Jourdan Blue captured hearts on America’s Got Talent Season 20 with his raw talent and emotional performances, ultimately finishing in third place.
For his finale performance, Jourdan took on “Golden” — the massive hit from the Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters, performed by HUNTR/X — and delivered a rockier, grittier interpretation that showcased both his strengths and the challenges of song choice.
Let’s break down the vocal techniques at play in this performance and explore what you can learn from it as a singer.
Chest Voice and Singing in a Low Range
One of the first things you’ll notice about Jourdan’s performance of “Golden” is that much of it sits in a chest voice sound. Chest voice is the vocal register we use when we speak and sing in our lower range — it’s warm, full, and grounded.
In Jourdan’s case, his chest voice has a naturally thick, powerful quality to it. However, the key of this particular arrangement sat quite low for his voice, which made some passages sound a bit heavy or “dury.”
When a song sits too low in your range, even a strong chest voice can sound sluggish because the vocal folds aren’t being engaged in the most dynamic part of their range. This is a great reminder for all singers that key selection matters enormously.
Vocal Stability and What It Tells Us About Training
Throughout the performance, there was noticeable instability — a slight wiggling or wavering in the sound. This is one of the clearest indicators of where a singer is in their vocal development. Vocal stability comes from the fine coordination of small muscles in and around the larynx, and it’s something that develops over time through consistent training.
Think of singing like a sport: the muscles involved need to be conditioned and strengthened through repetition and targeted exercises.
Signs that vocal stability is still developing include:
- A wobble or unsteadiness on sustained notes.
- Difficulty maintaining a consistent tone across phrases.
- Pitch fluctuations that aren’t intentional stylistic choices.
None of this means a singer isn’t talented — Jourdan is clearly gifted with a beautiful instrument. It simply means that with focused vocal training, these elements can be refined and controlled, turning raw ability into polished technique.
Constriction and the Use of False Vocal Folds for a Rock Sound
Jourdan brought a distinctly rocky edge to “Golden,” and much of that grit comes from constriction at the back of the throat. Specifically, he’s engaging the false vocal folds — a set of tissue that sits just above the true vocal folds — to create that rough, raspy texture. This is the same mechanism used by many rock and soul singers to add intensity and emotional weight to their sound.
Throughout the performance, Jourdan layered this effect on top of his base vocal quality, creating what we call vocal effects. He maintained a consistent core sound and then added distortion and constriction over the top for emphasis.
This approach works well for a rock interpretation, and it’s clear that this is where Jourdan’s natural vocal instincts lean — toward a grittier, more powerful delivery rather than a polished pop sound.
Thick Vocal Fold Sound and Higher Chest Voice
In the chorus sections, Jourdan pushed into a higher chest voice with a thick vocal fold configuration. This means the vocal folds are coming together firmly and fully, producing a big, bold sound with a lot of presence. It’s the kind of vocal quality you hear in rock anthems and power ballads — intense, driven, and emotionally charged.
The challenge with this approach is that it can create significant tension in the throat, particularly at the back. Whether that tension is a problem depends entirely on the singer’s experience. Some singers use controlled tension as a stylistic tool, while for others it’s a sign that the voice is being pushed beyond its comfortable limits.
If it feels uncomfortable, that’s the cue to work with a coach on finding ways to achieve the same intensity with less strain.
Thin Vocal Folds and a Hollow Quality
During the bridge section of the song, Jourdan shifted to what sounds like a thinner vocal fold configuration. This isn’t quite falsetto, but it has a more hollow, lighter quality compared to the full chest voice heard in other sections. Thin vocal fold production is a useful tool for creating contrast and emotional vulnerability within a song. It can give moments of a performance a sense of fragility or tenderness that balances out the bigger, heavier sections.
Tongue Placement, Compression, and Darkening the Sound
One particularly interesting technique Jourdan used was pulling the tongue back in the mouth to darken his tone. This is a form of tongue compression — by retracting the tongue, the vocal tract shape changes and the sound becomes warmer and deeper.
For most of the performance, Jourdan actually kept a forward tongue position with a relatively flat tongue against the back of the bottom teeth, which is generally considered healthy and efficient for singing. The occasional pull-back was used as an effect to colour specific notes or words.
Key observations about Jourdan’s tongue and mouth position:
- Forward tongue placement for most of the performance, resting against the lower teeth.
- A relatively flat tongue with minimal “divoting” (where the back of the tongue is pulled down by the larynx).
- Occasional tongue retraction to darken the tone on specific notes.
- Not a lot of exaggerated mouth movement, which suited his lower range passages.
Song Choice, Key Selection, and Why It Matters
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this performance isn’t a vocal technique at all — it’s about song choice. “Golden” is an epic, pop-driven anthem originally performed by a female group, and while Jourdan brought his own rocky flair to it, the arrangement didn’t fully complement his strengths. The key was too low, which left his voice sounding more muted than it needed to be, and the pop-style backing track clashed with his naturally rockier vocal delivery.
This is an incredibly common issue for singers at every level. You can have tremendous vocal ability, but if you’re singing a song in the wrong key, in a style that doesn’t match your voice, or with an arrangement that works against your strengths, it simply won’t showcase what you can do.
Choosing the right song for your voice is just as important as the vocal technique itself. A song that sits in the best part of your range, matches your natural tone and style, and gives you room to express yourself will always sound better than forcing yourself into something that doesn’t fit.
Stage Presence and the Difference Between Raw Talent and Professionalism
Beyond the vocal technique, this performance is also an interesting case study in stage presence. Moving naturally across a large stage, engaging with an audience, and making physical performance look effortless are all skills that take years to develop.
Just like vocal coordination, stage presence is something that improves through practice, performance experience, and guidance. Jourdan’s raw talent and emotional connection to the music were evident, and with continued training and performance experience, those elements will only become more refined.
If you want to learn more about how you can learn to implement these singing techniques into your own voice, let’s sit down for a chat and discuss if the vocal academy is the right fit for you. You can join us here.