# Is there a name for this hyper-annoying singing style? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704 "2014-01-02T15:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![hitchslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@hitchslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hitchslap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/263 "2016-12-26T01:29:24Z")
> [@Annoying\_Buzz](#): > > After Apple used this kind of singer for several of their ads, I started referring to the style as iWaif. Ever since Apple used Feist’s ‘1-2-3-4’ for the Ipod Nano I’ve been calling this horrific genre “_ **Mobile Phone advert lifestyle music** _”. ---
**Author:** ![hitchslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@hitchslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hitchslap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/264 "2016-12-26T01:44:31Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The first woman singing…yeah, agreed. But it wasn’t really the style we are talking about in this thread. However, the second woman, [starting nearly a couple minutes in,](https://youtu.be/aBWxjAiO_KQ?t=109) nails the style (and sounds much better to me). Jesus, it’s a bad impression of Bjork! ---
**Author:** ![hitchslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@hitchslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hitchslap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/265 "2016-12-26T02:04:26Z")
> [@dada2fish](#): > > [Grace Vanderwaal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNxO9MpQ2vA) > > I immediately thought of this thread and pictured Mean Old Lady having a coronary watching this episode of America’s Got Talent. > > The audience ate it up and the judges all drooled over it, even Simon and she got a Golden Buzzer which is like reaching the tallest ladder in Chutes and Ladders game. > > This 12 year old does waify, but she also turns into a Irish Lass with the sudden change of accent mid-song. of course, the ukulele is standard. > > This type of singing isn’t going anywhere. :smack: This is what happens when the greatest wish of your pushy parents is for you to make music for crappy Mobile phone commercials. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/266 "2016-12-26T02:12:37Z")
> [@hitchslap](#): > > This is what happens when the greatest wish of your pushy parents is for you to make music for crappy Mobile phone commercials. Specifically, Apple commercials. (ETA: Ah, I see you mentioned that in the previous comment. It’s not so much the mobile phone angle, but the Apple angle for me.) But, yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t mention it earlier in the thread. This type of music always makes me think of the shitty music on Apple commercials. (And I say this as an Apple user.) ---
**Author:** ![hitchslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@hitchslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hitchslap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/267 "2016-12-26T02:41:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Specifically, Apple commercials. (ETA: Ah, I see you mentioned that in the previous comment. It’s not so much the mobile phone angle, but the Apple angle for me.) But, yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t mention it earlier in the thread. This type of music always makes me think of the shitty music on Apple commercials. (And I say this as an Apple user.) The following song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJGgbMKTzQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJGgbMKTzQ) is the one that originally triggered my hatred for this genre, and it’s not even by a woman. It was used on a hipster-ish commercial for the mobile phone network ‘Orange’ in the UK around 2007: > **[Xoilac TV - Kênh trực tiếp bóng đá Xôi lạc tv không giật, lag](https://nssleep.com/)** > > Xoilac TV - Xem bóng đá trực tuyến chưa bao giờ dễ dàng như thế nhờ xôi lạc tv. Đặt chân vào thế giới xoi lac tv bạn sẽ trải nghiệm hết mình niềm đam mê xem. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/268 "2016-12-26T02:43:57Z")
[aside]So, hitchslap, do I know you from another board?[/aside] ---
**Author:** ![hitchslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@hitchslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hitchslap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/269 "2016-12-26T02:50:40Z")
Doubt it dude. ---
**Author:** ![hitchslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@hitchslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hitchslap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/270 "2016-12-26T02:51:46Z")
Good article on the subject: > **[Charlie Brooker on 'tweetronising' commercials](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jun/11/media.advertising)** > > Charlie Brooker: There's a rash of ads which combine a modern folk music track, a cast of urban hippies and a drowsy hello-birds-hello-sky overall attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Fkro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fkro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fkro)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2017, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/271 "2017-01-04T03:13:06Z")
I too have just come to this discussion after Googling “annoying female indie singers.” It’s now 2017 now and we’re still dealing with this BS. When will it stop? Has anyone been to a movie recently where they showed the Power Rangers trailer? I was, and my ears were violated by this utter abomination of a Johnny Cash cover. I’m not sure if Johnny is rolling over in his grave, but if not, he should be. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qjl4lysi\_s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qjl4lysi_s) Can we please return to female singers like Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Shirley Manson, etc, instead of these whiny waifs? Oh, and to whoever knocked the great Suzanne Vega above, she is on a completely different planet than these chicks. ---
**Author:** ![Truth333](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@Truth333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth333)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/272 "2017-03-02T05:38:07Z")
New member here as well! Googled “why does everyone sing with a stupid accent now?” and arrived here - among my fellow brethren. 🙂 I have ALWAYS hated breathy, kum-ba-yah singers - but it’s this nasally, open-vowel tone that really puts me over the edge. I can’t recall where it all started - Blink 182 has that sound to them which always irritated the hell out of me…but now it’s EVERYWHERE. I thought it would have gone away by now but no! We’re cursed! And it’s not just the sound - it’s the entire STYLE that goes with it. The long, long hippy hair (or sometimes extremely short pixie cut), the pigeon-toed stance, the semi-forlorn yet somehow narcissistically satisfied air of these singers that drives me batty. It’s infantile, but there’s also a level of conceit and self-aware sexuality that goes with it. It’s not true naivety that you might find in someone wet behind the ears. No, instead _everything,_ every sound, look, every movement, each nuance, has been carefully crafted. There’s nothing that comes spontaneously - from the heart so to speak. It’s all just this shitty veneer of people trying to appear genuine. Well you can’t try to be genuine - you either are or you aren’t. And you can’t try to be innocent - you either are or you aren’t. And yet when you’re trying to appear that you are, or sound like you are, well - we can see or in this case, hear, through it. And I think that’s the dissonance we’re all detecting - that’s what’s especially grating - it’s all just…phony. Ugh. It’s like there isn’t one honest bone in any of this sh\*t. And I guess what especially irks me is when grown adults act or try to sound like children. It drives me bonkers. What is it about this generation that doesn’t want to grow up? Vomit material. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/273 "2017-03-02T17:08:42Z")
Preach it, Truth333! And welcome to the boards! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/274 "2017-03-03T00:06:03Z")
Yes, welcome. But…Blink 182? Really? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![solarcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@solarcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solarcross)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/275 "2017-03-07T20:11:31Z")
It’s called ‘affect’, or "affection. When a singer/songwriter has a certain style of vocals that apply affection, then they can sing in falsetto, take for example Joanna Newsome. One could also link the breathes taken right after a word is sung on virtually all Michael Jackson and Trent Reznor singing. It’s not the same as “affection”, but it is still a subtle trick to get people to hear something that doesn’t exactly register consciously, but that they are effected by. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/276 "2017-03-07T20:36:49Z")
> [@solarcross](#): > > It’s called ‘affect’, or "affection. When a singer/songwriter has a certain style of vocals that apply affection, then they can sing in falsetto, take for example Joanna Newsome. I believe you are referring to “affectation” and, yes, that would apply to most of these singers. ---
**Author:** ![solarcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@solarcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solarcross)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/277 "2017-03-07T20:57:50Z")
i call it little kid/baby voice (or) Connor Oberst ---
**Author:** ![solarcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@solarcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solarcross)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/278 "2017-03-07T21:03:04Z")
As in, “that dude brought some serious Oberst to that track.” ---
**Author:** ![solarcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@solarcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solarcross)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/279 "2017-03-07T21:09:16Z")
Or channeled, rather Although as much as it bothers me to say it, you can trace it back to Bjork That vocal style isn’t just from being Icelandic [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5ZY5JL8DCF0/hqdefault.jpg "Björk - Hyperballad") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZY5JL8DCF0) ---
**Author:** ![solarcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@solarcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solarcross)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/280 "2017-03-07T21:20:22Z")
I mean, people have been “affecting” their voices forever I’m sure, but that the quintessential “I’ just learned ma words/baby voice” that I’m referring to Will Oldham used to sing like he was going through puberty for years ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/281 "2017-03-07T21:26:08Z")
Thanks for letting me know why I’ve always hated Bjork. ---
**Author:** ![dankton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@dankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dankton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704/282 "2017-04-05T18:18:10Z")
Here is a video of Pharrell Williams reacting to someone with this exact singing style. He actually almost cries and says that it's so original that it's comparable to Wu Tang changing the rap game. Are you fucking kidding me? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hyper-annoying-singing-style/677704.md?page=15)