These are the best women singers in modern music

Singers often make or break a song. The exceptional ones can lift a bland arrangement into the stratosphere and the mundane ones can sink a great arrangement like a torpedo. This week the "How We Heard It" guys take a look at women vocalists (men singers will come next week), from the clear-voiced vocalists with perfect enunciation to soul singers who use a ragged edge to add personality. Some are belters, some practically whisper, some float into the atmosphere, and some are Bjork. But the differences between artists are pronounced, even in the sub-categories. Find out why Karen Carpenter hits differently than Barbra Streisand, how Tina Turner persevered, what sets Debbie Harry apart, where Sheryl Crow lands and how Billie Eilish factors in. And the guys are not on the same page on many of these vocalists, from Janis Joplin to Joni Mitchell to Kate Bush to Whitney Houston to Mariah Carey. Some of these women only seem better the more you explore their work, while others don't hold up to a closer listen. Your hosts dovetail, dissent and then dovetail again as they explore women singers from today, yesterday and long ago.