Britney Spears Is a Pop Queen. and Pop Queens Don’t Need to Sing
Britney Spears became the latest victim of Auto-Tune truthers after an unedited version of her singing was leaked this week. On the track, Spears sings “Alien” from her most recent album Britney Jean, (supposedly) without editing and without Auto-tune. Backlash came swiftly. The Independent said she sounded like a “strangled cat.” Us Weekly called it “downright scary.” Neither of those comments are a stretch.
Believing that Britney should be able to sing impressively without Auto-Tune requires you to believe something else: that Britney Spears is a musician. — Britney Spears is not a musician. And like it or not, success as a pop star is in no way tied to vocal ability.William Orbit, who produced Britney Jean, rushed to Spears’ defense, saying that the pop star had simply been warming up and that this was not an accurate reflection of her talent. “I’d like to affirm that ANY singer when first at the mic at the start of a long session can make a multitude of vocalisations in order to get warmed up,” Orbit wrote on his Facebook page. “I’ve heard all manner of sounds emitted during warmups. The point is that it is not supposed to be shared with millions of listeners.”
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