I suppose off-pitch. Randy Jackson apparently says it at least once every show.
But your point is good: who the heck really knows? However, by saying that one word (usually about someone's backing vocals - I'm too dang good) said pain in the hiney views themselves as a qualified music critic.

Sigh.
( BrokenCoccyx doesn't mind if you grope on, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 17:04, 2 replies)

"Pitchy" meaning a polite version of
"fucking awful" ? If someone told me i was "pitchy" (never been called that yet) i would actually invite them up to do better. Most of those crass enough to dis someone else at a gig would shit themselves if they had to sing in front of an audience other than their bathroom mirror in my experience, alleged voice coach or no. Though luckily all my bandmates would rather throw punches than let anyone else take the mic or let any one of us get criticized by some toe rag.
(womanwhocanonlylivewithdogs, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 19:51, closed)

In my experience, it's less of a hit on the singer than an attempt by the person saying it to sound intelligent
or that they know something at all about music.
( BrokenCoccyx doesn't mind if you grope on, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 21:38, closed)

Huh?
Why would American Idol care about that? Most pop artists (and certainly most North American pop artists - Michael Buble is a recent and serial offender) Autotune the living shit out of every track they ever go near, and have flashy, whizz-bang dances and fireworks and lights at their live gigs to distract the audience from the fact they're clearly lipsynching anyway (Britney, Madonna, etc.).

So it doesn't matter that the teeny popstrels couldn't carry a tune in a leaky bucket.

Using "pitchy" in the context of a live rock gig, on the other hand, is fully deserving of BC's wrathful scorn. You want pitch perfect singing every time, go see an opera.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Wed 21 Jul 2010, 17:53, closed)