole and reaches up to an impressive B5, capable of complex, fast melismas as clearly evident in Hands on Me and Problem. She also has a rolling vibrato that can be heard in belts up to G#5 and as low as Bb3.
Her falsetto area is light and sweet, and is also where Ariana’s voice finds its ring, as it were, with a bright and healthy tone up to Eb6.
Ariana Grande’s whistle tone is undoubtedly piercing, and her whistles don't have disconnected tones attached to them. If you listen to her song Emotions, you’ll note that she is able to sing vocal runs in this register.
As you’d probably be well aware, there are no positives without the negatives. Of her own admission, her mixed belts generally lack power and the whistle register is not controlled. Her slightly nasal and feminine tone is also polarizing. Her diction, noted in 2013 as being unpolished, left her lyrics incomprehensible at points as you’ll see in the bridge of Break Free, and this is mainly due to tongue tension. Another thing about Grande, according to a music critic, is that she also over activates muscles in her jaw – mostly while singing runs – thereby furthering this tongue tension, which in turn changes the positioning of the larynx. That being said, again, according to a music critic, intonation live has proven to be a problem at points (around 2013), and the lower register sounded unsupported in most instances. Her support—it has been said, is also inconsistent, ranging from around G3-C#5. Above C#5 she raises her larynx.
I hope you enjoyed this interesting piece on Ariana Grande's AMAZING vocal range.
JOETT -- Author: "Letters from a Vocal Coach"
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