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

[thisforumwhacknow]

Most vocalists are like actors, they can change their voice to adapt to the song. All you need to do is look at Arianna's impressions of other singers.

Britney was the first to capitalize on this and pretty much launch a commercially successful career because of it. Since Britney was a POP star, she is going to lose a lot of artistic creativity, since the point of pop stars is to sell... so of course she is going to continue with this sound because it was a success. Imagine if after OIDIA she returned to singing as an alto and belting, it would take a lot of marketing and rebranding of Britney the pop star to sell those songs. Could she have done it? Sure, but Britney the Pop Star wouldn't have existed as we know today, nor all of the contributions she made to pushing pop music. 

Is it safe to say Britney made a career out of a voice that wasn't natural? Yes. But it was a career that was stylistically natural to her as a choice in the recording studio. 

Whether it was Steve, Max, or her own, it worked for OIDIA so they stuck with it. The difference with other singers is most of them have to replicate it live. Britney became known to be a studio singer, therefore her performances became more about dancing than vocals, so she didn't really need to replicate the sound live, since she lip-synched or mixed track in.

It would be impossible for her to ever sing her songs fully live and dance because 1) she doesn't have proper training and 2) that voice isn't natural to her and she can only do it in the studio, not when she's having to perform. This is obvious in the few seconds that her mic was turned up loudly during the OIDIA performance at the VMAs and she sang "You see my problem is this" in a tone with much more depth and power than the backing track of album-vocals.

The reason fans are so torn on this is because nowadays Britney probably struggles herself with "What is my own voice?" Since she has sung this way for years as a stylistic choice during recording, and possibly even damaged her vocal chords. If she wanted to return to singing in a NATURAL and SUSTAINABLE way she would have to go back to vocal coaching daily. It would be interesting if she did lessen this characteristic singing for any future albums (she would do great with an album called Stripped) but it definitely won't be the commercial Britney the GP knows.

[Pinky98]

3 hours ago, IJustWantHer2BeHAPPY said:

Christina released her first single before Britney

 

I strongly doubt Jive were worried about/watching a 15 year old singing the Mulan soundtrack which charted nowhere, literally.

Her debut single was Genie In A Bottle, 1999

Edited February 1, 2023 by Pinky98

[bitbitboi]

6 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, 

...what? Xtina came afterwards.

[ivosoares]

5 hours 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

 

Amen... I don't understand how people say 'fake voice' every human voice has different tones, and you can play with all of them, doesn't mean it's a fake voice. And the deep voice is not as seqsy, she wanted to sound more seqsy, so she marilyn monroed her voice.

[Wendy Williams]

1 hour ago, Pinky98 said:

I strongly doubt Jive were worried about/watching a 15 year old singing the Mulan soundtrack which charted nowhere, literally.

Her debut single was Genie In A Bottle, 1999

Really? Based for the chart success what saved RCA from financial problems, Christina signed her deal for her debut album. Her debut single is Reflection and you should have deal with. Period!

[devilsadvocate]

I do feel if she was able to sing in her natural voice she would have when her vocals needed to come through. Ultimately I don’t know like singing shadow or every time live she didn’t just try to switch and show her power . Or when she sang covers … like why wouldn’t you use your real voice when you are singing others songs … I got you babe, the way you make me feel, silent night , etc etc . She had opportunity to show her old voice but she never took it so I sometimes doubt it’s still there 

[rik]

6 hours ago, blackingouthenegativity said:

Actually that’s not the truth Steve

[BritBritSpearsLove]

5 hours ago, IJustWantHer2BeHAPPY said:

Christina released her first single before Britney

 

No1 curred about that. Even Xtincta's wikipedia page say her first album was rushed released to align her image to the pop teen sensation created by BOMT, not the other way around

Edited February 2, 2023 by BritBritSpearsLove

[Wendy Williams]

7 minutes ago, BritBritSpearsLove said:

No1 curred about that. Even Xtincta's wikipedia page say her first album was rushed released to align her image to the pop teen sensation created by BOMT, not the other way around

It doesn't change the fact Christina released first single in June 1998, and Britney in September 1998

Edited February 2, 2023 by IJustWantHer2BeHAPPY

[BritneyWiki]

It would be interesting to find out if Britney has heard these theories about her voice and if she would ever want to set the record straight. Maybe touch on this in her book? 
She has a perception of being a puppet, but I really think she has been in control making big decisions more than we think. The Cship added a layer of confusion to this. But I think a lot of the artistry still comes from Britney.

Most artists would have spoken out a bit by now. Or tried to improve their image. Britney doesn't seem to care. It can be good and bad at times.

[studlygeorge]

5 hours ago, Dave92 said:

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. 

IIRC the story goes that her Whitney demo wasn’t received well by any record company, even jive. It was Jive, however, who said they really liked her falsetto/head voice and thought it would be a good fit for pop music. You can hear glimmers of her “baby” “nasally” voice in the snippet we have

in my opinion, Britney has a lot more control over her head voice than she does her lower register. 

[studlygeorge]

16 minutes ago, BritneyWiki said:

It would be interesting to find out if Britney has heard these theories about her voice and if she would ever want to set the record straight. Maybe touch on this in her book? 
She has a perception of being a puppet, but I really think she has been in control making big decisions more than we think. The Cship added a layer of confusion to this. But I think a lot of the artistry still comes from Britney.

Most artists would have spoken out a bit by now. Or tried to improve their image. Britney doesn't seem to care. It can be good and bad at times.

I get what you’re saying. One of my favorite things to listen to is the recording sessions of Break the Ice. You can hear her jump between head voice/lower register before she finally lands on that perfect middle ground if the two. Her talent as a singer just isn’t recognized enough because that’s never what the media or even her fans tend to focus on. 

[ZoneGirl]

On 2/1/2023 at 1:41 PM, Pfefferminz said:

Her voice at 2:23 doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a natural place. It’s like she’s trying to sing like Whitney. Her old singing technique reminds me so much of Jessica.
 

 

Old? She still and has continued to sing with this from the throat not the diaphragm technique for her whole career.

I think people don't realize that people can have different textures to their voice and it doesn't make them a bad singer because they tap into different ones for different styles.

 

[Isla]

Yeah this isn't true. Britney has a much deeper natural singing voice. Her baby voice is cute and is her signature tone, but her deeper natural voice showcases her vocal capabilities. She actually used it a LOT on her first album but was probably told to tone it down by Jive to avoid competing with Christina too much. It is very similar to Xtina's singing voice in a way and I always thought she sounded like her on Soda Pop.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Isla

[Isla]

17 hours ago, studlygeorge said:

IIRC the story goes that her Whitney demo wasn’t received well by any record company, even jive. It was Jive, however, who said they really liked her falsetto/head voice and thought it would be a good fit for pop music. You can hear glimmers of her “baby” “nasally” voice in the snippet we have

in my opinion, Britney has a lot more control over her head voice than she does her lower register. 

I actually thought this was in reference to her demo recording of the Toni Braxton song Today. Britney also recorded this for her demo tape presented to labels.

[eddieeddie]

20 minutes ago, ZoneGirl said:

Old? She still and has continued to sing with this from the throat not the diaphragm technique for her whole career.

I think people don't realize that people can have different textures to their voice and it doesn't make them a bad singer because they tap into different ones for different styles.

 

IGLYF is such a vocal masterpiece. Must be SO hard to sing for any voclist.

[No Seas Cortes]

13 minutes ago, eddieeddie said:

IGLYF is such a vocal masterpiece. Must be SO hard to sing for any voclist.

 

[rik]

1 minute ago, Henry. said:

 

 

[itsxrichiexbish]

21 hours ago, Pinky98 said:

I strongly doubt Jive were worried about/watching a 15 year old singing the Mulan soundtrack which charted nowhere, literally.

Her debut single was Genie In A Bottle, 1999

umm reflection was way to underrated… stop trying to bring britney up by trying to tear someone down… grow up this was over 20 years ago

[Pinky98]

1 hour ago, itsxrichiexbish said:

umm reflection was way to underrated… stop trying to bring britney up by trying to tear someone down… grow up this was over 20 years ago

I’m not tearing Christina down, she’s a fantastic artist. But I really don’t think they saw Christina as a threat considering she had no record deal at the time. It didn’t chart, she had no deal, and that was that.
 

If you think that’s me trying to bring Britney up, that’s a you problem not a me problem.

Besides, there has always been room for both of them in the industry, I never said there wasn’t