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What is it about Adam's version of as song that makes me love it more than other versions? The first thing that hits me is the tone of his voice. It is bright, clear, and ringing, but with a fullness, roundness, and depth, too. Other singers have good voices, but most of the pop and rock singers I hear don't have that resonance. Their voices sound flat (not in pitch, but in tone) or dull in comparison. I don't set out to compare, really. But, when I hear another singer and then hear Adam, the richness of his tone is strikingly obvious to me. 

Have you you seen the TV ads for Claritin allergy meds? They show someone in a pretty outdoor setting talking and it looks fine. Then, when they talk about Claritin, the special effect is like taking a slightly gauzy film off the camera lens and everything just pops with color and crispness. Adam's voice is like that. Or like someone here once said: like other voices are two dimensional and Adam's is in 3D.

The second thing about Adam's performances is the intensity of the emotions in the song. The words and phrases mean something. The song tells a story. After listening to Adam, when I hear others there is a kind of flatness in the interpretation. Maybe it is Adam's training in theater that causes him to consider how to approach the song so that it means something. Technically, Adam does things to bring that emotionalism to the song. Things like changing the tone, roughening it up or smoothing it out, singing it with a straight, piercing sound, or warming it up with vibrato. Or doing subtle little things with the rhythms and phrasing, speeding up a phrase, elongating it, holding a note a bit longer, or delaying the start of a note or phrase. Or, varying how he articulates words, spitting them out in a staccato style, or flowing one sound into another, but always producing the words intelligibly. His interpretations are full of life and masterful.

Most singers cannot do this because they do not have the technical ability to do so much with their voice and delivery. Just something as "simple" as being able to sing any note delicately and softly, in a normal volume, or with super power is beyond many singers. All the technical things that Adam is able to do with his voice are, individually, very subtle, while cumulatively, they result in us thinking "Wow, that sounds great! The best I have ever heard that song." This is not to take away anything from other singers who are also very good. I am not dissing anyone. I am just trying to explain why some of us hear a "one in a billion" voice when Adam sings.