# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/81 "2010-11-22T12:45:51Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > 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!!! The reason it doesn’t sound like her accent is because it’s not her. It’s a quote from The Cement Garden, spoken by Charlotte Gainsbourg. ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/82 "2010-11-22T13:02:06Z")
> [@Tess\_Trueheart](#): > > Her name is Ke$ha, and yes, the song (called Tik Tok) is heavily auto-tuned. So are all of her other singles. Ugh. > > "“TiK ToK” is sung in the chorus and rapped in the verses, enhanced by Auto-Tune in a few places, in keeping with its electro-pop production. " > via [NYT Music](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/arts/music/27rappers.html) Ke$ha. Ugh, what a skank. Everything about her makes me want to puke. Especially her grating voice. It’s not just the auto-tune, she’s affected some kind of brattish whine. I was having a conversation on Saturday night with some friends about people who just irritate the hell out of you, and I said Ke$ha. My friend said Celine Dion, who also has some interesting pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/83 "2010-11-22T13:05:06Z")
Rod Stewart singing “Don’ need no ticket, you jus’ git own bowed” That Metallica dude going “Nevah seeeah, nevah beeeah” ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/84 "2010-11-22T13:51:06Z")
> [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](#): > > My friend said Celine Dion, who also has some interesting pronunciations. Hers are a function of accent, though. Even after all these years in the English speaking world her accent is still really strong. I do find it hilarious, though, that the woman who came to prominence by singing love songs consistently pronounces the word as “lerve.” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/85 "2010-11-22T14:31:07Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > re: Dribbling - Yeah, I know that Bobbie Brooks are pants, I’m a child of the 80’s, it’s the Dribble off part that I don’t get. I’ve never 'dribbled off a pair of pants, from me or a lady friend. All the lyrics websites I’ve checked do seem to agree on “Dribble,” but I’m almost 100% certain that Jack wants Diane to “_Jiggle_ off those Bobbie Brooks.” I’ll have to dig out my old vinyl copy of _American Fool_ with the lyrics on the sleeve. > [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > Ever since my days in choir (when I was taught to enunciate when singing), I have always been irked by the “you” preceded by any word that ends in the letters “nt.” > > As in The Beatles’ _I Want You (She’s So Heavy)_. > > All I hear is “I want choo – I want choo soo baaaad…” I used to always joke that Bob Seger must have had a cold when he recorded one song, because he sings “Tryin’ to live my life with ACHOO, babe…” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/86 "2010-11-22T14:43:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by 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? No, I’m not talking about the melisma, her inability to commit to a note. I’m talking about her inability to commit to a _vowel_. It’s day. “dā.” She goes from a to e to i like a bowl of alphabet soup. If she were on Wheel of Fortune she’d be down $750. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/87 "2010-11-22T15:37:24Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > Funny, I was just criticized for rhyming “war,” “for,” and “secure,” which have all always rhymed wherever I’ve lived. I would pronounce “war” and “for” the same, but “secure” as si-KYUƏ. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/88 "2010-11-22T15:58:55Z")
By the way, for affectation in singing accent from the UK, try: [Ellie Goulding](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGa1l3As1w), who has a really good voice (her superfast non-autotuned glissandos are really arresting), but WTF is up with her accent? It’s glottal-stopped, part rhotic, part Estuary/London, part posh, and part mid-Atlantic meets Iceland. She also sings “horses” as “horssees”. But even more annoying is Kate Nash, who puts on a sneering nasal London lass accent that makes me sympathetic to the [url=[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMfoXz6VMX0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMfoXz6VMX0)]male protagonist in this song[/rul]. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/89 "2010-11-22T16:09:29Z")
Oh my, I could go on for pages about this kind of thing. Some of my most hated have been mentioned already - Natalie Merchant?Gah. She’s always irritated me but I assumed English was her second language so I kind of dismissed it until I learned she’s from the east coast or whatever and now it pisses me off even more. Someone mentioned Green Day trying to sound British and while it’s not the first time I’ve heard that criticism, I’ve always heard it as sort of SoCal surfer kind of affectation. Billy Joe isn’t nearly as irritating as the schmuck from “Blink 182” and his even schmuckier offshoot “Angels and Airwaves”. There’s so many examples I don’t know where to start. **All the Small Things** “. . . she left me roses \*boy \*the stairs . . " **I Miss You** ” . . . don’t wast your _toim_on me your already a voice “insoid moy yead”. I don’t know if the above translates what I’m trying to explain; just picture Spiccoli as the lead singer of a band. Adam Lambert’s last hit “If I had You” or as he says it “If I had Jew” never fails to irk me, though it’s not a bad song in spite of his loathsome pronunciation. The Neon Trees’ song “Animal” is played eleventy billion times on hit radio and really could be a fun song if the singer could get over his speech impediment “Hiwegoagain. I kindawannabe _maw than fwends_.So take it easy on me I’m \*afwaid yaw neveh \*satisfied” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/90 "2010-11-22T16:14:52Z")
Somewhat surprised Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s name (“Murder on the Dance Floor”) hasn’t come up; I don’t think her accent is actually affected, but it’s just bizarre as hell to hear pop/dance tunes sung with that completely patrician accent. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/91 "2010-11-22T16:17:16Z")
Sophie also just sounds really _bored_ a lot of the time, which I suppose is part of her schtick but I think some of her songs would have sounded better with a more passionate vocalist. She’s still fairly good all round, I have some of her albums. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/92 "2010-11-22T16:19:13Z")
I’m in Virginia and I hear “pank” for pink all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/93 "2010-11-22T16:21:41Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > Sophie also just sounds really _bored_ a lot of the time, which I suppose is part of her schtick but I think some of her songs would have sounded better with a more passionate vocalist. It’s true; the way she sings it you can totally hear her going on… “Going to burn this goddamn house right down … as soon as I finish getting my nails done.” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/94 "2010-11-22T17:21:13Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Springsteen clearly knows that no human says “pank”. _contra_: The same vowel shift (from “pink” to “pank”) can be heard on John Anderson’s [Swingin’](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07_rnlBezQg) (pronounced "sw_a_ngin’) (at 0:47 for example). ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/95 "2010-11-22T17:42:21Z")
I recall my eyes rolling a full 360 degrees the first time I heard Axl Rose sing “knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s dough-whoa.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/96 "2010-11-22T17:47:27Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > The same vowel shift (from “pink” to “pank”) can be heard on John Anderson’s [Swingin’](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07_rnlBezQg) (pronounced "sw_a_ngin’) (at 0:47 for example). Not to mention anyone who has ever petitioned the listener to shake his or her groove thang. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/97 "2010-11-22T18:33:59Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I’m talking about her inability to commit to a _vowel_. It’s day. “dā.” She goes from a to e to i like a bowl of alphabet soup. If she were on Wheel of Fortune she’d be down $750. You realize the “day” vowel is a diphthong, right? > [@multimediac17](#): > > In Britney Spears’ ‘Overprotected’: > > “Nobody’s telling me just what I wanna do > I’m so fed up with people telling me to be > Someone else but… > MAY” > > Britney changing “me” to “MAY” is legendary, legendary I tell you. Around the same time \*NSYNC released a song in which Justin Timberlake says: > > “It’s gonna be > MAY” > > Exactly why they changed the pronounciation has always baffled may. It’s a feature of some southern and Black English vernacular accents. > [@dotchan](#): > > Paramore’s Misery > > In what part of the world is “brag” pronounced with a long A? I was so confused because I kept thinking she was saying “break”. I’ve heard it in rural Pennsylvania-Ohio-Indiana in accents that also make “milk” into “melk.” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/98 "2010-11-22T18:36:06Z")
I can’t believe I neglected to mention the one that I hate more than any I can think of in this or any other life time: Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue”. There are no words for the rage that comes over me when I hear this song. It actually has kind of a fun beat even though it’s very much country and all would be well if it wasn’t for the stupid, irritating “I just fell off a pumpkin truck on my way to the hoe down, hyuck hyck hyck” nasal , affected hickness of the singers voice. I’m no fan of nasal twang to start with and something about this chick just sets my teeth on edge. Funny enough, I saw her being interviewed and her speaking voice isn’t nearly as accented. Why in the hell somebody would go out of their way to sound like that is beyond me but it makes me homicidal. And god help me if I actually happen to catch sight of it when it comes on VH-1 and there she is with that asinine soccer mom hairdo. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/99 "2010-11-22T18:53:01Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > No, folks, you are all wrong, let me correct you - > > The WORST pronunciation affect in all of music is the entire little ditty called ‘Jack and Diane’, with the most annoying put-on ‘I’m too cool to actually care about whether my words are intelligible or not’ lyrics ever. > > What lines bother me? Ahh, it’s pretty much ALL of them. > > ‘Suckin’ on chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze’ > > ‘Dribble off those Bobby Brooks’ - WTF? > > ‘Well now then there, Diane…’ > > 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 Fuck. Yes. Can’t understand a word the guy is saying. Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” has a similar problem with mumbling, and I hate the singer’s lazy drawl sound. ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/100 "2010-11-22T19:56:45Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > My contribution is the song “Use Somebody.” It’s the only popular song that makes me switch the station as soon as it comes on. And that’s saying quite a bit. Here’s the nails-on-a-chalkboard part: > > “You know that I could use some-ba-DAYA > You know that I could use some-ba-DAYA” > Grr. I hate even writing that. I always assumed that Badaya was some sort of Mexican anti-diarrheah OTC medication. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389.md?page=6)