Ten Million Words* About Pop Vocal Delivery (And Nick Jonas’ “Jealous”)
A while back, someone asked me what exactly I meant by “nuanced”…
A while back on the internet, I mentioned that I liked Nick Jonas’ nuanced vocal delivery on “Jealous,” and someone asked me what exactly I meant by “nuanced.”
This is a good question! Nuanced is kind of a slippery term — and of course, on the internet, no one knows you’re a dog. Or, in my case, a professional karaoke transcriber. Pop vocal performance is one of my all-time favorite topics, so let’s really get into it.
Jonas does a million little things on “Jealous,” which elevate the track in a million little ways, and I think it’s worth noting them in detail — specifically because of their littleness. Like zooming up-close on an oil painting to see the ridges and swirls of the brushwork, these tiny musical gestures blend together to produce a solid-gold pop banger.
But in order to do this, we should start by breaking down the general features of vocal performance so we can have a shared frame of reference.
If you’ve ever sung in a choir or taken voice lessons, some or most of this will be familiar — but these topics aren’t usually approached with an eye toward the odd particulars of pop.
