Loren Allred

[starry_haze]

Yesterday, on one of my daily YouTube runs, I stumbled on Loren Allred, one of those artists who is so talented that she reminds me of why I visit YouTube and watch American Idol in the first place-the desire to listen to pure, undiscovered talent. I am not easily impressed, but I have to say without reservation: this girl is AMAZING! Not only does she have the best voice I've heard in ages, she actually reaches that rare status of being above critique for me, and that is a huge compliment from me. Really. Listening to her sing is extremely inspiring to me-so inspiring that I felt compelled to write an entry sharing and explaining her awesomeness.

The video I cannot stop watching is "Listen":

My other favorites from her (in no particular order) are "Vision of Love," "Ain't No Other Man, and "Where Are You Christmas?" but I honestly ended up saving all of her videos.

Reasons why Loren is awesome:

1. She has incredible artistic instinct. I love the authentic lived-in soulful quality to her voice and her distinctive phrasing. Her voice doesn't sound manicured or overly coached; there's still this "raw and untamed" quality to it. Her technique is stellar, which allows her to transition beautifully between different coordinations and levels of compression. Her runs are very tastefully done, and this is what amazes me the most-even when she does Christina's runs or Mariah's runs, she never sounds like a copycat. She puts her own unique stamp and twist on these songs, and that is incredibly difficult to do. Some singers spend a lifetime trying to find their "artistic identity"; the fact that she already has one is especially remarkable considering her age. At her age (my age), most singers sound like (1) imitations or wannabe versions of their favorite artists or (2) bland generic voices with no distinguishing characteristics. The latter are blank slates-the types of voices you wouldn't be able to recognize when you hear them on the radio. Crafting a sound that's uniquely you-developing that level of artistry is the difference between a singer and a superstar-good and amazing. There are vocalists with competent technique... and there are complete artists. Loren is as complete of an artist as I've ever seen, and she communicates emotion breathtakingly.
   
2. She is fearless. I love that she's not scared of how big her voice is! She doesn't flinch when approaching her high notes and hits them with startlingly precise intonation and fullness. Big-voiced singers like her tend to hold back and switch to head voice on high notes, or alternatively, they slide into big notes. Loren just hits them full on, like bam! Incredible. She shows no hesitation, yet she doesn't try too hard. I'm super impressed by her understanding of airflow-she knows how to back off of notes and still sing them fully, and that is extremely difficult. Plus, taking on Christina, Mariah, and Beyonce and succeeding? Fearlessness, for sure! She is singing songs that give sopranos a basket of heartache, and she pulls them off effortlessly. AND the kicker: she's a mezzo. Just check out her low notes on "Summertime" or "Where Are You Christmas?" if you weren't sure. Amazing vocal chops.
   
3. She is free of affectation. I love the wonderful clarity and richness of her tone. You don't hear enough people with voices this authentically dark because (1) naturally brighter voices can only achieve this color through affectations (e.g. Christina Aguilera's slightly muddy nasality) and (2) voices this dark often brighten their voices, consciously or not, by various other affectations. This point also highlights how Loren manages to sound soulful through her phrasing, her compression, and subtle tweaks (e.g. vowels) rather than affecting her tone. I strongly dislike "fake soul" where people try to sound soulful by making their tones overly heady, high-larynxed, and/or twangy because they obscure their natural vocal tones in doing so. Loren has none of those vocal habits and still manages to ooze soul. And not only that, she has a very humble, unassuming aura about her. I love that she can laugh at herself and take the music seriously at the same time. She has a commanding presence, but she projects no sense of ego or arrogance whatsoever. That simultaneous humility and self-assuredness is very hard to achieve. I mean, I know I have the stage presence of a potato. I always look meek on stage, and I just try not to look terrified out of my life(!)
   
4. She has top-notch "mind-body connection" (synergy, understanding, etc.). The best singers do not micro-manage their sound. They've simply conditioned their bodies and vocal folds so well that the body just knows. Singers with incredible connection just sing and trust their bodies (and their training)-trust that all the elements of a balanced voice will fall into place. They do not force their voices. Remember how I made a big deal about airflow and how impressed I was that Loren could back off notes with uncanny ease? The fact is that most singers do not have this ease in their voices because they're thinking too much and blowing too much air through their vocal cords. My friend Gabriel describes "vocal control"-a quality we tend to praise in the best vocalists-as an illusion. He describes the sweet spot of singing as a "razor's edge"-a place "right in between falling apart, breaking, cracking and being all exposed and pushing a tad too much. When you learn to sing here you will have 'it.'" He writes that a tremendous amount of courage, trust, and practice are required for this, and I definitely see this in Loren's singing and attitude. I love that she embraces the "imperfections" that pop in every now and then and doesn't overly control everything because those "imperfections" take on a life of their own. They're no longer flaws; they're part of her process of living the song. And that's why I say that she's above critique because singers who can make "imperfections" not be flaws are really of a distinguished caliber, indeed.

Already, after listening to her, my voice has opened up, and my phrasing has improved. That decline in technique I mentioned last entry is reversing! My voice is bigger than I can remember for a long, long time. Listening to Loren made me realize how much I'd been holding back and how scared I was of the size of my voice, and her artistry also challenged me to cultivate my own artistic identity (which is really a struggle of mine). I have to say that my voice has never been this good, and I am thrilled! I have never embraced the big, unwieldy size of my voice and had such solid mind-body connection at the same time, and I'm pushing myself to re-invent my phrasing. And it's all because of Loren.

So, listen to her, and let me know if you have any questions about singing (specifically or in general). I always love answering questions about singing; that's why I've studied so many methods of singing from classical (bel canto) to contemporary ones. Any singing question is fair game; I love analyzing clips! *pokes* =P