Jessie J Vs Christina Aguilera: Which is the Queen Of The Vocal Run?

Click on either to go to their vocal profile!

Melisma can be an impressive and beautiful touch to a vocal line, when used with musicality and intelligence. It can of course be a force for evil too, destroying lives and homes when used excessively. The problem is, what is considered too much to some can be not enough for others. This is the power of subjective taste.

Two Divas that call upon this skill more so than most are Brit Jessie J and Yank Christina Aguilera. In fact, so often are they heard riffing and running, that the technique has pretty much become synonymous with them and their delivery style.

However, which is the Queen of the skill*? Jessie has been shown to use her melisma more accurately and more inventively. However Christina is no slouch, arguably having influenced a generation with her own brand of multi-octave stretching melisma.

VOTE AND COMMENT!

And just for fun, here's how the Vocal Trinity- Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston- who undoubtedly influenced both Jessie and Christina, handle a little bit of ornamentation.

*It's hyperbole. Let's not lose our minds.