http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmFu-hF6iKc

if the money is in america and they want to make a living they can actually live from… then why should they not try to do what is in their power to achieve that?
for someone who’s line of work relies on their audience’s being willing to pay money for their c.ds and concert tickets why wouldn’t they make a move to do so.
if this is what their target consumer wants, this is what their target consumer will get, so as to keep their income, incoming.

the blending and mixing of cultures, sounds and languages are forever going to continue and be part of the development of the world. If someone prefers to sing with a certain accent even if it ‘isn’t their accent’ why should they not be able to do that? I would find it very flattering if someone enjoyed my accent or language enough to incorporate it into everyday lives.

we also can’t help it if our accents change easily without our trying, blame the mixing of our Maori, British, Irish and European ancestors for blending their accents in such a way over the last 150years that this has enabled us to do so. damn you ancestors, you should have tried harder to ensure we were unable to blend our accents so easily.

Oh yeah that might have something to do with it.. our accent as it is today only happens to be about 100 if not less years old.

Abi you just proved my point. Your accent changes easily. You sing in American accents on purpose and then try to sell to American audiences.

our accent as quirky/cute/annoying as many people find it. for the main stream audiences it sounds ATROCIOUS whilst singing, we elongate our vowels, roll the r’s, we also intonate upwards at the end of ALL of our sentences (which confuses a lot of south americans and europeans because they constantly think we are ‘asking’ questions when we speak)

I recall being at a choir meet when the lead choir master and judge congratulated everyone and then pleaded that we stop singing with our accent, it detracts from the lyrics, from the music, you focus to much on how oddly we are pronouncing the words.

we are in no way trying to change our voices to be ‘cool’, to sound more authentic, we are changing the accent to allow us to sing the words better. We’re NOT forcefully trying to sound American, we are trying to neutralise our accent. We are proud of our home, our culture AND of our accents, thank you.

The kiwi accent is also vey easy to neutralise and sometimes a necessity as well, i used to live in the Netherlands and started to pick up and speak english in the way they spoke english, more blunt, rounded and slow. I found it was so much easier for them to understand me. This happened subconsciously without thought or trying, but if my friends ever heard me when i was on the phone to my parents back in New Zealand and for an hour or so after coming off the phone they truly struggled to understand a word i said,”you sound so Kiwi now I don’t know what your saying” as I was starting to speed up my speech, and elongate my vowels again. Kiwis seem to, tend to pick up and assimilate accents very quickly and easily compared to many other peoples.

anyone remember ABBA? they sang with an american accent, no?

but just to show you that not all artists ‘want to be seen as american’ here are some kiwi rappers, rapping with a kiwi accent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yooqIsQnjME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoXa2Pl7Hk0

as a side note: I have never in my life thought that the features that make ‘black’ women individual to their heritage unattractive, the most beautiful woman and men in New Zealand are of Maori, or polynesian heritage. It all depends on the environment you were brought up in, what you are taught to believe is attractive or unattractive. I have always wished i would have been blessed the thick black hair, smooth dark ageless skin, plump pouty lips, regal strong featured faces and olive shaped eyes of our Maori women. I do understand that New Zealand has never had the level of racism and hatred as there is in America. But please don’t tar everyone with the same brush.

I don’t agree that folk and bluegrass music were invented by Blacks; much of it can be traced to English, Scottish and Irish folk music. I am a White Jewish atheist married to a Mexican-American with am encyclopedic knowledge of blues, jazz and American roots music, just to name a few genres.

But I don’t know shit about rap. I dislike most of it.

In the first picture of Iggy, I see she is wearing images from low-rider culture. So I just asked my husband if that made him mad. His answer: “No, I don’t care. But she could be called a cultural carpetbagger.”

Me, I have a tshirt with a hand-painted picture of Michael Jackson and I have a tank top that says LOCA in gangster font. I don’t want to be restricted to Penguin tennis shirts or Hassid hats, know what I mean? And I could not care less if a Black or Asian or Native American person wants to wear a Ukrainian wedding dress!

I’ll bet we can agree on this: Sting singing in a Jamaican accent is a crime against nature and Miley twerking is like a sharp stick in the eye.

Umm….not to be rude but Black people were a key element in inventing folk and bluegrass in America. Then when the mainstream variation of country music became a genre Blacks were pushed out. Apparently the banjo was a variation of a Black southern instrument. Harmonicas were used by Blacks all the time independent of White music.

Anyway…I have lived down under. The reason they sing in American accents is because it’s considered the default pop or rock accent. Because Americans invented and popularized the genre. They sang in their natural accent and made music about their culture. Just like people who mimic Black accents to sing rap or Jamaican to sing reggae. Ever heard a Kiwi sing country…it is just ridic. They sing like American hicks and then talk in a British accent. Most British countries change their accent when they go to new places. I have met Kiwis that went abroad for like a month and now forever talk American. You don’t have to imitate the accent to sing within the genre. Many UK singers sing in their accent like The 1975 for example so it is possible.

Not only is she rapping American…she is trying to rap like a BLACK American…but she is Caucasian from Australia. It’s just so fcking offensive. I get it she had a hard life but why do you have to express that by pretending to be Black…cause Blacks all have hard lives? Pop rap as I call it is sooo bad and needs to die.

Then why do these Aussies and Kiwis try to have careers in America? Don’t act like it’s me being cocky. They want to sell to America so they sing American. period. Lorde and Kimbra and Goyte and FotC, et al could have stayed down under but they want that American paycheck. Students are taught by vocal coaches to pronounce their singing words like Americans only because ‘it sounds better’ their words not mine.

I agree White people should make rap. But all this extra bullshit of blatantly fronting like a ghetto Black person just to feel cool is sick. I don’t walk around like that or talk like that or have an ass for that matter…and people then accuse me of being too White. Because Iggy is the standard by which all Blacks are measured? Every time I see a White girl wearing a Black dude on her tshirt I want to drop kick her. They don’t even know who that person is 100% of the time. Seriously, wearing Sanford from Sanford & Son on a shirt and not even knowing it…you think that feels cool? That should be your next fashion post.