5 Times Auto-Tune Made Songs Better & 5 Times It Ruined Them

MsMojo

From robotic disasters to electronic masterpieces, join us as we explore when vocal processing elevated tracks to new heights or completely destroyed them! Our countdown features songs from Cher, Lil Wayne, Daft Punk, Jason Derulo, Rebecca Black, and more. Which Auto-Tune tracks do you think were musical magic or tragic mistakes?

Transcript

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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