Whether you hear it or not, it’s there: the smooth electronic tones of Auto-Tune quietly
working away, hiding and tidying up the notes to make the voice sound better. On the first
sight, autotune is harmless. It’s not causing any drama, but is it ripping off some fans.
When fans hear their favorite artists during live performances, sometimes it makes them
confused but not really disappointed, because everyone understands that using autotune is
like using filters on your IG photos. Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Lil Nas
X… these are just some of the famous faces who have used autotune at some point in their
career. At this point, so many of them faced backlash from their fans for tuning their
voice, claiming they are not talented at all. So, the main question is are they just really
bad singers, or do we perceive their natural voice to be unacceptable because we are so
used to hearing an overproduced version of it?
But before we start talking about singers, let’s clear up a few things about that Auto-Tune.
For those who don’t know, Auto-Tune is actually a brand name made by a Californian firm called
Antares. This vocal effects software remains the leader in this sector even though there
are so many competitors. And you might be surprised, but the first commercial use of
Auto-Tune was made by no other by Cher! In 1998 Cher used this app with her number one
hit Believe. If you hear that robotic effect during the two verses and an echo effect during
the chorus, - just know, this is autotune. Actually, this is exactly what autotune was
made for. However, 'Believe' is now over twenty years
old, and so many things have changed in the music industry. So, what has happened since
then? Some artists make a point about not needing or not using Auto-Tune very much or
not at all, like Adele. Others exclusively use it, either in an upfront manner like Will.I.am
or in an underhand way like Ke$ha or Britney Spears.
Most use Auto-Tune just to tidy up a few notes here and there, or to compensate if they are
having an off day. If you think that your favorite artist doesn't use this, you are
wrong. Literally everyone uses it: from Taylor Swift and Katy Perry to Justin Bieber and
Olly Murs, artists love to tweak and perfect their sound. Don’t get me wrong, this is
exactly the same thing that everyone does with their IG photos, right?
However, the problem starts when singers start performing live… It leaves fans with a bad
taste in their mouth and an even worse sound in their ears! Sometimes this could be put
down to artists becoming distracted or breathless while doing choreography or them just having
a bad day. But of course, fans are already disappointed after hearing such a big difference!
That’s why many choose to lip-sync during part or all of the performance. But now, more
than ever, a bad performance or being caught lip-syncing can be a degrading experience,
thanks to the Internet. If it’s not being tagged in abusive Tweets it’s hate filled
comments being left on their music videos on YouTube. This is exactly what happened
to Billie Eilish recently. If you keep up with Billie’s life and career, you may already
know that the singer has been criticized for a while for various reasons. From completely
changing her style to new songs, Billie’s fans claimed that she experiences a flop era
right now and they are totally disappointed. Speaking of her songs, fans completely shaded
her new album ‘Happier Than Ever’, especially the song ‘Lost Cause’. We all remember
that queerbating accusations. But there was another song that caught fans’ attention
not in the best way. The song ‘NDA’ was completely criticized by the fans, as they
said that she used excessive autotune. Billie received so much backlash, but stayed silent.
But luckily she had someone who fired back. It was her brother Phineas. He wrote: ‘Y’all
act like autotune is this crutch people lean on when they can’t sing, autotune is COOL
– if you can hear autotune, it’s on purpose’. He went on: ‘Almost every single pop star’s
vocals are DRENCHED in Melodyne and you probably can’t even tell. Autotune is completely
different’. Okay, to be honest, we all know that Billie
Eilish is a talented girl. Her natural voice is so amazing! So, take a look (I mean, just
listen), how we compared her natural voice with the actual song that you hear on your
Spotify daily. Moving on to another amazing singer. Charlie
Puth. We all love with him when he featured ‘See You Again’ with Wiz Khalifa back
in 2015, and when he released his song ‘Attention’, it seems like everyone couldn’t help but
fall in love with him for the second time. So, what's about autotune? Most people, to
be honest, think that autotune heavily edits and if the singer uses the app, it means,
he can't sing. So, it may come as a surprise that Charlie Puth has admitted that he used
Auto-Tune to teach himself how to sing and he admitted that the tool has been invaluable
in his learning process. Concerning Auto-Tune, Charlie revealed, “I basically taught myself
how to sing through Auto-Tune... I have perfect pitch, and I get so irritated when I can't
feasibly hit the note. So I opened up Pro Tools and downloaded Auto-Tune and highlighted
my voice, and just put it to F major - I remember that was the first key I ever used on it.”
But you definitely have to check this out because when you hear Charli singing a cappella,
and compare that to an actual song, you can’t say he uses autotune much!
The next one is Lil Nas X. It is safe to say that this guy is 100% talented! His song ‘Old
Town Road’ still is one of the most popular songs of all time. His fame skyrocketed, however,
the song faced some shade and controversy when it was removed from the Country chart,
as it was deemed not to be classified as a country song. Only a few months after the
decision, the track won musical event of the year at the Country Music Awards. He is an
amazing singer and rapper, but the question is - does he use autotune? Lil Nas X does
use autotune, and the vocal processing technology is used on ‘Old Town Road’. The singer
has, however, also shared a video where he sings the track without autotune. Check this
out. And the next one is Mike Posner. For so many
years this singer is making us happy with his charming voice. From ‘I Took a Pill
in Ibiza’ to ‘Cooler Than Me’, - this guy is talented! It was cool to know that
he recently successfully walked across the United States. But now I want you to guess
whether Mike Posner uses any autotune! Just check this video out and leave your thoughts
in a comment section down below. Here is what people had to say about the singers
who use autotune. One fan tweeted: “Billie doesn’t need
any autotune because her voice is perfect. She only has a few voice effects for the song
to actually be interesting”. Another fan said: “Charlie, Billie, Lil
Nas X, Mike Posner… Wow! All of them sound the same with autotuned and no autotuned!
I feel like they are really natural! So many singers today autotune themselves as much
as the Kardashians edit their photos and faces…” And here is one more opinion: “For cryin’
out loud, EVERY professional singer uses autotune. It’s not about using it, it is what you
do with it! If a singer can’t really sing, then twisting it with autotune until it’s
pitch perfect is pathetic, but for a good singer it just saves time, so you don’t
have to go over and over just to correct a tiny detail, that normal people can’t hear,
but producers will hear with headphones. You can compare it to photoshop. Every professional
photographer uses photoshop on every picture. So just think about it ok, before trash talking”.
So, now I want to know your opinion. Do you really don’t like when singers use autotune
to make their voice sound better? Or do you think that’s really fine and they have a
right to use that like all of us edit our IG photos? Let me know your opinion in the
comments section down below. And thanks for watching this video and don’t forget to
hit that subscribe button.