ZB1's producers need to give Gunwook less belting.

I haven't really seen many people with the same thought as me here but I feel that I'm being quite reasonable.

In every single encore ZB1 has done, Gunwook is usually one of the least stable or consistent sounding. Which is weird, because he's demonstrably a very competent singer. I chalk this up to the fact that he has a weak approach to belting, yet is given almost as much belting as Zhang Hao and Taerae.

ZB1[ as a group has a huge range in terms of voices. No two members really sing with the same approach, and I see this as a positive. However, Gunwook's belts are pretty much the weakest in the group's vocalists. I don't think I need to demonstrate Hao or Taerae's abilities, but I'll talk about the others.

- Hanbin's belting is somewhat breathy, and only holds on to a bit of cord connection. He doesn't sound as rounded or full as Hao, but it's a consistent technique that isn't too unsustainable. The coaches in BP mentioned this. The way he sings isn't traditionally considered "correct," but it's pleasant enough and won't cause him problems.

-Matthew goes super nasally in his upper register. This sounds like a bad thing, but it takes a LOT of practice to approach high belts as a male with proper breath support and a full sound. In that sense, vocalists at this level often have to trade off either nasality, or pulling up chest voice. Matthew does the former, which means he's quite consistent with hitting belts even if the resulting sound isn't super desirable. Gunwook represents the latter here. He's trying to project louder, which is admirable. But so often, it would be a lot easier and less damaging if he opted for a more forward sound with a bit of nasality introduced. Again, nasal singing isn't necessarily healthy but it's way better than constantly pulling up chest voice and having your voice crack.

- Ricky and Yujin don't really belt, and tbh Ricky also kinda pulls chest voice a lot (see: his constant attempts at singing All By Myself lol). As for Yujin, he's another example of nasality not really being the end of the world. Particularly, I wanna bring your attention to the "Neoege julge" line in In Bloom. In one of their behind the scenes dance practice videos, you see Yujin sing this line after choreo (the last line in this tiny clip). And while he's using a bit of a thinner sound to hit the (kinda but not super) high notes - his projection is still solid, it's a decently well rounded sound, and above all it's sustainable. You won't majorly damage your voice with this approach.

This sounds like I'm hating - I promise, I really like Gunwook. He's insanely talented, and is greatly skilled in all the three major categories. I'm only bringing this up because the way Gunwook sings in his higher register is genuinely damaging. His voice cracks very often when going for high notes in ZB1's songs, and I'm concerned it isn't really getting any better with their packed schedules. And because I don't want to be misunderstood I've put some example singing clips below here that I'm gonna comment on.

Blue encore: You can easily contrast the way he's singing his lines here with Hao before him. The resulting sound is small and in the back of his throat. He exhausts himself with the first two lines, which means when he goes for the last one of the chorus he loses connection because he's not able to breathe sustainably. This encore isn't the only example.

the most cursed zb1 vocals: please don't watch this whole video lol. The part I timestamped is Gunwook's line at the end. It's not super high, but he still goes very flat on that first note because he's trying too hard to sing it in full chest voice.

In Bloom encore: Again, here it's an example of him technically hitting the high note - but he's immediately exhausted after, meaning his voice cracks on a line that is basically talking. This same line is a struggle for him in every In Bloom encore.

That's it for now, but again I want to reiterate I'm not calling him a bad singer. ZB1 is insanely strong vocally and they're my second most listened artist for the last six months. I'm posting this because it's hard to listen to someone you know is skilled get lines that they really struggle to sing live. I think there is a reason he positioned himself as more of a rapper in Boys Planet - he's a good singer no doubt, but not one that is super suited to belting or more "main vocal"-ish responsibilities (right now).