Non-American singers singing with an 'American' accent

To answer your question as an Englishman and former musician.
It's because Americanized pronunciation and phrasing rhymes easier.
It's also so more fluent in word transition. English is pretty sharp sounding and abrupt.
North American and Aussie etc have softer T's and sharper A's.

There are many many songs that simply don't work when sung in English "English".

Example: .... dammit, blanked, I'll post one in a minute :-D

But I think you'll find that's pretty much the reason, it could also be affected by the American market being much much larger, a British musician has to work hard to breach North America and become known.

 

Frank, Sid and then Nina, each performing My Way, which should be familiar to most USAliens even though it's based on a French song (from the country that gave you Louisiana and the Statue of Liberty) follow this interlude:

Native Brit. accents can often be traced to the parish, or even hamlet, that the speaker or singer was brought up and lived in. The 'Queen's English' probably changed more during the reign of Queen Victoria than 'American English' has since King George III was in charge.

Re. the American accent in songs, it's mostly based on the origins of the music style IMO.

/interlude, cue the music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aht9hcDFyVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIXg9KUiy00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHEwCagBtN0

lecture /off

 

And it's because a lot of people think its sounds cooler,reminds me of Thunderbirds a completely British show but they chose to give all the puppets American accents because they sounded cooler,I think a lot of that sprang from the Apollo space program and the futuristic theme of the show.

Bono I think is a good example he has s medium strength Irish accent but sounds American when he sings.

I just tried singing in an American and Irish accents :-D and noticed that most of the words have a higher pitch that sounds better?

 

I like this quote from here.

"It's the question that your caller didn't answer. A large portion of what we think of as an accent relates to the way we pronounce our vowels. (Consonants play a role too, but to a lesser degree. Also, singing is temporally 95%+ made up of vowels. Just try holding a note on the letter 't' to see what I mean.)

Many dialects differ from one another in their pronunciation of diphthongs and triphthongs (vowels that have two or more sequential sounds). In American English, for example, the vowel in the word "wide" begins with an "ah" quality, but very quickly moves to an "ee." In many British English dialects, the "ah" is very intense and long-lasting, with just a tiny "ee" at the end. In some British English dialects, you're more apt to hear something like an intense "oh" followed by a short "ee." When singing, we tend to dwell on the initial sound of diphthongs, which makes the first and second examples sound very similar. The third would still sound different, however.

Finally, many people use a non-rhotic 'r' when singing, even if they use a rhotic 'r' in speech. (The rhotic 'r' is the sound common in the United States in the middle and west of the country. Non-rhotic 'r' is used in Britain, New England, the southern US, and most parts of the world primarily influenced by British English.) There's little that'll make an American's accent seem to disappear as quickly as losing that rhotic 'r'."

I think it has nothing to do with the U.S. market.
I was always under the impression there is a non-accent to singing for the most part if your language is English. Some styles of music, eg British punk may not follow this or Irish drinking songs. I really dislike people forcing accents when they sing. The Irish Rovers for example, yet Bono sounds "normal"
Another example is country music. That's a forced style of singing. I met a country singer at a bar here who was from Calgary. He had developed even a country accent when he spoke, but nobody speaks like that here normally. Holly wood is a non-accent in my opinion compared to most American accents because it is more neutral sounding compared to the rest, and eventually it will encompass all of North America because of the influence of TV.

 

I have always wondered the same thing Laura. I detect a few unusual pronunciations in Adel's 'Someone Like You'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwuLj33YyPk

Awesome song, one singer and a piano.... :drool

 

She sings American because the British lost the war....

 

Sorry, try this number, it covers some of the accents likely to be heard around my locale:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRqns2xtTYc

 

lmfao! :-d

 

Accents are constantly confused. Everyone outside North america can't tell the difference between American and Canadian and most people inside North america can't tell the difference between English , Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Australian, South African and New-Zealand.

Which kind of amuses me and I believe that comes from stereotyping and Hollywood.

As for singing in your actual accent sounds odd, I disagree completely.
Sing Comfortably Numb or Brick in the Wall with an American accent.

It simply depends on what type of music you are singing and how it was written.
Like I said, for the most part the American pronunciation is easier to rhyme and flow.

Here's an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU

These guys almost sounded odd because they use their natural accents but then you realise an American accent in the song would sound stupid.

And any Irish folk song should be sung with nothing other than an Irish Accent.

Bono sings Americanized Rock. Not to mention he has capitalized more money from the US than any other country.... see the connections?

 

And yet here they are almost full Texan :-D (exaggeration)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_6b4-N9Uo

This is actually a decent example, the line "She's got a ticket to ride" sounds much more fluent when Americanized.
The word "Got" is being pronounced "Gart" and "Ride" is almost "Rahhhhd".
Tricky to do in text lol but if you pronounced them the way most Englishmen would the 2 words just don't flow with the theme of the song.

It's very difficult to explain because most North Am's can't say "Got" the way an Englishman can and vice versa.

I know, people "Attempt" to "Do" me all day every day. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a zoo :-D

Little comment there left wide open on a plate for any innuendo jokes

 

Awesome:-D

What sounds the best and it isn't a northern accent,my brother and friend went through a stage of singing song with a Wigan accent and they don't sound good to say the least and you really have to try to sing like that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsJw4WDLKh4

 

I think most performers do the same thing, but it's not meant to be North American accent per se. It's more of the... accent of song, I guess. The NON accent, if you will. It just happens to be how (some) North american's also speak because the annunciation is clearer so people can universally understand the song.

Where as, if someone from Jersey tried to sing the same song with a Jersey accent, we'd want to punch them in the face. Most European accented English runs together in different places to make song hard to make universally palatable too.

Not everyone does it, but the ones who do seem to have a more universal appeal.

Plus they all signed a secret pact with the Illuminati to forever sing in North American English if we could get Madonna to stop pretending she's British.

 

lol Missed this question, I love to sing, I can't sing, pretty much tone def which is why I played Guitar :-D
But when I do sing in the car or wherever I am one of those people who attempt to copy the original as close as I can. So whatever the original is sung in is how I sing it. When I think about singing it's not something I try to do well, it's just sounds, it doesn't feel the same as talking. It's almost like copying guitar solos vocally.... which I also do lol

I did realise something the other day though, always loved singing Freebird, the part just before it bursts into the out take solo at the end when he sings "Wont you fly high freebird", when ever I sang it, it sound abrupt and off, then I realised that it's the "R" in bird. Saying Freebird the way an Englishman does sounds really off in this song, but if you curl your tongue back the way you North Am's do then it sounds and flows right. Weird huh.

 

lol, yeah accents are largely just different tongue positions.
For instance, say "Calm" and then listen to an Irishman say it, the "L" is almost pronouced.
Same as "Burn" in thick Scottish, it pretty much comes out "Burren" but changing the sound of the R to have an L quality similar to Mexican/Spanish.

For the most part the English just don't pronounce letters like R. Albeit the further North you go the more pronounced it gets.

The word "Here" is a good clear example and easier to do in text lol.
The sound that is made (exaggerating a little for emphasis)

A generic Englishman would sound the "ere" by dragging the "ear" sound, whereas the Generic North Am would sound it "He-er" placing a short gap or adding a "yer" to the end.
It's simple the pronunciation of the R.

Weird = Weird and is as abrupt, North Am Weird curls the tongue and produces a variation of Wee-yerd but not usually as pronounced as that.

Then you have regional variations with missing letters, the most common being "T", we just stop sound altogether in a word like "Better" whereas North Ams would change the "T" to a "D" , "Bedder"
Listen to the way Adele says "North London" - "Norf Lunden" :-D

She be-er catch the train at free o clock on Fursday :-D

As you can probably tell, I have been working this out for a while :-D

Edit: lol Google Chrome spell checker is about to explode :-D

 

Well done sir. This post is "Ace Rimmer" approved.

 

Well that's simple..... I do :-D

 

Yes, the English language gets pronounced in so many different dialects, and then there are all the different spellings and terminologies and phrases.
A lot of people get a bit puzzled with my accent/terms. So I sound basically English with a general Cambridge/outer London accent. On that basis, most English people usually pick that, since I was born and raised there. But add to that having one of my parents American and going to college in Cal., I often use U.S. pronunciations/terms. I still get complaints about calling mobile phones, as they are termed over here, cell-phones, and parking lots instead of car parks, stores instead of shops, etc., etc. My friend gets mad at me when she starts saying "cell-phone", flashlight and stuff like that. I just think, "excuse me for living", LoL! Well she's Italian-Australian, (and looks nothing like an Italian), so she shouldn't complain.
I often get accused of being Canadian - go figure, eh :confused. Then I really confuse people when I use South African terms and expressions as I served in Rhodesia/S.Afrika during my army tours of duty and speak Afrikana. My close friends just give up and accept I'm some sort of alien, or something. - Whatever, dudes.:-D
Still others, mainly North Americans, think I'm either Aussie or British, or just "the guy with the 'funny' accent".LOL
Australian language is a bit of a strange fish. Basically English, but spoken much more 'sloppily' and twice as fast. Country dialects, I still find hard to follow. Took me a while to figure out that "tucker" was food and "dunny" was a toilet LOL. Basically, t's get pronounced like d's and r's are almost silent, amongst other things.
As for singing in whatever accent - I just don't it's easier that way, LoL!

 

*Warning : Ned-Ramble ahead* :-D

lol That's quite a few dialects. I feel for you man, I only have to fight with 2!
I enjoy confusing people though, I can drop back into my original Accent which is very non de-script English accent with a London-esq touch. Which is odd since I'm a Norfolk bumpkin, which I can also drop into at will, that's the funniest one (similar to Hagred from Harry Potter) , but the way I now naturally speak is as you say... a mixture.
Most think I'm Australian I think because I have an English accent but pronounce many things they way they do here, so my T's and now D's instead of just "not there" lol
I also use terms like...
Flashlight instead of Torch.
Fries instead of Chips (Unless in a Fish n Chip shop)
Store - Shop
Sidewalk - pavement
Signal - Indicate (while driving to turn)
Extension Cord - Extension Lead
Leash - Lead
TV - Tele

The examples are endless, I actually don't like the fact my speach is changing and am actively fighting it lol
I have noticed though there are many English people who have not changed, but I have also noticed that every one of them lives with another English person. I do not, I moved out here for my girl who is Canadian, I'm the only one in my family as far as I know that lives in this part of the world.
I also think a lot of the reason is constantly being mocked which is OK for a while until you start to feel like a performing monkey.
But a sure fire way to wind me up is to tell me I'm saying a word "Wrong" , Oh man I've popped a gasket over that a couple of times lol
You can tell me I sound funny.
You can attempt to copy me
You can ask me to say things
I am English, born and bred, 600 hundred of years of heritage found in my family. I'm very proud to be English.
You may NOT tell me I'm speaking English wrong.... Unless you're an British qualified English teacher, in which case...you may tell me I am speaking English incorrectly :-D

One of the best ones was a guy laughing at the way I speak, this is on the Native reserve where I used to work, this guy was just trying to get me going.
Then I asked him to pass me a box marked "Z"
Can you pass me that box marked Zed please?
Zed? ...ZED??? HAHAHA wtef is Zed?.... It's Zee, Zed is a word HAHAHA you don't even know how to speak your own language HAHAHA.

This was a bad position for me, new to country, new to job, white English guy working with North American Natives ON the Reserve , Native Mohawk guy p1$$ing me off royally.
Most of these guys are a fair size! I'm 6'3" and 220lbs and they called me "The little white guy" :-D
When one of the other guys happened to say "But thats how Canadians pronounce it, Americans say Zee"
Then they all started going at him and we had a great laugh lol, made some good friends after that and learnt a lot about Native culture, at least the Iroquois.

I must admit though, it was fun for a while, always the centre (<- That's right, with the R before the E.... cos I'm English! :-D ) of attention.... but after 6 years of it, it's starting to wear thin. Although my comebacks have become much better :-D
And for everything I have been told "Makes no sense" I come up with a similar example native to here ..... damn I'm argumentative :major
Mostly defence mechanism.

So yeah, kind of went off on a tangent there, my original point seemed like it was not going to take that much to explain :-D

 

Oh, the "confusing people" I spoke of, a girl I work with said she couldn't understand what I was saying.
So I said "Well this 'as all gone pete tong init, I mean take a goosey at your chevy, your mince pies have crossed, you need to take these 1's n 2's down to the cellar, don't fall down the apples though or I'll feel like a right Eartha Kitt....... well come on, don't stand there like 1 O'clock 'alf struck"

The look was priceless, absolutely priceless :-D

 

speaking of English accents, I've always like Michael Cain's accent. I know he's cockney, but there is something just warm about his accent. Like he's just there to be your friend, and the sound of his voice and the way he pronounces things really gets at you.

In the Batman begins movies, when he's talking to a young adult Bruce Wayne and says that "I promised your mum and dad I would take care of you" just the inflection and almost brokeness of it did it for me.

 

LOL!! Nedlamar, you are cracking me up over here! I love it! And I am speaking with my U.S. mid-Atlantic slightly southern accent.

 

lol Pleased to entertain :-D

@Mot.... Dude Mr.Cain is one of most prized actors, people copy him all the time "Don't fro, bladdy spears.... at me" , classic!
But he's got quite a unique accent, kind of like Sean Connery's unique Scottish accent.

All in all it's good fun..... until someone says "Soccer" .... this is very tricky for me since part of our inventory is various sports cleats. One of which is "Football Boots", here known as "Soccer Shoes".
No.
Stop it.
It's Football boots.
I do realise the term "Soccer" actually came from a very old English player, captain of England I think, but we don't and have never really called it that, that was a nickname of sorts. But call it "European Football" like we call it "American Football" , otherwise we are gonna start calling them "throwball" and "Ice Sticking"

It's simple.

FIFA (the world governing body of the sport) = Federation of International Football Association.
It's not FISA.
Nuff said.

Rant ends. :-D

 

Association is where soccer (as opposed to rugger) originated

 

That's right, like 100 years ago lol,
And like I said, it's a nickname

Now stop it :-D

 

I actually love hearing accents, though sometimes I have to bend the ear a bit more to understand what's being said. You're right, I get the accents confused a lot, although I can make out small differences that tell me what I'm not listening to (Irish/Scottish versus English)...I remember working in a cafe and having a customer asking for a "pat of butter." Please forgive me, I can say it better than I can spell it. I apologized about a hundred times to him...I had no idea what a "pa' o' bu'ah" was or even if we sold that item. After about three (or four) pronounciations did I realize that he was actually saying "pat of butter" without the T's. He was very patient with me, saying that it happens all the time. I promised him that the next time he came to the cafe, he'd have no problems expressing what he needed.

But I have to say this: I have always heard Adele singing, I love her songs, but never heard her actually speak until the Grammys. I was blown away in the difference in the way she sang and the way she talked.

Back in the day when the Spice Girls first started out, I could hear all of that strong British accent and I fell in love with every inflection ("Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!"), they sang their accent! Did that make sense?:confused

Even here in the U.S., you can come across diffences in pronounciation depending on what part of the country the person comes from. As an example, my geographical location it smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic Seaboard, not quite the South (although Virginia is considered more of a southern state), not quite the North, yet inflection is influenced by both extremes of the compass...to me, vowel sounds are not as drawn out on the nothern end (think Washington, DC, Maryland, New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, etc.), while A, E, I, O, U drag on forever as you travel south (think North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida). Where I live, there is a blend of both locations.

Every now and then, I try to imitate an accent...I don't do that well at all!