Vodka and Caviar

TVXQ- Xiah Junsu

(Review by a musician)
Voice Quality: ♪♪♪♪
The sexiest and hoarsest voice in TVXQ. Xiah Junsu’s strength is in being able to broaden the range of music TVXQ can do, and that is an undeniable fact.
Performance: ♪♪♪♪
Rather than saying it was an emotionally-charged performance, it is more accurate to say that it was dramatic singing. The song was also presented well, and was able to touch the audience in all areas.
Volume: ♪♪♪
Xiah Junsu has a rather quieter voice. There also is not much difference between his low and high notes. This can be seen clearly in his duet with Zhang Liyin, “Timeless”.
Overall: ♪♪♪♪
His song attracts more attention compared to “idols”. He does not do so through an extremely powerful voice, but by strengthening TVXQ’s performance in songs. Therefore, reviews will be different if he does have a solo album in future.

(Review by M.net PD)
Voice Quality: ♪♪♪♪
A falsetto was used during the higher notes, and his voice seemed to sound weaker. But his other high notes were powerful as Xiah used a voice similar to his normal singing voice. His voice is a penetrating and husky one, thus this gives him an advantage when performing SM songs and makes his voice more charming as well.
Performance: ♪♪♪.5
Although the techniques used in the various ranges of notes are very well practised, the emotional handling of the song was a little too much. Overuse of vibrato became a bad point instead.
Volume: ♪♪♪♪♪
This is more of an achievement from practise instead of a talent. A high volume is critical to achieveing a powerful voice. The ability to maintain this volume when performing a song and dancing at the same time makes the performance a lot stronger. He really did very well in this aspect.
Overall: ♪♪♪♪.5
It’d do him wrong to just call him an “idol”. He is really a good singer with a strong foundation. There is no vibration when he sings the high notes, and he does have an obvious advantage over the average singer when it comes to certain singing techniques. The performance would’ve been perfect if he could control the vibration during the more emotional parts of the song.

(Review by a singer/singing coach)
Voice Quality: ♪♪♪♪
His advantage is in that he had a long period of training, has a husky yet influential voice.
Performance: ♪♪♪♪
He has also received a lot of training in performing. A lot of planning on how to deliver the song was done. However, there was a little too much influence from SM’s impact and vibration style. It could be classified as over-expressing. Watching and learning from singers outside of the company and practising from there may be a good thing as well.
Volume: ♪♪♪♪
To a singer, singing and dancing at the same time is extremely difficult. Not only is a long period of training required, breathing control is important as well. And, the volume remains high even during the high notes.
Overall: ♪♪♪♪
There is talent as well as sufficient training, therefore the overall feeling is good. The only bad point is there was an overuse of vibration. However, changing this would be hard due to the influence of TVXQ’s music.