The Cranberries "Zombie" Vocal ANALYSIS by Opera Singer. You won't believe what I heard...

[Music] welcome back to the charismatic voice I always am transparent with you and I let you know if I've heard a song before or not I have heard today's song but that hasn't stopped literally thousands of you from requesting that I do a deep dive and I gotta say after reading some more about the history of the song I am so excited to do a deep dive and also do some incredible vocal analysis on dolores's voice so without further Ado let's get to it [Music] thank you [Music] so I need to put out there I have never seen this music video before I had no idea actually that this song was about the conflict in Northern Ireland until I read some history about it and it actually it floored me I feel like it's going to have so much more impact and meaning because I know that context now um specifically I understand this was written after the Warrington bombing where there were two young boys who lost their lives in addition to other people being hurt and losing lives as well and especially knowing that the Cranberries are from Ireland and how that would have impacted them at this time I'm very excited to see where this music video goes because I understand now that this song is not just a cool vocal trick it's got so much heft and message behind it so let's go back to the beginning that's what this imagery all is about thank you [Music] foreign I've never noticed before how dark the overall tone is in the beginning of this it's even the first stuff feels hazy dark and then we get into this stuff that has a lot more aggression in the sound and it it definitely sets the tone in a way that I feel like I never appreciated until I sat down and intensely started listening to it one more time from beginning there's a lot of loss in this first sound [Music] and this feels like a husband of anger [Music] along with loss actually in that in that Melody [Music] another head hangs low times [Music] oh my gosh love what I do I love it because I am listening to this vocal now for the first time with a magnifying glass and I love the breaths that she took in there and I think in passing on a radio or when you're just hearing you're going by I've always remarked upon there's like a yodel thing that she does later that's really cool but I never noticed the soothing energy that she has beneath this soft ethereal sound it's so intense yet quiet at the same time whoa [Music] time will you slowly slowly [Music] I'm gonna go back one more time the way she tosses in this like really a tiny ornamentation that I think is coming from probably her her background with Irish music with Celtic music that's so cool but I never I always thought that that was something that was happy and here it actually it feels bitter I don't think I've ever heard that kind of ornamentation used in a better way fascinating and effective [Music] just listen one more time to those breaths in there it every way that she can while keeping it quiet it feels like she's adding intensity it's like it's a challenge how do you make it more intense while still being quiet in this way of accenting with breaths is one of the ways she's adding that intensity [Music] it's not me it's not my family it is wow [Music] wow I felt like a spring of tears and goosebumps just go across my body there whoa that's she has so much emotion and understanding this idea of it's in your head that they're they're fighting that I think there's a feeling here of this violence isn't on your doorstep so you know is it is it real um is it in your head this is so disturbing too seeing the kids with the store the swords especially as a new mom of a 15 month year old now like that's oh I can't imagine I'm actually I can't imagine I guess is the horrible thing I can't imagine this now and that doesn't even come close to the horror that some families have experienced and [Music] their guns [Music] whoa in addition the way that she says bombs twice in the lyrics I think that these lyrics are brilliant um of course we're talking about the bombing but it has to be said twice because it feels almost unbelievable I'm gonna go back and talk about some of the really cool vocal technique that she's using to create some of these sounds but I I just have to say that this vocal technique feels so much lower in importance to me than the message that she's communicating it's all about getting message across the technique can help unlock a person's ability to let that message flow though so let's talk about it um let's go back to here there's that quiet intensity foreign [Music] so already at the ends of notes she's letting her voice break and go up to a higher register this is essentially what a person does when they yodel they're working in a lower register meaning that the muscles that are functioning and the larynx to create a sound so right you have your vocal folds that go waka waka waka and sometimes you have your thyro retinoid which it will sometimes shorten that to be ta sometimes that is more dominant sometimes the cricothyroids are more dominant in the sound so we'll often talk about TA or CT dominant sound and whichever one is more dominant will determine which vocal register a person is in if they're in a lower register you'll usually have a sound that is more condensed and heavy and maybe intense though she demonstrated in the very first sound which was quiet and CT dominant that lighter sound that you can have amazing intensity in that higher register so what's happening is there's a little break a little flip at the end of her notes here where she's going from a lower heavier sound to a lighter sound and really emphasizing that switch a lot of people will avoid that switch they'll try to smooth things out a lot of classical technique aims to smooth those things out but if you lean into it sometimes it sounds like crying or weeping and I think that's what she's meaning to do here so let's go back a little bit notice it actually creep in kind of slowly and quietly at first [Music] and right there is really interesting because when she goes up to fight she actually goes to a higher lightness oh let's go back just a little bit [Music] so she goes up flips into a head voice essentially and then comes back down to what some people will call a full chest voice some people call that mix the point is heavier lighter mechanism so she flips into it and then does a flip directly right out of it she's basically playing with these vocal registers back and forth back and forth to create more expression and more meaning behind her message [Music] it's really truly like yodeling I love the way she does it so smoothly there so it sounds like a cry it's it's really it's just so expressive and unique at the same time I don't think people cry in the same way ever so having something that is so distinct and authentic to me as a part of a cry is really gorgeous [Music] [Music] wow I never realized that she added Distortion again in passing this is this is also what good headphones can supply is listening to that plethora of emotion she's got behind it the Distortion is uh it's powerful with while being rather light at the same time and then the way that that she's flipping up so much it feels so impassioned that's fascinating to me this is this is the part that I've remarked upon before is the way she just keeps playing with the word zombie and then goes essentially to create that yodel afterwards stop it [Music] and just so we're really really super clear she's continuing with that vocal flipping mechanism where it's going between a TA dominant and a CT dominant sound and she's really specific with it she's being very deliberate and accurate with the note she's hitting on both the bottom and the top end which is something you have to learn how to do in control I'm guessing that that was included some in her upbringing and the sound that she probably I think there's a lot of Celtic music I think so around her when she was growing up so I'm guessing that that comes from there but it might just be something that she explored and practiced on her own [Music] oh foreign [Music] I didn't know she played an instrument too until this moment until first seeing her with a guitar in this video that's pretty awesome it's also gut-wrenching to see the kids playing with swords and violence here I mean I allow my one-year-old to play with a foam Shard blade because I love that fantasy series but it's there's a very big distinction between growing up around war and knowing that it's going to be something very real for them and and uh cosplay and pretending that we're elves right a very very big difference and seeing them play with that and having that other gun in view is just oh that's heart-wrenching [Music] is breaking heart of days [Music] whoa gosh her intensity in that quiet part is amazing even the way she doesn't offset meaning the way she she gets off of that note you can see that there's a snarl in her lips in the music video here but you can hear that sound there's Fury in the quiet [Music] wow [Music] [Music] they are dying wow I never never understood how much emotion she had whoa oh and she's actually singing in a fairly limited range too right again I've said this on this channel before in many many videos you do not have to have a huge range to have a superb voice it's all about the emotion all about bringing that through your sound to another person that is where great music is made and this is this is great oh my gosh I hadn't I had no idea thank you to everyone who has been suggesting that I go back and analyze this because wow this is amazing I'm gonna go back one more time I'll probably pause a couple moments and talk about incredibleness [Music] so [Music] this has got so much emotion behind it but it's funneling through the same area of residence which is partly why her voice is cutting even when it's quiet she has focus on her sound she's focusing it really and this mask kind of region taken over that's such an amazing sound again [Music] so I love the way she went from that much quieter lighter sound and has been adding and more of that dense sound again that has to do with that muscle balance a lot of singers aren't aware of those muscles doing different things in their throat there aren't many nerve endings down there that make us really feel that but we can feel the way it shifts in this sound and we can go for that sensation and say instead of Airy I'm going to have something that feels more laser-like in the focus [Music] [Music] hey y'all hey [Music] [Music] oh sorry my involuntary finger spasm because it's like it just was playing on Heartstrings um I wanted to talk a little bit about the sound that she's making here but at the same time I'm just having like overflowing emotions seeing the kids in their play fighting um she is not actually making a loud sound I always had a perception of her before as really belting this part out she's adding some Distortion to it I think that we've added some extras of her in the production but she's not singing super super loudly I I would be surprised you know it if she's saying without a mic it would honestly feel like a very medium kind of volume I think at this point and that's good that's uh it's really really healthy it can be good to sing loud with lots and lots of endurance you've built up but you don't have to do that in fact it can even be healthier long term if you never give 100 if you're always giving 80 percent and then you build that up with the instrumental bass behind and adding adding more layers adding some Distortion adding some focus in this sound it's more about the tone and the feel of everything else around accompanied by some in the voice but that whole feeling together is what gives us that really heavy uh overall Timbre of the chorus [Music] foreign [Applause] oh I never noticed that before she actually does a little bit of a bleeding vibrato meaning she's essentially not having the standard sort of Western vibrato that tends to be more periodic relaxation of muscles but there's sort of an extra layer of like ear Puffs that are happening with that bleeding vibrato a little extra glottal attack [Music] right there interesting wow [Music] this music video is so effective just shout out to the team that put this together wow it's seeing even moments where she has her head putting her hands around it like there's a huge headache these kids this mixture of innocence and violence is just shocking tons of imagery everywhere that Cuts straight through me [Music] there's that loss again in the instrumental sound [Music] oh my gosh like high floodgates wow the direction of the kid and the smell of screaming oh my gosh really heartbreaking [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] I am drinking some tea because you guys were completely correct I did need to go back and analyze this and it was shaking it is I am uh I feel drenched with just emotion pouring out oh my gosh what an incredible music video and song and thank you so much for suggesting it from the bottom of my heart I have grown hugely in appreciation for The Cranberries in this song So cheers to all of you thank you so much if you want some really more emotional breakdowns and Analysis check out this playlist over here and may you like me fall more in love with music every day foreign

Channel: The Charismatic Voice

Views: 901,618

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Id: 58zoBu1VZog

Length: 26min 30sec (1590 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023