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

[oscar0]

On 2/1/2023 at 10:01 PM, 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. 

Unfortunately, Jive executives found that she did bad vocal casting, and only hired her on a 6-month trial basis for her s** appeal, which was pretty gross, as they made reference to her rolling eyes when singing the high notes.

[Abdul]

Ok i think the baby voice  what made me become a fan back then I mean I don’t think I would be interested if she used her deep natural voice 

[BlackoutITZ]

The theory about her being forced to change her voice has always been a baseless conspiracy theory. There's literally not a single bit of evidence to support it. People just jump to that conclusion because of how different her voice sounded before she became famous and how it evolved after her first album.

Her iconic nasal tone (what is commonly referred to as the "baby voice") is just a stylistic choice, like an accent she uses when singing, and it seems that over time it has become a natural way of singing for her, but we all know that her voice is actually very versatile. It seems like the iconic tone we know Britney for was her own creation, perhaps in collaboration with Max Martin, as it seemed to mainly develop through their work together. And it was a stroke of genius, because it gave her one of the most iconic, unique, and recognisable voices in the history of music.

It's annoying that people have just jumped on the conspiracy theory, and even more annoying that so many people seem to believe that Britney was forced to change her voice because her label thought she sounded too much like Christina Aguilera, when there has literally never been a single bit of evidence supporting that. It's a theory that gets repeated as a fact in almost every video on Britney's backstory and career and it's annoying that people just bought into it for no reason.

[Mr. AmericanDream]

On 2/1/2023 at 1:02 PM, 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, 

and what is so crazy about that is THEY SOUND NOTHING ALIKE. Sure they both had a pop sound with a growl behind the delivery but I still hear 2 diff voices. I don't think it should have been a thing for Britney to sound diff that she did, only should have continued vocal training to push her abilities to new heights.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Mr. AmericanDream

[Mayenaise]

On 2/1/2023 at 6:14 PM, Lil-Jay said:

While it's certainly NOT her natural voice, I do think it's possible that she herself came up with that "baby" voice...like it started developing in BOMT era and shaped fully in OIDIA era.

I think so too... Britney knew what she was doing - how she wanted to sound and be seen. We know that from the BOMT video etc and photoshoots.

I think her label or vocal coaches taught her how to pronounce certain words etc that were stylistically popular at that time, but I do not believe anyone "forced" her to sing in a baby voice. 

[Xanax]

Sure, Jan. And Madonna will have another hit movie…. 🙄

[thisforumwhacknow]

On 2/1/2023 at 6:44 PM, 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.

Agree!

Especially because, I'm old enough to remember when she came out, she was actually applauded a lot by her voice, especially by producers. This was during BOMT/OIDA recordings when she still had strong vocal technique and control. Producers would talk about how she barely needed any pitch correction, and she would record in one take, with amazing ad-libs. 

It's truly a shame she lost that technique from the dancing and not keeping up with vocal training. 

[VeteranFan86]

He says “she came to them” with that voice. He didn’t say when. This guy worked on her first four albums. She could have came on for “Oops” and been like “ok, watch this” for all we know.

[Complication]

That completely contradicts what others from Jive said before. Wasn't it some Anthony guy that said he was the one who suggested Britney get coached to sing like that?

[jennyj]

Either he's lying or he's not aware of the truth.

Her first few albums, everything before her BOMT, her Happy Bday live on X-Factor, Silent Night live, her IG singing, and pretty much every time we heard her sing live... she uses her deeper voice.  Her pitched baby voice is definitely not her preferred or default voice...

[ivosoares]

It kinda shocks me that people believe this lol 
It was supposed for her to sound seqsy so she chose a specific vocal style to sing, doesn't mean she's 'changing' her voice, or being fake.  As a singing teacher myself, we have a LOT of different tones and styles on our own voices, that we can choose and play with. It's not that hard or far-fetched.

Edited February 14, 2023 by ivosoares