Specifically, when singing in English, their speaking voice is accented, and their singing voice isn’t… As an example, I came across an Irish Youtuber named CallMeKevin, and he recently posted a cover of NIN’s “Hurt”. His voice is lovely, and he often sings snippets of songs while streaming, but as soon as he starts singing, his accent seems to drop off. I’ve noticed this for other artists, too. Can anyone tell me why this happens? Or is it just my perception?
In:
It’s pretty simple actually. Your voice follows an unconscious cadence that we call an accent. Even having “no accent” or an “American accent” is still following some unconscious cadence that tells your mouth how to say certain things or where to place emphasis in a word. In singing, that goes completely out the window because you now have to follow the cadence of the vocal melody and make VERY specific sounds for it to sound right. It doesn’t obliterate your accent, but you really need to listen for it. Here’s some examples:
Both vocalists from Sons of the East have notable Australian accents in many of their songs.
Steven Wilson’s accent isn’t especially noticeable except when he sings r’s like “car” in Open Car or when using British words, like “windscreen” in Arriving Somewhere But Not Here.
I’m not sure if it’s really an accent, but Radical Face has some pretty odd vocal phrasings in Welcome Home, The Mute, and Always Gold.
A lot of country artists over-emphasize their accents (especially in pop-country or bro-country) because the southern drawl is seen as more authentic. For more natural contemporaries listen to Colter Wall or Tyler Childers.
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