Terrible diction...

[Deleted User] · 07/07/14 - 15:31

I've been enjoying Sia's album this past week, there are some great pop songs on there. However, I cannot understand half of what she's actually singing.

Her diction is some of the worst I've ever heard.

Are there any other bands/artists who have dreadful diction when they sing? Does it add to the song or detract from it?

elasticlove · 07/07/14 - 15:32

Ariana Grande

Ruins everything

cnbcwatcher · 07/07/14 - 16:11

I can't warm to Sia's voice at all. I don't know, I just find it awful. I've tried to like it but just can't.

Anyway... I love Britney but sometimes I find it hard to understand what she's singing. The end results can be quite hilarious though

Whenever I'm listening to Radar I start singing Operator because one of my friends said that's what it was.

mimicole · 07/07/14 - 16:15

I do agree with Sia. She has terrible diction. I do love her album "We Are Born" though.

Derek Faye · 07/07/14 - 16:22

I'm not actually sure if Sia has bad diction or if it's intended to be sung that way. Like sometimes when she sings it's like she's in her own world & so personal that only she knows, If that makes sense. I don't actually know.

scratchy23 · 07/07/14 - 17:18

I'm listening to Big Girls Cry by Sia now and I can only understand about 10% of what she's singing. It's very annoying.

dammitbatman!! · 07/07/14 - 18:04

elasticlove wrote: »

Ariana Grande

Ruins everything

YES!! I actually like Ariana Grande but her diction ruins most of her songs! It's not so bad on "problem" but "The Way" is just a shambles - impossible to understand anything she says in it!

I also think Pixie Lott has terrible diction in some of her songs, like she is singing with a huge smile on her face (if that makes sense!). "Cry me out" is just all mumbling to me!

degsyhufc · 07/07/14 - 19:37

A classic clip with Tom Waites
http://youtu.be/X6ugjoH1xw8?t=5m50s

Makson · 07/07/14 - 19:39

Ariana Grande

Hollie_Louise · 07/07/14 - 20:48

I think Ariana's "Problem"

mimicole · 07/07/14 - 20:59

dammitbatman!! wrote: »

I also think Pixie Lott has terrible diction in some of her songs, like she is singing with a huge smile on her face (if that makes sense!). "Cry me out" is just all mumbling to me!

Yes, Pixie has awful diction.

spaceygal · 08/07/14 - 03:48

I'm a huge Mariah fan but I have to say in recent years I often have a heck of a job understanding what she's singing! This wasn't the case in the early to mid 90's, where she seemed to sing so much clearer, I understood every word, her pronounciation/diction was great! But since she starting becoming more R'n'B in the late 90's it's like she started to slur her words more or something, I can barely understand a word on some songs!! All the silly dumb sounding "urban slang" terms/bad grammar she suddenly started using don't help but it's not just that, it's just her pronounciation in general that changed so much. Weird! Lol.

Two other singers I love, however, seem to have gone the other way - James Dean Bradfield and Michael Stipe. They used to mumble/slur their words, I could barely understand a word they sang! These days though their diction is 100% better, lol.

barbeler · 08/07/14 - 10:40

Robert Wyatt has poor diction, but that's what makes his singing so enchanting.

Hav_mor91 · 08/07/14 - 10:48

Lana Del Rey I love her but she does sometimes sound like a slurring drunk 'Bluuueeeeeee Velveetteeettt* falls off stool

Lewnaticc · 08/07/14 - 10:50

Demi Lovato, I'll add to the list.

cnbcwatcher · 08/07/14 - 11:37

Hav_mor91 wrote: »

Lana Del Rey I love her but she does sometimes sound like a slurring drunk 'Bluuueeeeeee Velveetteeettt* falls off stool

Haha yeah

I also notice she changes the pitch several times in most songs.

scratchy23 · 08/07/14 - 12:14

Lewnaticc wrote: »

Demi Lovato, I'll add to the list.

Really? I've never thought that about Demi, which songs?

[Deleted User] · 08/07/14 - 13:14

Half agree about Ariana. Sounds fine on recordings to me, but sounds very lazy live a lot of the time.

Makson · 08/07/14 - 13:23

Shocked it took until post #14 for the inevitable Lana mention

degsyhufc · 08/07/14 - 18:14

There's a Microsoft advert and at the end it has some woman warbling some indecipherable words.

Very annoying.

Lewnaticc · 08/07/14 - 18:28

scratchy23 wrote: »

Really? I've never thought that about Demi, which songs?

Give Your Heart a Break.

Hav_mor91 · 08/07/14 - 18:44

Makson wrote: »

Shocked it took until post #14 for the inevitable Lana mention

And it's a post I stan by as a fan of hers. Intentional, affectation or not there are times we she sounds simply lazy or just plain drink

[Deleted User] · 08/07/14 - 19:22

Hav_mor91 wrote: »

And it's a post I stan by as a fan of hers. Intentional, affectation or not there are times we she sounds simply lazy or just plain drink

West Coast sticks out in my mind. I still don't know what she says after the "parliament's on fire" line. Definitely need to spend an evening with Ultraviolence and a reputable lyrics site open.

bbclassics · 09/07/14 - 00:05

Sometimes I find it hard to understand what the Manic Street Preachers are singing

jlp95bwfc · 09/07/14 - 00:44

Rihanna sometimes although I think most of the time it's intentional as it sounds better that way.

On The Monster everyone thinks she's singing "well that's not fair" but it's actually "well that's nothing".

Also Disturbia, is it, "put on your brake lights", "put on your pretty lights", "put on your pretty lies" or something else

.

And Drunk On Love, she sings, "I may be a little naive" but it sounds really strange. At first I thought it was "And maybe I'm not all I am"

Ariana Grande is another one. Problem is quite bad but especially Break Free, I couldn't understand a word the first time I heard it.

tim18 · 09/07/14 - 01:28

Shakiras first verse on cant remeber to forget you

Hey there!

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Terrible diction...

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