Steve Lunt, Jive Records A&R, debunking the Baby voice conspiracy theory “she came to us with that voice”

[Spicechinodiva]

Well that's not true, I mean the debut era of Britney had a southern raspy, after all from her lips she wanted to be more like Sheryl crow and those country acts, most of her home videos and star search match thr I wanna do country not pop artist, but jive was against that and suggested something else..

[Brat]

28 minutes ago, Stefani said:

At least she used that voice that she stole from a baby for the greater good and found success.

Maybe that’s why her debut song is Hit Me Baby 

[Applejack]

27 minutes ago, The Exhale Psychic said:

I Constantly get questions from my students asking why Britney sings in a "Fake"  Voice

What Britney does with her voice is not Fake.   it's just a stylistic choice.  and we have seen her switch between the two when she has needed too.   for some songs it needs the power so she puts the sound more in her chest.   when its a soft song she will pull back.   Britney has very good vocal technique.   she can flip from chest to head well and her agility is well controlled.   also if you listen to her old recordings from around MMC she is pushing her  Larynx down to create a deeper tone.  again a style choice.   Britney has always been a character Singer

 

Yeah, I never got the "fake" thing

The only fake thing is vocals is falsetto, and we all love a good falsetto run

Britney was always aware she had had to have character in her voice

Back in the MMC she was emulating a Judy Garland style, that's a voice full of character

Then she refers to Otis Redding and MJ as influences, two voices full of characterisms on their voices

Edited February 1, 2023 by Applejack

[Wendy Williams]

41 minutes ago, stanLOONA said:

Britney debuted before Christina.

Christina released her first single before Britney

 

[Circuit]

You’re all wrong, it was Eric Foster White who worked with Britney to develop her signature “baby” voice

Don’t feel like looking for a source, but it was definitely not Max Martin

This guy isn’t exactly right or wrong though

[MissSpearsSaysSo]

Scream & Shout is playing at my local Planet Fitness, right now! ICONIC!!     

[eddieeddie]

Not true. Max even made the guys of backstreet Boys and Nsync to sing that way too.

[Puppy]

He forgot to mention the part where she spent a year training with Eric Foster White to achieve the pop voice. Larry already admitted it in his MySpace blog.Plus Max Martin is the one that makes her do that nasal voice, Britney is great at adapting her voice to fit the song and they chose the songs with that type of voice. I hate how she keeps getting blamed for executive decisions when the only freedom they gave her was to amp the s** up.

[NewDisplayName]

I believe she came up with this “baby” voice before recording bomt.. she said in the interview that she wanted to do something different with this track and she nailed it..’her “baby voice” is iconic and the way she sings it is unique.. she showed variety of her vocal in a different albums from very low tone to very high (with baby or without)..

she did genius thing with “baby voice” so stop discrediting her. 
p.s. I think she trained her voice differently and like many (youtube) vocal couches said it”s hard to sing the way she did and it can demage her vocal but she it was clear that she wanted to accomplish perfection and she used that technique very often..

Its about training.. she still can train her voice in a different direction its her choice 

[Oprah Winfrey.]

1 hour ago, G-unit said:

Max Martin has literally confirmed that the “baby voice” (I cringe at that term) was started because they were trying to emulate the singing styles of other pop acts, such as BSB at the time and when Britney attempted to sing in the same style, they got the trademark Britney vocal we now know.

Yup it’s the reason both NSYNC and Britney pronounce “Me” as MAY

[pancake]

nah she was taught to sing that way, she first said she wanted to sound more like sheryl crow and her voice was deeper/more sultry with moments of baby voice

[devilsadvocate]

Just watch her mall tour videos compared to Oops tour. Definitely was a change. Even baby one more time she had strong vocals. It was really oops where they wanted her to come off softer and more delicate … she had a much more powerful image during her debut. 

[BritBritSpearsLove]

I think Britney tried to style her voice to be more pop-ish. I remember her recording MAMT and she say to herself that she needs to embody Michael Jackson. Her reference were people like MJ and Janet. It's not her natural voice, but I'm not sure she was completely forced to change it like that, maybe she was induced though, especially in the first albums

 

2 hours ago, Gutterguppy1202 said:

Agree with you that she indeed has a unique voice, but they also felt it was too similar to Christina’s in sound and if I iirc they didn’t know how to market her like that, 

Britney came out before Xtina!

[dulcaewm]

2 hours ago, Gutterguppy1202 said:

Agree with you that she indeed has a unique voice, but they also felt it was too similar to Christina’s in sound and if I iirc they didn’t know how to market her like that, 

Yesssss to the Christina similarity. That goes all the way back to the MMC. Britney has a very strong voice and it saddens me that they tried to suppress that

Edited February 1, 2023 by dulcaewm

[zone_]

He’s lying. Larry said Steve didn't like her natural lower voice and had Max and Eric Foster teach her to sing in a higher nasal pitch. Her voice was much stronger before and still had commercial appeal. Having her sing only in the baby voice lead to her overdoing it in the future (Private Show being the best example) because she's forcing a nasal tone that's unnatural for her

Steve also said he didn’t like her voice in the Full Force demos and had her record You Got It All again with a different producer to make her voice less soulful. It was his personal preference and he’s pressed that fans called him out on it. There was nothing wrong with her voice on those songs, people who aren't fans would be shocked to know she could sing like that..

She also tried using her natural voice again when she had more control like in Rebellion, Baby Boy, Let Go, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long so it seems like something forced on her that she became used to. The perception of her entire career could've been different if she was allowed to sing like that more often

Another example is the Early Mornin demo. One of the writers confirmed that Steve had her record it again to be in the whispery baby voice

 

[GlitterRain]

[Dave92]

I cringe when fans complain about the “baby” voice. It’s her iconic tone, her entire discography has a similar style. Can’t take that away from her too, just cause she sings deeper on a few songs. Has it occurred to you SHE wanted to sing that way too? 

Don’t make the cship take away from her old career decisions. 

P.s voices change. It’s possible she can’t sing the way she could when she was 12. We still get songs like Blur and HATLM. 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Dave92

[easy]

it's a funny thing to lie about when there's literal proof of her voice before and after her record deal 

[Jaiden]

Of course she was forced to Sing in that style. There's plenty of early bomt live performances where she was struggling to sing that way.

[PokemonSpears]

the story about the turbulence though, poor Britney 

 

I think the whole baby voice thing is really stupid. If she didn't like it then Blackout would've been all deep vocals or whatever is her supposed real voice. 

It makes sense that the producers, in this case Max Martin, would instruct her to sing in that way, as Steve says, BOMT or any of those songs would've sounded bad in another, deeper register. Even BSB, NSYNC, etc all sang with a baby-ish voice, as in not a very deep, masculine tone. It's just a style that fits that kind of music.

 

Besides, people judge the baby voice as if it was bad, and I'm always like, heck, that's why I fell in love with Britney, I'm addicted to the sound of her voice.   If you don't like it, then you're not a fan