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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Ep. 71: Love Thy Thighs... And Thy Avocados.