Babbel Logo Toggle Menu Pick a language to speakRight Arrow SPANISH FRENCH GERMAN ITALIAN RUSSIAN PORTUGUESE TURKISH DUTCH SWEDISH POLISH NORWEGIAN INDONESIAN DANISH Why Do Some People Seem To Lose Their Accents When They’re Singing? If you’ve ever been confused when you heard a musical artist talking during an interview, this article is for you. BY THOMAS MOORE DEVLIN August 1, 2022 Why Do Some People Seem To Lose Their Accents When They’re Singing? Singing and speaking seem like they should be pretty similar activities. Both involve forming sounds with your mouth and vocal cords. Sure, you don’t randomly start singing in the middle of a conversation - unless you’re very into musical theater - but still, they overlap in many ways. If that’s the case, then, it doesn’t explain why people’s singing and speaking voices can differ so widely. More specifically, why do some people seem to lose their accent when singing? Take Adele. She grew up in Tottenham, London, and her speaking voice is distinctively British. Many people say it’s a Cockney accent, though she isn’t technically from the area associated with that way of speaking. If you hear her sing, though, you’d be hard-pressed to guess where she’s from. There are a few different things going on here. To understand why a person sounds so different when they sing, you have to look at both the physical act of singing and the cultural forces shaping the music industry. But first, we have to discuss what it means to “lose” your accent when singing. Are People Losing Their Accents When Singing? The first thing to know is that it is impossible to speak without an accent. At its most basic, an accent is simply the way we pronounce certain words. No matter who you are and what you sound like, you’re using an accent, or you wouldn’t be able to form sounds at all. When we say someone is “losing” their accent, what it really means is that they’re speaking in a way that we consider more neutral. In many cases, that means taking on an accent called General American. Often associated with newscasters, General American is defined not for what it sounds like but for what it doesn’t sound like. It doesn’t have the r-lessness of a Boston or British accent, it doesn’t have a U.S. southern twang and it gives you absolutely no information as to where the speaker might be from. Because of how General American evolved, it’s also very white, very male and associated with “authority” in the United States. Returning to the original question of this article, we can rephrase it from “Why do people lose their accents when singing?” to “Why do people tend to sound like they’re using a General American accent when singing?” With this new question in mind, we have to look at two big factors. Singing’s Effect On Accents Your accent comprises all of the specific ways you pronounce words in your language. When we talk about accents, we usually focus on the most noticeable aspects, like the difference between to-may-to and to-mah-to. Really, though, there are countless features in an accent, from how long you sustain vowels in a word to the tone you use when you’re saying them. All of these add up to your distinct voice, and all of these are subject to change when you’re singing instead of speaking. The biggest explanation for a singer’s accent change, then, is that many accent features vanish because of the nature of singing itself. An article in Mental Floss cites linguist David Crystal’s explanation, which is that, “a song’s melody cancels out the intonations of speech, followed by the beat of the music canceling out the rhythm of speech.” Thus, many of the features that give away your speaking accent are not possible to reproduce when you’re singing. Why, though, would it sound like a General American accent instead of something else entirely? As mentioned above, the General American accent is defined by the lack of distinct features, instead of the presence of any in particular. While singers might not be doing a General American accent exactly, when their singing voices make certain features vanish, it so happens that the result would be closer to General American. Even with that in mind, though, it doesn’t entirely explain the phenomenon that’s happening. For one thing, there are plenty of musical artists who clearly have an accent when singing. Many country music artists in the United States show off their southern accent in their songs, to use but one example. To understand the use of General American in music, then, we must turn to the cultural side of things. The Cultural Reasons For Accent “Loss” Throughout the 20th century, the United States came into its role as a massive cultural exporter. It was the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll and its music spread far and wide, whether other countries really wanted it or not. One option for a non-American musical artist who wanted to catch the wave of “American cool” would be to imitate the sound, and many did. Even if singing with an American accent is not a conscious decision - some up-and-comers are naturally influenced by more established voices, which happen to be American - it’s had a wide impact in music history. To use an example of a band that has had its music dissected completely over the decades, we look to the Beatles. Admittedly, if you listen to their entire archive of music, you know that their British-ness (and specifically Liverpool-ness) stands out, particular in their later songs. Yet in a thorough examination of their accents in their music on the blog Ace Linguist, the writer found some clear examples of American accent features being used. In a song called “Another Girl,” they start the song by clearly pronouncing the “r” in “another” like an American would, but by the end of the song they’re pronouncing it as the more Liverpudlian “another.” In another song, “Till There Was You,” singer Paul McCartney over-corrects for his r-lessness by pronouncing “I never saw them winging” like “I never sar them winging,” placing an “r” where one wouldn’t otherwise be. Both of these point to the singers trying to sound slightly more American in their music. While this can start to sound conspiratorial if you keep digging for clues, there are also artists who openly admit to trying to sound more American in their singing. British boy band One Direction once said their record company told them they sounded “too English,” and so they had to tweak their accents in their music. On the flipside of the matter, there are singers who reject the American way of singing to show off their accents, like artists in the British grime scene. As American cultural hegemony has lessened over the years, there has been a greater diversity of voices in the music industry. The way we sing, like the way we talk, is shaped by countless forces around us. While some of it is entirely out of our control, the way we sing can convey our individuality or it can align us with a group we’re longing to be part of. Accents are another way that music has allowed us to express ourselves since the earliest days of human society. Learn a new language today. TRY BABBEL Share: facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon whatsapp icon pinterest icon email icon Author Headshot Thomas Moore Devlin Thomas grew up in suburban Massachusetts, and moved to New York City for college. He studied English literature and linguistics at New York University, but spent most of his time in college working for the student paper. Because of this, he has really hard opinions about AP Style. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and getting angry about things on Twitter. He's spent a lot of time trying to learn Spanish, and has learned a little German. Recommended Articles The 8 Foreign-Language Songs That Have Topped The US Charts The 8 Foreign-Language Songs That Have Topped The US Charts BY THOMAS MOORE DEVLIN 7 Popular English Songs That Were Originally Performed In Other Languages 7 Popular English Songs That Were Originally Performed In Other Languages BY THOMAS MOORE DEVLIN How To Use Music To Help You Learn A Language How To Use Music To Help You Learn A Language BY DYLAN LYONS BABBEL MAGAZINE EDITION: English Expand SubNav More Babbel COMPANY About Us The Babbel Method The Babbel App Pricing Press Careers Help/FAQ Customer Service Accessibility Statement LANGUAGES Spanish German Italian French Portuguese Swedish Turkish Dutch Polish Indonesian Norwegian Danish Russian EVEN MORE BABBEL Babbel Podcasts Tech Blog Inside Babbel Babbel for Business Affiliate Program (USA) Affiliate Program (Europe) Babbel as a Gift Refer a Friend Student Discount Military Discount Healthcare Workers Discount Educators Discount LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE TRY BABBEL © 2022 Babbel GmbH Imprint Terms & Conditions Privacy Statement twitter icon facebook icon youtube icon instagram icon linkedin icon rss icon

Or they just grew up listening to certain acts and mimicked them.

@@angelawilliams4827 educational comment, ironically showing their accent in Grime is ironic because Grime imo is absolute trash

She is witch😂

Me encanta su Inglés tan británico ❤❤❤❤

Its more like a whiskey growl

Crunchy Caramel

A bourbon vanilla topping

I always thought she said “handbell” not “caramel” lol

... because it's so true! Even when the gravel, raspy happens👌 ~ It's beautiful 👍👍👍💜🎶🎶🎶💌💯

Now in “30”

Easy on Me, with Chris Stapleton! So excited!!

got some news for you fam

Definitely does it would a powerhouse performance

Stapleton left the Steeldrivers in 2010, just FYI.

True that.

Stapleton and Henderson are geniuses. Their 2008 and 2010 albums are both perfect.

I like that she sang the Alabama pronunciation instead of the English pronunciation.

Better than Chris Difford or Glenn Tilbrook? Better than Paul Carrack, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Kenny Rogers, John Lennon or Adam Dutiz? ... Behave yourself.

@@Hellwyck He's definitely up there. Not legendary like as you said, Chris Cornell or Kenny Rogers or John Lennon (all of which I'm a fan of), but at least Chris can write a song. Most of Nashville's "best" don't know how to write a letter to their mother, yet alone moving lyrics or good music. Thank God for Chris Stapleton, John Moreland, Colter Wall, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Brad Paisley, Luke Combs, Aaron Watson, Aaron Lewis, Buddy Brown, Creed Fisher, Darius Rucker, and Josh Turner for still writing their own music and their own lyrics and not having PC, Corporate, or the world dictate what they should deliver to the Country Music industry.

5:20

Written by Chris Stapleton

This is soul and blues more than anything.

@@truthbearingpsychonautListen to the original. It’s bluegrass.

Being vulgar just proves you have no breeding, not that you are a "queen".

@@buckyoung4578 it doesn’t proof that at all you’re just lame

Yep in the Target Executive cd

What song?????

Ok

Thanks :)

Adele sings this song a lot better. And I thought that she was the original songwriter of this tune.

@@emilyandrews9857 Great cover by Adele, No where near as good as the song-writer's version. Chris Stapleton.

She was way better

@@emilyandrews9857 Chris Stapleton wrote the song and for many other artists .

@@RedneckViking, I'm guessing that these many artists also sang this song like Adele?

Needs to happen

😂😂

phowltha seltun HELL YEAH!!!!

This is soul and blues.

She has, it’s on the special edition of her new album

Because it’s like a white girl from the suburbs trying to cover snoop dogg. Doesn’t matter how technically talented she is, she doesn’t have the original energy or the living understanding of the culture the music she’s singing comes from.

Yes, you're right but she got other people listening to Chris which is great. I will be eternally grateful for Jensen Ackles singing a mediocre version of Tennessee whiskey which made me look it up and discover Chris who is my all time favourite now

Chris Stapleton was the founder/lead for The Steeldrivers. Bluegrass/folk. Amazing talent, she represented it well.

Not exactly, Chris was a co writer adele.wikia.com/wiki/If_It_Hadn%27t_Been_for_Love_(song)

adele.wikia.com/wiki/If_It_Hadn%27t_Been_for_Love_(song)

@Scott Y nope, it was written by Stapleton and one of the steeldrivers, they gave it to Worely in 2004.

@Scott Y You're half right.

You dont cuss?

@@erickandrade1921 : Actually, I don't cuss, quit when I was 18 years old. Adele has talked about censoring her own "potty mouth" (as she called it) to protect her child, and not negatively impact her son. It wouldn't go well for him when he starts going to school and other parents would not want him to play with their own children. As a parent, we want to set a good example for our chlldren because we love them and don't want them to have problems in the future because they learn something negative from us.

​@@CatherineSToddYou know all those adults around cussing were once kids. That censoring from their parents worked out pretty well didnt it

I prefer her version

@@alessandrosoares4666 Sorry for you that you have no musical taste.

I prefer her version

​@alessandrosoares4666 Same 😂😅😊

You're just saying anything

@@thetobylouis yes, and keep repeating, she is highly overrated

@@ymelfilm you'll believe yourself one day, keep repeating it😊

No need.u ll forget her soon when the new mediocrate 'star' shows up

@@ymelfilm lmao forget her soon, I mean it's been 15 years since her debut and you still remember her. I don't think she's forgettable afterall 😂

How was this bad I didn't 😞😔 I didn't even know she did a cover of this song I thought it was jer own until the comments said otherwise lmaoo I think it's because you guys are comparing her to the original artist that's why you guys think it's so bad