For the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, English singer Adele recorded a song with the same name. Though Adele speaks with a strong London accent, her singing voice sounds more American than British. Why do British vocalists often sound American when they sing?
Because that's the way everyone expects pop and rock musicians to sound. British pop singers have been imitating American pronunciations since Cliff Richard, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones began recording in the 1960s. These musicians were largely influenced by the African-American Vernacular English of black American blues and rock and roll singers like Chuck Berry, but their faux-American dialects usually comprised aspects of several American dialects. Imitating an American accent involved both the adoption of American vowel sounds and rhoticity: the pronunciation of r's wherever they appear in a word. (Nonrhoticity, by contrast, is the habit of dropping r's at the end of a syllable, as most dialects of England do.) Sometimes Brits attempting to sing in an American style went overboard with the r's, as did Paul McCartney in his cover of "Till There Was You," pronouncing saw more like sawr.
Linguist Peter Trudgill tracked rhoticity in British rock music over the years and found that the Beatles' pronunciation of r's decreased over the course of the 1960s, settling into a trans-Atlantic sound that incorporated aspects of both British and American dialects. The trend also went in the opposite direction as new genres developed: American pop-punk vocalists like Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day took on a British-tinged accent to sound more like seminal artists such as Joe Strummer of the Clash. Contemporary singers continue to adopt various accents according to their genre; Keith Urban, who is Australian, sings country music with a marked American Southern accent. A recent study suggests that the default singing accent for New Zealand pop singers utilizes American vowel sounds, even when the singers aren't trying to sound American, perhaps because today's singers were brought up listening to American (and imitation-American) pop vocals.
Even when singers aren't trying to imitate a particular vocal style associated with a genre, regional dialects tend to get lost in song: Intonation is superseded by melody, vowel length by the duration of each note, and vocal cadences by a song's rhythm. This makes vowel sounds and rhoticity all the more important in conveying accent in song.
Lifestyles
November 21, 2012
Slate's Explainer: Why do British singers sound American?
- Lifestyles
-
-
Clinton CC students celebrate graduation
CLINTON -- Community members piled into the W. J. Yourd Gymnasium on Monday for the 65th Clinton Community College graduation ceremony. "This is kind of a culmination of the work that we do with our students," CCC President Karen Vickers said. "We ar
-
Citizen police academy produces largest class
CLINTON -- More than 30 people recently graduated from the annual Citizen Police Academy. Clinton Community College hosted the graduation ceremony involving 31 residents for 18th academy. This is the largest graduating class ever. Graduates included
-
Apple's iPad2 heart risk found in research by 14-year-old
Gianna Chien's study — which found that Apple's iPad2 can, in some cases, interfere with life-saving heart devices because of the magnets inside — is based on a science fair project that didn't even win her first place.
-
The connection between breakfast and academic achievement
Most people know it's hard for children to pay attention in school without eating breakfast. But now a team of researchers has found out why that is.
-
CAST gearing up for shows, season of education
CLINTON -- While many are aware the Clinton Area Showboat has been providing professional summer stock theater for many years, organizers say that what is perhaps less commonly known is that one of the non-profit CAST organization's goals is to share
- Things to do Ongoing •?Clintonish Knitters meet Thursdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays between 9 and noon. There is no fee for this group. Stitchers share techniques and the love of knitting or crocheting. Meetings are at Clinton's St Paul's Lutheran Church
-
RSVP's Meyer to receive Human Rights Award
CLINTON -- The Clinton Human Rights Commission has announced that Tammy Meyer of RSVP has been selected to receive the ninth annual Clinton Human Rights Commission Award. This award is an "Acknowledgement of persons/groups who embody the spirit of h
-
CCC graduation is May 13
CLINTON -- Clinton Community College will host the 65th commencement ceremony Monday, May 13, at W. J. Yourd Gymnasium beginning at 6 p.m.
-
SLIDESHOW: Dutch Days festival
Much-anticipated rain held off Saturday for the annual Dutch Days festival in Fulton, Ill., which was celebrating its 39th year of highlighting Dutch heritage.
-
Monahan awarded Mercy's DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing
CLINTON -- Mercy Medical Center nurse Kathy Monahan was awarded the quarterly DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award, sponsored locally by Hy-Vee Floral, is presented in collaboration with The American Organization of Nurse Executives and
- More Lifestyles Headlines
-
