Why do British men/women lose their accents when they sing?

Answer 1

Usually it has to do with cadence and pentameter of music in general. Anytime you use English or any phonetic variation thereof, you speak in a specific cadence or within a particular phonetic time. Because the structure of music is within a particular time, i.e. beat or measure the structure of the song dictates the cadence of the language and it is no longer necessary for the person to create their own cadence as we do when we speak.You can however hear inflection or verbiage differences if you listen carefully. Though I do not speak Japanese or Chinese, I should imagine the same rule mathematically speaking applies to them as well.

Answer 2

They don't always but the authentic soul voice is the voice of the American south so that is what is most often emulated by singers wherever they come from.

I could just as well ask you why The Killers singer sounds British to me sometimes when he sings....and there was a US band called Third Eye Blind a few years back where the singer sang with a British accent. A lot of rock singers have a mid atlantic accent.

Answer 3

This can only be said to hold true for some pop singers who wish to sound, as some one has already said, 'mid Atlantic', perhaps in order to catch the US market - though The Beatles and The Rolling Stones did perfectly all right in America with regional British accents!
However, if you take traditional folk singers, Welsh choirs, choral singers at all levels, solo and supporting singers in opera, jazz singers, etc., then I think you'll find the question does not reflect the reality.

Answer 4

Because in song there are different ways of saying words. Accents can be more easily imitated in free flowing songs than in speech.

Answer 5

it seems that way doesnt it! they sound american when they sing.