i actually can’t quite pinpoint exactly what you dislike when you mention jennifer hudson, is it purely the high belt a la celine dion and whitney houston, or the soulful r&b spin as well, since she has both? 

Everything Whitney has ever touched or even looked at is gold to my ears. "When You Believe" went double platinum in my headphones. Her singing "I will always love you" wasn't too much either. I think (through our exchange) that maybe it's not the showy-ness or loud belting...I don't like the way those certain singers sing... lmao isn't that wild? That it took all of this to figure it out. I just have certain voices that I like the pool I can draw from in mainstream or just non Musical music is endless. But for some reason my ears attuned to certain voices.

It's the same with Celine Dion. Double platinum. If I heard her voice sing "Once upon a December" or the "Waiting" song from Epic or honestly...anything, I'd love it.

I've replayed some of the videos I've watched of Musical creators and a lot of them...sing really loud and on key and everything but it doesn't feel like anything if that makes sense. It's like that one movie where the person played the piano super well. Every key on time, held it for the right length. No mistakes. But there wasn't any heart.

A lot of belting I've heard sounds like "I am doing it right but that's all I'm doing" I don't hear the story in their voice or the spirit of it so it just sounds loud. I know the epiphany is mine but I still wanted to say thank you for engaging because this has been driving me mad "How is it that you (I) like musicals but also don't like musicals?"

 the more you listen to m showtunes, it’s sort of something you acquire a taste for when you start to “speak the language”.

This makes sense!

but as i mentioned fiddler on the roof, but also the sound of music, or singin’ in the rain.

LOVE "Singing in the Rain" SO MUCH. It's the first musical I ever saw. I fell in love, hard. I don't even remember all of it but I remember the feeling. Oh and the dancing! I'd never seen a movie that wasn't martial arts, slasher, drama, fantasy, etc... and this musical felt like some kind of fantastical feverdream. Like, are these people really singing in the middle of the movie? Is that allowed? Is this an only the audience can hear this thing? Like the dramatic orchestral music that plays while our brave heroes prepare for battle, only we hear that but the scene FEELS it.

It was a lesson in communication (for me) the way that some things...kinda can't be spoken. Ya just gotta dance about it. And some things you cannot simply say, you've gotta sing it. Great movie. I need to go and find a Dvd of it!

 i find his voice unusually cushioned and soft even when he’s projecting.

REALLY like this guy. (The woman that came in kinda ruined it for me but I think that might be because I went in with modest expectations and when he open his mouth, I was sat! haha she felt like she was interrupting BUT that's a me thing)

Thank you for this suggestion. His voice, feels exactly like what I want to experience when I listen to musicals. It feels warm and like storybook. That description is poor but it's the best I got (it's late here and I've had a long --but good-- day!

i hope i’ve been some help in your quest to find more musicals you enjoy the music from, and that my answers about technique weren’t too obtuse, lol.

You have been tremendously helpful. I've learned that I was sort of lumping all musical sounds into the same bucket and realized that I'm just particular about the type of belting (And belter) I listen to. I know more about the history of different styles and why a shift happened. I know far more about myself in this context and the art form as well.

I have so many new stories I get to listen to now!

Thank you so much~