Few performances pack as much vocal range into a single song as “Choke Me” by Alexandra Căpitănescu. From whispered chest tones to full operatic flights and the occasional scream, this Eurovision entry is a masterclass in how a versatile voice can move through wildly different styles without falling apart. In this breakdown we walk through the techniques that make the song work, and what you would need to practice to sing something like it yourself.
How Alexandra Căpitănescu builds the song from the ground up
One of the smartest things about this performance is the restraint at the start. Alexandra Căpitănescu does not blast the opening at full volume, because the song needs room to grow and the voice needs to last all the way to the end. This is deliberate vocal management, the kind of pacing a professional uses to protect stamina across a demanding three minutes.
In the opening “phantom” section you can hear thick vocal folds in the chest voice, with a touch of breath coming through because the folds are slightly open. The trick is pulling back on volume while breath is in the sound, then releasing those expressive flourishes at the ends of phrases. A few things to listen for early on:
- Thicker vocal folds producing a warm chest tone
- A controlled, lower volume so breath can sit in the sound
- The thyroid cartilage tilting forward to create that “sung” quality
- Expressive phrase endings that add emotion without pushing
The chest voice foundation in Choke Me
The signature “don’t you ever betray me” line in Choke Me sits on a thicker vocal fold that is carried further down in the range than it naturally wants to go. That is actually the doorway into screaming technique, where you take thick folds lower than they would prefer rather than letting breath creep in. It is genuinely difficult, and it is one of the reasons this song is so demanding.
Later, around the B4, the song asks for a switch from that thick chest sound into head voice as the line climbs. Notice that the lighter sections stay in head voice rather than dropping into pure falsetto. A small amount of narrowing, or twang, helps smooth the transition, and you can partly disguise a tricky changeover by keeping the tone light rather than fully breathy.
Alexandra Căpitănescu and the classical crossover
The most striking moments come when Alexandra Căpitănescu moves into a near operatic sound. Up around the B flat 5, only two semitones below high C, she is using thinner vocal folds high in the range, beefed up with a little twang to add that strident, carrying quality. This is essentially the same exercise classical singers use to build a strident sound, dropped right into a pop and metal context.
Watch the mouth too. The elongated, north to south mouth shape darkens the vowel, which helps bring in the lower resonances of the note as the pitch climbs. When the genuinely classical passages arrive, the larynx drops a little and the subglottic pressure has to come down so the operatic tone is not overpowered. Key markers in these high sections:
- Thinner vocal folds carried high in the range
- Twang and AES narrowing for projection
- A tall, darkened vowel shape to support pitch
- A slightly lowered larynx with reduced air pressure for the classical color
Twang, tongue compression and distortion in Choke Me
The grit in Choke Me does not come from squeezing the vocal folds harder. On the “call me” line you can hear twang combined with tongue compression, where the tongue root and the surrounding constrictor muscles work together to distort the airflow as the sound leaves. The folds themselves stay relatively free, and the texture is created around them.
The heavier distorted moments lean on a little constriction from the false vocal folds, the protective layer that sits above the true folds. Bringing them in slightly produces that constricted, edgy color. There is also a clear use of vocal fry in places, which is a separate effect from a full fry scream.
How Alexandra Căpitănescu manages staging and stamina
Singing this song is close to a full body workout for the voice. Because chest voice and head voice use different sets of muscles, constantly handing the sound back and forth between them is tiring, and Alexandra Căpitănescu treats it as something to be paced carefully. You can even see her “pack the lats,” pulling down on the shoulder blades to engage the larger back muscles and stabilize the smaller muscles inside the larynx, which keeps a pressed, powerful note steady.
The performance is not only about sound. The makeup, the facial expressions, and the deliberate connection with the camera all draw the audience in and support the storytelling, especially the symbolism of the figure in white rising above her fears by the end.
The screams and vocal fry of Choke Me
By the final stretch, Choke Me brings in more vocal closure and a pressed quality, building toward the scream at the close. The screaming here is restrained compared to what the voice is clearly capable of, which is itself a choice about pacing and effect. A quick map of the distortion toolkit on display:
- Vocal fry used as a textural effect
- Constriction from the false vocal folds for edge
- Twang plus tongue compression for grit without strain
- Thick vocal folds pushed low as the foundation for screaming
What Alexandra Căpitănescu teaches us about live performance
Perhaps the best lesson from Alexandra Căpitănescu is that live singing is not about hitting one hundred percent perfection on every note. There is no autotune allowed on the Eurovision stage, so you hear the voice exactly as it is. At one point she does not land a note fully, then corrects and reshapes the phrase, taking the “choke me” lower than in other run throughs. That is what a living instrument sounds like, and it is far more compelling than something processed and flawless.
This level of control does not appear overnight. It comes from years of focused, personalized work that targets specific weak spots, not from copying random clips. If you want a voice that can move between chest, head, classical, and distortion the way this performance does, you need a clear plan and proper guidance for your own instrument.
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.