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I just spent a very pleasant hour listening to this and wanted to share;

There was discussion yesterday about an Adam and Chris Colfer sing-off, since Adam is allegedly playing his nemesis. This caused me to YT Chris, to hear more of his voice. Here's my take, for what it's worth.

Chris has this light, clear, almost soprano sounding voice. Very pretty, soothing, with nice vibrato for warmth. He sounds great on ballads. I enjoyed listening to him.

Now for the "but." From what I have heard, Chris has some limitations with his voice. I tried to find examples of him singing live on TV or in concert. There's not much out there. I found "Happy Days" and "Defying Gravity" with Lea. And "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sung as a ballad. I can't find anything else sung live. Odd. I wonder why?  I had read somewhere that he doesn't like to sing live. It makes me wonder if he has problems singing live as opposed to in a studio with multiple takes and electronic enhancements. 

From the YTs of his singing on Glee, it appears that he doesn't have a lot of flexibility or diversity in his singing. I never heard him sing with great power or oomph. He doesn't appear to have a lot of dynamic range (soft to loud, tender to hard, emotionally varied) to his voice. He may be singing a ballad or an up-tempo song, but the voice doesn't change much. The instruments may swell emotionally, but the voice doesn't do the same. Therefore, his interpretations sound rather flat and one dimensional to me. Technically, I don't hear him doing a lot with his voice. His voice is very pretty and delicate. What I don't hear is a lot of richness or depth in it. It doesn't have weight or full resonance. In other words, he sounds very pretty in what he sings, but he is not an interesting singer to me over his repertoire. He's rather bland.

It makes me doubly appreciate Adam's voice. We know that Adam can sing across genres and styles effortlessly and convincingly. He can caress a ballad or blow the roof off with power rock anthems. He can sound like he is singing an operatic aria, a feel-good dance jam, a light reggae, or a soulful R&B tune. He can interpret the hell out of a song, telling a story with a beginning, middle and end musically and emotionally. He can sing elaborate runs and extemporaneous riffs up and down his range. His voice is redolent with textures and harmonics that resonate across his range. Tho' he has a light sound to his voice, it is also rich and full of depth. His breath support lets him sing marvelous musical and lyrical phrases and hold notes in a way that make people comment on his "third lung." 

Adam and Chris, despite both being hailed for having an incredibly high range, are actually very different singers. Both do what they do very well. Adam just does a lot more, IMO. With much more technical acumen and versatility. 

Cassie, last night when I saw the two video of Chris & Adam's singing, I was hoping that you could start a new discussion about their voices. And here you go.

I started watching Glee right from the beginning when it just came out as a new show in 2009. Since then I had become a fan of the show and watched every episode of first three seasons and the first four episodes of the fourth season. And then my interests in this show worn out so I stopped watching. I've heard Chris' singing, at least on the show, many many times. And
I totally agree with what you said.

His voice is clear, tender and high. He mainly sings ballads and some Broadway numbers on the show. This website has all songs that were ever sung by him on the show till the most recent episode: glee.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Songs_sung_by_Kurt_Hummel. He does a good job for what he has done and can do. Yes, his style is indeed monotonous. I guess if I only watch him sing I get bored quickly. But the show has a storyline and good production of songs, therefore makes the singing much more interesting to watch.

Adam's voice is a wonder. I don't think anyone on the show, no matter major cast members, any past cameos or guest stars are able to match his voice if they really have a sing-off. The quality is just not in the same league at all. And this show does recording singing, not live singing. He can even do more crazy stuff with his singing. To me, if he sings, he will be anybody's nemesis in that regards. We'll see, maybe he will dumb down a bit, or maybe he will just go crazy, it all depends on the role he plays.

I take it then that Chris is a proficient waterskier, but don't ask him to do any tricks!