Vocal Points: Singers and their Accents

posted in: Country • Features • Pop • Rock

Every singing voice is unique. After all, that’s what makes vocalists special, and what makes music so interesting. But besides tonal quality, range and timbre, there is another factor that sometimes contributes to a singer’s sound”his or her accent. For some singers, accent doesn’t play a huge role in their music, but for others, it is a defining factor.

The Beatles‘ Liverpudlian accent is, in my opinion, a defining factor in their music. It is very apparent in many of their songs, and is one of many factors that makes the band great. For example, the way that customer is pronounced in “Penny Lane” stands out, as well as countless other examples throughout their catalog of music. Still, it’s hard to know where exactly certain artists come from.

There are so many examples of British singers who sound as if they could easily be from the US. Elton John, Amy Winehouse and even Adele have been known to shed their British accents in song. And then there’s a band like Phoenix, who you’d never suspect comes from France. And this makes sense if you think about it. A regional accent is made up of differences in features like intonation, speech rhythm, vowel length and vowel quality, all of which naturally disappear in song. Intonation is replaced by the melody which the vocalist sings, typical speech rhythm changes based on timing and rhythm of the song, and vowel length and quality are oftentimes elongated and enunciated when sung.

And then there’s artists who seem to have manufactured the accent they use in their music. For example, country star Shania Twain. Despite her Canadian upbringing, her success in the country music scene has been phenomenal. Her move to Nashville perfected the country twang that has made her so famous. Similar story with Keith Urban, who you certainly can’t tell is from Australia by listening to his country drawl-laden music.

In a different part of the music industry, there are American singers trying to sound like their British role models. Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong, who hails from California, is known for the way that he emulates British punk bands like Buzzcocks and Sham 69 in his singing style.  Similarly, Joey Ramone‘s thick New York accent somehow disappears on tracks like “Blitzkreig Bop” and “Beat on the Brat” and is replaced by his attempt at a British accent.

I guess it just comes down to the kind of music scene you’re trying to get involved in. When Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue started her music career, her accent was more apparent, but commercially it made sense for her to adopt a more neutral accent in music, and therefore her later albums have less of a trace of that accent. For many artists, past and present, it’s not necessarily a conscious effort to have one accent or another, but more of an effort to follow a trend or mimic a popular style or artist at the time.