Prompted by comments made by readers about Britney Spears' "real" voice being different from the thin, nasal and robotic one she is supposedly made to put on, I went out into the wilderness-Aka Youtube- for further evidence of her actual voice. Below is what I found!
Above is a large collection of live vocals assembled by a Youtuber that shows the Mississippi native's voice unaltered. It demonstrates that Britney Spear's is capable of creating that afore mentioned nasal tone, but its not as severe as presented on her newer records. It also shows that Britney is capable of variation in her voice, utilising different tones and timbres throughout the video to good affect.
A really interesting part of the video is at 1.40, where as a child, Britney Spears employs the same technique Christina Aguilera uses to give her voice a fuller sound.
The real vocals from Britney Spears' 2006 smash Womaniser really adds to claims made by fans that the record producers/ company alter Britney's vocals to get that trademark twang to it. Would the song have been as successful without it, I'm not sure, but there certainly is a marked difference between this and the version released.
Bringing it right up to date, above is the the supposed "live/real", vocals from last years hit Hold It Against Me. If this is indeed the real thing then I am really impressed. The verses seem unaltered and the chorus is in a lower key, but it still sounds pretty good when compared to the final, altered, vocal on the track. Things go a little off, right at the end, where she reaches for notes that she doesn't quite hit, but that demonstration of a little creativity and artistic flair, that ironically was omitted from the final track, was encouraging to hear [3.18-3.23].
These videos make for interesting listening but it's clear that the producers haven't totally fabricated the voice that is present on her records. Its more the case that its been exaggerated to give Britney Spears a sound that is instantly recognisable, and that works better with the production of the tracks she is layered over.
Thoughts?
When people talk about Britney's real voice they mean the voice in which she'd feel confortable singing. She clearly has trouble to reach high notes (with head voice), but when she has to sing on her lower register she feels extremely more confortable, like a fish in the sea. You should listen unreleased demos like Let Go (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQLqnKg7fE) Rebellion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SLINoB4qVo) or even a couple of songs in Baby One More Time (Album) like I Will Be There and Deep in My Heart.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those! Will check them out!
ReplyDeleteI think if Britney would sing naturally without altering her voice then she would have a much better time performing and lesson her criticism. I personally think her naturally voice is beautiful and she would make a good Mezzo? Possibly. She needs to stop adding that nasal twang to her voice and definitely not employ Christina's Depressed Larynx technique.
ReplyDeleteShe's not a bad singer live, she definitely has a good voice, but I feel that she does struggle with pitching - on most of the clips in the first video she is a bit flat somewhere in each song. I agree with Nahu's comment that she is v comfortable in her lower chest voice (much like myself!) and I would add that I don't think she's ever really learnt to mix (or maybe has never needed to - most of her songs are in lower keys). Unfortunately she rarely gets the chance to sing live anymore, as the majority of her tours and 'live' shows seem to have her lip-synching/miming, apparently due to the dance routines. I would argue that she's a stronger dancer than she is a singer, so perhaps that makes a lot of sense (much in the same way that Pink does very few dance moves live - Pink actually admits that she's not a great dancer, bless her!). Play to your strengths and all that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you DD that the nasal component is definitely a natural part of her voice. Ironically most singing teachers would probably try to get her to knock that tone out of it, but instead her producers clearly encourage it as 'the Britney sound', much the same way that Aguilera's producers probably encourage growls and lots of runs. I totally understand why they do it - I guess you want an artist to be instantly recognisable on the radio.
BTW AWESOME article DD, really very interesting indeed.
ReplyDeleteAbout Lip-synching... actually, a good amount of Femme Fatale Tour was sang live (or used a less edited pre-recording), but the album recording of her voice was edited into it for DVD and TV... Some of her live voice can still be found if u change sound channel on DVD, and other DVD scenes were edited by fans with the music recorded by fans on concert...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcqq7gBO_oE, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg1s_aUlFqw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdqDLBZez6Y,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq6d-s4fLhk,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIo9buK6VLE,
and the most obvious one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnEpv_DDOHM
She is no Mariah, but besides the backtrack helping her, she actually did a very good job (considering what I was expecting)
I agree, when she ditches her usual technique and sings in a healthier manner she sounds pretty good. I just think that now she has sang the way she has for so long it would be odd for a lot of people but she most definately would earn kudos for her natural voice.
ReplyDeleteKaren is right too though, sometimes her pitching is off and she seems to sing in the doldrums or her range at times, but I would rather hear her sing like that than the way she does now as at times its painful to hear.
Agreed, and welcome back Karen!
ReplyDeleteher voice is still mediocre - i wish she would have just stayed with her original style
ReplyDeletethe autotune and lip syncing has diminished her stardom
Hmmm...I wonder why they mess with her voice so much...it's not that bad and the autotune doesn't make it any better; just worse.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those vids. It's a really interesting discussion!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the Baby One More Time vid (the penultimate one in your selection). If it is live, it sounds like...live Autotune I think? I've played with autotune/pitch correct in studios, but never live, although I have heard it is easily done if needed (they just run the vocal feed through the software). The problem is that if autotune is turned up too high, it becomes really obvious, but it's less likely to be obvious to the audience in a massive arena of course, where the sound is difficult to hear cleanly. However, on a recording of the vocal for a dvd, this becomes more obvious. For example, on the vocal runs in that video, you can actually hear the programming pulling the notes about (for instance on the word 'go' at 0:39). Normal singing from one note to the other would produce a waveform that looks like a smooth curve. Too much autotune makes it sound choppy, with a shape more like lego bricks or stairs. It's ugly.Britney should just do what Cheryl Cole and J Lo often do - record a 'live' vocal (so that it sounds different to the record), but then mime to it onstage when she's dancing. Perhaps throw in a live 'woo' or two at the end when everyone is clapping and the sound engineer brings your mic back up. Alternatively, sing the choruses live but not the verses. Tricks like that fool 90% of people; hell, it's fooled me in the past. Sorry for waffling on!
you should do a video about Christina Aguilera's natural voice I think it's better then the powerful, weighty voice she achieves by pushing her larynx, it sounds natural and it have a soulful coloring to it. and you should see "The Voice" she sings there like in every episode, she sand a part of "If I Ain't Got You", a part of "Rehab", a part of "No Air", a part of "I'm going down" put she pushed her larynx there.
ReplyDeleteand her cover of "Imagine" was in her natural voice.
ReplyDeleteALL THOSE RUNS.
ReplyDeleteAND SHE SOUNDS SO MUCH LIKE XTINA SOMETIMES.
Her voice is already good, and her real voice isn't much better. Unlike Britney.
ReplyDeleteWhen people talk about her natural voice they are talking about her naturally deep voice not the mid nasal voice that she has song with for the past 14 years
ReplyDeleteHer voice is absolutely beautiful. I wish her label would let her show it.
ReplyDeleteHer trademark voice is something she was trained to do in order for her voice to be distinctive. It is marketing and you have to admit, it worked. When you hear a Britney song, you know its Britney Spears without asking. You can also try and listen to "Soda Pop" off her first CD which was recorded before they changed her voice. Her voice is great but not distinctive enough. Love it or hate it, she now has a voice that is Britney and when people sing like her, they compare it to her, no one else.
ReplyDeleteDamn, she sounds so much better with all the little imperfections and personality shining through.
ReplyDeleteWatch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IepSjMH1DEE
ReplyDeleteall these videos are not her real voice...her real tessitura or her most comfortable range is in her deeper voice,shes naturally like an alto but shes been trained to sing like a soprano...I have seen like 4 videos or so of her singing in her natural tone on youtube that surprised me..those songs are "let go"..."baby boy"...and "silent night 1996" also on her debut album the songs "thinkin about you" and "soda pop" are sung in her lower range and it gives you sort of an idea as to what her natural voice sounds like even though she was just then applying the nasally baby voice technique that we all know her by...max martin her producer at her record label wanted her to do this to sound distinctive, and so she has since used a very crippling technique to her voice..now from her most recent album shes done...there are a few songs like "perfume" and "passenger" where she starts off singing lower than she usually does and her voice flat out sounds powerful,she needs to sing in her natural tessitura and get respect like she deserves.
ReplyDeleteOn her latest album Britney has a song written by Sia. It's a slower piano ballad called Perfume and Brit sings full voiced. She sounds like a more mature Lea Michelle
ReplyDelete