A friend of mine dubbed it Twee-tarded
I call it just off the boat from Ireland sound lol Drive me nuts!!
This is one of the many things I hate about a lot of indie music. It’s always sounded to me like the singer has a throat full of phlegm.
Well early in Regina’s career hear recordings were almost all piano and voice, and her singing style had much more range. Check out this song. (By the way, what genius produced “All You’ve Got Time”? Where did he get his backing track from, rejected Toto sessions?)
They are compensating because they can’t sing. Country music twangers use a similar technique.
Annoying as it is, I think I’d still take it over the nose singing. You know, the ones who sound like they are doing impressions of Pee Wee Herman.
I call it Starbucks music
Sign me up! Down with waify.
I watch The Voice, and whenever a contestant sings like that one of the coaches will say she (it’s invariably a female singer) has a “quirky” voice. They’ll often also say that “there’s no one out there like that right now” which makes me want to throw something through the TV screen.
As long as you all leave Kristin Hersh out of this convo, no one will get hurt.
Hahaha! I found this forum by doing a Google search about “folk girls sound the same” to try to get a similar answer! 
Since this thread got revived I will post this link about a song in a commercial that I hate that uses this singing style.
http://tvcommercialssongs.com/fancy-feast-cat-food-love-served-daily/
The most annoying thing about it is that it’s a commercial so it plays constantly, although I admit I am seeing less of it lately. It’s not so much the breathiness but the mispronounciation of words that drives me nuts. Here’s the lyrics:
On “confess” and “this” she stretches out the “s” sounds so it sounds like she’s a singing snake.
Then “dress” which normally rhymes with “confess” is pronounced “drey-ess”.
“With you” is more like “wit-oo”
And the “of” in “rest of my life” is more like “o” and then “life” is drawn out.
Also, I just feel like the song is a weird choice for a cat food commercial.
No joke about that being a perfect example. It’s so over the top as to be indistinguishable from parody.
Ok, now I know *exactly *what you mean. (I refused to listen to any of the clips because, well…)
I can’t decide if this annoys me more or less than the mini-divas going “whoh-oooh-oh-oh-ooaaaah-oh” in their songs. Also, “I’m so Fancy”, because it’s stupid and an earworm.
Oops, sorry. Back to the Breathy Sad Girls.
You know, as a legit asthmatic who took vocal lessons to try to not sound breathy, those breathy chicks annoy the crap out of me.
That version of the song makes me want to throw myself into a well.
She made “Get Lucky” depressing, which is quite a feat.
You have a good list? 
The style has deep roots. You could say Barbara Mason and Julie Driscoll were predecessors, though neither leaned on this trick exclusively.
Listen to Dusty Springfield demonstrate how to sing like a sad girl but also like a real singer.
I dunno, I don’t love this singing style, but it’s almost a relief coming on the heels of all the melisma girls. What I want to know is how Kat Edmonson got ahold of the dress my gandmother gave me for Christmas in 1966?
I cried for a week.
I see what you;re getting at, but I would never describe these women as singing like Sad Breathy Girls.
Wait… does Suzanne Vegaalso count? Because I like Suzanne Vega.
I will call it this from now on. Thanks!
I used to listen to ABC Radio National (Australia) every morning, loved everything about it, but the “musical interludes” exclusively became “I’m just a girl” type songs. It’s as though they were seeking out the most bland, inoffensive and generic music for people who don’t really like music, but still attempting to be hip in some way.
I started dreading when Fran Kelly would introduce a song. Sometimes it would even be a boy singing. Always with the lone guitar, or even worse, a ukelele. Eventually I switched to News Radio - no music at all.
And to banks and insurance companies, please stop using these songs to make you seem all floaty and whimsical. It’s so irritating.
I don’t think this is really the genre - this is a beautiful sad song by a top singer , with violins and piano.
Thank you OP, for giving me this chance to vent. 