Vocal Range: E3 – F#5 (2 octaves, 1 note)
Vocal Type: Light Lyric Soprano
Positives: A well-trained and well-used instrument that demonstrates Mitski’s care for her craft. Her acapella experience clearly influences her vocal stylings, solid sense of intonation as well as tone manipulation. Though she will occasionally push her voice to match her rock stylings (“Drunk Walk Home”), she is more known for her vocal restraint, which keeps her voice quite pristine and clear.
Her lower register is not foggy or muddy but rather nicely colored and supported. Though she could likely push below E3 if she wanted to by allowing those qualities to take over the sound, she simply chooses to only show her voice in its best light.
As she ascends, her middle register catches some slight airiness to it and is where her voice shines in its clarity (“Pink In the Night”). She rarely leaves the fourth octave, but when she chooses to do so her voice often picks up more rasp likely as a stylistic choice. Though she also chooses to sing at a moderate or soft volume, she seems comfortable when increasing it to solid belts (“Class of 2013”).
Perhaps the highlight of her instrument is her head voice and her ability to flip into it effortlessly from her chest voice (“Strawberry Blonde” and “I Don’t Smoke”). In studio and live recordings, there are no holes or breaks in the sound when transitioning from one register to the other, nor discrepancies in pitch, which demonstrates a strong technical footing.
Negatives: Mitski’s true vocal capacity seems somewhat hindered by her stylistic choices. She seems capable of more than she lets on, but her choice to only show her voice in its best light and not push it to or beyond its limits is something other musicians and vocalists could learn from.
