Why do YOU love Hayley's Voice

[comet]

Hi Folks.
I have looked for a thread that covers this question and have not found one.
Which is incredible considering the reason we are all here on this site / forum.

The first time I heard Hayley singing was on The Songbird Collection, I had five compilation albums (All female vocalists)in a five disc rotator CD player on "RANDOM" .

I only had to hear "Mary did you know ? " once to realise that this voice was exceptional. Because the machine was on "random play" it took me a while to find the cases belonging to all the CDs and another while to locate the right track. I found the advertisement for PURE inside the CD insert and the very first thing I EVER looked up on the internet was www.hayleywestenra.com.

I had the internet available to me at home for months before that and had never bothered to use it. So I "LURKED" on the official site for some time before joining cautiously I might add because I did not trust that INTERWEB THINGY at all, at all, Then it asked me to give a name, there was no way this interweb thingy was getting my real name so I had to think of something I would remember in relation to the site I was joining so comet was born.

So here I am and I start a thread and I'm off topic already, Nothing new there !

SO, WHY DO YOU LOVE HAYLEY'S VOICE.

I suppose my reasons are for its clarity and beauty, it absolutely thrills me,
like a vocal trapeze, you think it is not going to make the height but it does,
you think it will never reach that distance but it does,

It pokes around at all the joy and sorrow and love and pain that you have ever felt and brings it back to your consciousness once again.
I have never known another voice that can do this quite like Hayley Westenra can.

comet

[flip8]

I'm not sure, really. She just started to grow on me after I first saw the Slane concert. I suppose in part it's her impressive vocal range, as heard in Never Saw Blue. She can go from a soft, low tune to spine-tingling crescendos with ease.

[Eric]

Very poetic, Comet. (and a good idea to gather all these reasons into one local thread). I don't remember the very first song that I heard Ms. Hayley sing, but I do remember becoming astonished at how clear and "natural" her voice sounded. She "effortlessly" melted my heart. (Of course, knowing how Hayley sings, there is a great deal of effort put forth into every song to come across as a smooth, effortless thing.) I also enjoy the fact that you can easily understand the words that she sings. The first time I saw a video of her singing, I believe, was "Mary Did You Know?" on YouTube. The rest is history...

The hardened walls of your heart stand little chance,
When your ears start to hear and your eyes catch a glance
Of Miss Hayley's angelic singing, uncluttered and pure.
A voice that the Sirens themselves could never endure!
The melodies are soft and sometimes "mushy,"
Quickly turning a noisome crowd into a quiet "hushy"
To tell you the truth, it's really quite alarming
That a country boy found Miss Hayley to be so charming.
Then again, look at the forum and just read one day,
How Hayley's voice touches so many in different ways.
You find hearts that have been touched, lives that have been blessed,
And troubled souls that have even found rest.
Miss Hayley's voice is so natural and soul-piercing,
Even the hardest of hearts can't keep resisting!


-With this guy there's not much generic,
He's corny, dorky, and his name's Eric. :2fun:

[Raymond]

There isn't reason not to love it.

Raymond

[comet]

Well Eric
you said that so much better than I did, charming indeed. this is the kind of response I was after, not about any specific song, just about the effect the voice has on you.

comet

[petertong]

Hi Comet,

I could come up with all kinds of reasons I *think* would be correct...but it would be pointless.

Suffice it to say that my subconscious part of me that deals with hearing sounds really appreciates beautiful sounds - and her voice is just beautiful...

Hope that helps,
Peter

[grant]

Hi Comet

My discovery of Hayley was similar to yours except that I heard 'Hine' played on Classic FM radio in my car several times before I managed to catch the singers name. From the very first time I knew that I was hearing something very special.

Now, I thought your question would be a very difficult one to answer but, having given it some thought, I realise that it is not!

I love Hayley's voice because ...

It is simply the most beautiful voice I have ever heard

Best wishes
Grant

P.S. Despite all the amazing music Hayley has recorded since, Hine is still my favourite of all time.

[milewalker]

I like Peter's answer above. The appreciation of a human voice is a two lane street as all communication is. There is a singer there who is working - but there is also a listener on the other end who must find something appealing enough to work himself. It is a very subjective thing - and it would not surprise me at all were we to find that 150 people actually like Hayley for 150 reasons which only partially overlap.

For me, I was initially struck by her ability to carry a melodic line at an early age - to be sure, there are imperfections of pitch at times on Hayley Westenra which are no longer present, but by age 13 she was already above the level of an average professional at this. That was enough to catch my interest, but the moment that "hooked" me was when I heard the opening of the original "Pokarekare Ana" in a sample on her official site promoting "My Gift To You' . A skilled, accurate and fresh soprano is a very pleasant thing to hear.

There is a review of Celtic Treasure which I have seen quoted in various places, but cannot find. The phrase used by this reviewer was that the release was "a stunning CD of desolate loveliness" - and there is something to that with regard to her present voice. Desolation doesnt seem like a professional strength really, but I think that at least up to this point in time it has worked pretty well for Hayley, who has sung more about loneliness, loss and death by age 20 than most singers twice her age.

Jon

[fenn]

There are so many ways to answer the question why I love her voice.
For example, like Grant said, she has the most beautiful voice I ever heard (funny... the first song I heard her sing was Hine E Hine i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif).
But what I like most about her is the pure magic in her voice. Remember, when she was 14 or younger, her voice was nothing but this lovely magic. Like the duet, Pokarekare Ana with Russell Watson. I absolutely adore that song. Or God Defend New Zealand. And the magic is still there.

[Joe]

Hi all,

Wow...all of you have mentioned many excellent reasons why you love Hayley's Voice.

I first heard her Voice on HWI...it was a sample of "Mary Did Your Know".

I love Hayley's Voice...

it's watching a sunrise
to welcome in
the summer day

the peal of the church bells
on a snowy
Christmas Eve

the wonder in the eyes
of a child
in deep thought

[jons]

I'm going to come back to this thread later because quiet simply I would have to make a hundred posts to cover why I love Hayley's voice, so I will try to come up with a condensed version instead!

[roger]

I've been thinking about this thread and I don;t know the answer. Or if I do, I can't put it into words.

Sure, Hayley's voice is beautiful, pure, soothing and whatever everyone else has said but that is true of quite a few singers. But there is just that special indefinable magic quality that makes it so special.

Has anybody ever described it as distinctive?

Roger

[flip8]

It's certainly easily recognizable. I'm not saying I could pick her out from a crowd (not yet, anyway), but I'd know one of her songs if I heard it.

[jons]

joe said:

Hi all,

Wow...all of you have mentioned many excellent reasons why you love Hayley's Voice.

I first heard her Voice on HWI...it was a sample of "Mary Did Your Know".

I love Hayley's Voice...

it's watching a sunrise
to welcome in
the summer day

the peal of the church bells
on a snowy
Christmas Eve

the wonder in the eyes
of a child
in deep thought

I like that! Did you write it Joe?

[milewalker]

roger said:

Has anybody ever described it as distinctive?

Roger

Hi Roger,

I was leaning in that direction when I pointed out the reviewers description of her voice as "desolate" - I would have preferred to call it "melancholy" if I had made that statement were it my quote. However, they come out to much the same thing - it is quite an unusual attribute for a voice.

Having said this, there is one other thing which was distinctive about Hayley which she will eventually lose I think - in fact is already in the process of losing it. When Hayley was 15 years old, she joined a very select group of singers in history who were that well skilled in accuracy and vocal placement during a period of time in which their voice had not yet settled. Durbin, Church, possibly the very young Callas. You see the same thing much more obviously with boy sopranos - who have a shelf life which everyone knows before hand. A girls voice changes as well - just not as abruptly, and less obviously. When that unique combination of skill, and youth occurs(which we often see depicted as "purity of tone" or something like that) - the result can be magical. Unfortunately this has just as much of a shelf life as that of a boy soprano.
There are things that Hayley can do - and in fact probably is doing - to keep as much of that purity for as long as she can, but you cant stop mother nature forever. Just to note one change, while she will never have operatic power, she still has much more now than she did five years ago. All traces of that youthful purity will be gone from her voice by age 25 - and that is unfortunate.

Jon