Emiliana Torrini’s “Sunny Road”? Great song.
While I’ve defended the style, I agree that CocoRosie is a bit much. (Same with Newsom, and I wonder if Samberg is ever tempted to mock her.)
In general, I like your definition and musical forensic “flow chart”, but once again: what about Blossom Dearie? She predates everyone you mentioned.
Yeah, that doesn’t work.
I was listening to some talk radio this morning and then, for an interlude, they played “New Soul” by Yael Naim. I think that it falls beautifully into this horrific category.
Yael Naim
And while listening I had an epiphone. A lot of this stuff sounds like children's music -happy, light, comforting etc, and I started wondering if this is music designed for the "safe space" generation.Perfect typo for this topic.
I would like to claim credit for a brilliant pun but I honestly thought that that was the word and that there was a point to the musical instrument manufacturer’s name (I even have one of their guitars). Well, lesson learned.:smack:
This is what I came in to say.
I too joined this message board after bumping into this thread from a google search. What I typed into google was more general though: “indie folk sucks” and “indie sucks”. What’s talked about in this thread is one aspect out of many that bugs me about what I would call the generic trendy sound of contemporary “indie”, especially on the folky and poppy end of “indie”. The problem is that for most cases, it’s just a put on and is something copied as a style without people truly developing their own sound.
There are plenty of parallels to this in other styles of music and not just as a question of singing. For example, it is cliche to me as a guitar player that there are legions of white blues or blues/rock players who go out of their way to sound just like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Then you have the Hendrix clones. What’s grating to me about this is that it’s all a put-on act in which the person has focused so much on being just like someone else that they exude a serious lack of authenticity and personal creativity. They’re trying too hard to sound a certain way. Same with the waify-indie-chick-singing.
To some extent, the very nature of any genre involves imitation of one’s influences. You could say “it all sounds the same” toward just about any genre. However, some contexts are more egregious about this than others, and when we are talking about commercialized popular music in the modern age, there is a much more intense trend of “generic-ness” in which everything is produced to sound the same and artists go out of their way to cater to what is perceived to be the “hip” sound. Hence legions of artists with this “waify” female vocal style and the “whiny” male vocal style, and legions of generic sounding folk-pop and indie-rock groups that all meld into a tapestry of annoyance to my ears.
My issue isn’t simply that I find this vocal style an annoying trend, but I find the musical content of much of what is being called “indie” to be an annoying and generic trend. I also think it involves a low barrier to entry for talent. To some extent, what is going on here is simply that the sound of people who just can’t sing that well or play their instruments that well has been normalized as a trend. It was perhaps a little more cute and authentic in the 80’s and early 90’s when it genuinely was just post-punk rockers doing their thing, and then some of them becoming famous more by accident than design. Then by the mid and late 90’s it became a commercial trend. People do it to be cool and to give off a vibe (a vibe that’s prefabricated).
So I will take solace, as a good music elitist, in my jazz, fusion, progressive rock, and classical music.
I have had the same opinion for a while now but didn’t know how to describe the voice. I was just trying to explain this to a friend and simply googled “tired of female singers who sound like” in hopes I’d find someome else who could help me explain. Sure enough 4 results down was this magical post from a fellow hater! Sadly Grace Vanderwaal, the 12-year-old who won the newest America’s Got Talent sounds like this in her song “I Don’t Know My Name”. She’s really talented and kind of has her own style in some songs but sadly she’s fallen victim to influences that sing like this. “Oy doint knoy moy name”! If there is a god, please make this stop! :smack:
Oh no, I hear you say…not another whackjob that joined here due to this bleedin’ thread! But I saw a link via the Steve Hoffman Music Forum, so maybe I have a little credibility after all.
Agreed with everything here about the melismarrhea and all those shaky singers as well. (Have heard the version of ‘Baby it’s cold outside’ with Cerys Matthews and Tom Jones, and it’s about as easy to take as a toothache.)
I wonder what you think of this singer? She died 17 years ago today, suffered for years with many of the same things that plagued Karen Carpenter. She namechecked Shirley Bassey as a favourite singer when Johnny Carson had her on the Tonight Show in 1974 at age 10.
Lena Zavaroni, who sounded like anything but a waif despite her tiny size (4’10" fully grown)…
At age eleven: Lena Zavaroni Sings "My Funny Valentine" - YouTube
(Accidental repeat post.)
I tend to like this style of music, and I also have been looking through this thread for recommendations - thanks haters! I’m looking forward to see how Grace Vanderwhal matures as an artist and finds her own voice.
To be fair, I think there’s a ton of a crap in this style of indie/indie-pop, but not any more so than in any other genre of music. I guess some of you may actually hate the entire genre, but that would mean missing out on the Regina Spektors of the world, which makes me legitimately sad for you.
For the twee-spotters keeping track in their log books, here’s a perfect specimen I spotted in the wild while browsing indie-radio stuff…
Fellow dopers, do you consider this song by Birdy to fit the mold? I won’t lie, I do like this song while being annoyed by the typical “wispy” nature of the others. Perhaps it’s that she utilizes a wider range, but I can’t put my finger on it. Less wispy maybe?
[quote=“iceiso, post:254, topic:677704”]
Fellow dopers, do you consider this song by Birdy to fit the mold? I won’t lie, I do like this song while being annoyed by the typical “wispy” nature of the others. Perhaps it’s that she utilizes a wider range, but I can’t put my finger on it. Less wispy maybe?
[/QUOTE]I’d vote no, that it doesn’t fit the mold. It doesn’t have the odd phrasing, weird pronunciation of common words or breathy/whiny verbal characteristics. I don’t really like that song much, but her version doesn’t strike me as having the annoying affectation that draws so many to this thread.
[quote=“iceiso, post:254, topic:677704”]
Fellow dopers, do you consider this song by Birdy to fit the mold? I won’t lie, I do like this song while being annoyed by the typical “wispy” nature of the others. Perhaps it’s that she utilizes a wider range, but I can’t put my finger on it. Less wispy maybe?
[/QUOTE]I think she gets a pass from this thread…she has a high-pitched voice, but she is genuinely projecting and singing, not cloaking herself under that breathy low-projection style. There’s is also a minimum of falsely rounding out the enunciation of the vowels with that fake coffeehouse accent.
edit: Ninja’d by Orwell
I remember when indie was the neo punk/new wave groups
Oh gosh, you do NOT know how thankful I am for this thread. You all are great.
Anyway, I feel like this song belongs here.
It feels a lot like a subtype of this singing style: though it isn’t as whispery, it still obnoxiously parades that breathy “oh” and waifish twang.
[quote=“iceiso, post:254, topic:677704”]
Fellow dopers, do you consider this song by Birdy to fit the mold? I won’t lie, I do like this song while being annoyed by the typical “wispy” nature of the others. Perhaps it’s that she utilizes a wider range, but I can’t put my finger on it. Less wispy maybe?
[/QUOTE] I hate this. She sings weird and has marbles in her mouth, but she doesn't fit this particular style of waifish singing. It's something else annoying entirely.I got four seconds into this before I had to stop it. Good find!
I don’t know if that song is supposed to be funny or not, but it sure made me laugh to beat the band.
You know, that waifish, breathy singing is pretty much the way Marilyn Monroe sang, except it was Marilyn Monroe, and no one really cared what she sounded like-- and she did manage to make it sexy. (Kinda like how Marlene Dietrich could make terrible, off-key rasping sound very, very sexy.)
Anyway, is it possible that someone, somewhere in time, completely missed the point of why people liked Marilyn Monroe’s performances? and tried to sing all breathy and high pitched, without any sexiness whatsoever? Because what the OP finds annoying is what you’d end up with.
And the adjective I see most often for Monroe’s voice is “kittenish,” (or just plain breathy) but I’m not sure that entirely captures what he is looking for. I think “waifish” is better.
I know this thread is a zombie, but it’s been awake a while, and it’s young for a zombie. If I wanted to describe what the OP finds annoying, I’d just call it “high-pitched and breathy.” Not pithy, but accurate.
It’s also, and for me moreso, the over-affectation in the phrasing and sudden timbre shifts on certain words/syllables. The OP’s third song linked is a bit outside of that style, but the first, second, and fourth all have that which grates on me. Same with Future Mrs. Mael’s nomination for the thread. Doesn’t have the waify, breathy thing going on as much, but the over-emphasized indie quirk sound is there.