By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
Between Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae and Charli XCX, pop is dominating the charts right now. Even though the vocal chops of most pop singers in the mainstream are unmatched, fans and listeners still seem to be disappointed when listening to live or acoustic performances.
While people are always prone to picking on a singer’s vocals, in recent years, audiences have lost perspective on what good live vocals genuinely are. I believe this is correlated to the overuse of Melodyne or Auto-Tune.
First, let me clarify what I mean when I’m talking about tuned vocals. While most people think that the software used to edit singers’ notes manually recorded during the production process is called Auto-Tune, it’s usually a software called Melodyne. Auto-Tune is usually used in live settings to alter singers’ notes in real-time, whereas Melodyne allows producers and engineers to individually adjust and place each note the singer has recorded during the production process.
The overuse of tuned notes leads to mechanical or robotic-sounding vocals. However, in current pop music, we have become Melodyne and Auto-Tune-blind and have lost the ability to appreciate raw and unaltered vocals.
Sabrina Carpenter, for example, has immense vocal talent. However, when scrolling through the comments on her live performance videos, people frequently mention her poor vocal ability.
What this comes down to is a lack of understanding of what actual vocals sound like. Tuned vocals in pop music have forced us to lose our ability to decipher what is good and what isn’t — so much so that anything that isn’t slathered with altercation seems unnatural.
Completely perfect vocals not only lack emotion but also create a false sense of how music should actually sound, ultimately losing the essence of the song. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support polishing vocal takes and ensuring that everything sounds good, but what I think most people get wrong is that they associate perfectionism with sounding good.
Maggie Rogers is an example of perfectly imperfect vocals. When you listen to Rogers’ music, you can hear instances where she has vocal cracks or wavers a small amount in pitch. This is what makes her music so great.
Emotion comes from imperfection, and removing those instances strips away the singer’s uniqueness and authenticity. Stories are built on vulnerability, and those instances of imperfection are ways that singers let us into their world and showcase their stories.
The definition of “good singing” needs to be altered. People need to understand how hard it is to sing live if you’re dancing or moving on stage, especially in front of a large crowd. However, it starts in the production booth and ultimately spawns in the choices that are made during the production process of a song.
