ZING Magazine asked me to write a review of singer Floor Jansen’s voice
Floor Jansen began performing at a young age. By the time she was sixteen, she was already the lead singer of the metal band After Forever: raw, virtuosic music played at high volume. You wouldn’t expect someone so young to be capable of this. However, on live recordings of the 2002 song “Monolith of Doubt”—she was 21 at the time—you can hear that she is completely in her element in this role. Her voice, however, is not yet fully balanced. In the high register, she sounds like a true opera diva; she sings a long-held A6 fully and convincingly in her falsetto register (head voice). But during the transition to the low and middle registers, around G5, she clearly still struggles and sounds less confident. Here she switches to her modal register (chest voice), and her voice suddenly becomes softer and thinner.
It’s wonderful to follow how her voice—and her interpretation—evolve. Five years later, Floor Jansen recorded a fifth album with the same band After Forever. The somewhat exaggerated classical sound in the high register has disappeared, and she now switches seamlessly between her high and low registers with a bold rock sound full of “bite” and sharp articulation. On this album, she makes use of a broader palette of timbres. In the song “Energize,” for example, you hear a soft, breathy sound; at times she colors the lower register with an extra dark tone, and there are short, almost spoken notes. It’s a very dramatic album with a grand, sometimes almost symphonic sound.
Floor Jansen seems to have absolutely no trouble with intonation. Even the harmonic shifts that are sometimes less obvious are all sung with perfect pitch. It’s also wonderful to hear how well the arrangements—with backing vocals and instrumental lines—support the lead vocal, allowing Floor Jansen to really take all the space she wants, which she does with verve.
Since 2012, Floor Jansen has been the lead singer of the Finnish gothic metal band Nightwish. This band combines heavy metal riffs with orchestral arrangements, allowing her vocals to take on a more lyrical quality. Take, for example, the song Sleeping Sun, a ballad she sings with a somewhat lighter, folk-like sound. Although Floor Jansen tours all over the world with Nightwish, she remained relatively unknown in the Netherlands until she appeared on the TV show “Best Singers” in 2019. There, she delivered highly compelling performances of a wide-ranging repertoire, ranging from “Shallow” (Lady Gaga) and a Spanish pop song to a classical rendition of “The Phantom of the Opera,” alongside Dutch opera singer Henk Poort. It’s truly fascinating to hear how she uses her enormous vocal range across all these different styles and manages to convey a personal story in every song. Moreover, her enthusiasm is palpable. An exceptional singer with an exceptional voice.
©2025 Ineke Vandoorn
ZING Magazine 122 – april/mei 2025
©2025 Ineke Vandoorn
ZING Magazine 122 – april/mei 2025