I think main and lead are different, especially in film/tv. I’ll use Business Proposal as an example because a lot of people have seen it. I consider Hari and Taemu to be the main characters but Youngseo and Sunghoon also lead the show. they are way more significant than the supporting characters, but they are still just the secondary romance. at least that’s how it makes sense in my brain, lol.
I feel like the agencies intentionally did that because they wanted to avoid comparisons (why did the sub sing that better than the main?) and accusations of discriminatory treatment (you dress her better because she's the main and she's just the sub!)
I always see it like this, the lead vocalist always sings the first part of the chorus (for example NAYEON of twice) and the main will always usually sing the 2nd part of the chorus as well as the high note in the song. Main is above lead. But lead vocalist usually have a voice that is well suited to sing the first chorus whereas the main vocalist can then follow it up with more power
I didn't understand what the semicolon meant either and this is coming from someone who's listening or watching SVT 80% of the time. It was confusing for us too 😂
the lead singer usually has a very catchy voice that suits the group, while the main vocalist has the best technique/is the most stable. think nayeon vs jihyo in twice, nayeon is lead and jihyo is the main
I mean until 3rd gen ,main vocalist, lead vocalists were clearly defined ,now people going on about all rounder shit For example:
Shinee Main vocal : Onew, Jonghyun Lead vocalists: Taemin Sub vocalist : Key and minho
GOT7 MAIN VOCALIST: JayB and Youngjae Lead vocalist : Jinyoung and yugyeom Sub vocalist: Jackson, Mark
Exo Main vocalist: Chen , Baekhyun, D.O Lead vocalist: Suho Sub vocalists: xiumin, Lay
Seventeen Main vocalist: Dk , Seungkwan Lead vocalists: Woozi , Jeonghan, Joshua Sub vocalists: The8, Jun ,Hoshi , Dino
TREASURE MAIN VOCALIST: Jeongwoo Lead vocalist : Jihoon, Junkyu , asahi Sub vocalist : Jaehyuk, doyoung ,Junghwan
Winner Main vocalist: Seungyoon Lead vocalist : Jinu
Monsta x Main vocalist: Kihyun Lead vocalist : shownu ,minhyuk Sub vocalist : Hyungwon
nct 127 Main vocalist: Taeil, Doyoung, haechan Lead vocalists: Jungwoo , Jaehyun Sub vocalist : yuta , winwin, Johny
Nct Dream Main vocalist: Haechan , Renjun and Chenle The have no lead vocalists just rappers being sub vocalists
Wayv Main vocalist: xiaojun , Kun Lead vocalist: Ten Sub vocalist : winwin
Superjunior Main vocalist: Kihyun, ryeowook, yesung Lead vocalists: Leeteuk Sub vocalists: heechul , shindong , donghae
Bigbang Main vocalist: Seungri Lead vocalist: Daesung Sub vocalists: i dont wanna mention his name as he is no longer part of big bang
Etc..
Its just that before there used to be so many good vocals that calling them just Sub vocalist wouldn't be justice as they also carry the song along with vocalists While sub vocalists have less technique and support the song less than others . NO WAY MAIN AND LEAD IS SAME , JUST HEARING THE MUSIC YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR POSITION BUT YEAH ITS ANOTHER THING IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT VOCALIST WHO DONT SEEM NEAR TO MAIN VOCALIST LEVEL AND HAVE AVERAGE SINGING ,GIVEN THE ROLE OF LEAD VOCALIST INSTEAD OF SUB VOCALIST BECAUSE IT WOULD BE FUNNY , from the example above you can see ,the lead vocalist would be no way near being a sub vocalist because of how much they carry the song but also wont be called main vocalist because of the talent and technique the main vocalist in their group has .
What I understood about it is like Onjo and Cheong-San's story in All of us are dead, they aren't the main characters, but they are the lead characters, they are mostly shown and highlighted every episodes. Solomon and Namra are the main characters, they are the only shown people in the tumbnail of the series. It's kinda like that, other than that I don't have any explanation 😅
I know this is old but first of all Kpop terms have their own meaning regardless of English. Second it’s alright if have this opinion cuz you’re not exactly wrong. I thought Main vocal was the one to get the most line but that’s not always true. However, Main vocals are the best one in group than lead are next. If you look at NCT 127 you see many main vocalists but it is still easy to tell that Taeil is even the main of the mains.
I think sometimes there's a difference between main and lead and sometimes there isn't, depending on the group. The difference between them i think is that main is most important (in terms of ability) anf lead is the most visible (in terms of time singing, dancing ext.). A good example of this is with the movie frozen, elsa is the main character because she is the most important character to the story, but anna is the lead character because she is the person we follow throughout the story.
This is just how i see it though so i may be wrong
I just put it down as a translation error cause how can the LEAD vocalist be lower than the main, do we not know what lead means? I just think that the main does the most lines/hardest lines and the “lead” adds flavour like they might have an unusual tone or a really strong head voice but weak chest or they could be a good belter but poor in the low ranges whilst the main is solid across all/most ranges and techniques but might go to the lead for a high belt because they’re a low belter or the song might sound nicer with a whispy/raspy tone instead.
The only thing I noticed about lead vocalists is that they are most likely to start the song, and lead it, Main Vocals are like the peak or climax, they take the most complex vocal parts, and choruses too. But that's just my perception, i still do not understand the different positions that much.
Usually main is the powerhouse and most prominent voice of a group while lead holds together the songs and sub vocalist fill the song in chorus parts. Kinda like in iKON…Junhoe was lead for a small timeframe but became MAIN because his voice pretty much took all the spotlight away from Jinhwan who was demoted to lead. Other is Big Bang Taeyang, let’s be honest…Daesung is actually more has a larger vocal range than Taeyang but Taeyang’s voice and color is more dominant that Daesung and that’s why Taeyang is Main vocal but not lead. But yeah for the longest time I couldn’t for the life of me understand the difference.
Yes, there can be two main characters in a movie. However, they're both called main or lead. You don't have one character being called the main character, and the other being called the lead Though I really don't understand the need to assign positions to begin with
Hmmm a good example of the difference between main and lead vocalist will be Blackpink like Rosé and jisoo/ Jennie has very recognisable difference in singing abilities but for Red velvet it almost equal cuz wendy and seulgi both have main vocal abilities.
Main vocalists are the group’s best vocals (ex. Jihyo). This doesn’t necessarily mean most of the lines but they do most of the adlibs and riffs.
Lead vocalists often sing the hook of the songs (ex. Nayeon), so they often have distinct vocal color or the second best vocals
Sub vocalists are accent vocals. They make parts of the song pop, hence usually these vocalists are more high pitched (ex. Sana)
These are better defined by bigger groups cause you see that distinction. Smaller groups tend to have members switching roles cause they have the capacity to showcase it.
I don't know that the movie example works. Just because you might use them interchangeably in one circumstance doesn't mean they are in another circumstance. I also would say this: to me, there's a main character and often a romantic lead, who is not the main character.
Perhaps the distinction is not always obvious in practice, but I think it's fairly obvious what the intention is.
I get what she's saying though, yes there are people between main and sub, but lead doesn't seem like the best term for it because as words main and lead are the same thing. A different name for a lead would be easier to understand.
its not the same, main vocalist is the best vocalist in the group. good phrasing, good pronunciation, developed vocal registers, good supports, good resonance, good breath control. for example, yuju and eunji. lead vocal is the second best vocalist but they get more lines than the main vocal, and they may even sound better than the main vocalist. they lead the vocals. for example: winter. and eunha too, she started taking that role more seriously since crossroads.
Apart from skill level and simple line distribution main can usually also describe the responsibilities within a team for example they could coach the rest of the team. This I guess is not always relevant for vocalist but for dancing besides choreography the main dancer looks out for the overalls performance of the team. I understand though how it's sometimes hard to differentiate cause many teams do not have that much difference in skill level to even make that difference. I think personally Pentagon is a very good example of a clear distinction of main, lead and sub vocalists
I am a melody. BTOB is a heavy vocal group, and you are right, they have no such thing as lead vocalist. There were only main and subs. (Although after military they said there wouldn't be such hierarchy anymore in BTOB because the 4 vocalists now has equally great vocal quality. Means all of them are main vocals and get equal parts in their songs) 😊
40件のコメント
I feel like some groups just use the titles tô say they have it, but theres a difference
Ironically her movie example made me get it tho. 😅
The fact loona would have 2 main vocalists (Chuuves) and 3 or 4 lead vocalists (Heejin Kimlip and Haseul (+ maybe Jinsoul)
I kinda agree I don’t see the difference between main and lead at all😅
Someone finally said it , I never understood the difference honestly!
My opinion: a main can hit every note while a lead may be able to but not a perfectly or they can only hit certain notes.
I think main and lead are different, especially in film/tv. I’ll use Business Proposal as an example because a lot of people have seen it. I consider Hari and Taemu to be the main characters but Youngseo and Sunghoon also lead the show. they are way more significant than the supporting characters, but they are still just the secondary romance. at least that’s how it makes sense in my brain, lol.
I feel like the agencies intentionally did that because they wanted to avoid comparisons (why did the sub sing that better than the main?) and accusations of discriminatory treatment (you dress her better because she's the main and she's just the sub!)
You're right girl, main and lead are interchangeable there is no difference.
I always see it like this, the lead vocalist always sings the first part of the chorus (for example NAYEON of twice) and the main will always usually sing the 2nd part of the chorus as well as the high note in the song. Main is above lead. But lead vocalist usually have a voice that is well suited to sing the first chorus whereas the main vocalist can then follow it up with more power
I didn't understand what the semicolon meant either and this is coming from someone who's listening or watching SVT 80% of the time. It was confusing for us too 😂
the lead singer usually has a very catchy voice that suits the group, while the main vocalist has the best technique/is the most stable. think nayeon vs jihyo in twice, nayeon is lead and jihyo is the main
Imo "main" is higher then "lead" in the kpop hierarchy👑
Main is the best in that position, Lead is second best, than is sub and at the end just the name of the position like vocalist, rapper, dancer visual
I mean until 3rd gen ,main vocalist, lead vocalists were clearly defined ,now people going on about all rounder shit
For example:
Shinee
Main vocal : Onew, Jonghyun
Lead vocalists: Taemin
Sub vocalist : Key and minho
GOT7
MAIN VOCALIST: JayB and Youngjae
Lead vocalist : Jinyoung and yugyeom
Sub vocalist: Jackson, Mark
Exo
Main vocalist: Chen , Baekhyun, D.O
Lead vocalist: Suho
Sub vocalists: xiumin, Lay
Seventeen
Main vocalist: Dk , Seungkwan
Lead vocalists: Woozi , Jeonghan, Joshua
Sub vocalists: The8, Jun ,Hoshi , Dino
TREASURE
MAIN VOCALIST: Jeongwoo
Lead vocalist : Jihoon, Junkyu , asahi
Sub vocalist : Jaehyuk, doyoung ,Junghwan
Winner
Main vocalist: Seungyoon
Lead vocalist : Jinu
Monsta x
Main vocalist: Kihyun
Lead vocalist : shownu ,minhyuk
Sub vocalist : Hyungwon
nct 127
Main vocalist: Taeil, Doyoung, haechan
Lead vocalists: Jungwoo , Jaehyun
Sub vocalist : yuta , winwin, Johny
Nct Dream
Main vocalist: Haechan , Renjun and Chenle
The have no lead vocalists just rappers being sub vocalists
Wayv
Main vocalist: xiaojun , Kun
Lead vocalist: Ten
Sub vocalist : winwin
Superjunior
Main vocalist: Kihyun, ryeowook, yesung
Lead vocalists: Leeteuk
Sub vocalists: heechul , shindong , donghae
Bigbang
Main vocalist: Seungri
Lead vocalist: Daesung
Sub vocalists: i dont wanna mention his name as he is no longer part of big bang
Etc..
Its just that before there used to be so many good vocals that calling them just Sub vocalist wouldn't be justice as they also carry the song along with vocalists
While sub vocalists have less technique and support the song less than others . NO WAY MAIN AND LEAD IS SAME , JUST HEARING THE MUSIC YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR POSITION BUT YEAH ITS ANOTHER THING IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT VOCALIST WHO DONT SEEM NEAR TO MAIN VOCALIST LEVEL AND HAVE AVERAGE SINGING ,GIVEN THE ROLE OF LEAD VOCALIST INSTEAD OF SUB VOCALIST BECAUSE IT WOULD BE FUNNY , from the example above you can see ,the lead vocalist would be no way near being a sub vocalist because of how much they carry the song but also wont be called main vocalist because of the talent and technique the main vocalist in their group has .
What I understood about it is like Onjo and Cheong-San's story in All of us are dead, they aren't the main characters, but they are the lead characters, they are mostly shown and highlighted every episodes. Solomon and Namra are the main characters, they are the only shown people in the tumbnail of the series. It's kinda like that, other than that I don't have any explanation 😅
I know this is old but first of all Kpop terms have their own meaning regardless of English. Second it’s alright if have this opinion cuz you’re not exactly wrong. I thought Main vocal was the one to get the most line but that’s not always true. However, Main vocals are the best one in group than lead are next. If you look at NCT 127 you see many main vocalists but it is still easy to tell that Taeil is even the main of the mains.
I think main is the one who is the most talented. Lead is the one who gets more parts. Idk the reason tho😅
I think sometimes there's a difference between main and lead and sometimes there isn't, depending on the group. The difference between them i think is that main is most important (in terms of ability) anf lead is the most visible (in terms of time singing, dancing ext.). A good example of this is with the movie frozen, elsa is the main character because she is the most important character to the story, but anna is the lead character because she is the person we follow throughout the story.
This is just how i see it though so i may be wrong
I just put it down as a translation error cause how can the LEAD vocalist be lower than the main, do we not know what lead means? I just think that the main does the most lines/hardest lines and the “lead” adds flavour like they might have an unusual tone or a really strong head voice but weak chest or they could be a good belter but poor in the low ranges whilst the main is solid across all/most ranges and techniques but might go to the lead for a high belt because they’re a low belter or the song might sound nicer with a whispy/raspy tone instead.
The only thing I noticed about lead vocalists is that they are most likely to start the song, and lead it, Main Vocals are like the peak or climax, they take the most complex vocal parts, and choruses too. But that's just my perception, i still do not understand the different positions that much.
Usually main is the powerhouse and most prominent voice of a group while lead holds together the songs and sub vocalist fill the song in chorus parts. Kinda like in iKON…Junhoe was lead for a small timeframe but became MAIN because his voice pretty much took all the spotlight away from Jinhwan who was demoted to lead. Other is Big Bang Taeyang, let’s be honest…Daesung is actually more has a larger vocal range than Taeyang but Taeyang’s voice and color is more dominant that Daesung and that’s why Taeyang is Main vocal but not lead.
But yeah for the longest time I couldn’t for the life of me understand the difference.
Yes, there can be two main characters in a movie. However, they're both called main or lead. You don't have one character being called the main character, and the other being called the lead
Though I really don't understand the need to assign positions to begin with
Hmmm a good example of the difference between main and lead vocalist will be Blackpink like Rosé and jisoo/ Jennie has very recognisable difference in singing abilities but for Red velvet it almost equal cuz wendy and seulgi both have main vocal abilities.
Agree. There should be main/lead and sub thats it. Rest all vocalist
I first learned about this in SNSD and it’s pretty clear in their case so I never really got confused.
Main vocalists are the group’s best vocals (ex. Jihyo). This doesn’t necessarily mean most of the lines but they do most of the adlibs and riffs.
Lead vocalists often sing the hook of the songs (ex. Nayeon), so they often have distinct vocal color or the second best vocals
Sub vocalists are accent vocals. They make parts of the song pop, hence usually these vocalists are more high pitched (ex. Sana)
These are better defined by bigger groups cause you see that distinction. Smaller groups tend to have members switching roles cause they have the capacity to showcase it.
I really dont understand it tbh 🤓
Honestly ur right tho like we gotta come together and come up for a new name cuz it’s too confusing up in here🥹
Whats a semicolon ?
We need more voacal heavy groups .
I don't know that the movie example works. Just because you might use them interchangeably in one circumstance doesn't mean they are in another circumstance. I also would say this: to me, there's a main character and often a romantic lead, who is not the main character.
Perhaps the distinction is not always obvious in practice, but I think it's fairly obvious what the intention is.
THANK YOU! I have googled this 100 times and it still doesn't make sense. THEY ARE SYNONYMS
Jungkook = main vocalist
Jimin = lead vocalist
Taehyung = sub vocalist
I get what she's saying though, yes there are people between main and sub, but lead doesn't seem like the best term for it because as words main and lead are the same thing. A different name for a lead would be easier to understand.
its not the same, main vocalist is the best vocalist in the group. good phrasing, good pronunciation, developed vocal registers, good supports, good resonance, good breath control. for example, yuju and eunji. lead vocal is the second best vocalist but they get more lines than the main vocal, and they may even sound better than the main vocalist. they lead the vocals. for example: winter. and eunha too, she started taking that role more seriously since crossroads.
THEY ARE THE SAME.
Apart from skill level and simple line distribution main can usually also describe the responsibilities within a team for example they could coach the rest of the team. This I guess is not always relevant for vocalist but for dancing besides choreography the main dancer looks out for the overalls performance of the team. I understand though how it's sometimes hard to differentiate cause many teams do not have that much difference in skill level to even make that difference. I think personally Pentagon is a very good example of a clear distinction of main, lead and sub vocalists
I am a melody. BTOB is a heavy vocal group, and you are right, they have no such thing as lead vocalist. There were only main and subs. (Although after military they said there wouldn't be such hierarchy anymore in BTOB because the 4 vocalists now has equally great vocal quality. Means all of them are main vocals and get equal parts in their songs) 😊
Or how the "main" usually has more lines then the "lead". Shouldn't the lead have the most??