VTuber Vocal Power: Why Every VTuber Deserves a Voice That Can Slay
- Mar 30
- 13 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Exactly one year ago today, I had my very first encounter with a VTuber. I had no idea what was going on and didn't have time to think about what I thought about it yet, before just going with it at the hands of the VTuber I happened to cross paths with. At the time, I had no idea what a VTuber was, let alone how popular VTubing culture was around the world. I also had no idea that VTubing would become such a big part of my life as a vocal coach. Since it's technically the first anniversary of me having any exposure to the VTube world, I want to celebrate with a little backstory into how a year being exposed to this phenomenon has really made an impact on me as a vocal coach and what I've done over this past year to help this cultural phenomenon make its mark.
For those of you cold-hearted souls out there that don't care about my incredible backstory about VTubers, you can go ahead and skip to the "real" content. But you're cold-hearted.
VTuber Virgin
There I was, one year ago, basking in the success of Fiverr Pro's online music lessons launch, something I had been headhunted to develop over the course of 7 months. As part of the launch, I agreed to create an actual profile on the website to offer my services as a vocal coach. I really hadn't planned on continuing there for very long since I thought the Fiverr crowd would be put-off by my prices, but I was pleasantly surprised at the traction my little Fiverr Pro profile received right off the bat.
Of course, as with any sort of digital messaging platform, you see all kinds of messages popping into your inbox from people all around the world. Some of them are spam, some of them are bored and just want to chat, some of them are not really interested in what you have to offer, but the rest of the messages I received were from very interesting people with very interesting backstories who legit wanted to learn how to sing. One of those came from a very shy girl from Taiwan who had trained with a voice teacher before, but never really got anywhere after she was assigned a few boring exercises that you can tell the teacher just threw her way without considering her unique voice or goals (one of my biggest pet peeves!). She wanted to start right away, so we met for her first lesson immediately.
She was quick to follow me into the Zoom meeting, and we connected to the audio about the same time. But when my camera switched on, hers didn't. Instead, her anime-style Zoom profile image remained in place, fixed in a pleasant smile. I complimented her image, saying that I liked her hair. This seemed to perk her up a bit. Next, she asked very politely if she could keep her camera off while I just listen to her voice. Sure, I said - and mentioned that I can totally do my job without seeing her, but it may help things go a little faster or smoother if I am able to lay eyes on her at least once while she sings sometime in the future. But it was no big deal at all.
I could tell she was nervous, and I don't blame her - I was petrified the whole first year when I started taking voice lessons. (My first voice teacher was evil though, and my nerves went away when she did; my singers, on the other hand, warm up quickly!)
So we got to chatting about her goals for taking voice lessons and she sent me a video to watch right there during her lesson. It was a video of a livestream karaoke singer, but the singer was not broadcast as a human; they were using an avatar that seemed to move in sync with the movements of the human doing the singing. I could tell immediately that the singing was live, not pre-recorded, and the avatar was, in fact, moving spontaneously with the music they were singing. To the right was an endless cascade of live commentary and reactions from an audience of over 80,000 viewers.
"What IS this!?" I asked, utterly fascinated by what I was seeing.
"She's a VTuber, like me, and I want to be able to do this on my streams one day," my new student replied.
"A VTuber? Like, a virtual YouTuber or streamer of sorts?"
"Yes, exactly!" After watching a bit more, I remember saying, "How peculiar, but really interesting. Does she get paid to do this?"
"Yes, just look at all the fans reacting and commenting. Isn't she great?!"
"Well, she's nothing to write home about vocally, but dang, she's certainly figured out how to make it work. If this is something you do, I want to know more about it so we can tackle this from every perspective and get you on top of the game here. From the little I know about you so far, I can think of a few strategies that we can approach singing from to get you on par with these vocals and FAR beyond in a matter of no time. Thank you for introducing me to this strange but oddly really cool little world here."
Right after her lesson, I ran into the other room and showed the video to my partner, without any commentary beforehand.
"What is this?" he asked.
"You tell me. What do you think about it?"
After watching for a little while, he said, "Someone who can't really sing well actually getting noticed and developing a fanbase because she's live-streaming as an animated character? Clearly she's onto something," he said, noticing the cascading fan reactions as she sang.
"Is this weird?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's weird." He replied.
...good thing I'm a weird person. I dove straight into Vtubing research. I searched all over the internet for the questions I needed answers to, but no one on the reddit forums were addressing the basics that I needed to know. At the time, the Wikipedia page wasn't very helpful either, so I turned to scholarly research for a comprehensive analysis of what exactly this VTuber phenomenon was, how it got started, who gets into it, how music and singing fit into the VTuber world, etc. I found this one Master's thesis called "Streaming as a Virtual Being: The Complex Relationship Between VTubers and Identity" by someone named Anna Birna Turner, which was very, very helpful in introducing me to the world of VTubers from scratch. This particular paper also shed some light on the parasocial relationships that can be formed between VTubers and their fans. I began to understand the allure of VTubers and why their fans are so enthusiastic supporters of them, and I began to see what an important role VTubers play in the lives of others who become members of this community to fulfill a need for socialization and belonging. We humans are social creatures, and this, I surmised, was the evolution of our survival as social creatures. "Life found a way," as Ian Malcolm said in one of the best movies history has ever known.
My first VTuber student and I made incredible progress with her singing, which is typical for my singers. But one day, about a month into our lessons, she said something to me that absolutely made me stop in my tracks and be truly grateful that she had entered my life and gotten comfortable enough with me to say this off-the-cuff:
"To hear my voice blossom like this is something I never dreamed was possible. In my culture, women cannot be great. They will never be great. It is very much a part of who I am to not expect such a thing in my life. From my very first memories, I was raised in a family where everyone told me how plain and talentless I am... And I believed them all these years. But meeting you, and working with you in these voice lessons... despite what I was brought up to believe about myself, this the first moment I've ever considered the possibility that my life may be an extraordinary one."
Y'ALL. I am a puddle just reading that back to myself again. I went back and watched the recording of our lesson a dozen times just because it was such a sweet and unexpected glimpse of how music can have transformative powers in the right hands. That was the moment I knew not only how special VTubing is, but how powerful music and VTubing can be together if they're under the right direction. Music and VTubing can change the world.
For me, music is transformative and healing, and I teach my singers to look within themselves to express what they feel authentically, and it always comes out in remarkable vocals when they sing. Millions of people around the world look to VTubers to fulfill something missing in their lives. It's only natural that VTubers turn to music as a way to connect with their fans on a deeper level.
From that moment, I was hooked. I wanted to vocal coach as many VTubers as possible so I could use my gifts as a vocal coach to heal people around the world who need it.
Right as I made this discovery, I received a message on Fiverr from another VTuber, completely unrelated to my first student. This new message was more of a test, it seemed, than a curious inquiry. It contained several questions about my knowledge about VTubers and what I thought about the medium, if I even knew what it was. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to discuss my newfound obsession with someone who apparently knew quite a lot about it. As it turns out, this new VTuber was quite successful already and had representation that I had to interview with in order to secure them as a student. Of course I slayed the interview, and that's about all I can say about this one, given the watertight NDA I signed as part of our collaboration. What I can say is this: watching our work together take off around the world and connect with millions of people is exactly the validation I needed to cement by belief in the power of this medium.
A few months ago, I was messaged by yet another VTuber, and this one happens to live close to my home here in New York City. Since she began studying with me, we've developed what I view as a special relationship between teacher and student, although my relationships with all my students are special in their own ways. It takes a different meaning when you meet them in person and have in-person lessons, too, though, which is exactly what has happened with us.
Throughout this past year, I've welcomed another 6 or 7 VTubers to my vocal studio, and they all have something in common with each other, which I find to be refreshing and remarkable and oh-so-inspiring: they want to learn to sing because they know it's a way to connect more deeply with themselves and with others. And they all come to me knowing that already. With non-VTubers, I get a lot of "I want to learn to sing because I want to be famous," -type of answers. Fortunately I have the luxury of gently redirecting those singers to someone else if I can tell that's the extent of their interest in singing. Some of them just need a little time with me in order to see the light, though.
So that's my anniversary celebration of being introduced to VTubers and the untapped potential this world is just now discovering through music. I'm totally here for it, and I'd like to encourage all VTubers to explore their voices from a different perspective if they haven't already. If that means reaching out to me for lessons, don't worry: you're in good hands. I have experience with others just like you, and we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what kind of magic music and VTubing can create for the world. When you're ready:
Feel free to explore my portfolio (which is extremely lacking in the VTuber department because I've noticed that, as a whole, this community likes to keep the whole vocal coach thing to a minimum, lol. I guess vocal coaches don't fit into lore very easily, and that totally makes sense to me.)
Maybe one day I'll upload the video audition I made for VShojo that, while it got me nowhere with the agency, is still quite entertaining.
Anyway, maybe one day I'll be able to name names. Just let this be proof that your work with me will remain confidential unless you explicitly tell me you want to be featured in my portfolio. Then, I'll think about it... ;)
I can hear you thinking, "Enough with the backstory already! Get to the content!" Okay, okay, sorry.
LISTEN HERE: VTubers are people, too, and although the world might seem weird at first, they've got a lot to say and a lot to sing about, too. In a world where avatars come to life and personalities shine through pixels, one thing remains absolutely real: THEIR VOICES.
Whether you’re a VTuber just getting started or a seasoned virtual icon ready to level up, your voice is your power—and it's time to train it like the star it is. If you've ever wondered, "Can VTubers learn to sing?" or "Is there a vocal coach who actually understands what I do?"—congrats, boo. You just found your fierce.
BTW- I just finished a ton of research on how much vocal coaches cost across all 50 United states and wrote a blog about it. Curious? Give it a look and LMK what you think.
Why VTubers Need Vocal Coaching
Let’s be clear: VTubing isn’t just streaming. It’s performance art. One of my VTuber voice students put it beautifully one time to me: "To be a successful VTuber, you have to be really good at having a one-sided conversation for extended amounts of time." I love that.
Vtubing is acting. VTubing is improvisation. VTubing is putting yourself out there. VTubing is community-building. VTubing is learning new skills in a very public forum. And, more and more these days, VTubing is singing. All behind a digital face. But that doesn’t mean VTubers' voices should be an afterthought.
In fact, it’s your most direct, human connection to your fans.
Here’s why vocal coaching matters:
You’re performing live (or live-ish), often for hours.
You need vocal stamina and techniques that preserve your energy.
You might want to sing for karaoke, content, or full-blown VTuber concerts.
You want your audience to hear you clearly, confidently, and authentically.
What Makes My Vocal Coaching VTuber-Friendly
Not every vocal coach gets it. Most don’t understand what it means to perform without being seen, to connect with emotion while wearing an avatar, or to speak for hours without burning out.
I do.
Online-First, Camera Optional
Every lesson is virtual, and you’re never required to show your face. Most of my VTuber singers, I've never seen their real faces. And I don't need to see their faces to do my job. Trust me, I know everything about your voice from the moment you start speaking to me. Your comfort comes first.
I’m a Stage Pro Who Trains Stars
I coach celebrities, Broadway performers, and now, VTubers. And I treat you with the same precision, respect, and energy I give to the biggest names in entertainment.
I Help You Find Your Authentic Voice
Many VTubers are neurodivergent, introverted, or rebuilding confidence. I can say this because, believe it or not, I am naturally extremely introverted. Before I discovered music and singing, my parents would meet with my teachers at school because they were so concerned about my ability to socialize and be comfortable in front of others socially. That all changed when I discovered music... until then I realized that performing for others brought on paralyzing stage fright. Don't worry, I've conquered stage fright and performance anxiety SO HARD that people actually fly me around the world to give masterclasses and speeches on how to manage performance anxiety. I'm one of you, I promise. And because I've been there, I meet you where you are—and we grow from there.
I Developed the Dual Voice Method™
It’s not just about technique. My method fuses technical mastery (your physical voice) with emotional authenticity (your inner voice). When both align, your audience FEELS it.
This isn’t just about singing. It’s about learning to be heard.
Read that again and really let it sink in. I got you, boo.
VTuber Vocal Coaching: What’s Included?
Every lesson is tailored, fierce, and fluff-free.
Each lesson starts with a personal check-in, and this is, to me, the most important part of the lesson. "How are you?" "How was your week?" Our voices don't hide anything from the experienced vocal coach, and it's important to discuss any emotional baggage that happened since we last worked together so I can help you process those emotions with your voice throughout the lesson. Voice lessons are like therapy, I'm telling you. Other vocal coaches might go through the motions of the pleasantries, but I form the rest of my lessons around how this one part goes down. It's so important to forge a working and an authentic relationship with your vocal coach, and this is a cherished time for me to get to know my singers before we begin the technical work each week. Then we get down to the technical work.
Breath Control – Learn to support your voice with efficient breathing. Build vocal stamina with breath that is supportive and gives your voice a signature sound that only you are capable of producing.
Pitch & Resonance – Whether you want to sound more masc, fem, cute, cool, or anything in between. We're going to work with what Mother Nature gave you and go from there using healthy techniques that enable your voice to do anything.
Karaoke Repertoire Building – We’ll build a song list that fits your vibe and goals.
Performance Confidence – So when it’s showtime, you don’t shrink—you slay.
YOU NAME IT. Most of my singers are shocked when they work with me and we discover parts of their voices that are mind-blowingly amazing. So it's literally impossible to tell you what to expect in your lessons when I haven't heard what amazing things lie in store for us!
FAQ: VTuber Vocal Coaching
Q: Do I have to turn on my camera?
A: Nope. Never. Some clients work with me for months and I never see their face. You’re safe here. Not that any VTubers need this at all, because no one is better at troubleshooting audio and video catastrophes than a streamer, but here's a list of best practices when taking online voice lessons in case you're curious.
Q: I’ve never sung before. Can I still start?
A: Absolutely. Beginners welcome. If you can speak, I can teach you to sing.
Q: I'm nervous!
A: This is why you should have read the backstory. I talk about how nervous I was when I started singing in lessons, too. Don't worry, I got you, boo!
Q: Can you help me improve my speaking voice too?
A: Yes. We can work on tone, pacing, delivery, articulation, enunciation, resonance, clarity, vocal fatigue—anything related to your speaking voice, whether on stream or in real life.
Q: What if I have stage fright?
A: Even better. I specialize in helping performers overcome stage fright with custom mindset coaching. You’ll also love my free resource: Stage Fright to Stage Might
Ready to Become a Vocal VTuber Icon?
You don’t need to sound like everyone else. You need to sound like YOU—fierce, confident, and unforgettable.
💬 Contact me if you have questions or want a custom plan.
🎁 Try my vocal warm-up generator before your next stream.
👅 Or if you're feeling really adventurous, try my Interactive Tongue Twister Generator.
Final Thoughts
You’ve built a character, a brand, and a following. Now it’s time to build a voice that carries it all.
Your avatar may be virtual, but your voice is very, very real. Let’s make it unforgettable.
Sing out. Be heard. And always remember—don’t force it. Fierce it.
May the fierce be with you, VTuber fam. 💅🎧🎙️
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