# Male or female singers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928 "2009-02-22T07:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/1 "2009-02-22T07:24:49Z")
Do you prefer music with male or female singers, or do you have no preference (or tendency, even if you don’t consciously prefer it)? For the purposes of this thread, I mean the dominant singer, if there are both a male and a female singer, although I guess bands like The Human League with mostly equal parts would fall under “no preference”. As for me, at least 90% of the music I regularly listen to is sung either by girls only or girls with backing/supporting male vocals (think Aqua), so I have to go overwhelmingly for female. Many of the ones I like also have multiple women singing in harmony. What do you like? (Or what does the majority of the music you listen to reflect?) Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/2 "2009-02-22T07:32:50Z")
I have no preference what-so-ever. Although I like different kinds of music, I mostly listen to rock, and I wish that there were more female rockers. Most new female artists are either country, or rap/hip hop, R&B, folk, or something else, but I’d love to see a more 50/50 mix of male and female rock artists. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/3 "2009-02-22T07:44:18Z")
I’m a baritone and I like to sing along when I’m in the car. Doesn’t work well with female singers most of the time. Even if I drop an octave lower, it just sounds wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/4 "2009-02-22T08:07:46Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I’m a baritone and I like to sing along when I’m in the car. Doesn’t work well with female singers most of the time. Even if I drop an octave lower, it just sounds wrong. I’m not a baritone, but I still can’t reach a lot of the notes in music I listen to. I just get over the desire to sing along in the car, at least around other people. 😉 Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/5 "2009-02-22T13:12:47Z")
For rap, rock, and industrial music, I tend to prefer male singers. For bluegrass, folk, whatever genre “singer/songwriters” fall into nowadays, bubblegum pop, and dance genres, female singers. It’s about 50/50 for r&b. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/6 "2009-02-22T15:59:00Z")
Females, although, with a few bands, when there is some alternation, I prefer the male (e.g. Dead Can Dance and My Bloody Valentine), but in general, I like more female singers (Breeders, Tori, Kate Bush,Cocteaus, Le Mystere De Voix, Lush, Shelleyan Orphan, Jarboe, Diamanda, Natalie Merchant, Dido, Bjork…) ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/7 "2009-02-22T16:14:41Z")
Female singers. And I’m a singer-alonger, as well. But I do like men, too–I adore Lyle Lovett’s voice, and my love for Springsteen is wide and deep. But a glance at my CD collection shows women dominating. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/8 "2009-02-22T18:14:25Z")
I had a similar discussion on another board and it surprised me to realise that I do have a preference, in that the majority of my favourite music is sung by females. Whilst I probably have about a 60/40 split when it comes to female/male lead artists in my album collection, if you look at all of my top rated songs they’re nearly all female sung. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/9 "2009-02-22T18:58:36Z")
Female. Four out my five most favorite artists are women, and a woman being the vocalist is a huge selling point for me. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/10 "2009-02-22T22:16:44Z")
More than 75% of the songs I have are sung by men. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/11 "2009-02-22T23:14:34Z")
Male singers, though there’s a caveat: I like weird voices. It just seems there are more male singers with unusual voices than there are female. I like voices you can hear one word from and know who’s singing. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/12 "2009-02-22T23:17:40Z")
Usually men. I generally dislike listening to singers with high-pitched voices, which rules out a lot of female artists. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/13 "2009-02-23T01:48:11Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Usually men. I generally dislike listening to singers with high-pitched voices, which rules out a lot of female artists. I’m exactly the opposite in this. I overwhelmingly like high-pitched singers—the pitch and voice “tone” of [Ace of Base](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJwqDa1QVI), [Engelina](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQCur61zI4Q), or [CASCADA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsb5HP7Ajg) is about as low as I’ll go. And since high-pitched men definitely do _not_ sound good, that rules most male singers out unless I just particularly like the band. That’s probably also why I don’t like most black female singers, since they tend to have lower voices. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Neverender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neverender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverender)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/14 "2009-02-23T01:55:40Z")
For ‘rock’ (my main music choice), it’s gotta be male, I’m not sure if it’s the fact female rock tends to be wishy washy Avril Lavigne type wankery, but I just don’t think they have enough (not sure how to explain this but) ‘impact’ with their voices. I like female vocalists for ballad-y type music though, even prefer 'em over males for some stuff, but I would say, taking music as a whole, because i like to sing along, I prefer males. On another note (pun intended, though it’s a crap one) I prefer female backing or second vocals. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/15 "2009-02-23T02:50:55Z")
I have no preference between the genders, but I like my women like I like my underwater earthquakes: deep and powerful (PJ Harvey, Diamanda Galas, Lisa Gerrard, etc.). Wispy, high-pitched girly voices irritate. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/16 "2009-02-23T05:09:25Z")
No preference. Though I sing low bass, I can sing along with almost all women; just adjust the octave. And I can sing along with most men, exept pop tenors . . . I can sing along with Pavarotti (an octave lower), but not Tony Bennett or Mel Torme. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/17 "2009-02-23T05:26:08Z")
I much prefer male singers. My favorite type of music to listen to are showtunes/vocal standards and most of my favorite performers are tenors. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/18 "2009-02-23T09:33:57Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > I’m exactly the opposite in this. I overwhelmingly like high-pitched singers—the pitch and voice “tone” of [Ace of Base](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJwqDa1QVI), [Engelina](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQCur61zI4Q), or [CASCADA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsb5HP7Ajg) is about as low as I’ll go. And since high-pitched men definitely do _not_ sound good, that rules most male singers out unless I just particularly like the band. That’s probably also why I don’t like most black female singers, since they tend to have lower voices. > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris **Vox** - you should check out the music of Delerium, most of their vocal works have very lyrical female voices on them (Kirsty Thirsk being a regular in their work and her range is very high). ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/19 "2009-02-23T09:58:54Z")
For recorded music I usually go with male singers, but when visiting music festivals I make a point of seeing every female performer, even forgoing band I like for girl singers I don’t know….It is my experience that female performers just try harder then their male counterparts, I never had a female singer come on stage so stoned she could not perform\*, or turn it into a ego show letting her hip side kicks do 90% of the show, And I have a tendency to fall completely in love with live female performers \*no I have never been to a Amy Whinehouse show ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928/20 "2009-02-23T10:34:52Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > \*no I have never been to a Amy Whinehouse show I’ve been to an Amy Winehouse show. She didn’t show up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-or-female-singers/486928.md?page=2)