What does oversung mean?

For this kind of thing, Wikipedia generally *is* a pretty good resource: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversinging

If I were to use the term, which I don't think I ever have, I'd use it in the meaning of "embellishing a song too much, sometimes to the point where the melody is no longer recognizable" (edit: as Lord Fickle wrote - Mariah Carey). But from what I see you've written ("I've seen people commented that Freddie sang Bohemian Rhapsody the wrong way"), I think those comments are related to the 'operatic' nature of Bohemian Rhapsody and point to Freddie's singing using 'too much' breath and being too strained compared to 'proper' bel canto singing used in most 'real' opera.

In practice, I think it usually means that the persons giving the criticism consider themselves great connoisseurs of singing but don't have the actual knowledge or skill to point out any actual concrete problems and solutions. So basically, conceited gits. Also, please forgive this particular conceited git his liberal use of quotation marks to mark words he finds contentious.

I *think* that they are referring to almost shouting instead of singing in Freddie's case.  I know I'm certainly not a fan at all of Freddie's live singing in the 80's.  Very shout-y and bark-y.  It's one of the reasons why Live Killers is the album I turn to for "live Queen"  and not something like Live at Wembley.

I think Freddie's vocal in One Year of Love is a studio example of 'oversinging'.

The key should have been lowered. 

I agree with all the above, but I'm reminded of this comment from Jeff Griffin on the 1973 BBC concert (which also explains why Freddie is so low in the mix) "My main memory was that he tended to over-pitch rather a bit, which is sign of getting a bit over excited - especially when you put a bit of power into your voice. That's obviously something that improved no end with more live work."

'Put a bit of power in' = over sing?

Totally agree - in their whole catalogue it’s the one track I can easily point to where Freddie’s approach to the vocal was not great.

It's one of the songs I most dislike, and it's the one song I pick to make my point when someone seems shocked when I say AKOM is a crap album. But IMHO it's got less to do with Freddie oversinging and more to do with the band "underplaying" (?). Freddie did what he does in love ballads, but instead of piano, layers upon layers of guitar and massive vocal harmonies, we got that boring synth that sounds like cheap old karaoke machines. It's "easy" to blame his vocals for being over the top when the rest of the song is way below average. With a full band re-recording like they've done on Made in Heaven and on tracks like Love Kills and Let Me In Your Heart Again, I'm sure it would sound much better and Freddie would look less flashy in comparison.



Unlike what I said above about One Year Of Love, I think in this case the vocals and the rest really go together well. I wouldn't go as far as compare this song to thrash metal, but Brian probably asked him for a heavy sound and I suppose that's the kind of energy he went for.



Ditto! I really can't see Freddie "oversinging" anywhere in the Queen catalogue. Perhaps in some tracks the production made poor use of his vocals - and maybe in some of those tracks he was responsible for that, sitting on the other side of the mixing desk or even writing the rest of the instruments - but I tend to think of "oversinging" as those exaggerated, overly technical singers who'll put vibrato on everything and unecessarily bounce between octaves just for the sake of showing off their range or technique. Freddie sounds nothing like them. He's always very melodic - even when he displays his fairly large range, what he sings make us want to sing along too.

The closest we've got to that on Queen were the early Q+AL concerts. Adam, like many of those reality show singers, would show off so much to the point of making some of our favorite melodies barely recognizable. And I feel he's improved a lot since then and has learned to harness his vocal power much better.