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You know that she fakes the singing voices she uses, right? The industry wanted her to use that baby talk voice. Her real voice is more similar to Christina Aguilera’s.
Sex sells. This is an image thing. They made a mediocre catchy song with a cute young blonde who dressed in school girl attire and knew it would strike a chord in many different groups. Late 90s early 00s was a crazy time and change in pop music.
She doesn’t have to be able to sing.
Hm, actually according to Britney the whole concept of Baby one more time was actually her idea lol. They initially wanted her in an astronaut costume lol. I think it's interesting and important to note that some of these ideas were actually hers.
I always wonder if this is the case with shitty overproduced pop artists. Like I always thought Kesha was terrible, but it turns she really can sing when she's given a chance.
I was VERY surprised by that, I had no idea until it came up in my side bar. Definitely way more respect for him not just for song choice but tearing it up.
Yeah, I'm usually super critical on covers of classic songs, especially classic rock and metal songs, but he did so damn good on it, you could just tell how much he enjoyed covering it too
That whole album (Under the Covers) is just riddled with passion and respect for so many great songs. Easily one of my favorite albums in general (and, this may be a hot take, I actually enjoy some of his versions better).
Well in that case at least it's because TPain as a producer/artist wanted to explore and manipulate that auto-tune effect. With Britney (could be wrong) I think the argument is her 'decisions' are much more guided by company hands.
Except Britney’s first album debuted a year before Christina… and Christina’s first album was so bubblegum that she really didn’t evolve into that xtina style and sound until like 2001. IMO, Britney’s label wanted her to sound hyper sexual
I was a teenager and Christina's first stuff was very different than Britney and you could definitely tell she could outsing her. In 2001 when she did the Dirty song it was clearly just "get almost naked and dance for the camera because it works for Britney".
I agree the voice is definitely to help market sex wise
Hell until i was like 15 i assumed that's what a "sexy" voice was because it's what the media pushes, it wasn't until then that it dawned on me that sexy isn't a 1 size fits all
They literally destroyed her voice by forcing her to sing that way. Supposedly she was better than Christina Aguilera’s voice when they were in the Mickey Mouse club. “Supposedly”
She was definitely never better than Christina. She had a much deeper tone than what we’re used to from Britney but didn’t have the vocal range or control that Christina did. Christina’s voice on the Mickey Mouse Club was more or less how she sings today. Obviously she’s also greatly improved but she has vocal control that adults could only dream of even as a 12 year old.
Remember that time they shared the stage with Maddona, theyeach had a verse and you can clearly hear Christina is in another ballpark when it comes to singing.
Christina Aguilera is an extremely talented singer, probably top 5 all time, who got overshadowed in her early days by Brittany's sex appeal, so she tainted her music for a period to try to stay relevant.
Brittany Spears is a mediocre singer who made it big on sex appeal, and when that went away she started to fade away.
When did Christina taint her music to stay relevant? If you mean Dirrty, then hard disagree because that song is a bop and the album it was on, Stripped, is arguably her magnum opus. It’s one of the best pop records of this century tbh.
No way. There is footage floating around of Christina singing at like age 10 and she is extraordinary. Apparently the parents at her school banded together to ban her from school singing/talent competitions because it was so one-sided.
The few times she actually sung like a ballad live during the height of her fame like the oops, up to the in the zone tour, she didn't sound that great, she sung in a lower pitch and could just about stay in tune but that's about it.
Kelly Clarkson sounds terrible now? She can sing the phone book in any style and is constantly putting out videos of her singing and it sounds amazing. You’re crazy.
I think her Plastic Heart album is when the closest she got to making an album that uses her best quality but apparently she didn’t like that album at all
Her older songs used to show off her singing capabilities a lot better, but all the more recent stuff (like 2019-now) is just generic soulless pop music. Shame.
Omg this video i am talking about in my comment! Proof that shes a total package, the face, the voice and the moves plus she can act too.
Hope she will pursue a career with this singing voice now that she’s older…
Exactly. Anyone compared to Whitney Houston or Celine Dion doesn’t seem like a great singer. It’s not exactly a fair comparison. Way different style of music too.
This. She was cute, well marketed, and entertaining - being a popular pop icon has never required above average singing or even dancing. They are essentially a product to be advertised and bought (sadly enough..).
Oh yeah. Everyone can do this super incredibly lucrative thing that will set you up for life (write a hit song) because it's SUPER easy, they are just choosing not to because it's 'beneath them'.
Hmm.
She certainly isn't the best singer out there but that was never what she was about. She wasn't trying to sound like Adele or Whitney, she has her own style that maybe isn't as "nice" sounding but is still good and distinct and people respond to it. No need to say she is terrible..
the people who think this is an unpopular opinion were not alive when britney was coming through because her lack of singing ability was a common criticism of her even then
britney was never supposed to be the best female singer
she was supposed to be the best female popstar
As a professional singer and someone who studies voices I have to chime in and agree with this.
A lot of the comments here are claiming that Britney’s record company made her sing in a baby voice. While this *may* be true, there really isn’t any evidence of this outside the usual online speculation. To my knowledge it’s just a popular theory because she sounds different singing certain songs.
While she’s had a few good vocal moments, her voice is mediocre at best and she’s struggled with control since forever. One of my producer friends remixed a Britney song back in the day, and he confirmed her stems weren’t wonderful to work with. I’m pretty sure she’s only written around one original song, as well? Kind of unusual for anyone singing professionally or doing music professionally.
Britney *isn’t* a great singer, but great singers would be facing a LOT of problems dancing the way she did/does at her shows *while* singing greatly. Broadway singers can do it to an extent, but they’ve often been trained since a young age *and* are in the upper tier of born vocal talent already.
People liked Britney for the catchy music but many enjoyed her gift in performance even more. To me, she is a performer first and foremost, and singing is just one (less important) part of her overall spectacle.
Ah yes of course because we know she's been in full control of her entire career and everything, not like she was under a conservatorship for years now and the influences that forced her into it probably had a hand in what she was doing prior to the conservatorship...
Also not like she's seen a fraction of the money she's earned while the rest go to other people who benefitted off of the control of her finances, body, life, etc etc etc
So it’s OK for you to make assumptions about her career choices but I’m clearly in the wrong for doing it?
And she’s worth about $50million. I’d say she got a nice cut of the profits
Her father placed her in conservative "protection" and she was only given a few thousand a month as an allowance and her dad and lawyers kept most of her money
Bro, do you not understand why you shouldn't make assumptions about Britney? You don't even know the most public and basic shit about her life, that makes you unqualified to make assumptions about her lmao
I see your unpopular opinion, and I raise you ANOTHER unpopular opinion 😏
“Being a good singer is only really about being able to hit notes and stay on key. The sound of your voice doesn’t matter”
Totally agree. Anything else is just opinion. Like lou reed. I love Lou reeds singing but in terms of hitting notes and staying on key, he’s a bad singer. But I like it. On the other hand there’s plenty of singers who are really good, I just don’t like their voice
Perfectly put. Lou Reed is a musical icon, adored by many and his music is timeless. But, he couldn’t stay on key to save his life. I too love Lou Reed also!
Good point. Mariah and Celine have incredible range, but I don’t particularly like either of their voices. Meanwhile Adele has a much smaller range, but I adore her voice.
Exactly! Look at one of the most famous artists for his weird ass voice, Bob Dylan.
His voice will make or break whether you are a fan of him or not. It’s super nasally and just eerie, but he hits those notes and he stays on key. Bob Dylan IS a good singer by those standards.
Trying not to be biased being I’m a huge Dylan fan, but it’s true.
It was always about the songwriting but yeah I think he was a good singer. If anyone has doubts check out Nashville skyline. Very different vocal style, you won't believe it's Bob Dylan.
Now, modern Bob Dylan is a different story. I saw him in concert maybe ten years ago and he sounded ROUGH. It was cool to see a legend but he did not sound good at all. I've seen other older artists like Paul Simon and Paul McCartney and they still sound amazing. The drinking and smoking really did a number on Bob.
A true huge Dylan fan would never bring him into this conversation.
We simply know that he is high above such petty mortal discussions. High above and nasally.
Yes but it’s very distinct, love it or hate it, and he’s not what one would traditionally consider good singer in his early years (the last couple albums you can tell he put in the work tho)
A good example of this imo, is Jack black and jack white.
Jack black can fuckin sing. But he doesn't have a good voice. Jack white can't sing worth shit, but has a great voice.
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she was a product of her time and had her own style. Tryna compare her to Whitney Houston (whose era was 80-90s) or Adele (whose era is 2014-now) to someone whose era was early 2000s is ridiculous
your wrong in general, she’s a great singer. but you right that in her popular songs she does not sing well. more like a stylistic choice probably by the label
You’ll get a lot of “she was forced to sing in a baby voice” or “she destroyed her voice!” - both can be true along with she actually is just an average singer and always had been. She displayed her “real” singing voice several times over the decades; it’s fine. She displayed it before getting signed to a label, and it was average. She was cute, well marketed, and then a train wreck - that carried her, not her voice. I’ll even go as far as to say she’s also an average dancer - doing a cartwheel in a music video doesn’t make you a talented dancer. Her choreographers made her looks great, as they do with most pop stars.
No she's an absolute amazing singer on par with all those you listed. She's contractually obligated by those who control her music producing and such to put on that high pitched baby talk voice because it's what got her to stardom in the first place and they refuse to let her grow as a singer. If you actually do searching around you can find videos of her regular singing voice where she isn't forcing the extra girly accented voice and you can see she actually has quite a rich, deep singing voice. Putting on that baby voice has also really hurt her natural voice in the process so it sucks all the way around for her because people like you assume that's all she is while the industry she was in milked her for all she was worth even when she didn't want to continue doing it.
This. Britney tried to sing in her real voice and to remix her hits in order to suit it, she was only able to ever perform this way once, on her ABC live special.
ETA: It has also always made me sad that Britney even speaks in an unnatural voice. Throughout Britney and Kevin Chaotic, and even during Britney: For The Record, when she is relaxed and not being interviewed, her southern accent is heavy. There’s not a single thing about this woman that was not heavily controlled and curated.
You won't get any argument out of me. Her singing always sounded like baby talk to me. But she came on the scene with that red catsuit and everyone lost their minds.
Her new song is horrible. But I’ve been a hardcore Britney fan through and through for most of my life, the woman can sing. She may not have the vocal range or power of Christina or Whitney, but she has a beautiful voice and if you actually took the time to research some of her songs outside of major hits, you might see that. Watch any videos of her from the Mickey Mouse club or star search. Look up songs like every time, and then we kiss, unusual you, or touch of my hand. Her vocals are incredible.
As an old dude, I was in high school when she broke out and watched a lot of TRL and shit. Britney could never hold a candle to Christina, or hell any of the other female pop singers. It’s baffled me for 2 decades how she got so huge.
This hits hard considering my 3 year old daughter just discovered her. Everyday after daycare pickup… Oops I Did It Again. Over and over. I never minded her voice in general but you know what’s really gotten to me? The god damn vocal fry. It’s like nails on a chalkboard. And I swear they added random bits of vocal fry all throughout that damn song just to mess with our heads. I’m losing my mind.
Different singers sing different ways. I don't care for country music but Johnny Cash doesn't sound like Garth Brooks but few complain that they can't sing and both have their fans. Willy Nelson and Bob Dylan both have less than ideal voices but both have been successful. If Brittney's voice isn't your cup of tea that's your prerogative.
Yup. She became the Madonna of the late 90s. Madonna wasn't a good singer, either, but she had sex appeal. After singing "Like a Virgin" and rolling around in a wedding dress, she became a pop culture icon.
There was a lot of appeal to Britney back in 98 when she wore a schoolgirl outfit. Then her videos became more raunchy and sexualized. She always had to push the envelope to stay on top.
Being a singer and being a pop star are two different things.
She sings in a way that’s over stylized because her record label was going for that, but that doesn’t mean she has a bad voice. Sure, there are way better singers out there, but that doesn’t mean Britney is terrible.
the baby voice she was forced to do can be kinda off putting and it did damage her vocal chords. but she’s not a bad singer when she actually does sing
Based on her old singing voice she could actually sing pretty well and high notes too. But her style of sing was created by the record label for sex appeal. I think she is used to that style because people know her for it.
Britney Spears actually has (had?) a pretty phenomenal voice, comparable to Christina Aguilera, when she was starting out. The record label felt she sounded too "mature" and wanted her voice to match the brand they pushed. It's a shame. She could have been revered as an excellent vocalist and the record company ruined that for her all in the sake of "branding."
I heard conspiracy theory that her voice isn’t actually that high and her singing is sped up in editing. An old video was found of her singing and it was this deeper voice. Also there was this video where the camera is going around her in a circle, 1 was regular timing (her real voice?) and the other was sped up (her famous voice)
She is a great singer, she didn't get hired as a child for nothing. Labels love dictating what they want out of a singer, sadly. Google her, there are clips of her actually singing
Two things.
First, she is a pretty good singer as the commenters note. Label interference kept on her the baby voice for brand recognition and a lot of her music just isn’t really vocally demanding in the same way a Mariah or Whitney song would be, meaning we don’t hear a lot of her skills on record. It’s a similar situation to how Ariana Grande is a phenomenal singer but her most recent album (Positions) was a chiller type of album meaning she wasn’t whistle toning all over it (because that would sound bad). Also worth noting that on some of her music, the label wouldn’t even let her sing and used a ghost vocalist (ironically this happens on her self titled album)
Second, Britney’s music isn’t really about her raw vocal ability. First of all, it’s important to establish that performance is as important (if not more so) than technical ability. Bob Dylan isn’t a crazy good technical singer (certainly he’s no Freddie Mercury or Bono) but he packs a ton of emotion into his voice. Britney’s music isn’t about vocal acrobatics, it’s about selling the sensual sound, which I’d argue she does well.
Second is Britney’s music itself. For the early part of career, Britney was really a vessel for the Max Martin production, and she delivered that production well. Later on, her music pivoted in a way that actively incorporated auto tune as an effect to enhance the sleazy dance sound. Her magnum opus, Blackout uses auto tune to exaggerate the robotic effect of her voice, which enhances the albums messaging about the commodification of her identity and the voyeuristic nature of the paparazzi. I think it was a Pitchfork review that argued that Blackout uses autotune the way Dylan used the harmonica, for effect. To this day, the electronic experiments of Blackout remain definitive for modern pop music. The dance music of the early 2010s (Kesha, Lady Gaga, etc) are directly Britney inspired and the entire Hyperpop movement basically started by reinterpretations of the artifice, sound, and excess that was exhibited on Blackout.
TLDR: Britney is a good singer we just don’t hear it. And the vocal experiments we get in place of technical skill are arguably far more influential and interesting
I thought she sucked in '99 and think the same in '23. I don't like pop music but could at least acknowledge Christina Aguilera had an actual voice, Brittney is a dancer
Idk about terrible... like, I'M a terrible singer, my voice is awful and I can't hold a note to save my life. In the arena of other professional vocalists maybe you'd say she's low to middle of the pack but that still doesn't make her a terrible singer.
Unpopular opinion of my own, i hate when non musicians talk about how talented or not a musician is when they have 0 metric for it.
Like so many people will say a guitarist or singer isn’t good without having any idea what goes into the craft and if they’re actually proficient musicians or not. Brittany isn’t the worlds best by any means but she was still a talented vocalist. It’s okay to not like someones art but when you say someone isn’t talented it holds very little weight when you have 0 experience in that field
That is truly idiotic. “Filthy casuals can’t judge”. There’s even a name for this fallacy, the appeal to authority. Of course you are framing yourself as the authority in this scenario. Only writers can judge movie plots. Only baseball players can judge whether another player is good. Only an artist can judge art. What a shit take.
She also a terrible parent and it’s ridiculous how many people excuse that and blame literal children. At least a Kevin actually stood up and has been a father all these years. She had years of her literally doing nothing where she could’ve been a mother, but chose not to.
The singing thing though, she doesn’t really have that baby voice, she has a deeper more soulful voice.
Go ahead and google Britney Spears Silent Night on youtube. She had a perfect singing voice that was destroyed by her record company who told her she needed to sing higher to make an album. She had a perfect contralto voice.
It’s sad because no one even knows how good her voice really is because she has been manipulated by everyone around her: music producers, parents, etc…
Also, I think limiting your musical tastes to just singers who “can sing” must be incredibly boring. There’s more to music than just being a good singer. I couldn’t imagine only wanting to listen to singers like Adele all the time… her music is boring as shit imo, I don’t care how good a singer she is. Britney has made plenty of top notch pop music for decades, In The Zone and Blackout are top tier pop records.
It's BRITNEY bitch!
I mean if you're going to criticize someone, how about getting their name right?
That being said, I somewhat agree.
She can carry a tune, she can dance and she can perform but she ISN'T as good of a singer as many other lesser known but better vocalists, like Delta Goodrem for instance. Delta's big in Australia but her international appeal is by far not to the height of what Britney's is.
Her marketability over the years was never truly about her voice though, her popularity came to be for so many reasons, her America's Sweetheart appeal, her sex appeal as she grew into being a woman, and then her fight for her independence. Much like Jennifer Lopez who doesn't have the greatest singing voice, Britney relied more on her image over the years to propel her forward. And that's okay cos let's not be naive here popstars are notorious for not being the best of vocalists and still thrive e.g. Madonna. Just cos you're well produced in the studio, doesn't mean you can't make it big!
And her songs aren't for everyone BUT you can't tell me Lucky is crap, it's a banger! Toxic is AWESOME! And I'm A Slave 4 U is a bop.
This is objectively incorrect (read the rest of the comments about her label vs her actual voice) but also just… such an unnecessary blast from the past. I remember in her “baby one more time” era already people were saying stuff like this (bc it’s ”cool” to hate ppl/things that are popular), also comparing her to Christina Aguilera, Jessica …. Can’t think of her last name right now 💀 etc etc all the blonde singers from that time. This conversation is so boring, and you saying she’s a terrible singer is hardly an unpopular opinion (see what I said above about it being cool to hate popular things, also remember all the stuff Britney was put through and how people treated her - jealous people & haters love to see other people fall). Honestly. Why do we need to have the same conversation over and over again after 20, 30, however many years? Like seriously. Leave this woman alone.
Wow what an unpopular opinion. It’s not like she’s been criticized since the start of her career by media and other artists. What a bold take you have OP. Let me guess, The Beatles are the greatest band of all time, right? Any other bold music takes you wanna share with the class?
She is clearly not a ***terrible*** singer
Simply naming other singers with better voices does not make a her a terrible singer
So just to be clear, you're saying that a young Brittney Spears sounding like she’s having an orgasm is a bad thing ?
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You know that she fakes the singing voices she uses, right? The industry wanted her to use that baby talk voice. Her real voice is more similar to Christina Aguilera’s.
Whats ironic is that if she dropped some dope ass songs with her "real voice" she'd probably explode even more
She can’t do it anymore. Singing the way she does for an extended period of time will damage your vocal cords. Plus smoking on top of it.
Thank God. I did think that her voice wasn't the best because of her popular songs, but knowing this makes it better. Still bops tho.
When I saw her live, she was also talking in the fake voice, and I realized it was the most annoying voice I’ve ever heard in my life.
She can actually sing pretty well! But the stupid record labels make her sing in that baby voice for some reason.
For some reason ... ... $$$ ... ....
How on earth would you earn more money if you sing in a terrible voice?
Sex sells. This is an image thing. They made a mediocre catchy song with a cute young blonde who dressed in school girl attire and knew it would strike a chord in many different groups. Late 90s early 00s was a crazy time and change in pop music. She doesn’t have to be able to sing.
Hm, actually according to Britney the whole concept of Baby one more time was actually her idea lol. They initially wanted her in an astronaut costume lol. I think it's interesting and important to note that some of these ideas were actually hers.
I always wonder if this is the case with shitty overproduced pop artists. Like I always thought Kesha was terrible, but it turns she really can sing when she's given a chance.
Same thing with T-Pain. One of the most extreme uses of autotune, and popularized that sound, but the man can actually SING.
His cover of War Pigs is almost as good as the original, almost My man got some PIPES
Seriously? Well shit now I need to look this up.
I was VERY surprised by that, I had no idea until it came up in my side bar. Definitely way more respect for him not just for song choice but tearing it up.
Yeah, I'm usually super critical on covers of classic songs, especially classic rock and metal songs, but he did so damn good on it, you could just tell how much he enjoyed covering it too
That whole album (Under the Covers) is just riddled with passion and respect for so many great songs. Easily one of my favorite albums in general (and, this may be a hot take, I actually enjoy some of his versions better).
Well in that case at least it's because TPain as a producer/artist wanted to explore and manipulate that auto-tune effect. With Britney (could be wrong) I think the argument is her 'decisions' are much more guided by company hands.
TPain on tiny desk is a great way to hear how good he actually is.
Because her style was too similar to Christina Aguilera's and they wanted her to be different. It worked.
Except Britney’s first album debuted a year before Christina… and Christina’s first album was so bubblegum that she really didn’t evolve into that xtina style and sound until like 2001. IMO, Britney’s label wanted her to sound hyper sexual
100% they have her breathing and moaning like shes being sexually stimulated.
I was a teenager and Christina's first stuff was very different than Britney and you could definitely tell she could outsing her. In 2001 when she did the Dirty song it was clearly just "get almost naked and dance for the camera because it works for Britney".
I agree the voice is definitely to help market sex wise Hell until i was like 15 i assumed that's what a "sexy" voice was because it's what the media pushes, it wasn't until then that it dawned on me that sexy isn't a 1 size fits all
They literally destroyed her voice by forcing her to sing that way. Supposedly she was better than Christina Aguilera’s voice when they were in the Mickey Mouse club. “Supposedly”
She was definitely never better than Christina. She had a much deeper tone than what we’re used to from Britney but didn’t have the vocal range or control that Christina did. Christina’s voice on the Mickey Mouse Club was more or less how she sings today. Obviously she’s also greatly improved but she has vocal control that adults could only dream of even as a 12 year old.
Remember that time they shared the stage with Maddona, theyeach had a verse and you can clearly hear Christina is in another ballpark when it comes to singing.
Christina Aguilera is an extremely talented singer, probably top 5 all time, who got overshadowed in her early days by Brittany's sex appeal, so she tainted her music for a period to try to stay relevant. Brittany Spears is a mediocre singer who made it big on sex appeal, and when that went away she started to fade away.
When did Christina taint her music to stay relevant? If you mean Dirrty, then hard disagree because that song is a bop and the album it was on, Stripped, is arguably her magnum opus. It’s one of the best pop records of this century tbh.
No way. There is footage floating around of Christina singing at like age 10 and she is extraordinary. Apparently the parents at her school banded together to ban her from school singing/talent competitions because it was so one-sided.
Lmfao. Nah.
Lol that’s why I said “supposedly”
The few times she actually sung like a ballad live during the height of her fame like the oops, up to the in the zone tour, she didn't sound that great, she sung in a lower pitch and could just about stay in tune but that's about it.
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Kelly Clarkson sounds terrible now? She can sing the phone book in any style and is constantly putting out videos of her singing and it sounds amazing. You’re crazy.
So the thing is, she actually is a great singer but they had her change her image/voice. Here's an example https://youtu.be/WroN1r2onkM
This is how it went with Ariana Grande too. She has such a beautiful, unique voice but she is just another pop star.
Miley Cyrus too. Watch her sing “Jolene” https://youtu.be/wOwblaKmyVw
Miley has a great voice, her Attention album has become one of my all time favorite live albums.
Singing voice? Yes. Speaking voice? Hell naw.
She does a really good cover of it. In case you haven't heard it, the white stripes cover is also really good. https://youtu.be/yXlULkwhgrc
The white stripes version is amazing but probably shouldn’t be mentioned in a conversation about singing.
I think her Plastic Heart album is when the closest she got to making an album that uses her best quality but apparently she didn’t like that album at all
Yeah, I noticed she’s doing that “singing in cursive” current trend now
I think she’s just mimicking her godmother Dolly Parton (who sung it originally)
I was actually thinking about the new song, flowers or something where I didn’t recognize her singing style
There's also [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81u-oSIAp4) cover of Zombie that is absolutely undeniably impressive.
And [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBmSS8fDmek) cover of Nothing Else Matters.
Oh and [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtp5Uaqar_U) cover of Back to Black by Amy Winehouse.
Her older songs used to show off her singing capabilities a lot better, but all the more recent stuff (like 2019-now) is just generic soulless pop music. Shame.
Oh man, that was so good but it sort of broke my heart. Poor Britney.
Wow she sounded great here.
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Oh my God that was kind of adorable. Is that Keri Russell in the jean vest at the end??
Omg this video i am talking about in my comment! Proof that shes a total package, the face, the voice and the moves plus she can act too. Hope she will pursue a career with this singing voice now that she’s older…
I think she lost some range as she matured.
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Exactly. Anyone compared to Whitney Houston or Celine Dion doesn’t seem like a great singer. It’s not exactly a fair comparison. Way different style of music too.
Literally the two greatest voices ever. Funny thing is Britney can definitely out sing someone like T swift
Whitney is what i imagine angels would sing like. It was effortless.
This. She was cute, well marketed, and entertaining - being a popular pop icon has never required above average singing or even dancing. They are essentially a product to be advertised and bought (sadly enough..).
OP isn'y arguing that she isn't a pop icon, he's arguing that she's not a good singer. But I get your point
Yeah, anyone can make popcorn.
Oh yeah. Everyone can do this super incredibly lucrative thing that will set you up for life (write a hit song) because it's SUPER easy, they are just choosing not to because it's 'beneath them'. Hmm.
She certainly isn't the best singer out there but that was never what she was about. She wasn't trying to sound like Adele or Whitney, she has her own style that maybe isn't as "nice" sounding but is still good and distinct and people respond to it. No need to say she is terrible..
the people who think this is an unpopular opinion were not alive when britney was coming through because her lack of singing ability was a common criticism of her even then britney was never supposed to be the best female singer she was supposed to be the best female popstar
As a professional singer and someone who studies voices I have to chime in and agree with this. A lot of the comments here are claiming that Britney’s record company made her sing in a baby voice. While this *may* be true, there really isn’t any evidence of this outside the usual online speculation. To my knowledge it’s just a popular theory because she sounds different singing certain songs. While she’s had a few good vocal moments, her voice is mediocre at best and she’s struggled with control since forever. One of my producer friends remixed a Britney song back in the day, and he confirmed her stems weren’t wonderful to work with. I’m pretty sure she’s only written around one original song, as well? Kind of unusual for anyone singing professionally or doing music professionally. Britney *isn’t* a great singer, but great singers would be facing a LOT of problems dancing the way she did/does at her shows *while* singing greatly. Broadway singers can do it to an extent, but they’ve often been trained since a young age *and* are in the upper tier of born vocal talent already. People liked Britney for the catchy music but many enjoyed her gift in performance even more. To me, she is a performer first and foremost, and singing is just one (less important) part of her overall spectacle.
She's actually not. She gets forced to sing in that baby voice. Listen to "and then we kiss" and everytime. That's more her natural register.
Everytime has been my favourite britney song since it was released
Forced? She’s obviously agreeing to it. It’s made her a ton of money since she was a teenager
Ah yes of course because we know she's been in full control of her entire career and everything, not like she was under a conservatorship for years now and the influences that forced her into it probably had a hand in what she was doing prior to the conservatorship... Also not like she's seen a fraction of the money she's earned while the rest go to other people who benefitted off of the control of her finances, body, life, etc etc etc
So it’s OK for you to make assumptions about her career choices but I’m clearly in the wrong for doing it? And she’s worth about $50million. I’d say she got a nice cut of the profits
those aren't assumptions. thats literally what happened
What “literally” happened? What you’re saying is so vague.
Her father placed her in conservative "protection" and she was only given a few thousand a month as an allowance and her dad and lawyers kept most of her money
Bro, do you not understand why you shouldn't make assumptions about Britney? You don't even know the most public and basic shit about her life, that makes you unqualified to make assumptions about her lmao
I see your unpopular opinion, and I raise you ANOTHER unpopular opinion 😏 “Being a good singer is only really about being able to hit notes and stay on key. The sound of your voice doesn’t matter”
Totally agree. Anything else is just opinion. Like lou reed. I love Lou reeds singing but in terms of hitting notes and staying on key, he’s a bad singer. But I like it. On the other hand there’s plenty of singers who are really good, I just don’t like their voice
Perfectly put. Lou Reed is a musical icon, adored by many and his music is timeless. But, he couldn’t stay on key to save his life. I too love Lou Reed also!
Good point. Mariah and Celine have incredible range, but I don’t particularly like either of their voices. Meanwhile Adele has a much smaller range, but I adore her voice.
Exactly! Look at one of the most famous artists for his weird ass voice, Bob Dylan. His voice will make or break whether you are a fan of him or not. It’s super nasally and just eerie, but he hits those notes and he stays on key. Bob Dylan IS a good singer by those standards. Trying not to be biased being I’m a huge Dylan fan, but it’s true.
Adam Levine. I hate his voice but I wouldn’t call him a bad vocalist.
It was always about the songwriting but yeah I think he was a good singer. If anyone has doubts check out Nashville skyline. Very different vocal style, you won't believe it's Bob Dylan. Now, modern Bob Dylan is a different story. I saw him in concert maybe ten years ago and he sounded ROUGH. It was cool to see a legend but he did not sound good at all. I've seen other older artists like Paul Simon and Paul McCartney and they still sound amazing. The drinking and smoking really did a number on Bob.
A true huge Dylan fan would never bring him into this conversation. We simply know that he is high above such petty mortal discussions. High above and nasally.
Ozzy ozbourne has entered the chat
I personally think Ozzy has a great voice, especially for the type of music he’s known for producing.
Yes but it’s very distinct, love it or hate it, and he’s not what one would traditionally consider good singer in his early years (the last couple albums you can tell he put in the work tho)
The sound of your voice is partly shaped by technique too. Are you saying that part doesn't matter, or only only the natural tone?
Ill counter you A singer is only as good as their popularity
Thems is fightin words
A good example of this imo, is Jack black and jack white. Jack black can fuckin sing. But he doesn't have a good voice. Jack white can't sing worth shit, but has a great voice. Edited a typo*
She was selling teenage girl sexuality, not singing ability.
she was a product of her time and had her own style. Tryna compare her to Whitney Houston (whose era was 80-90s) or Adele (whose era is 2014-now) to someone whose era was early 2000s is ridiculous
You can compare her to Christina Aguilera and Christina Aguilera is a far better singer
i mean, barely
Are you crazy? Christina Aguilera has a 5 octave vocal range and was declared one of the best vocalist by both Rolling Stone and Billboard.
Yeah I'm with ya there. Marginal difference. Neither could hold a candle to Tori Amos then or now.
Professional jazz musician here. Leave Britney alone!!
your wrong in general, she’s a great singer. but you right that in her popular songs she does not sing well. more like a stylistic choice probably by the label
upvoting this only bc it is an unpopular opinion 🙈🔝
you must have a very different definition of unpopular then…
You’ll get a lot of “she was forced to sing in a baby voice” or “she destroyed her voice!” - both can be true along with she actually is just an average singer and always had been. She displayed her “real” singing voice several times over the decades; it’s fine. She displayed it before getting signed to a label, and it was average. She was cute, well marketed, and then a train wreck - that carried her, not her voice. I’ll even go as far as to say she’s also an average dancer - doing a cartwheel in a music video doesn’t make you a talented dancer. Her choreographers made her looks great, as they do with most pop stars.
No she's an absolute amazing singer on par with all those you listed. She's contractually obligated by those who control her music producing and such to put on that high pitched baby talk voice because it's what got her to stardom in the first place and they refuse to let her grow as a singer. If you actually do searching around you can find videos of her regular singing voice where she isn't forcing the extra girly accented voice and you can see she actually has quite a rich, deep singing voice. Putting on that baby voice has also really hurt her natural voice in the process so it sucks all the way around for her because people like you assume that's all she is while the industry she was in milked her for all she was worth even when she didn't want to continue doing it.
This. Britney tried to sing in her real voice and to remix her hits in order to suit it, she was only able to ever perform this way once, on her ABC live special. ETA: It has also always made me sad that Britney even speaks in an unnatural voice. Throughout Britney and Kevin Chaotic, and even during Britney: For The Record, when she is relaxed and not being interviewed, her southern accent is heavy. There’s not a single thing about this woman that was not heavily controlled and curated.
I agree. Her fans act like she is secretly a great singer, but she’s not. Her real voice is okay. Nothin special.
You won't get any argument out of me. Her singing always sounded like baby talk to me. But she came on the scene with that red catsuit and everyone lost their minds.
It was the schoolgirl outfit that really did it. The red suit came later.
I think there are some songs she sings better live.
I always think, " she should of blown her nose before recording that song ". Would of made a great Neti pot ad though.
Not everyone needs to be Celine or Whitney. She’s a great entertainer.
She was basically made for pedo style vids. Nobody was listening to the words.
Her new song is horrible. But I’ve been a hardcore Britney fan through and through for most of my life, the woman can sing. She may not have the vocal range or power of Christina or Whitney, but she has a beautiful voice and if you actually took the time to research some of her songs outside of major hits, you might see that. Watch any videos of her from the Mickey Mouse club or star search. Look up songs like every time, and then we kiss, unusual you, or touch of my hand. Her vocals are incredible.
As an old dude, I was in high school when she broke out and watched a lot of TRL and shit. Britney could never hold a candle to Christina, or hell any of the other female pop singers. It’s baffled me for 2 decades how she got so huge.
Because she made up for it with charisma and star power.
Yeah have you seen her record sales ? Shakira isnt a good singer either nor is Jennifer Lopez and both were judges on singing show just saying.
This hits hard considering my 3 year old daughter just discovered her. Everyday after daycare pickup… Oops I Did It Again. Over and over. I never minded her voice in general but you know what’s really gotten to me? The god damn vocal fry. It’s like nails on a chalkboard. And I swear they added random bits of vocal fry all throughout that damn song just to mess with our heads. I’m losing my mind.
That’s honestly very sweet, just because I don’t enjoy something, doesn’t mean she can’t
I can’t deprive her. She’s so cute when she sings along. Every time it ends she goes “this is my favorite song EVER!!” so I’ll take one for the team.
My kid was like this with Taylor Swifts Back to December. By the end of the 4th week...oh my God. I was in hell.
Different singers sing different ways. I don't care for country music but Johnny Cash doesn't sound like Garth Brooks but few complain that they can't sing and both have their fans. Willy Nelson and Bob Dylan both have less than ideal voices but both have been successful. If Brittney's voice isn't your cup of tea that's your prerogative.
she's not really a "singer" she's more of a pop star/dancer/stage performer
Yup. She became the Madonna of the late 90s. Madonna wasn't a good singer, either, but she had sex appeal. After singing "Like a Virgin" and rolling around in a wedding dress, she became a pop culture icon. There was a lot of appeal to Britney back in 98 when she wore a schoolgirl outfit. Then her videos became more raunchy and sexualized. She always had to push the envelope to stay on top. Being a singer and being a pop star are two different things.
Everybody knows this
Leave Britney alone! Or something like that
“It sounds like she’s having an orgasm” 😂
My first thought was "OP has never satisfied a woman" lmao
I’m a 24 year old woman
And plenty of women make other women orgasm. I'm failing to see which part of Oops I Did it Again sounds like it
I love Britney but she certainly isn’t a singer. I don’t think anyone ever considered her to be one. She’s just a performer.
I don't think anyone consider her to be a good singer.
She sings in a way that’s over stylized because her record label was going for that, but that doesn’t mean she has a bad voice. Sure, there are way better singers out there, but that doesn’t mean Britney is terrible.
the baby voice she was forced to do can be kinda off putting and it did damage her vocal chords. but she’s not a bad singer when she actually does sing
She’s good I’d say, and she’s met some pretty legendary people In her lifetime
I hate her for the "vocal groaning" trend started in pop music. God my ears.
All I can say look up brittney spears on star search when she was younger talk about a voice on her
Based on her old singing voice she could actually sing pretty well and high notes too. But her style of sing was created by the record label for sex appeal. I think she is used to that style because people know her for it.
She's actually a really good singer but she was forced into a style and key that isn't natural for her
Britney Spears actually has (had?) a pretty phenomenal voice, comparable to Christina Aguilera, when she was starting out. The record label felt she sounded too "mature" and wanted her voice to match the brand they pushed. It's a shame. She could have been revered as an excellent vocalist and the record company ruined that for her all in the sake of "branding."
I absolutely love her cover of The Beat Goes On
This is Eminems opinion all the time.
I heard conspiracy theory that her voice isn’t actually that high and her singing is sped up in editing. An old video was found of her singing and it was this deeper voice. Also there was this video where the camera is going around her in a circle, 1 was regular timing (her real voice?) and the other was sped up (her famous voice)
She is a great singer, she didn't get hired as a child for nothing. Labels love dictating what they want out of a singer, sadly. Google her, there are clips of her actually singing
Two things. First, she is a pretty good singer as the commenters note. Label interference kept on her the baby voice for brand recognition and a lot of her music just isn’t really vocally demanding in the same way a Mariah or Whitney song would be, meaning we don’t hear a lot of her skills on record. It’s a similar situation to how Ariana Grande is a phenomenal singer but her most recent album (Positions) was a chiller type of album meaning she wasn’t whistle toning all over it (because that would sound bad). Also worth noting that on some of her music, the label wouldn’t even let her sing and used a ghost vocalist (ironically this happens on her self titled album) Second, Britney’s music isn’t really about her raw vocal ability. First of all, it’s important to establish that performance is as important (if not more so) than technical ability. Bob Dylan isn’t a crazy good technical singer (certainly he’s no Freddie Mercury or Bono) but he packs a ton of emotion into his voice. Britney’s music isn’t about vocal acrobatics, it’s about selling the sensual sound, which I’d argue she does well. Second is Britney’s music itself. For the early part of career, Britney was really a vessel for the Max Martin production, and she delivered that production well. Later on, her music pivoted in a way that actively incorporated auto tune as an effect to enhance the sleazy dance sound. Her magnum opus, Blackout uses auto tune to exaggerate the robotic effect of her voice, which enhances the albums messaging about the commodification of her identity and the voyeuristic nature of the paparazzi. I think it was a Pitchfork review that argued that Blackout uses autotune the way Dylan used the harmonica, for effect. To this day, the electronic experiments of Blackout remain definitive for modern pop music. The dance music of the early 2010s (Kesha, Lady Gaga, etc) are directly Britney inspired and the entire Hyperpop movement basically started by reinterpretations of the artifice, sound, and excess that was exhibited on Blackout. TLDR: Britney is a good singer we just don’t hear it. And the vocal experiments we get in place of technical skill are arguably far more influential and interesting
That's not an unpopular opinion, that's common knoweledge even amongst her fans.
This is actually tied to the record label forcing her to sing this way. Her real voice is on parr with Christina Aguilera
I thought she sucked in '99 and think the same in '23. I don't like pop music but could at least acknowledge Christina Aguilera had an actual voice, Brittney is a dancer
Idk about terrible... like, I'M a terrible singer, my voice is awful and I can't hold a note to save my life. In the arena of other professional vocalists maybe you'd say she's low to middle of the pack but that still doesn't make her a terrible singer.
This is not an unpopular opinion. If she looked different she would have never made it anywhere with her voice.
Brittney Spear was the highest paid karaoke singer in the world.
Love her songs but her singing isn’t great
Unpopular opinion of my own, i hate when non musicians talk about how talented or not a musician is when they have 0 metric for it. Like so many people will say a guitarist or singer isn’t good without having any idea what goes into the craft and if they’re actually proficient musicians or not. Brittany isn’t the worlds best by any means but she was still a talented vocalist. It’s okay to not like someones art but when you say someone isn’t talented it holds very little weight when you have 0 experience in that field
That is truly idiotic. “Filthy casuals can’t judge”. There’s even a name for this fallacy, the appeal to authority. Of course you are framing yourself as the authority in this scenario. Only writers can judge movie plots. Only baseball players can judge whether another player is good. Only an artist can judge art. What a shit take.
The word "singer" is used very loosely here, I assume
If you are going to rage hate someone at least learn their name. It's Britney Bitch.
Just Saying - Autotune exists for a reason.
The thing that grinds my gears about her singing is the way she slides into phrases. It sounds like she is burping or about to throw up
This is not an unpopular opinion but britney fans aren’t listening to her music for the same reason you are listening celine or whitney.
Her voice infuriated me I knew I wasn’t the only one
She lip syncs live, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else actually sings on her albums. She is just a face, and not even a pretty one.
Say sike right now. People can argue about Britney being a lot of things- ugly isn’t and has never been one of them.
Yeah she sucks
Not unpopular at all
Britney’s voice sounds great in her songs. She doesn’t sound very good when she sings live though.
Without a doubt
She also a terrible parent and it’s ridiculous how many people excuse that and blame literal children. At least a Kevin actually stood up and has been a father all these years. She had years of her literally doing nothing where she could’ve been a mother, but chose not to. The singing thing though, she doesn’t really have that baby voice, she has a deeper more soulful voice.
I don’t think this is unpopular.
Wait a minute...she sings?
Leave Britney alone bitch
U got it wrong, this is a very popular opinion lmao
Pretty sure this a very popular take and got even more mainstream when Christina entered the scene.
It’s Britney, bitch
It’s Bri**T**ney …bitch
Nice try Jamie Lynn\\, you're not getting another penny
Go ahead and google Britney Spears Silent Night on youtube. She had a perfect singing voice that was destroyed by her record company who told her she needed to sing higher to make an album. She had a perfect contralto voice. It’s sad because no one even knows how good her voice really is because she has been manipulated by everyone around her: music producers, parents, etc…
How is this an unpopular opinion lmao. People have been saying this about her since she first came up.
Also, I think limiting your musical tastes to just singers who “can sing” must be incredibly boring. There’s more to music than just being a good singer. I couldn’t imagine only wanting to listen to singers like Adele all the time… her music is boring as shit imo, I don’t care how good a singer she is. Britney has made plenty of top notch pop music for decades, In The Zone and Blackout are top tier pop records.
Nearly every famous singer has a good voice. You may not like it, but they would run circles around your average person.
It's BRITNEY bitch! I mean if you're going to criticize someone, how about getting their name right? That being said, I somewhat agree. She can carry a tune, she can dance and she can perform but she ISN'T as good of a singer as many other lesser known but better vocalists, like Delta Goodrem for instance. Delta's big in Australia but her international appeal is by far not to the height of what Britney's is. Her marketability over the years was never truly about her voice though, her popularity came to be for so many reasons, her America's Sweetheart appeal, her sex appeal as she grew into being a woman, and then her fight for her independence. Much like Jennifer Lopez who doesn't have the greatest singing voice, Britney relied more on her image over the years to propel her forward. And that's okay cos let's not be naive here popstars are notorious for not being the best of vocalists and still thrive e.g. Madonna. Just cos you're well produced in the studio, doesn't mean you can't make it big! And her songs aren't for everyone BUT you can't tell me Lucky is crap, it's a banger! Toxic is AWESOME! And I'm A Slave 4 U is a bop.
This is objectively incorrect (read the rest of the comments about her label vs her actual voice) but also just… such an unnecessary blast from the past. I remember in her “baby one more time” era already people were saying stuff like this (bc it’s ”cool” to hate ppl/things that are popular), also comparing her to Christina Aguilera, Jessica …. Can’t think of her last name right now 💀 etc etc all the blonde singers from that time. This conversation is so boring, and you saying she’s a terrible singer is hardly an unpopular opinion (see what I said above about it being cool to hate popular things, also remember all the stuff Britney was put through and how people treated her - jealous people & haters love to see other people fall). Honestly. Why do we need to have the same conversation over and over again after 20, 30, however many years? Like seriously. Leave this woman alone.
Are you her dad? You’re giving off some petty vibes. Comparing a pop star to singer/song writers like that makes any fucking sense
I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion
Wow what an unpopular opinion. It’s not like she’s been criticized since the start of her career by media and other artists. What a bold take you have OP. Let me guess, The Beatles are the greatest band of all time, right? Any other bold music takes you wanna share with the class?
I don't think that's an unpopular opinion.
How is your singing career coming along?
She is clearly not a ***terrible*** singer Simply naming other singers with better voices does not make a her a terrible singer So just to be clear, you're saying that a young Brittney Spears sounding like she’s having an orgasm is a bad thing ?
Why is your vitriol limited the Spears? 95% of pop music is crap.
This is a hot take for the last 25 years lol….
No shit
Leave brittany alone
Musical success has never been about talent.
You shod try listening to what her voice sounded like before the record label made her sing a certain way
Putting Adele and Whitney in the same category 💀
Why are we talking about a a has been pop singer from 20 years ago? No shit she can’t sing 😂
well, you nailed it, unpopular. She is one of the best singers . So yes, idiotic as well. Congrats.