#so there is a tradeoff. obvs there are people that very competent at both. but those people are few and far between

[sanstropfremir]

Hi! First I wanted to say I've really been enjoying your q&a! :) So here's another one. Not sure if you have any thoughts on this since it's on the music rather than the design side, but why do some 4th gen groups only have one person sing the chorus? I thought usually members have their individual lines and then the entire group songs the chorus together. It took me so long to notice because they layer the vocals in the recordings so it sounds bigger. Only when I started watching some covers did I notice only one person is singing. Specifically I was watching the various Mirotic covers and wondering why it sounds so thin, and then once I saw I started seeing it everywhere. And 4th gen is probably not right, because Twice does it too. But why? The producers know it would sound better since they layer vocals on the actual recording version. Why not just do it in real life too, literally all the members are already there.

thank you!

well, the short answer is because no one in fouth gen can sing.

the long answer is that there's been a significant decrease in the amount of debuted idols that have good vocal technique that can be performed while dancing. certain priorities are placed by companies in terms of what type of vocal training idols get, how much training they get, what type of choreography gets chosen, and even what type of people even get cast in the first place. obviously the industry is no stranger to streetcasting a rando just for looks, but in the past, and particularly with sm, there was generally effort put in to making sure that everyone slated to debut was at least a passable vocalist, even if they were cast purely for dance. but now that the trend in the industry has shifted to being more performance forward, some companies have changed some of those priorities. you can't do the same kind of vocal work that you see in second gen performances because now the choreography is too difficult and not optimized for it. the mirotic choreo is a fantastic choreo, but if you have really strong training, it doesn't inhibit vocals like something like ateez's fireworks choreo, which actively prevents them from holding steady notes. also, most companies have made the choice to emphasize dance training because it's been proven in the last several years that group vocals and even the quality of vocals don't particularly matter to the hardcore dedicated fans. fans are going to stream anything from their faves regardless of the sound, so why bother making songs that utilize a specific type of skiill that needs specific training, when you could just not and save the time and money. it takes a lot of musical training and notably training about music (not just vocal technique) in order to sing like nct or any other sm group, which is pretty much the only company that still trains their idols with good technique. there are a couple of small groups that still keep to the old standards, like a.c.e, tan, purple kiss, and onf, but it's much less common because it's become cost inefficient.

the other reason as to why they don't do it in actual performance that often is bc singing and dancing at the same time is fucking HARD. there's a reason why vocal quality improves when people are standing still. dancing and singing both involve having to control when and where you breathe and it's very difficult to do both those things together, so in order to accomodate for the increase in difficult choreography + lack of good vocal training, it's become common practice to rely more on backing tracks or exclusive line distribution in order to take the strain off the members and allow them to focus on the choreography rather than singing.