"I sing like a girl, and it's a quality" .. how far Madonna in her career kept her quality ?

[H_GG 13]

In an interview with NY Times in 1986, Madonna said :

Quote

''I grew up loving innocent child voices like Diana Ross, while she was with the Supremes, and Stevie Wonder, when he was young, and I practically swooned when I heard Frankie Lymon's records,'' she said. ''I don't know why, but I was always instinctively drawn to those voices. I don't think I sing like a woman. I sing like a girl, and it's a quality I never want to lose.''

So since which Era Madonna's voice when singing changed from a girl -she considered it as quality- to a woman ? Or maybe you consider that through the years she kept this quality !

[Adonna 21,111]

16 minutes ago, H_GG said:

In an interview with NY Times in 1986, Madonna said :

So since which Era Madonna's voice when singing changed from a girl -she considered it as quality- to a woman ? Or maybe you consider that through the years she kept this quality !

IMO, I feel it was Live to Tell and much of the True Blue album.  Her voice and style definitely sounded more mature.  She tends to go back and forth on albums, even today.  I'm sure it's the way they manipulate the vocals on certain songs that make her sound younger. 

[H_GG 13]

9 minutes ago, Adonna said:

, I feel it was Live to Tell and much of the True Blue album.  Her voice and style definitely sounded more mature

Here's the context of her quote, she was criticized for a thin imitation (Chapel of Love by The Dixie Cups) on the True Blue song

 

Quote

(...) But the songs on ''True Blue'' are shrewdly crafted teen-age and pre-teen-age ditties that reveal Madonna's unfailing commercial instincts. And her singing, which has been harshly criticized as a thin imitation of the 60's girl-group sound, has strengthened.

''I grew up loving innocent child voices like Diana Ross, while she was with the Supremes, and Stevie Wonder, when he was young, and I practically swooned when I heard Frankie Lymon's records,'' she said. ''I don't know why, but I was always instinctively drawn to those voices. I don't think I sing like a woman. I sing like a girl, and it's a quality I never want to lose.''

 

Edited July 7 by H_GG (see edit history)

[Adonna 21,111]

1 hour ago, H_GG said:

Here's the context of her quote, she was criticized for a thin imitation on the True Blue song

 

 

Well that and Jimmy Jimmy were going for that sound, so I can understand.  However, songs like "Live To Tell" and "Papa Don't Preach" she sounds more mature.  Like i mentioned,  she kinda goes back and forth on a lot of albums, but the album True Blue is when we really started getting a taste of her sounding more mature.  LAP surely sounds more mature than TB. 

[Voguerista 13,314]

Great question and discussion so far. My first thought about Madonna's voice sounding at it's most mature (as a woman) was when she did Evita. 

[Tudors 695]

She sounds like mom from Evita to confessions. A girl until 1986 where she turned In to a woman with true blue

[H_GG 13]

32 minutes ago, Adonna said:

Well that and Jimmy were going for that sound, so I can understand.  However, songs like "Live To Tell" and "Papa Don't Preach" she sounds more mature.  Like i mentioned,  she kinda goes back and forth on a lot of albums, but the album True Blue is when we really started getting a taste of her sounding more mature.  LAP surely sounds more mature than TB. 

Well, I think she meant that she knows when to use the quality of singing like a girl. Live To Tell was the song where she took  the risk to be far from confort zone vocally, for the first time.

I don't have a great idea about Madonna's discography, but I think Cherish was the last song with the "girl singing" style.

 

[Adonna 21,111]

1 minute ago, H_GG said:

Well, I think she meant that she knows when to use the quality of singing like a girl. Live To Tell was the song where she took  the risk to be far from confort zone vocally, for the first time.

I don't have a great idea about Madonna's discography, but I think Cherish was the last song with the "girl singing" style.

 

Yes, I'm sure does mean the way she approaches and sings the songs.  It really depends on the song, like I said, so yeah I agree she uses her voice to create a specific vocal quality.  I feel like a few of her songs on MDNA and Rebel Heart has a "girlish" quality to them.  Girl Gone Wild is definitely one that comes to mind.

[dude78 89]

i Just say: "Incredible" aaaan "B*tch im M"  these songs sounds like a good teen gone bad 

But yeah the back and forth thing makes sense. Its like the two side "thing" M explains how she wanted to split up Rebel Heart in 2 sides. The Fun songs together and the serious ones togehter...

[Burroughs 922]

After True Blue album Madonna set her voice mature by default. Like others said, occasionally she changes her vocal quality to fit specific song. Most of the albums have one or two: True Blue, Cherish, Bye Bye Baby, Thief of Hearts, Inside of Me... Depends on a particullar theme of the album. Some records don't allow girly sound like Ray of Light and Confessions.

[Agent Cooper 1,421]

I think her first album with lots of low register is Erotica. Her voice in American Life sounds pretty raw, beautiful and mature too.

[A. A. Aardvark 5,110]

"They couldn't really do much, they could lean into it or lean back."
(c) B. Midler

Her best singing live that I've heard was 'Holiday' en route to a stage somewhere with those two other girls.

[Ayham 6,196]

13 hours ago, Voguerista said:

Great question and discussion so far. My first thought about Madonna's voice sounding at it's most mature (as a woman) was when she did Evita. 

Definitely… I feel this movie was a changing point to her career… 💕👌🏼

[Voguerista 13,314]

6 hours ago, Ayham said:

Definitely… I feel this movie was a changing point to her career… 💕👌🏼

Ditto!!!!!! It was defining for sure!

[Drownedboy 1,870]

I adore her voice, she is a performer and for sure she would change her vocal style depending on the message or the character she is playing on a song. Her voice on True blue is deeper on some tracks, but she changed a lot with LAP. On Vogue again another sound, another sound for TBA tour, then she was more refined for Erotica and BS and voila, voice coaching and she sung full throat and amazing since You´ll see till Hard Candy. Then she tried again the child voice on some songs, and it´s like she is not so fuller singing, but Ghostown, even live was very good so you never know. I prefer her singing a thousand times to Mariah or other VH1 screaming divas.

[Gonzus 2,848]

I fell in love with her when I heard Like a virgin, I hadn't seen the video yet. So, what I loved about her most was her voice. I must say her voice on the Like a virgin album was Madonna's "real voice" for me, and my favourite. I love her voice on Pretender and Stay. And I REALLY love Shoo-be-doo, a largely neglected song; for which she wrote music and lyrics. But when True Blue came out I thought: Oh-oh, what's this, this is not Madonna, especially when I heard White Heat, so raw, and masculine. Her voice, her sound and her IMAGE, everything was so different that it took me a long time to digest and accept all this Even to this day I find it hard to love this album, except for its artwork.

[gst6662000 409]

On 7/8/2024 at 5:47 AM, H_GG said:

In an interview with NY Times in 1986, Madonna said :

So since which Era Madonna's voice when singing changed from a girl -she considered it as quality- to a woman ? Or maybe you consider that through the years she kept this quality !

dunno about SPANISH LESSON though