I remember watching the US version of The Voice and the country singer coach was giving tips to the other country singers and one of the common bits of advice was that they had to be careful with their country accent because he stressed in country music the story is most important and sometimes the accent can make it difficult to hear what the singer is saying.
In short he wanted them to try and dial back their accent, effectively making it more neutral. That is a textbook example of accent reduction.
A topic for another time about our unusual state nick name probably already been done. Funny you should mention Lily Allen. I was just listening to some of her songs 2 days ago. Realized she was singing with her accent! Of course accents are in the ear of the beholder.
I was talking to a woman from Georgia several years ago and she said she had a sexy voice. I asked why she thought that and she said she was from Georgia! My mom was a mimic. If her and dad were around someone with an accent for the evening, by the end she would be talking with that accent. I think I am that way also, but no one has ever mentioned it. Maybe I think with an accent!!
I bet America has more accents than England does. It is just theirs is more prominent to us. Rod Stewart is one of the most evident cases.
When he sings it seems he comes from a remote land between Arizona and Nevada. I ask myself why? Our pure English accent is soooooo musical and sweet! Actually, there are also good examples. I mean Brit singers who have never forgotten the place they come or came from.
The past David Bowie and Mick Jagger just to cite the most famous. Currently young Jasmine Thompson that delights my ears with her very remarkable Londoner accent. I adore her! Thumbs up for singers who refuse to turn their accent from English into cacophonous American. The same holds true for spanish speaking singers…. A neutral accent is I believe like the one in central Mexico, but of course others will think I am biased since I live in Mexico.
I listen to old recordings of myself and I sound thoroughly American. From Bowie onwards, other accents crept into the rock idiom, but I still mainly hear bands, even young ones, using at least an edge of American twang.
I studied philology and dialectology. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Amy asks: Why is it that when you hear a British musician sing, their accent disappears? Enjoy this article? Answers Articles Misc. Daven Hiskey August 9, pm. Thomas October 24, am. Adam October 24, pm. Frank Car July 4, pm. Heilwig August 9, pm. Stig February 10, pm. TorontoAnom May 17, pm. Kabal July 30, am. Kevin August 9, pm.
TChristy March 20, am. And you get your linguistics degree from ….. Dennis March 27, pm. Evelyn July 24, am. Thanks for making my day Dennis! Keln April 9, am. TChristy January 6, am. Thank you took the words right out of my mind lol. Kaitain July 19, pm. They teach maths. Nathan February 19, pm. James August 6, am. Daven Hiskey August 6, am. Leonard July 9, am. Sparafucile January 24, am.
Tatiyana September 8, pm. Victoria April 20, am. Matt Fletcher November 7, am. Jean-F August 5, am. MarkS August 9, am. MarkS August 10, am. Daven Hiskey August 10, pm. Heilwig August 10, pm.
TChristy March 21, am. American accent is neutral. Angie January 27, pm. I agree with you completely. Yacob May 11, pm. Just to add to that: Ever heard Gilbert and Sullivan operettas sung by British singers?
Opera in English sung by British singers? Scottish and Irish songs sung for the Scots and Irish themselves, not for Americans? Victorian songs, sung full-voice in cut-glass accents? How about a Scottish accent?
This is a good one! Im british. Go on Kate nash and arctic monkeys!!! Absolutely right. TJ August 9, pm. Warren August 11, pm. MarkS August 13, am. Warren August 13, pm. John August 13, pm. Daven Hiskey August 13, pm. Warren April 5, am. Chistopher August 6, am. Heath was actually Australian…RIP. Great actor. USA rules. MarkyMark September 30, pm. Sahar October 10, am. Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins! Pierre January 31, pm. Some singers do sound british, like lily allen or kate nash.
Marie February 11, pm. Yacin February 20, am. Miguel March 9, am. Lewis March 18, am. ThisnThat March 18, pm.
Evan March 18, pm. Devilwolf January 1, pm. Because it does. Dogcat February 8, pm. Dogcat February 9, pm. Oh, and I hate to break it to you but Middle English was rhotic. Eileen April 11, pm. Hayley May 11, pm. Ahms May 18, pm. Ed Sheeran sounds American?? What planet do you live on? I was with you until you said Lorde. Bob Leslie June 27, pm. NObody sings British. Ken May 25, am.
How ethnocentric and chauvinist you are. Americans speak English with an American accent. What are you on about, Ken? You sound like you are a bitter and have some issue with Americans in general.
Murray August 1, pm. Dot August 11, am. TD September 13, am. WTF Why is everyone so bent out of shape about this? Good grief…. Lucy W. October 8, pm. Mary October 15, pm. Ani October 17, pm. Tallen November 11, pm. Theresa November 23, am. Shieri November 23, pm. Bernadette November 29, am. Otkon December 1, am. Oleg Aney December 26, am. Robert Alpy January 16, am. Bob January 22, pm. Saurav January 26, pm. Antonio February 3, pm.
Antonio Mikhail Klimovskikh July 20, am. Chris McElwee March 9, pm. Brendan Riley April 4, am. Bento Cruz May 1, pm. Alison September 19, am. Tony June 13, am. Yes, this article is really disappointing. Mindful Naked July 3, am.
Yeah, sure. It has become a cultural expectation. THAT is the sentence I was looking for. Thank you. I totally agree. Dance is dance u limey. Greenaum August 11, am. Kitty LissieGirl January 21, pm. Dar August 11, pm.
Alot of petty wound-up people here. How silly. Kaitain November 8, am. For example, bands like the Rolling Stones were heavily influenced by African American blues musicians , who sounded more American. It is possible for an artist to maintain their accent when they sing if they wish to. Examples of artists who have done so and continue to do so include Lily Allen, rock band Arctic Monkeys and rapper Lady Leshurr.
You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. This is too obvious when you have classical music training. But if you are not, you will just sing like the way you talk. Sometimes you may be amazed at hearing a guy with an accent lose his accent when he sings. Why is it so? One succinct explanation of this phenomenon is that—intonation, vowel length, and quality create accent differences.
However, singing affects all these factors. When singing, for example, you elongate syllables, you increase your airflow, and you even less articulate words. Hence, our rendition of the song hides our accent.
Thus, our accent becomes indistinguishable when we sing. Some singers may sound like they have a neutral accent when they sing. Yet, some singers, however, sing with an accent. This, therefore, makes some singing theory about accent neutralization when singing not universal. The important thing to note is that singing sometimes requires you to attenuate syllables, makes you inhale more air, and muddles your articulation of words.
These tendencies result in a neutralized and generic accent. This is particularly obvious when singing an English song. Singers with distinct spoken accents will habitually sound like Americans when they sing English songs.
It also occurs among non-American artists as well. It seems that most singers of English songs transition into the standard neutral American way of singing once they sing an English song. Experts explain that this may be due to the way the mouth forms words. It is due to the mechanical aspects of how words are formed.
When you are singing, for example, you stress some vowels and syllables. You also go with the natural groove, cadence, melody, and rhythm of the song. I think this issue comes from the fact that most forms of popular music were invented in the US and that influence has lead to the so-called Mid Atlantic accent being standard. Also, the States is a huge market so singers want to sound American-friendly to tap into it. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.
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