Edit: Downed by YouTube. Rehosted by The Verge. Also, Here, thanks (?) Askani.
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Flimsy defense. I've been around singers my whole life. We sang acapella every day from K-12. My girlfriend sang for a baroque chamber choir through college. Another of her current classmates was a professional singer. Never heard a singer sound this completely off pitch even when sight reading a new piece for the first time.
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This might not be the first time we've heard a Britney Spears track without any Auto-Tune enhancement, but it doesn't mean it makes us cringe any less this time around.
On July 2, the unedited vocal version of Spears' track "Alien," off of her most recent album, "Britney Jean," leaked. As the video picked up steam, track producer William Orbit posted a statement Monday, July 7, explaining that the track is a vocal warm-up session, not Spears' final take.
"I'd like to affirm that ANY singer when first at the mic at the start of a long session can make a multitude of vocalisations in order to get warmed up," Orbit wrote. "Warming up is essential if you’re a pro, as it is with a runner doing stretches, and it takes a while to do properly. I’ve heard all manner of sounds emitted during warm-ups. The point is that it is not supposed to be shared with millions of listeners.
"A generous singer will put something down the mic to help the engineer get their systems warmed up and at the right level, maybe whilst having a cup of herb tea and checking through lyrics before the session really kicks off. It’s not expected to be a ‘take.'"
Flimsy defense. I've been around singers my whole life. We sang acapella every day from K-12. My girlfriend sang for a baroque chamber choir through college. Another of her current classmates was a professional singer. Never heard a singer sound this completely off pitch even when sight reading a new piece for the first time.