Unsingable Songs: When Even Great Singers Struggle

Start Simple: What do I mean by unsingable?

I’m sure we can all think of some bombastically difficult songs, e.g. Mozart’s “Queen of the Night” which ascends to stratospheric heights that mere mortals can only dream of.

However I’d argue that unsingable is more than just “really high” or “really loud”. Sometimes, singers are trying to sing songs that should be singable – at least on paper – but even though they’ve got the range, they just CANNOT deliver the goods. “Careless Whisper” by George Michael would be a good example – many a singer has tried to nail this one, and blessedly few come close, due to a combination of factors.

So let’s discuss those factors, as that will help us in defining what “unsingable” actually means. It’s easier to think of this as a spectrum from more accessible to less accessible. How accessible a song is depends on several factors:

• Range: Does the song require more range than the singer currently has?
• Uniqueness: Is the original performance so iconic that it feels impossible to reinterpret?
• Intensity/technicality: Does it demand a level of power, stamina, or riffing that doesn’t suit your voice?

So what makes a song unsingable?

For me, a song crosses into “unsingable” territory when you need:

1. The range of the original singer
2. The unique tonal/timbral characteristics of the original singer
3. The intensity and technicality of the original singer
4. And—an instrument (your voice) that actually works like theirs

This last one is abstract, but crucial. You may technically have the notes, but the melody simply doesn’t fit your instrument. It feels like your voice just doesn’t want to move that way, even WITH training.

Have you ever noticed?

…how some songs just click? It can feel like they were already waiting inside your voice, ready to be sung. Other songs feel workable but need polishing. That’s actually fairly normal. It’s like trying on clothes that were designed for your body shape – they just work.

But with certain songs, no matter how much you work, they never quite slot in. That’s when the mismatch between your instrument and the original singer’s becomes obvious. Like the clothing example, it’s like trying to cram yourself into an outfit that was CLEARLY meant for a different body shape.

Range, timbre, technique

It’s easy to get hung up on the measureable aspects – how high or how low does this song go. But ultimately songs stand or fall on their aesthetic quality. Most of the time you don’t have to sound like the original singer, but sometimes a particular song has such a distinct aesthetic to it, the song is just a bit flat without their vocal mannerisms – “Careless Whisper” being a good example.

We have to train our voices to have enough range, stamina, ease, quality, etc, to give a song a good try first. We shouldn’t assume a song is “unsingable” by us simply because the first few attempts don’t go well.

However, at some point you have to judge whether a song is fitting well in your voice across all these aspects, and make a judgment call. Over time, after singing hundreds of different songs, you’ll start to get a sense of what songs flatter your voice, and which ones are maybe not the best fit.

Take-home message

Try out songs, you won’t know what fits til you try it on. Be prepared to have to do a LOT of repetitions to get a sense of the song. It may work, it may not. But don’t stress. Just sing what you love, and refine it as you go. Sometimes songs don’t fit – even after practice. That doesn’t make them truly unsingable; it just means better options exist for your voice.

Very few songs are genuinely unsingable. Fewer still if you’re open to key changes or arrangement tweaks. But when a piece demands extreme range, unique tone, high intensity, and the same kind of vocal instrument as the original singer—that’s when we cross into unsingable territory.