Listen to this performance of Beyonce singing “If I Were a Boy” on the Today Show at Rockefeller Center. The audio is evidently what was being fed through the pitch correcter, similar to that legendary Britney video (watch it after the jump).
Real or fake? I think it’s real, but to be fair, maybe she just didn’t have a monitor. Either way, it’s pretty hilarious. (via drunken stepfather, link nsfw]
UPDATE: Watch the version of the Today Show that America heard after the jump. It’s a total studio re-recording. Why can no pop artist actually sing live anymore?
UPDATE 2: I understand that many of you want this recording not to be real, but just because an anonymous tipster emailed TMZ and Perez Hilton claiming responsibility does not mean it’s fake. Just because Beyonce’s dad says it’s fake doesn’t mean it’s fake. On the contrary, if you watch the above video and then the one after the jump, you might notice that in the latter, she is obviously singing into a studio microphone. Listen to the breathing.
Now maybe the headline to this post is a bit controversial, but I believe what happened here is that Beyonce decided to lip-sync this performance, for whatever reason, and consequently did not have a monitor. This isn’t to say she always lip-synch, though I can think of two other occasions off the top of my head (see example 1, also at Rockefeller Center interestingly enough, and example 2), but I am pretty certain she did it here. If anyone can come up with more compelling proof to refute this, please post it in comments.
Britney’s real voice:
Beyonce is not singing in this video:
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The cold weather outside WILL cause the singing voice to sound off-tune, if it wasn’t properly warmed before–much like a muscle. Check the temperature outside in NY that day and you will see what I mean. Was she unprofessional by not warming up her voice on that day before showing up to sing? You bet! But, can she sing otherwise? You bet!
Anyway you look at it, it’s hilarious.
who gives a shit how she can sing. All of her songs are terrible.
I always thought Beyonce was a studio creation who was just beautiful and could dance and got help with the work of studio magic…but then when I heard her sing “At Last” when the Obama’s had their first dance, I saw she could really sing.
There are two explanations for this:
a) It’s fake.
b) Her auto-tune was messed with, which does not necessarily mean she can’t sing. Basically every artist uses auto-tune anyway.
But it’s totally obvious that it’s fake. The notes she hits are unrealistically out of pitch. Plus, if you listen closely to the echo, you’ll hear that it’s in tune.
Also, on the Britney thing, you do realize that Britney wasn’t *trying* to sing? She was aware that she would be lip-syncing, you know, so she didn’t try to sing well.
I probably will anger a lot of Beyonce fans, but I don’t think she can really “sing” sing. I believe she thinks she’s the best vocalists, but as someone says, she’s no Whitney, Celine, or even Mariah. The word “fierce” is definitely overused nowadays. For someone who’s truly fierce, I would first nominate the incredibly amazing Lauryn Hill. Her voice is rough, but also touches my heart.
This was a hoax http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/04/23/beyonce-today-hoaxer-says-he-was-trying-to-make-a-point/
I’ve heard her sing live, and sing spontaneously on interviews. I watched that video and it was a little off to me. If Beyonce had an off day, she’d still sound better than that! And after a singing career of 12 years, she’d obviously know she was blatantly singing the chorus off-key.
I’m not a big fan or anything, but come on people. Common sense! You can’t just believe everything you see and hear.
Seriously folks… if you’ve never participated in a recording session (and yes, I have)…
First, not being able to hit it all the time perfect, under any conditions, doesn’t mean you don’t have talent or it’s “fake”. The studio offers virtually unlimited “do over” and splicing together the good bits. This is before you take into consideration things like pitch correcting enhancements, compression, EQ, plosive reduction, reverb…
Second, I’m especially not surprised by Brittany. Why? It’s *really* hard to sing while dancing like that. Most of the problem with her voice is really due to lack of compression and EQ. Yeah, she misses some notes, but it’s not nearly as bad as it might seem because it’s so not-compressed, so poorly EQ’ed and filled with plosives and breathing because, well, she’s dancing.
Even if they’re faked… it’s actually pretty close to what you’d hear, a Capella, with no enhancements, during a live performance. BTW, that’s why American Idol auditions are a Capella… nowhere to hide.
Has our society deteriorated so much that we find enjoyment and pleasure out of discrediting a person’s talents?
I don’t know what’s worse. The fact that someone actually took the time to make a video like this or the fact that, even after said person came forward and admitted what he did, people still believe the video to be real.
Move on, people! Just get the joke already and move on!
If you listen to the first vid, you can hear that the echos in the background are actually in tune.
i agree with you frank. i don’t think this makes her a bad singer who always lip syncs, but she definitely didn’t bring her A-game knowing that the recording is what people would hear.
i’ve heard whitney and celine sing live they are true vocalists.those days are gone unfortunately.now technology has made it possible for anyone to do it.even when in tune bey’s voice is average at best.
Obviously not real, folks.
This is a hoax–the perp has already been exposed.
and still, shes a whore for stealing this song from BC Jean who sings it 900000000 times better than B ever could. oh yeah she stole from Jon McLaughlin too. what a whore. she needs to learn to write her own songs, or at least not credit “her” songs as hers.
first video is a bunch of crap. just watch her mouth and listen, doesnt line up pitch wise
Poor Matt looks like he’s trying to keep his breakfast down.
It’s not real…
I agree with someone fucking with the audio. First thing I noticed was the music, and you can really hear it on certain parts of the vibrato.
First off, I wouldn’t be shocked if she couldn’t sing live well at all. I personally can’t stand Beyonce. I do like just a few of her songs, but her personally I can’t stand. As for Britney, we all knew from the get go she was getting her voice tweaked. There are very few artist who sound as amazing live as they do on their albums. It doesn’t matter though, because we’re not about the music anymore.
I think that if they can use autotune to make you sound pretty fucking good, they can do the reverse as well. So, who really knows?
lame lame lame postttt
you should re-update apologizing or some shit
what a waste of a read
Britneys is real though, right? Was hers fed into a pitch thingy or was she just lip synching that concert?
Perez Hilton already showed this and then it was proven to be false. Someone can alter the sound with autopitch. You can hear the background music going up and down as her pitch changes.