MIIA’s live orchestral performance of Dynasty is a masterclass in vocal coloring, dynamic control, and emotional delivery.
Written when she was just 17, the song has stood the test of time, and the orchestral arrangement takes it to an even more epic level. In this breakdown, we’ll walk through the vocal techniques that make this performance shine, along with a few areas where even talented singers can refine their craft.
Opening phrases and breath coloring in Dynasty
MIIA begins the song at a very low volume, which is an excellent place to start any performance. She uses thicker vocal folds with a deliberate amount of breath coming through, creating a sound that feels intimate and weary, almost as if she’s saying, “I’ve had enough of what was going on.”
Those breathy endings on phrases like “or you a thief” act as a coloring technique rather than a lack of support. Even at a quiet dynamic, her vocal folds are still closed, meaning she remains firmly in chest voice despite the softness.
On “made it through the maze,” she lands on an F sharp 4, and the brightness in her timbre (which gives her that young, youthful quality) is simply the natural color of her voice on that pitch.
Falsetto and chest voice choices in MIIA’s performance
On the word “story,” MIIA dips down to an A flat 3 and slips into a light falsetto. That produces the hooty, slightly airy quality you hear on that note. Both a light chest voice and a falsetto would be correct choices here; it’s purely a stylistic decision that gives the phrase a particular emotional color.
As the melody climbs up to a B4, she stays in chest voice with an increased thyroid tilt. The thyroid cartilage sits at the front of the neck, housing the vocal folds, and tilting it allows those folds to stay closed as the pitch rises. This is what lets MIIA carry her chest voice higher without flipping into head voice.
Tongue position and what to watch for in Dynasty
One technical note in MIIA’s performance is a slight hollowing of the tongue on certain notes. There are a few reasons this can happen:
- A slightly shorter tongue root, which can pull the back of the tongue away as the larynx lowers to accommodate higher pitches.
- The specific vowel being sung, which can shape the tongue into a hollow position.
- Compensation for weaker tongue musculature, which sometimes also shows up as the jaw jutting forward on lower notes.
The tongue is one of the most important muscles in singing, and a weak tongue often leads to other compensations that bleed into tone, volume, and clarity. Tongue strengthening exercises (the kind you can do while making coffee or walking around the house) tend to produce noticeable improvements for singers working in MIIA’s pop style and beyond.
Dynamic shifts and breath support in Dynasty
Later in the song, MIIA drops back down into her lower range with lines like “so close to someone so distant.” She adds breath back into the tone, not because she can’t reach the note, but because breath is a beautiful coloring tool at the bottom of the range. The shift between thicker vocal folds and a breathier texture gives the verse real emotional weight.
For the big belt sections of Dynasty, MIIA uses short, sharp breaths between phrases. This goes against a lot of common breathing-for-singing advice, but for short, high phrases, you simply don’t need a huge inhale. A quick, targeted breath keeps the vocal setup in place and adds just enough extra energy (breath is the battery of the voice) to power the next line.
Belting, yell belt, and vowel modification in MIIA’s Dynasty
As the song builds into “it all fell down,” MIIA moves into what’s called a yell belt. The vocal folds are thicker than thick, the tone is very straight, and the sound lands firmly on the note. It’s a powerful choice, though it comes with technical demands, including a tendency for the tongue to creep forward past the bottom teeth, which isn’t ideal in the long term.
One of the smartest choices MIIA makes in Dynasty is modifying her vowels. On “break up,” she leans into more of an “up” shape that helps keep her in that thicker vocal fold quality rather than flipping into a thinner sound. Vowel modification is a powerful tool in pop singing, and less so in musical theatre or classical, where vowel purity matters more.
Posture, mouth shape, and soft palate in Dynasty
A few physical details shape the final sections of the performance:
- Lips coming slightly forward, which helps lift the soft palate and supports louder, higher singing.
- Shoulders drifting forward, which limits access to the back muscles that support high belting.
- An occasionally wide mouth opening, which can press the larynx down and force a flip into a breathier quality on the highest notes.
A more expansive posture, with the shoulders rolled back and down, would likely make the most demanding moments of MIIA’s Dynasty feel easier and give her even more control on the final chorus.
Stamina and why the end of Dynasty matters
Dynasty runs about four minutes, which is a marathon when you’re sitting in a higher belt range for most of the song. By the end, MIIA’s vocal folds are understandably tired, and you can hear a small squeeze on one of the later “fell down” phrases before the quality shifts into something fluffier.
This is a stamina question, and it’s exactly where technique matters most. Strong tongue support, a neutral jaw, an efficient mouth shape, and clean posture all help a singer maintain their chosen vocal quality through the last chorus of a long song like Dynasty.
Small takeaways for singing MIIA’s Dynasty
If you want to work on Dynasty yourself, a few things are worth focusing on:
- Start quiet with breath in the tone, keeping the vocal folds closed underneath.
- Use thyroid tilt to carry chest voice up through B4 without flipping.
- Keep the tongue engaged and the jaw neutral, avoiding any forward jut.
- Take short, sharp breaths between high phrases rather than deep ones.
- Modify vowels to stay in the vocal quality you want.
- Roll the shoulders back and down for the belted sections.
Dynasty is a stunning song, and MIIA’s writing and delivery are remarkable, especially considering she wrote it at 17. With a few tweaks to tongue position, jaw placement, and posture, the ending of the song could feel just as strong as the beginning.
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.