William Orbit has responded to the furore surrounding recently-leaked vocals that were recorded during sessions he produced with Britney Spears for her Britney Jean album.
The raw vocals for the track Alien found their way to the world wide web last week, prompting a stream of criticism from the peanut gallery, saying Britney can’t actually sing, relies on Auto-Tune, blah blah blah.
It’s not actually that terrible, TBH. It sounds kind of like how we would if we sang a Britney song at karaoke, ie you’re holding a tune, but it’s slightly off.
But Orbit has jumped to Brit’s defense anyway, saying raw vocals are typical of any singer in a recording session, writing in a Facebook post, ‘I'd like to affirm that ANY singer when first at the mic at the start of a long session can make a multitude of vocalisations in order to get warmed up.’
‘Warming up is essential if you’re a pro, as it is with a runner doing stretches, and it takes a while to do properly. I’ve heard all manner of sounds emitted during warmups. The point is that it is not supposed to be shared with millions of listeners.’
Orbit kindly called Britney ‘generous’ for singing the track to help the engineers get levels right in the studio. ‘A generous singer will put something down the mic to help the engineer get their systems warmed up and at the right level, maybe whilst having a cup of herb tea and checking through lyrics before the session really kicks off. It’s not expected to be a “take”. I think that 99% of you reading this will totally understand.’
The producer, who has also worked with Madonna, said the track was leaked ‘in a spirit of unkindness’, adding that ‘it can in no way detract from the fact that Britney is and always will be beyond Stellar! She is magnificent! And that’s that.’
How nice is that William Orbit?
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.