There are some performances that make you stop, lean in, and ask: “How on earth is he doing that?” Noam Bettan’s rendition of “Michelle” is exactly that kind of performance.
It is full of rich vocal colour, clever register changes, and emotional textures that feel effortless but are actually the result of serious technique. In this breakdown, we will walk through the main vocal choices behind the performance and unpack how each sound is created, so you can start understanding what it takes to sing like this yourself.
How Noam Bettan Builds Power with Chest Voice
A lot of the foundation of this performance sits in a thick vocal fold quality, often called chest voice. Early on, the line lands on a B flat 3, the B flat just below middle C, which is exactly where the male chest voice loves to live. You can hear him lean into that thicker fold quality, almost pressing the folds together a little more to get that grounded, weighty tone before he lightens up later in the phrase. This is the warm, speech like sound that gives the verses their solid emotional anchor.
Shaping Vowels in “Michelle”
One of the most fascinating moments comes from the language switch in “Michelle.” When he sings in Hebrew, there is a little crackle in the sound, but that crackle softens noticeably once he moves into French. The reason is vowel shape. A more closed vowel and a slightly more closed mouth create extra back pressure, which helps the vocal cords close more cleanly. A few takeaways worth remembering here:
- Vowel shape directly influences how the vocal folds close.
- A more closed mouth can add back pressure that supports cleaner cord closure.
- Your natural accent and language change your pitch and timbre, so different languages will colour the same melody differently.
Noam Bettan and the Art of Thyroid Tilt
If you want to know the single biggest difference between speaking and singing, it is thyroid tilt. The thyroid (essentially the Adam’s apple) tilts forward to elongate the vocal folds, and that tilt is what makes a phrase sound truly sung rather than spoken.
In this performance you can hear it bringing on a gentle cry, and it is also what produces that little flicker of vibrato at the ends of phrases. Without thyroid tilt, that vibrato simply will not arrive. He uses it as a colouring technique, adding a touch of extra warmth at the end of a line right as the breath is naturally running out, where a beautiful balance of fold closure tends to bring the vibrato on by itself.
The Gritty Textures in “Michelle”
The scratchier, crackly moments in “Michelle” are not accidents, they are technique. Here is what is happening underneath that grit:
- The back of the tongue drops and the larynx lowers slightly.
- A little constriction comes in, which is the closing of the false vocal folds (part of our natural swallowing protection).
- A touch of vocal fry and pressure from above the true vocal folds adds that signature crackle.
What makes it musical is the contrast. He moves between this slightly scratchier sound and a completely clean tone, and that juxtaposition is what makes the texture feel intentional and expressive rather than strained.
Noam Bettan’s Shift into Head Voice
Middle C is roughly where the male voice has to do something different to climb higher, and Noam Bettan handles this transition smoothly. As the melody reaches up to a B4, the B above middle C, he shifts into head voice with thinner vocal folds, and you can clearly hear the change in timbre.
The real skill on display is the way he changes between vocal colours, pressing into a darker, thicker sound lower down, then allowing the folds to thin out as he rises. That ability to switch between colours is exactly what we are aiming for in expressive singing.
Falsetto and Recovery in “Michelle”
Near the end of “Michelle” there is a falsetto moment, where the vocal folds go stiff and the arytenoids rock back so that only a tiny amount of the folds touch. With so little contact, too much breath pressure can nudge a note slightly out of tune. What is genuinely lovely here is the professional recovery: rather than letting it sit, he corrects the pitch, partly by lifting the cheeks. It is a great reminder that even top singers manage small wobbles in real time, and that recovery is a skill in itself.
There is also a smart support detail worth noticing. When he belts higher and then comes back down, the descent becomes the active part. There is a gentle pull up through the pelvic floor and a holding out of the ribs through the abdominal chain, which quietly provides the support that keeps the lower notes steady.
How Noam Bettan Uses Performance Energy
Technique is only half the story. As the song builds, his energy visibly shifts. He moves further forward on stage, the staging opens up, and his whole body commits more to the delivery. Because the emotion of the song keeps rising, the physical energy rises with it, and that lift in effort changes how the audience perceives the build.
The staging stays relatively simple, which lets the vocals and the emotional arc carry the moment. It is a perfect example of how performance energy and vocal technique work together to sell a song.
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.