Singing Coach AI
The best karaoke duets, and who should sing which part
A duet is the safest thing at karaoke, because the room never knows which of you was flat. It is also the easiest thing to get wrong, because most pairs have not decided who sings what. This list gives each song its range and a note on how to split it: who takes the verse, who takes the high line, and where you actually sing together.
Two things make a duet work at karaoke. The first is that the parts sit in different places: Shallow gives the low, lazy verses to a baritone and the belted chorus to a mezzo, and swapping them is a disaster. The second is knowing whether you are trading lines or singing in harmony, because the two need different skills. The songs here are ordered from the ones everybody requests, through the musical-theater pairs, to the R&B and pop duets that need a bit more planning.
Each row shows the combined range of the recording, which is wider than either part on its own. Look at the note under the song for the split, then check the higher part against the vocal range test for whoever is taking it. If it is a stretch, the machine can drop the key for both of you at once; two semitones is usually enough and it moves the low part down too, so the lower singer should sing their verse to check it still projects.
One practical tip: decide the split before you are on stage, out loud, in a sentence each. The moment you both go for the same line is the moment the room starts laughing at you rather than with you.
Every song links to its guide: range, key, where the hard notes are and how to practice it. Range and key are for the original recording.
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1
Shallow Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
Baritone takes the low first verse, mezzo takes the second and the D5 scream. Sing the last chorus together in octaves.
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2
Don't Go Breaking My Heart Elton John, Kiki Dee
Strict line-for-line trade in the same range, then both on the chorus. Playful and forgiving; timing matters more than pitch.
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3
Summer Nights John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John
Verses trade, the tell-me-more lines go to the crowd, and the ending has a soprano G5. Give that to your Sandy.
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4
You’re the One That I Want John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John
He opens low, she answers, both hit the chorus. The ooh-ooh-ooh is shouted together and needs no harmony.
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5
Under Pressure Queen & David Bowie
Bowie's part is baritone and sits low; Mercury's climbs to the A5 scream. Cast accordingly, and speak the middle section.
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6
Señorita Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
Trade verses, then share the hook; the low male verse sits around A2 to E3, so give it to the lower voice.
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7
Rewrite the Stars Zac Efron, Zendaya
Tenor opens, mezzo answers, then a chorus in harmony that lifts to Eb5. Rehearse the harmony or sing it in unison.
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8
Love Is an Open Door Kristen Bell, Santino Fontana
Fast, chatty trading lines with finish-each-other's-sandwiches jokes. Pure comedy; the timing of the cut-ins is the whole thing.
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9
The Boy Is Mine Brandy, Monica
Two mezzos arguing in the same register. Pick who is Brandy and who is Monica, and lean into the attitude on every line.
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10
Die With A Smile Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars
Tenor verse first, mezzo second, then a big harmonized chorus reaching F#5. Whoever has the higher voice takes the top line.
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11
Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) Elton John, Dua Lipa
Elton's rocket-man lines sit low for a baritone; Dua's sacrifice hook sits mid-range for a mezzo. Almost no overlap.
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12
One Sweet Day Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
Mariah's part climbs to C6; the Boyz II Men parts are a warm tenor blend. Give a mezzo the top and skip the whistle notes.
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13
All I Ask of You Patrick Wilson, Emmy Rossum
Baritone verse, soprano answer, then harmony that climbs to a Bb5 for her. A real singer's duet; choose the key for the soprano.
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14
A Million Dreams Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams
A tenor verse, a soprano answer, then unison choruses that rise to E5. Sing the choruses in octaves if harmony is a stretch.
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15
Lovely Billie Eilish, Khalid
Two whispered parts weaving in the same range, E3 to E5. Both sing softly and the harmony is close, so rehearse it.
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16
I Don't Care Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber
Two tenors trading verses in a bright, bouncy range. The chorus is unison, so no harmony to organize.
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17
Don't You Want Me The Human League
He tells the story low, she answers mid-range, then both shout the chorus. Deadpan delivery is the style, so nerves fit.
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18
The Other Side Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron
A fast bargaining duet between a baritone and a tenor. Every line overlaps, so learn the cues or it collapses.
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19
Only Us Ben Platt & Laura Dreyfuss
Soprano opens softly, tenor joins, then close harmony in the chorus. Intimate and quiet; do not oversing it.
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20
Islands in the Stream Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton
He sings the first verse low, she the second, and the chorus is a third apart. Easy harmony because it is in every ear already.
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21
A Whole New World Brad Kane & Lea Salonga
Tenor takes the first verse, soprano the second, and the key lifts near the end. Her top note is F5, so cast it carefully.
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22
Ain’t No Mountain Marvin Gaye
Call and response through the verses, unison on the chorus. Both parts sit mid-range; the energy comes from the trade.
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23
Empire State Of Mind Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
One rapper, one singer. The rap needs breath and rhythm; the New-York hook is a sustained belt up to C#5.
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24
Up Where We Belong Joe Cocker And Jennifer Warnes
He starts low and gravelly, she answers high and pure, then the chorus in harmony. A classic baritone-and-mezzo pairing.
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25
Dilemma Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland
Nelly's verses are rapped; Kelly's hook is a smooth mid-range melody. Simple to split and the chorus repeats.
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26
No Air Jordin Sparks, Chris Brown
Trading verses, then a chorus that climbs to F#5 for her and a high tenor line for him. Both parts are demanding.
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27
The Phantom of the Opera Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum
The soprano climbs to an E6 at the end. Unless you have that note, treat it as a comedy duet and leave the final ascent out.
Who sings which part
Most duets were written for two different voices, and the parts are not interchangeable. In the classic male-female pairs the man takes the lower verse and the woman takes the higher one, and the chorus is either in unison an octave apart or in harmony. Getting this wrong is the commonest karaoke duet mistake: the baritone tries to sing Gaga's part of Shallow, or the soprano starts Islands in the Stream on Kenny's verse and finds it sits under her voice.
| Song | Lower part | Higher part | Where you sing together |
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| Shallow | Baritone, verse one | Mezzo, verse two and the scream | Final chorus, in octaves |
| Islands in the Stream | Baritone, verse one | Soprano or mezzo, verse two | Chorus, a third apart |
| Under Pressure | Baritone (Bowie lines) | Tenor (Mercury lines) | Why can't we give love, unison |
| A Whole New World | Tenor, verse one | Soprano, verse two | Chorus, in harmony |
| Up Where We Belong | Baritone, gravelly opener | Mezzo, pure answer | Chorus, harmony |
| Empire State of Mind | Rapper, all verses | Singer, the hook | Nowhere; strictly alternating |
If you are not sure which of you has the higher voice, sing the same line together on ah and listen for who is straining. The vocal range chart explains what the note names mean, and the men's and women's karaoke pages sort solo songs by the same voice types.
Harmony duets versus trade-off duets
Duets divide into two kinds, and they need different preparation. Trade-off duets alternate lines or verses and only meet on a unison chorus: Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Don't You Want Me, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Dilemma, I Don't Care. These need timing and no harmony. Learn who comes in when and you are done. If one of you is a nervous singer, choose one of these; the pressure never sits on one person for more than a line.
Harmony duets ask you to sing different notes at the same time: Islands in the Stream, Rewrite the Stars, Only Us, Lovely, All I Ask of You. The harmony in Islands in the Stream is easy because it is in everyone's ear from forty years of radio. The harmony in Lovely or Only Us is close and quiet, and if you have not rehearsed it, it will drift into unison or into a clash. The safe move for an unrehearsed harmony duet is to sing the chorus in octaves, which the room hears as harmony, and to let the recording's backing vocals fill the rest. If you want to learn a real harmony part, sing it against the original at home while recording in the app; the pitch line makes it obvious when you have slid back onto the melody, which is what everyone's ear wants to do. The how to sing in tune guide has an exercise for holding your note against a different one.
Blending two voices on one chorus
Two people singing the same line rarely sound like one unless they match three things: volume, vowel and vibrato. Volume first. The louder singer should back off until the two voices are equal, because the room hears the louder one as the lead and the quieter as a mistake. On a shared microphone, the taller person usually ends up too far from it; hold the mic between you at chin height and both lean in.
Vowel next. If one of you sings shallow as shal-LOW and the other as shal-LOH, it sounds like two different songs. Agree on the vowel of the biggest chorus word and sing it the same way. Vibrato last. A wide wobble on one voice and a straight tone on the other will not blend; both go straighter on the long notes, which is easier than adding vibrato. The guide on singing with better tone covers vowel shape, and breath control matters doubly here, because a duet chorus is usually where both singers run out of air at the same time.
Duets for two men or two women
Most karaoke duet lists assume a man and a woman. Several songs here were written for two of the same voice: The Boy Is Mine and Lovely are two women in the same register, I Don't Care and The Other Side are two men, and Under Pressure is a baritone and a tenor. For the rest, the male-female pairs work for any two singers as long as you swap parts sensibly. Two men on Islands in the Stream should sing Dolly's verse an octave down, then keep the chorus in unison rather than trying for the third. Two women on Shallow should give the low verse to the alto and the scream to the mezzo, and both take the chorus at pitch.
The key-change button helps here more than anywhere. Dropping a male-female duet by three or four semitones puts the female line within reach of a high male voice; raising it by three puts the male verse where a low female voice can sing it with body. The find my singing key guide shows how to pick the number, and the baritone and alto pages help if you need to work out which of you is the lower voice.