American Accents in British Music

Dear Tumblr,

I’ve got a deadline next friday, to submit a proposal for a research topic. The advice given from module teachers was to pick something that you’re passionate about, or at least have an interest in.

Something which has always bothered me is the use of accents in music, moreover that of ‘American’ accents from British artists. However, through further research (importantly THIS article from Andy Gibson) it seems that singing brings out a ‘pop music accent’ which just so happens to comparable to the neutral american accent.

Andy Gibson states that ‘these singers must navigate a path between a desire to express their own identity (e.g. through the use of their regional dialect), and a compulsion to use the pronunciation most often heard in the genre of music being performed.’ (Gibson, 2008)

Gibson proposes that we index spoken word and sung word differently. So that although we may speak with regional dialect, we sing in this ‘pop accent’. He actually states it takes MORE effort to sing in a regional dialect.

My question(s) to you are…

Is it a conscious or unconscious choice to sing with a regional dialect? How much does this depend on the history of a genre? Also, how much does an accent bother you?