# Most Annoying Affected Pronunciation In Popular Music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389 "2010-11-21T01:22:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/61 "2010-11-21T23:15:22Z")
There’s a commercial/promo on PBS where the woman sings “It’s a beautiful dayayayeyeyeyaydyyeyeye.” She needs to be garrotted. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/62 "2010-11-21T23:17:33Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > There’s a commercial/promo on PBS where the woman sings “It’s a beautiful dayayayeyeyeyaydyyeyeye.” She needs to be garrotted. Is this more the (I think we had this thread?) “diva”-inspired what’s-the-name-of-that-vocalist-technique thing that’s been a plague on us ever since Whitney Houston? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/63 "2010-11-21T23:23:16Z")
I dunno which flavor-of-the-month sings it - and I don’t care enough to look it up - but the chick who “sings” the song that contains the lyric “ **I brushed my teeth with a bottle of Jack** …” makes me want to strangle her vocal cords so she’ll never be able to utter another syllable. This vocalization style has only recently become popular. I don’t know how to describe it, but if you’ve heard the song you know what I’m talking about. It is sort of an exaggerated, half-guttural/half-nasal adolescent whine. I’ve heard others do it on other songs - and they annoy me as well - but this girl takes it to a new level. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/64 "2010-11-21T23:26:23Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I dunno which flavor-of-the-month sings it - and I don’t care enough to look it up - but the chick who “sings” the song that contains the lyric “ **I brushed my teeth with a bottle of Jack** …” makes me want to strangle her vocal cords so she’ll never be able to utter another syllable. > > This vocalization style has only recently become popular. I don’t know how to describe it, but if you’ve heard the song you know what I’m talking about. It is sort of an exaggerated, half-guttural/half-nasal adolescent whine. > > I’ve heard others do it on other songs - and they annoy me as well - but this girl takes it to a new level. > mmm What’s happening is AutoTune – none of these pop/dance acts are really trying to sing. I think the producer tells them to just sort of rhythmically chant/recite the lyrics, then the “melody”/“singy part” is able to be added by AutoTune. So if it doesn’t sound like singing – it’s because it really never was. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/65 "2010-11-22T00:07:51Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > What’s happening is AutoTune – none of these pop/dance acts are really trying to sing. I think the producer tells them to just sort of rhythmically chant/recite the lyrics, then the “melody”/“singy part” is able to be added by AutoTune. So if it doesn’t sound like singing – it’s because it really never was. I don’t know if they use AutoTune in this song - can anyone confirm? I think she just wants to sing in this style. mmm ---
**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:** [November 22, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/66 "2010-11-22T00:10:57Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Is this more the (I think we had this thread?) “diva”-inspired what’s-the-name-of-that-vocalist-technique thing that’s been a plague on us ever since Whitney Houston? Melisma. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/67 "2010-11-22T00:59:39Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > And don’t get me started about this line, you know, the one that doesn’t even have a VERB! > > Diane’s debutante back seat of Jackie’s car He glosses over a few words for poetic effect, but it means: “Diane’s (the) debutante (in the) back seat of Jakie’s car.” ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/68 "2010-11-22T03:14:08Z")
Did someone already mention Green Day and I just overlooked it?? They are an American band, but the lead singer quite often affected an obnoxious fake cockney accent back in the day. ‘Longview’, the song about masturbation, was a particularly annoying instance of this. Actually, a lot of American punk or pseudo-punk bands did this, trying to sound like their musical forerunners. ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/69 "2010-11-22T03:18:18Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I gave up listening to Tori Amos many years ago because I cannot fucking stand the way she mispronounces everything and puts on a bizarre Cockney accent at random moments and pronounces “main” like “mine”. GAH. Her supremely self-conciously twee lyrics were the other breaking point. I like Tori Amos, but ever time I hear ‘Baker, Baker’, I wanna smack her around until she learns to pronounce ‘cake’ properly. ‘Hey, you know that word “baker” that you just said? ‘Cake’ has the same vowel sound, sweetie.’ Tori Amos is the queen of unnecessary dipthongs. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/70 "2010-11-22T03:46:18Z")
Madonna’s pseudo-British accent in the intro to “What It Feels Like for a Girl” is FUCKING ANNOYING. Listen, honey, you’re an Italian girl from NYC. There’s no shame in that. I know you married a Brit, but accents are not sexually transmitted!!! ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/71 "2010-11-22T03:55:37Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Listen, honey, you’re an Italian girl from NYC. Detroit, I think. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/72 "2010-11-22T03:56:46Z")
Also, regarding the OP: Natalie Merchant ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/73 "2010-11-22T03:59:14Z")
I believe she actually grew up in Michigan, actually. But same difference–her posh tones are definitely forced. Also: Sting occasionally adopted a fake Jamaican accent. Particularly prevalent on ‘Da Doo Doo Da’ or whatever it’s called, and on ‘Roxanne’ ETA: got ninja’d by cuauhtemoc. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/74 "2010-11-22T04:00:35Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > Also, regarding the OP: > > Natalie Merchant Who I came in to mention. As critic Robert Christgau said, “She inflects the English language as if she grew up speaking some Polynesian tongue.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/75 "2010-11-22T04:47:29Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The following line “where were you when we were getting high” suggests that it’s some sort of hallucination. A reasonable interpretation. But as the Wikipedia article on the song reveals, Noel Gallagher said on the band’s official website that he was pretty much just tossing words out there. And I’m not trying to argue that the line ruins the song or anything; it just gives me a bit of a chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/76 "2010-11-22T05:59:07Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > I stand corrected then. I always assumed that Brimley did it intentionally in some weird effort to be folksy. But if not, oooookay! Well, my mom is pretty much the antithesis of folksy. But she might have inherited the pronunciation from her mother, who was from Nebraska, and was the only one of six siblings who _wasn’t_ diabetic. ---
**Author:** ![Tess\_Trueheart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Tess\_Trueheart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess_Trueheart)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/77 "2010-11-22T06:47:57Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I don’t know if they use AutoTune in this song - can anyone confirm? > > I think she just wants to sing in this style. > mmm Her name is Ke$ha, and yes, the song (called Tik Tok) is heavily auto-tuned. So are all of her other singles. Ugh. "“TiK ToK” is sung in the chorus and rapped in the verses, enhanced by Auto-Tune in a few places, in keeping with its electro-pop production. " via [NYT Music](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/arts/music/27rappers.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/78 "2010-11-22T07:34:26Z")
> [@Tess\_Trueheart](#): > > Her name is Ke$ha, and yes, the song (called Tik Tok) is heavily auto-tuned. So are all of her other singles. Ugh. College Humor has a pretty good parody of this song and style called [“Sing Talk”](http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1935457). ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/79 "2010-11-22T09:36:12Z")
In A Gadda Da Vida…for the win, I assume! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/80 "2010-11-22T12:40:31Z")
A bunch of you people are way off base with the comments about faux accents/affects. Some people’s brains are wired to adapt to the accents they are surrounded by; I am one of those people. Under normal conditions I have a slightly neutered version of a typical Lawn Guyland accent. But take me away from this area and my accent changes rather quickly. In college (update New York) my LI accent all but disappeared as I was surrounded by upstaters. I spent a week in London on business and on the fifth day a colleague (who was also on the same trip) noted that I was starting to sound a bit British. Similarly I had spent 10 days in Germany visiting relatives. No one spoke English and I speak German rather badly, so every day I’d take a walk to clear my head from the constant translation. I would sing songs to myself if I was out of earshot from others. I noticed that my singing voice started to take on a German accent. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop it. I started to freak a little. It took two days of being home to “correct” my pronunciations. I have no idea why this happens, perhaps a subconscious desire to blend in, but it does happen; and it doesn’t surprise me when I hear it in some “celebrities”. I never assume it is deliberate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389.md?page=5)