When it comes to Vanessa she's a pianist first and foremost, when she writes her material she writes the music first and and lyrics/melody are an after thought.
I know a lot of people who have an extremely hard time writing music in that manner, and need to write the music to suit their melody and lyrics, not write lyrics and a melody to suit the music.
Vanessa has even said that she never thought of herself as a singer, but that singing her own material is one of the most organic experiences she can bring to herself.
Which is awesome, I wouldn't have it any other way either, but she certainly doesn't have an amazing blow out your ears type of voice. Back in the Be Not Nobody days her voice was all over the place and used to be really really pitchy. It worked for some songs, but she had a hard time controlling it especially on songs like Wanted... like, that "More than you saaaay-ohohoh" she stressed towards the end of the song, hoooly crap.
And don't you guys remember Vanessa talking about having a vocal coach leading up to the recording and release of Harmonium? I forget her vocal coach's name... some girl. lol But she improved a lot with Harmonium! I mean, C'est La Vie has really awesome vocal play within it. I remember people complaining that she lost some of the emotional quality in her singing with Harmonium because she improved on her tonal quality and control. There's a double edged sword when it comes to singing, the more technically precise and perfect you become the more you lose the emotional quality in your voice. Mariah Carey is a fucking amazing singer, but she has no emotional quality in her voice because she belts everything and stresses the
way she's singing something instead of
why.
But it wouldn't hurt Vanessa to use a little more coaching, I agree, when she extends her range she borders on getting nasally, which is very easy for women to do when they use their head voice. So it's not like it's a problem only she experiences.
Well, what I'm saying is, in regards to someone who doesn't think of themselves as a singer and doesn't have much training in that aspect, I'm still very impressed with Vanessa's voice. Even now, she sounded great during the live performance of Nolita Fairytale.
