Jer Lau's《Diary of a Madman》Song Appreciation｜3 octaves vocal range
The concert of the Boy's group "Mirror'" will be held tomorrow. One of the member, Jer Lau has just released his 4th single "Diary of a Madman".
《Video Version》
《Text Version》
Introduction of〈Diary of a Madman〉
<Diary of a Madman> is Part One of "Reborn trilogy" series. It is far too different in style compared to the "Story series”. The genre of "Diary of a Madman" belongs to "progressive rock" style. Synthesiser is mostly used in the arrangement.
When the singer performs, he need to deliver the message of the lyrics and match the genre of the song. You may not know that the vocal range of this song covers 22 tones, i.e. in a 3-octaves vocal range, which is a very difficult song. Let's appreciate how Jer perform in different part of this song.
<Verse 1>
In verse 1, it's similar to most of the pop songs. The vocal range of both lead and backing vocal are within the chest register. Jer Lau sings it softly, with a bit psychedelic feel to express the meaning of lyrics (Demo in video version: singing with psychedelic feel ~). Even though not watching the music video, you can still have that psychedelic feel 😊
<Pre-chorus 1>
In this part, Jer is not only singing in his chest register, he also start singing in his chest dominant mix. And he sang these 3 words "星閃閃" in falsetto. When we sing in falsetto, our vocal folds are not closing sufficiently. So that only the edge of the vocal folds will vibrate. The voice will become softer, not firm (Demo in video version: singing "星閃閃" in both falsetto and mix voice. The function of falsetto is primarily as an ornament of a song and in this phrase. Jer sang the last 3 words in this part with a brassy tone (Demo in brassy tone in video version). That is similar to the vibrant effect of the brass instruments in an orchestra, really matching the meaning of lyrics.
<Chorus 1>
In fact, Jer Lau and the composer, Wu Lin Feng both sang the backing vocal part as well. In chorus 1, all the backing vocal are sung in falsetto. When singing lead vocal, Jer sang in chest register, chest dominant mix and falsetto. The connection is pretty nice among different vocal registers. And the last word of the last phrase is sustained in falsetto, backing up the part sung by backing vocalists (Demo in video version) That sustained note was sung beautifully.
<Pre-chorus 2>
This is the most difficult part of the song. In pre-chorus 2, there's the highest note G#5
And it's an interval of an octave (from G#4 to G#5) Ha ~ Ah ~ (demo in video version). That's a huge jump from chest dominant mix to head voice, which is not so easy. The singer need to have good control of the intrinsic muscles, gradually stretching the vocal folds thin and and accelerate the vibration frequency. So that 2 notes can be connected seamlessly.
<Bridge>
Let's jump to the bridge part. This part need to have a big contrast compared to other parts. All the way going back to silence. Both background music and vocal are becoming soft. As they want to match the meaning of the lyrics. Don't know whether you can realise. When Jer sang this part, there’s some sound like a whistle or musical instrument at the back. Actually those are human voice. You can see that Michael Lai is responsible for throat singing in this song. Throat singing/overtone singing is originated from a Mongolian singing technique. The vocalist will control his/her tongue and embouchure and the vocal tract muscles to sing 2 notes simultaneously. Michael Lai hide behind the fundamental note, just let you hear the higher note.
<Post-chorus 2>
This part is mainly sung by backing vocalists. Jer only sang the last word when he act as lead vocalist. But it's worth to note that this last word is not only sung in one single sustain note (Demo singing in one single sustained note in video version). Instead, he sang in 3 notes (Demo in video version). The note names are "La Do Re”. Giving you a feeling of "to be continued"
As most songs will not end with a "Re" note, it implies that the Part 2 of "Reborn trilogy" series will be released soon. But we certainly don't know the song name yet.
<Wrap Up>
To wrap up, the whole music team members are very strong. Including the arranger and producer "Carl Wong”, lyricist 小克, composer "Wu Lin Feng”. And other than Jer's excellent vocal techniques, the most important thing is that he can deliver the message of the song. Not too many people can do so. If you have bought the tickets of Mirror's concert and all the fans of Jer Lau, you might look forward to Jer's live performance of this song.
Hope that after you have watched this video. You can enjoy this song in a more in-depth perspective !
