A celebration of lip syncing

So was that just for the trailer or do they do their own singing at all in the movie?

Didn't love that trailer, no sir. But... I rarely like movies like this. I think the Doors is the only one I cared for, and even that didn't feel very authentic.

did you really expect someone covering Freddie ? ha ha ha

In some instances -- it's quite necessary -- Mercury is one of those people it would have been a horrible film if Mercury's singing was attempted and failed.

Mercury's voice and vocal range are not only signature to the band, but unique only to him. (in no small part due to his extra teeth. He cited it in many interviews as a reason he would never get them fixed -- it would have changed his signature vocal style. Same reason Barbara Streisand never got her nose fixed, despite studio people and former managers urging her to do so. She and Mercury knew their meal ticket also hinged on their 'oddities' that, if 'fixed', would have broken their careers.)

I, too, prefer it when singers are portrayed where the actor can actually do the singing. However...in some instances, when the performer has such a signature sound that any attempt to mimic it would have a 90% chance of failure, it would detract from the whole film. This was a smart choice by both Malik and the director. If he had failed, Mercury's voice is so distinct that, had he failed, no one would be talking about how great the film was, but only how Malik blew the vocals.

Malik absolutely nailed Mercury's showmanship, and his lip syncing was on point, I wasn't the least bit bothered by it -- because I was captivated by his performance, and not distracted by the vocals not being perfect (as they likely would have been had the songs not been lip synched.) Also -- Mercury's voice was partially due to his physical differences with having extra teeth -- you just could not mimic that.

I found it to be pretty seamless. It wasn't as jarring as it is in some music biopics. Would much rather have it done this way than have Malek sing with his normal voice and not do Mercury justice.

It was mainly Mercury mixed in with some Malek and a guy called Marc Martel to fill in the depth for the music to work in surround sound in theatres.

This guy from The Queen Extravaganza:

Bohemian Rhapsody: (band) https://youtu.be/egtJi967tgM

We Are The Champions: (solo) https://youtu.be/hNmnieRTNOk

Rami talking about it on Ellen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wRhLaH6wkY

Basically:

http://www.noise11.com/news/bohemian-rhapsody-biopic-sounds-like-freddie-but-its-marc-martel-20181104

Malek is singing over Freddie’s vocals but to make it sound authentic Marc Martel was recruited to even out the soundtrack.

They hired me to do some of the singing in the movie and give the audience an immersive experience and not be able to tell where the singing is coming from. It is to make the audience believe they are really watching Freddie Mercury sing. I got to go to Abbey Road for a few weeks and do some recording there. It was the first time for me to see behind the curtain in the music industry. It was really fascinating fun and a very memorable experience.

The magic of Hollywood then went to work piecing the new Martel vocals with Freddie’s for Rami Malek to sing over to make it look authentic. Queen offered all of their original songs to the movie, he says. The movie uses a mixture of Freddie’s tracks, me and Rami done in a way that you can’t tell.

He was a double winner singer, a huge mouth which afforded him what most people can't do, sing!!! He was one of a kind, the notes and bravado were incredible! Can you say "Willie Nelson" awful voice. Mama Cass! Breaks glass!

I liked the movie, however the lip syncing at their final performance on Wembley was really, really poor. Out of sync, like a really bad playback band from the 90s.