00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the songs
00:10that showed how auto-tune or other voice distorting effects can be used to
00:15enhance or completely ruin a track number five made it worse lollipop Lil
00:27Wayne featuring static earning a Grammy award and diamond status this 2008 track
00:39helped launch Lil Wayne onto the top of the pop charts the auto-tune here is
00:43clearly an artistic choice and lollipop helped popularize its use in rap music
00:48at large it made it more radio friendly but the sound also flattened out the
00:59rappers vocal track his sound is buried under a squeaky robotic tone that feels
01:04very dated now it didn't hurt the song's chances on the charts obviously however it
01:16remains a divisive piece of Lil Wayne's discography especially among fans who
01:20preferred his more realistic and less digitally altered work
01:24number five made it better vroom vroom charlie xcx
01:34if there's one thing that's consistent across the catalog of the artist behind
01:44brat summer it's the high-energy high-tech sound behind it charlie xcx's brand of
01:50hyperpop always feels sleek polished and almost machine-like vroom vroom feels
01:55cohesive the use of vocal distortion doesn't stand out because everything
01:59sounds inorganic electronic and over exaggerated this is also a great match for the artist herself
02:12charlie xcx's casual straightforward approach to music fits within the broader soundscape of the
02:17entire production when it's altered it feels just like the pounding bass and the outrageous hooks
02:23the voice is just another instrument being manipulated
02:31number four made it worse life is a highway rascal flats
02:40like the road that you travel on there's one day here and the next day gone sometimes you've been
02:46sometimes you're staying originally by canadian act tom cochran the initial recording of this
02:52country rock hit has a bluesy and grittier early 90s sound cochran's voice is world weary and
02:58authentic it feels like a song you could hear in a dive bar
03:01rascal flats covered it for the soundtrack of disney pixar's cars in 2006 and it has a very different
03:14vibe but one notable negative is the pitch correction on the vocal tracks
03:17most noticeable in the choruses the smoothness of auto-tune robs the song of any credibility
03:30when you compare it to the previous version it's far more sanitized and soulless
03:35number four made it better blame it jamie fox featuring t pain
03:49no one would ever accuse the actor and singer of not being able to carry a tune
03:59released at the height of obvious auto-tune and popular music blame it is a smooth party
04:04anthem that employs vocal distortion to add to the overall atmosphere
04:08this is a song about alcohol and nights out at the club fox's voice is given a slick digitized tone
04:20it brings home the themes and even mimics the perception altering effects of certain substances
04:26one reason it probably sounds great is because t pain made his name on blending auto-tune and
04:31pristine production
04:32number three made it worse t-h-e the hardest ever will i am featuring mick jagger and jennifer lopez
04:45the black eyed peas were no strangers to auto-tune but founder will i am continued to experiment with
04:58the technology in his solo career his collaboration with rolling stones frontman mick jagger and jennifer
05:03lopez was so badly panned it was left off his next album altogether
05:08the hardest ever is a mess from start to finish no one liked the raunchy lyrics or the confusing
05:20fusion of styles but the auto-tune just made the entire song sound lifeless especially when you compare
05:26it to jagger's voice
05:27making this song worse seems like a tall order but somehow they did it
05:38number three made it better one more time daft punk
05:47the french duo are legendary for their mysterious stage persona and their dedication to boundary
05:59pushing electronic music daft punk's skill with processed sounds and mix of human and digital
06:05instruments is a huge part of their art these talents were at their height with one more time
06:10released in 2000 it's a perfect y2k track
06:14featuring a leading vocal track by american dj and producer romanthony there's no pretending this
06:27is a fully human voice we're hearing
06:29his contribution is heavily altered manipulated like an instrument all its own to form the song's
06:40overarching melody
06:41number two made it worse friday rebecca black
06:53there wasn't much anyone could do to make this one sound worse but the highly condensed and extreme
07:06use of pitch correction drew a lot of criticism the auto-tune took black's voice and made it sound
07:12like a yowling cat
07:13critics and listeners reasoned that if she was using this much auto-tune rebecca black must not be able to sing
07:26gotta catch my bus i see my friends kicking in the front seat sitting in the back seat
07:34she was dragged all over the internet for the track with the prevailing opinion being that she was
07:38completely untalented since then though she's developed a dedicated audience for her genuinely
07:44good voice and energetic dj sets
07:53number two made it better hide and seek image and heap
07:57what you say
08:03while a lot of people use them interchangeably this one's not quite auto-tuned hide and seek is actually
08:09an example of the vocoder which was originally developed to synthesize speech heep actually
08:15recorded it this way out of necessity
08:22her computer lost power and she lost her recordings so she decided to plug in the vocoder and see what
08:28happened the result is the sound that makes her biggest hit so iconic after all these years
08:33i'll take over the sweeping insensitivity hide and seek's electronically distorted harmonies feel
08:44like a bunch of sounds fighting against each other it stands out due to the rest of the song's sparse
08:48instrumentation
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09:10number one made it worse what you say jason derulo
09:19sampling a song is risky business if you don't completely reinvent the song you have to at least
09:24match the quality of the original what you say oh that you only meant well jason derulo's what
09:33you say borrows heavily from imogen heaps hide and seek but doesn't come close to its greatness
09:38where heaps song is complex and mournful derulo's song repurposes the chorus for a song that isn't
09:44nearly as deep
09:51derulo's own vocals are heavily massaged in a way that feels inhuman without any emotion given how
09:57striking the what you say refrain is in the original song it feels like a huge waste
10:03what you say oh what to say what to say oh that it's all for the best
10:10number one made it better believe share
10:22widely considered the first song to use auto-tune in an overt way this 1998 breakup anthem was a major
10:28success share's voice is given a rich and variable tone by the software some lyrics are more distorted
10:41than others making it even more distinctive but the stroke of genius is that the chorus is mostly left
10:46alone warner brothers music division actually argued against the effect on the song but they were dead
10:57wrong believe was such a hit that the distortion on shares vocals was copied in other songs giving name
11:10to the share effect it gave her a comeback and for better or worse it gave rise to a movement in
11:16popular music do you agree with our picks let us know in the comments
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