Even though guys doing the waif-y thing aren’t as irritating, I think there’s a parallel for them. Although it’s not the same, the “annoying overused vocal style that takes no talent” for men would be what I call monotoning. It’s used a lot in indie/emo styles, and it’s basically writing a song that has two or three notes, then droning badly written “look at my SADNESS” lyrics over them.
Would the opening theme song from the British crime drama “Luther” count as an example? I loathe that singer with a passion.
I hate this singing style as well, it literally drives me completely mad. I found this forum by doing a google search. I wish there were a name for it too. They always a let a bunch of them in on American idol, and praise their “unique” style. There is nothing unique about it, because every young girl singer is doing it! No one sings like that naturally, it is all put on! For awhile there, everyone was copying Kelly Clarkson’s singing style, and now it is this. Can’t wait until fad goes away, I hate it!!!
I got here by Googling “female singers today all sound alike.”
And I too cannot stand this type of singing…especially any semblance of vocal fry which is so popular with girls today.
IMO, this singing style mirrors the lazy, passionless way that young people go on about their lives these days and it comes out in the music of “artists.” And since it’s popular, the record company whores have no intention of fixing something that’s not broken.
This style of music annoys me to a point way beyond just having to hear it in the supermarket or a restaurant. It defines a generation of young people that I cannot understand as they are so different from Generation X. I know I’m making a blanket statement here by calling this Millennial generation lazy and passionless, but that’s what I feel when I hear this crap. It may not define everyone in this age range, but I feel it’s a fair generalization.
I miss music that feels genuine; music that had emotion, power, feeling to it. These days, I’m not hearing that.
Good thread.
My feeling is that in the beginning of these things it’s always someone with real talent. The imitators make a sham of it. Cat Power is great, to me. No problem.
Nelly McKaye: I was ready to like her. Seems a shame that something so smart could be that annoying on second listen. Weird.
I’ve been a fan of Juliana Hatfield since she started. Saw the Blake Babies half a dozen times. I noticed over the years that chick singers were reminding me of her. I even once heard a beer commercial with Juliana chords and vocal style. Anyone else hear it in relation to this sound? We’re going back to late 80’s here.
How about Dave Matthews and David Gray? Off topic or just as annoying? Did I touch a nerve?
Here’s a chick who does NOT sing that way, to cleanse your palate perhaps: liz Phair. First LP is a monster IMO.
Hi folks first post here…%^#%@$#
I was googling this affectation -trying to zone in on what it is and found you guys. Trying to figure out if there were others that found this thing to be annoying, pretentious and downright baffling.
…I have a friend, a girl, who has an amazing voice. But. She started singing in this affected, annoying style in the last year and it kills me to hear it.
I don’t have the heart to jump out and tell her to stop fuckin’ doing that!
I think a certain amount of imitation is healthy for young singers but after awhile I want to hear a person in their own voice.
I think a lot of this comes from some sort of melding of pop that’s, like…“oh man that’s poppy but jazzy isn’t it?”
I always hear a copping of Billy Holiday and a few other old school jazz singers in there…thrift some clothes and kick it old school or some shit.
The OP posted examples of singers who clearly have decent gifts…the affectation murders it though.
YES!!
thank you.
I wanted to edit my previous post to include some thoughts after reading this whole thread…couldn’t edit??
Anyhow, saw some great names for this style in this thread…hilarious.
-waif girl
-precious and moribund
-twee girl
-fucking coy
-Starbucks music
Sure I missed a few and happy to know that I’m not alone in despising this tread shite.
The Taco Bell ad with a cover of “Mad World” is what finally sent me over the edge. The original version by Tears for Fears along with the beautiful cover by Gary Jules are enough. To have this song literally insulted by Halsey makes me so sad.
I’m clearly a sucker for this affectation, because I love Cat Power and most of the others cited (including some I hadn’t previously heard, so thanks for helping me expand my music library).
But doesn’t this singing style (or a precursor of it, anyway) go back at least to Blossom Dearie, nearly a half century before Chan Marshall entered the music scene?
I can’t see cat power being part of this. She seems to have some artistic integrity thats missing in it.
I came across the thread (not by Googling) and I recognized the style. I have always thought of it as “Whiny-Ass White Girl singing.” I was sorry to hear Nataly Dawn and Pomplamoose cited but on further listening, she fits in. However, the arrangements of the songs in Pomplamoose takes it right out of the WAWG territory. I dare you to listen to their cover of Telephone and declare it pompous and moribund.
I came across this thread today (by Googling) and had to join the forum out of excitement.
Daughter were mentioned, who I initially liked, but have since become a huge ear repellent. Nataly Dawn, who I hadn’t heard of until now, typifies it very well. That rising, slightly croaky ‘why’ at the 00:34 mark (first clip) is a particularly wince inducing affectation. It’s the trying too hard to be subtle that grates.
It was definitely popularised by Zooey Deschanel in Elf for me and has become the vocal equivalent of ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’. It is very moribund in some cases as mentioned, but also vaguely jazzy. It seems to come out of the West Coast of America a lot, but is rife in the UK too. There are examples of it that I’m drawn to and enjoy (Sylvan Esso being a recent example), but we have definitely reached critical mass for these types of singers.
I should note that I listen to a lot of female vocalists which is why I’m sensitive to it. Absolutely no mysogynist undercurrents.
As a contender for earliest example, I’d offer Astrud Gilberto and even suggest she was the pioneer on The Girl From Ipanema.
Glad I found this thread after a simple search!
Questions for anyone in the social sciences: has there been any ethnomusicological research on the persistence of this style? Anything to do with ‘authenticity’? Has it eclipsed hyper-melisma in popularity?
Interesting questions! Can even the haters acknowledge that it is far easier to listen to than hyper-melisma?
Hello fellow haters of what I will now call the ‘waify’ style (thanks LC Strawhouse for this very descriptive correlative).
I made an account just for the purposes of reveling in our mutual ire at this atrocious fad, and to offer a theory I have regarding its nature. I first noticed this style with Regina Spektor and Pomplamoose; then yesterday at work, I heard something that absolutely drove me crazy:
The amount of irritation I feel listening to this song is not rational. Not only am I irritated by the selfish, flippant lyrics, but the absurdly childish manner in which the song is sung. We have an adult singer, in an adult body, singing in a whiny style that is reminiscent of toddler-speak. If you bother to watch the associated video, you will note that the singer is also engaged in a number of childlike behaviors - like sitting on a kitchen counter licking a popsicle.
It is evident to me that there is an association with this style, and a kind of child-like vulnerability on the part of the singer. I do believe the ‘waify’ style is a western incarnation of what the Japanese call ‘burikko’ (ぶりっ子). Burriko is a disposition adopted by many Japanese females, which involves speaking and singing with an affected pronunciation in order to evoke pre-adolescence, carrying oneself with childlike posture, and misusing honorifics in a manner that imitates schoolchildren.
This may not be the primary reason that artists choose to sing in this way. I do agree that many have adopted it only because it is popular - but I also think it is an underlying aspect of this style, and it is certainly the primary reason why I hate it.
I don’t understand why someone would want to sing with an accent and stress that does not resemble the way anyone speaks in real life, including the artist. It seems like an attempt to easily develop an original ‘style’, when it’s really just sloppy pronunciation. It also feels very disingenuous, and not like a real expression of feeling on the part of the singer, because of course, everyone knows the singer doesn’t really sound like that.
Everything the ‘waify’ style touches turns to ash.
Yeah that last one is apotheopoetic.
Does anyone here dislike Gwen Stefani and her singing as much as I do? I have felt like I was in an alternate universe ever since she became (Popular?) I find it hard to write that.
Thanks for posting that video, Noogah. I was starting to wonder if I was completely knee-jerk contrariwise to everyone else in this thread, a sucker for anything with this vocal style. But that song is boring, and the singing doesn’t fit with the electronica accompanying it. Total fail.
Noogah, I like you. I feel like we should go on a date.
Oh boy. Before I found this thread, I thought I was the only one who felt this way about these singers! I listen to Korean and Japanese music, and a couple singers have made it big with this style… Sometimes (and depending on the artist, often times) I like the song itself, but the singing just creates a terrible itch in my nerves, and I start hunting through the interwebs for people who agree, so I can validate that I’m not the only one who is aggravated by this.
Now, I can understand an occasional wispiness for stylistic effect, but these people sing, all day long, for every song in this way. The thing that just puts me over the edge? People who say how “unique” that singer’s voice is. In fact, today someone I know remarked how a certain singer’s voice “is so unique, that once you hear it once, you’ll never forget it.” Uh huh. Riiight. So unique. So unique that I couldn’t even remember what she sounded like, just that she sounded really generic. When I passively commented, “Really? I don’t really think her voice is that unique…,” I got a cold stare. I’m sure other singers could sing in this way too, if they wanted, but they actually know how to sing to preserve their voices and breaths. In fact, many of these girls sound just AWFUL live because they’re basically leaking air and can’t breathe well.
What’s more, these girls are often accompanied by looks. If these girls were the opposite of attractive and young, nobody would listen past the second measure. When googling this phenomena, it appears that studies have actually been conducted about peoples’ preferences(http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062397), suggesting that breathiness is associated with softness and gentleness.
It seems that this singing style combines with a small, delicate frame to provide an image of gentleness and weakness some people like.
A Korean singer, er pop idol IU sings like this, and people LOVE to talk about how unique her voice is blahblahblah, but when she accidentally posted a photo if herself with a half-naked guy, suddenly they didn’t like her voice so much anymore.
Also, YUI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGYj5F1OD9w I’m sure there are others, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.
Not too familiar with male singers, so I can’t really comment. Sorry.