Cursive singing is a vocal style with elongated vowels, clipped consonants, and run-on phrasing popularized by Amy Winehouse and contemporary artists like Halsey and Shawn Mendes.
The style got its name from a 2009 tweet describing the voice as "like I'm singing in cursive," highlighting its smooth, flowing character.
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Amy Winehouse's Vocal Impact
Amy Winehouse's vocal technique in "Valerie" embodies early cursive singing, blending precise pitch with unique phrasing that elongates vowels and personalizes syllables.
This style draws from older jazz influences like Billie Holiday, creating a creative and expressive vocal approach.
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Vocal Techniques Behind Cursive Singing
Vocal coach Achela Shenae describes cursive singing as similar to a child's tantrum pronunciation, using diphthongization to prolong and bend vowels.
This technique involves blending vowel sounds and manipulating consonants, contributing to the distinctive flowing effect.
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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?
