Ava Rose Paul

Comp/Contrast
10/18/19

Georgia On My Mind

Ray Charles:
Such a smooth and dimensional voice. I love how he takes his time and there is a clear ease to
this song. It’s nice how he says what he wants. For example, “I said a…Georgia.” He solely uses
his chest voice and never enters his head voice. He doesn’t hold out the notes for as long as I
would think. It’s almost as if he’s talking about it. His little riff at the end he used a little vibrato.
I like how he places mind, like “meeyyynd.” This is such a longing and dreamy way of singing
it, classic.

Michael Bublé:
Talk about smooth! The first “whole-day-through” he added a syncopated rhythm, very
interesting. I melt listening to this version, I will listen to this all day. I can hear the resonate in
his skull and he makes it sound so effortlessly. It’s funny, he barely uses vibrato, just straight
beautiful tunes. The last “Georgia” he sings full out and takes it up in key, sounds awesome; I
did this too, during my audition for A1s. Great singers, think a like? Even of the last word,
“mind” he sings it in a higher key, just like Priscilla, but of course without all the fantastic runs.
This is my favorite version thus far, so glad I listened to it.

Michael Bolton:
Sounds like his placement is in the back of his throat, I can hear the wear and tear of his voice.
However, I think it’s very fitting for this song. I can see his version of Georgia, he’s crying out to
it. Very different than what I’ve listened to so far. He spends most of the song in a higher key.
He almost does a whistle tone on “see.” He really belts it out the best that he can, it may not be
perfect but I can feel it in my soul. It’s a little hard to listen to, because I hear him butchering his
vocal cords, that’s what it sounds like to me. The way he is singing, taking it up a step, he makes
it sounds very difficult to sing. He improves a lot on the song, which I really like. This was a
nice version, not for me, but I respect it.

Willie Nelson:
Country Georgia! He has a really interesting way of singing it. He sings it very softly, as if
talking it. I don’t get a lot of emotion from this version. Going from Bolton to this, is night and
day. He sings his “r”s very harshly, probably because of his country accent. The sound is coming
from his soft palette mostly, not a fan. I’m very bored listening to him, sorry to say, but I’m not
going to use any of the things he does.

Usher:
He hits Georgia hard, with a lot of air and force. I like starting it softly to build up to it, but that’s
me. He sings it solely as a singer, uses instant vibrato and a whole lot of runs. Sounds a little like
how I was singing it at first. He uses crescendos and decrescendos. His voice is like butter, I
must say. I like the ending, he does a lot of harmonizing notes to himself, really nice. During his
performance for a high note he pointed backwards, and that’s what I do practicing to make sure
that the placement is right. He uses his hand to try and follow the pitches of notes. It’s almost
like watching Mariah when she sings, used her hand. This was a nice version, but I didn’t feel it
so much as I did the others.

It was really nice listening to these different versions. I know what resonated a lot with
me was the emotion from the words. The words have to mean something to the singer otherwise,
why sing it? Michael Bublé wins the ticket for me because not only did he have emotion, he had
nice placement.