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‘Cursive singing’ is inescapable – but is it any goyidd?

The technique, embraced by singers from Shawn Mendes to Tate McRae, has its detractors. But creativity is built on trends

A tweet by a singer named Trackdroppa in 2009 dubbed it “cursive singing”, and it might be summed up like this: a vocalist adds extra vowel sounds to syllables, creating what are known as diphthongs, and leaves out consonants at the ends of some words. Jamie Lynn Hart, a singer and teacher at Berklee College of Music in Boston, describes it as a combination of vocal fry – the gravelly tone perhaps most associated with Britney Spears – plus “elongated vowels and a slight change in the letter S”. Lis Lewis, a vocal coach in Los Angeles whose clients include Miguel, Rihanna and Jack Black, sees the roots of cursive singing in R&B and gospel, in which syllables are often added to words so they better fit rhythms.

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