Recently while scrolling twitter we saw a clip from American Idol of judge Katy Perry admonishing an auditioner on the show to “Enunciate!”

The video went viral because of Perry’s incensed reaction, but also because the contestant’s performance of Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie” offered a crystalline example of a popular style of singing that has produced reactions of love and—like for Perry—hate. 

It’s a style that features elongated vowels, clipped consonants, and runaway phrasing associated with contemporary singers like Halsey, Jorja Smith, and Shawn Mendes, and like many things in the 21st century it got its name from a tweet—specifically by the user @trackdroppa who boasted in 2009, “Voice so smooth it’s like i’m singing in cursive”

In this episode we speak to vocal coaches and journalists to to ask: Where did this cursive style come from? What are the vocal techniques used to create this sound? And why does cursive singing create so much backlash?

Songs Discussed


Shawn Mendes - Stitches

Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward - Winnie the Pooh

Mick Jagger - Strange Game

Selena Gomez, A$AP Rocky - Good For You

Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa - Valley Girl

Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse - Valerie

benny blanco, Halsey, Khalid - Eastside 

Jorja Smith - Teenage Fantasy

Tones And I - Dance Monkey

Sia - Cheap Thrills

Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On

Blink-182 - All The Small Things

SZA - Kill Bill


More

Ashaala Shanae
https://www.themahi.com/founder

Jumi Akinfenwa
https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/jumi-akinfenwa
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