Making Confusion, What is the Difference Between Main Vocal and Lead Vocal in Each K-Pop Group?

Kapanlagi.com - When looking at the profile of a K-Pop group, each member has their own position in the team. There are those who become vocalists, dancers, rappers, and visuals. For vocalists, dancers, and rappers, they are further divided into main and lead positions. Sometimes, there are also sub-vocalists. So what is the difference between main and lead?

If you are still confused, it means you are just like Kim Gura, one of the top MCs in Korea. He asked about it to the author RADO from the Black Eyed Pilseung composing team who produced many hit songs including Cheer Up by TWICE, which appeared in one of the episodes on the MC's Youtube channel.

When he heard that certain parts in TWICE's songs were divided among the members, Kim Gura became curious and asked about the difference between main vocal and lead vocal. He heard that they have differences and wanted an explanation from the perspective of a song producer.

1. Producer's Answer

As reported by Allkpop, Kim Gura jokingly asked about this, "Was that term given so that the parents of the members wouldn't feel sad?" he asked.

RADO said that both lead vocal and main vocal are singers who show stability in a song. They are usually the best singers in their group.

Hearing this, Kim Gura still hasn't received a clearer explanation about the difference between the two.

2. Netizen's Comments

After seeing this show, Korean netizens then commented to give their views on the difference between main vocalist and lead vocalist. Here are some of them:

"Isn't it based on each member's skill, with main > lead > sub vocal?"

"In my opinion, main vocalists are singers who can hit high notes and lead vocalists are those who have unique vocal colors."

"What I heard is that lead vocalists can control the pitch of the song so that other members can follow that pitch."

"In my opinion, the difference between lead singer and main singer is like the first and second positions for the best singers in each group."

"In my opinion, lead vocal sings at the beginning of the song so that other members can follow, that's why they are called lead vocal (leader)? Main vocal is a singer who sings very well, even hitting high notes."

3. Other Opinions

According to some people, the main vocalist is the member who has excellent vocal technique, which is why they always get the difficult parts of the song that most people can't sing without sufficient skills. Main vocalists also usually have the most singing parts in each song. They also usually sing in the chorus or ad-lib (improvisation) sections.

On the other hand, lead vocalists also have good skills, but not as good as the main vocalists. Usually, they get to sing before the main vocalist as well. Sometimes they sing the chorus parts when the main vocalist does ad-libs.

What do KLovers think? Do you have a different opinion?

(kpl/pit)