The Surprising Reason Why British People Sing in American Accents

Many hugely successful singers speak with strong accents from around the English-speaking world, but they all sound American when they sing. I look at the phonetics of what it even means to sing like an American, and then examine why people do it. Some of the reasons may well surprise you.

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[eosborne]

It’s funny, because indie rock and pop punk singers in the US are often accused of feigning British accents, presumably owing to the huge influence that British musicians have had on those styles. It’s the same way that reggae singers from all different countries sound a bit Jamaican.

[andyscott]

It’s definitely a genre thing. For example, a lot of country singers don’t even have Southern accents, but the music starts and suddenly they have this extremely strong twang 😅

[someguyes]

I remember being on a train in the Netherlands listening to a group of four girls sitting together talking and singing some American pop songs. They were talking in a mix of Dutch and English, with the typically heavy Dutch accent on the English parts, but when they were singing they sung with perfect American English. It was pretty fascinating to watch.

[LittleNala]

David Bowie used to sing with his natural soft London accent for his more thoughtful and poetic songs - 'The Bewlay Brothers' etc. - (a big influence on him was Anthony Newley, who always sang with a pronounced London accent), but he'd switch to an American accent - 'Young Americans' etc - for his rock/soul/pop songs.
He'd flip his accent, depending on the genre he was using.

[cinnanyan]

It's not just English-speaking singers that do this; a lot of Japanese rock sounds like Japanese spoken in an American accent, for instance.

[srrbuf]

As an American, my ears perk up happily when you are doing your American imitation. It reminds me of when I said a couple of words in Japanese to my cat from many years past. He was adopted from a Japanese owner, and if I spoke to him in Japanese, he always looked at me like my IQ just jumped by 20.

[loreman]

I remember when I first heard The Proclaimers back in late 80s. It was so refreshing to hear a non-American accent in a song! 😄

[OrionPD]

It's important to note that the accent one uses when singing really depends on the song's genre. 80s New Wave was essentially a British genre, so most of the songs churned out from within that genre had British accents. Listen to Depeche Mode, the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Modern English, etc... They use British accents.

In Cebu and other Cebuano-speaking areas in the Philippines, there was a bit of a counterculture against Manila-dominated pop which was largely American-influenced and it was 80s New Wave - particularly British New Wave - that dominated the airwaves in such areas and struck a chord with the teenagers of the late 80s and 90s.

One band from Cebu City - Sheila and the Insects - was heavily- influenced by 80s New Wave and so their songs sound very British (some friends say "Cure-like") as does their lead vocalist Orven Enoveso's accent when singing their own songs. (his wife was one of my neighbors within our small middle class gated community back in high school in the late 80s)

It's always about the genre. Imagine Irish folk music (jigs, reels, etc) sung with an American or British accent. The only acceptable accent for such a genre would be an Irish one.

[des]

Hozier is so interesting to listen to because he will lean more into an American drawl when singing a blues influenced song. Then, when going for a more folk sound, he seems to embrace more of his natural Irish accent. It’s very fun to listen to. 😊

[phunkykelpie]

It’s also worth noting that the vowels used in American music are easier to align the first resonance and second resonance in the vocal tract (especially in higher notes)

[sego]

It's actually interesting because it happens in French too, with most French Canadian singer like Céline Dion who sing with a metropolitan accent but talk with a strong québécois accent.

[xtremebassist]

A thorough and wonderful analysis. The influence of the African-American community on our pronunciations in music is remarkable!

[Cocoanutty]

I was told years ago that accents “disappear” when singing, but now that I know that everyone has an accent, so singing is unlikely to sound accent-less to me unless it’s actually an American accent, I realized this had to be a lie. I’m glad someone made a video about this because it always bothered me.

[sunilpatel]

I remember listening to Sophie Ellis-Bexter's "Murder on the Dancefloor" where her British accent is so prevalent. Sounds great, and it was with that song that I realised how rare you can hear a British accent in pop.

[TrayDyer]

I completely have forgotten about this. I remember noticing this when I was a child in the 70s and early 80s and how surprised I was when I heard my favorite bands and artist speak for the first time and to hear their British, Irish and Australian accent… I was surprised because they didn’t speak like the way they sang. I’m glad you brought this up.

[colinjones]

I worked in a linguistics lab in Canada briefly, and they wanted to do a study on Canadian accent in singing. Being a singer from Canada, they recruited me as a pilot subject (I didn't know specifically what they were looking for at the time). They had re-written the lyrics to Can You Feel the Love Tonight to include as many contexts as possible where Canadian raising would be applied - and I didn't raise a single one of them. At first I blamed my English parents, thinking my accent was probably not typically Canadian - but then I realized that deep down, I *knew* I was singing a Disney song, and I had imitated an American accent. I don't know if they were ever able to get that study off the ground XD

[esverker]

I think if you ask any American they'll tell you what they think about non-Southern singers putting on a US southern accent to sing country music. It's endemic to the genre.

[Juicy_Juicy_J]

5:14 is my favorite part where he spoke truth on the African American HUGE contribution to American music. THANK YOU❤

[MikeLindup]

Changing pronunciation when singing also applies to classical as well as rock/pop/jazz etc. Flat vowels or open ‘ahh’ type vowels are often easier to express in than typical diphthong English vowels. I have often been directed by a choir master or a producer to alter pronunciation or to leave off an ending consonant because it sounds better or lends itself better to musical or dynamic expression, rather than to sound American for its own sake.

[brookchivell]

Vowel modification is a tactic often used by singers/singing teachers to enable easier transitions through the vocal range. Some vowel ‘placements’ are easier to product through different areas of the voice. For example a hard EE will tend to pull the larynx up which is generally to be avoided so will be substituted with a softer sound to keep the larynx more neutral. As an Aussie myself that is a hard lesson but has been very successful in helping increase my range