From pop ballads to Broadway belters, from The Voice to TikTok – melisma, or vocal runs, is everywhere. It’s that moment when a singer takes a single syllable and spins it into a cascade of notes. It’s a technical flex. It’s an emotional punch. And whether you know the name or not, you’ve felt its power.
But what many fans don’t realize is this: Melisma didn’t start in pop. It was born in Black music.
The style we now call melisma has ancient origins, but its modern musical identity, especially in Western pop culture, is inextricably tied to African-American musical traditions.
In spirituals and early gospel, Black singers used melisma to emote, connect, and express what couldn’t be said in words alone. Songs passed down through generations became tools of resistance, storytelling, and worship. The church became both sanctuary and stage — where voices soared and runs weren’t about performance, but about presence.
Mahalia Jackson’s 1947 recording “Move On Up a Little Higher” is one of the earliest examples of vocal runs making waves beyond the church walls. That record sold over a million copies, breaking barriers for gospel music, and bringing melisma to mainstream ears for the first time.
By the 1960s and ’70s, artists like Aretha Franklin and Etta James were carrying gospel vocal stylings into soul and R&B. Their delivery was raw, emotional, and deeply melismatic. In songs like “Ain’t No Way” or “I’d Rather Go Blind,” the voice stretched syllables and bent notes not to impress — but to move people.
Then came Whitney Houston, whose groundbreaking vocal control and soaring runs turned melisma into a mainstream pop essential. Her 1992 cover of “I Will Always Love You” is often credited with pushing vocal runs to the centre of pop performance. Not long after, Mariah Carey, with her five-octave range and lightning-fast runs, made melisma a signature. Suddenly, every new pop star needed range, emotion, and flawless riffs to compete.
Today, melisma is everywhere:
Because Black artists made vocal runs essential. What started in spirituals and gospel evolved into a vocal language that now dominates pop, R&B, and even Broadway.
From Mahalia to Mariah, from the choir to Wicked; melisma didn’t just happen. It came from a place of depth, skill, and cultural expression. Today it’s a default in pop music… but it didn’t start that way. So the next time you hear a pop star stretching a single syllable into five notes?
You can thank Black music for that.
Featured image: Deborah Cox performs four song medley “Where do we go from here”, “Nobody’s supposed to be here”, “Who do u love”, and “Beautiful U R “. JUNO Awards Broadcast. Budweiser Stage, Toronto, On. May 15, 2022. Photo: CARAS/iPhoto
