Isn’t My Frank Voice Nice?

The female entertainers’ with “voices like a nightingale” is out of fashion. Their voices, which can be judged as “incongruent for broadcasting” based on previous analysis, now attract public attention.

Even though gagwoman Park Gyong-rim has a “thick voice which is irritating and intolerable to hear,” she succeeded on drawing attention by several entertainment programs and became a pioneer of “destroying female voice.” Recently a similar phenomenon is appearing throughout the entertainment world.

Entertainers with a “destroying female voice” include Su Ae, the main actress of MBC weekend soap opera “Carousel,” Park Jeong-a, singer currently hosting three programs including KBS 2 “Music Bank” and MBC “Time Machine,” and Hwang Bo, singer sub-hosting SBS “Choi Su-jong Show”, and others.

Su Ae has played a “heroine of tragic love” since MBC’s “Love Letter” in February. In fact, her voice and “tragic love” is not in accord with each other. However, the TV audience does not show particular feelings of rejection. Yu Jae-hyok, producer of ‘Carousel’, observed, “Su Ae’s voice appeals with frankness.” And he added, “Her acting supports this point.”

Park Jeong-a is currently leading dance group “Jewelry,” however her voice is rough and husky. She also remarked, “My voice goes with rough rock music.” However, TV audience has appraised, “The frank and easy image from her voice makes the the program atmosphere bright.”

Hwang Bo, lead vocal singer of “Chakra,” has a boyish and thick voice. She is known as “tough girl” with her powerful voice and plays an indispensable role in entertainment. It is said that her voice along with her non-hesitative action adds special amusement to the program.

Kim Mi-yeon, hosting “Queen of Live” on MBC’s “Comedy House,” attracts attention by singing and dancing even though she has an almost tone-deaf voice.

Their voices would be “incongruent for broadcasting” in the past. Top actress Choi Jin-sil used to have a complex regarding her voice when she made her debut in 1988. Even though she achieved stardom in early 1990s with the famous words of “Men depend on how women do”, her voice was “replaced” with radio performer Kwon Hee-deok’s voice.

Prof. Bae Myong-jin, phonetic engineer in department of Information-Communication Electronics of Soongsil Univ. remarked on the “phenomenon of destructing female voice,” saying, “It is similar to a phenomenon of rising ‘faces with strong individuality’ together with sinking beautiful faces.” He added, “These voices provide a sense of stability and trust instead of stimulating curiosity and expectancy.”

Producers working in broadcasting stations say, “It is hard for females to give a good impression just with their husky voice.” They appraised, “Entertainers of ‘destroying voices’ succeeded because they made their own character ‘despite their voices’.”

Jang Tae-yoen, director of MBC art division, said, “Those entertainers supplement their weak points with wit and humanity and are creating their unique characters.” He advised, “However, they need to pay attention to the point that their pronunciation might sound obscure because of their low voices.”

kathycho@donga.com