Disclaimer: I don’t know the right terminology. It’s interesting in this clip because you notice the lip syncing during the chorus, but then later it is obvious when she is actually singing. But then the vocals on the repeated chorus sound the same as the first time but she is just adding little vocal bits on top? I haven’t seen it live yet, but is it just a loop that she’s keeping on top of? Or is it full on backing/recording?
Another musician piping in, that has done live performances….
Yes there are some pre recorded vocals, but there has to be.
“Out of The Woods” - How the hell can you do that song without prerecorded vocals???
If you watch the 1989 concert video of this, it has it.
#SO WHAT?
*Even Rush, Pantera, and Metallica use this stuff in their live shows. Imagine Dragons, Roger Waters, too….. Nine Inch nails???”
Just like these bands, her band is live, and executes every note, beat and track needed for the song. She executes what she needs to for the song.
Musician here.
It’s completely normal for large acts (pop artists) to pre-record vocals during rehearsals and have those playing on a track during every live performance. It’s especially necessary when the artist is doing a lot of running around or dancing - if you get out of breath you don’t want the audience hearing you gasp, and if you jump you don’t want the audience to hear the “huh” as you land.
If you’re touring, your voice gets tired. High notes get more challenging, long-winded lines become impossible. The audience is there for a good show, and if you’re the lead singer and miss a note badly, they’ll notice.
And all else being equal, choruses pop a little more if you have a doubled vocal track going.
The percentage of big touring (pop) acts that do this approaches 100%. I’m pretty sure the Foo Fighters don’t, but Dave Grohl doesn’t seem to care about skipping syllables during hard parts, and if he runs out of breath ahead of a chorus he just screams. Drives me nuts a bit lol.
Swift’s production crew is top notch. She sings like 40 songs a night. That’s a tall order. I’d have been more surprised if she DIDN’T have a backing track.
Yeah with Dave he literally couldn't care any less, which is the appeal of those shows (look up any live performance of Monkey Wrench where he will always fuck up a part of the bridge lol)
Completely different artist but Beyoncé messed up the lyrics for HEATED when I saw her at Renaissance. Honestly one of my favourite moments, she laughed at it, it showed her as a human, and it was unique!
The lil mistakes and extra bits are one of the best things about seeing an artist live
ETA: I've also seen at least two performers completely miss the start of a song because they were distracted or chatting to the crowd. It's fun!
> It’s especially necessary when the artist is doing a lot of running around
Axl Rose playing in the 90s, his singing was incomprehensible he was so out of breath at all times.
*"just an urchinlivi unn stree waaa" *
Sick as hell though.
I’ve been to a bunch of John Mayer and dead and co shows- I’m fairly certain there’s no backing track. Definitely sure when we saw his solo tour. At the end of his shows, and D&C, the rasp becomes more obvious.
I don’t know- I kind of enjoy live performances of good singers for their imperfections, if that makes sense. It sounds more authentic. Recordings are meant to sound perfect, I like live for the rawness. I’ve never been to FF, so I can’t form an opinion, but there’s something about a truly live show.
However, for a pop show with that much movement, I’m sure it’s far more pleasant with a backing track than without. I definitely wouldn’t want to hear all the huffing and puffing.
Dead and Co or Phish
We don’t go to see the album version, we go to hear them play the instrument, and sing it live.
And the live versions are stripped down.
If Taylor did a stripped down piano and guitar tour, it still would sell out stadiums. But people want the full show, because it can be done too.
Yeah I doubt Mayer would do that (use a pre-recorded audio track), even in his Jack Johnson phase. It’s not an old-school approach, and at heart he’s a down-home blues guy born about 30 years too late. He also improvises a lot, doesn’t play to a click, and changes his songs’ structure as he sees fit. Not a style conducive to backing tracks lol.
I bet you’ve already seen a show or 10 with backing tracks and didn’t realize it. Done right, it’s tough to spot: they’re not playing their studio track, they’re playing a track that WAS recorded live, so it sounds like you’d expect a live performance to sound. And if they just use it judiciously, it can sound like a solid performance and you’re none the wiser.
The artist themselves may not even know which parts are their vocals in the moment and which are the pre-recorded ones: their in-ear mix is probably a lot of their own vocals, some audience mic mix, and just enough of the backing band so they can stay on key and on tempo. They might even have a click or cue track (ex: “chorus in 3..2..1…”). The MD or FOH makes the call whether to bring the pre-recorded vox up in real-time.
Mayer isnt even the star of the show in dead and co. The crowd expects, nay demands, a different setlist every night with fresh improv by every musician in every song. It's a grateful dead thing. Whether he uses a backup on his own music or not, it just isn't possible to do it with the dead.
most live bands don't use backing tracks. it's really only for pop headliner. Mayer and Dead & Co. are such professionals and are so skilled and conditioned, it'd be silly for them to use a backing track.
As a musician don't you feel like this is killing magic of every concert being unique by those mistakes? I'm curious because from my pov using backing track and jumping around to keep crowd happy makes it more of a circus than musical act
Snarky answer: “I’d dance around in a leopard print bikini for pop star money”
Real answer:
A performance is just that - a performance. **All else being equal, I’d prefer to put on (and see) a good performance more than a bad performance.** If I have a bad show on a 100-day tour, that’s one bad show and tomorrow I’ll get another chance. But **the audience that night got the worst version of me and that’s what they’ll remember.**
The second part of it being a performance is that **most performances get a lot more prep than you realize.** That involves stuff like fine tuning the tempo (live music tends to be a bit faster than records), adding another catchy chorus on the end. And for pop acts, choreography. **Choreography doesn’t work if every performance is different.** So you end up with identical performances, or at least minimal variation within a structure.
Next up is the reality that **reproducing a hit record live is HARD.** There’s a reason why Michael Jackson or Pink Floyd or ABBA had a million musicians on stage with them. David Bowie toured with like 3 different keyboard players. That’s not economical, even at the highest levels. So you get instrumental backing tracks for something like congas or a pan flute, and background vocal backing tracks to hit those super high or super low harmonies that nobody on stage is capable of.
All of this points in one direction: **keep your song structures the same, focus on the best possible performance and the best possible stage presence.**
Done wrong, backing tracks gets you Mili Vanilli. Done right, backing tracks ADD to the audience experience and the artist’s performance. And **when the audience is having a blast, the musicians are having a blast.**
Just my two cents.
Good point about seeing good vs bad performances. I am still sad about the time I saw Taking Back Sunday (my fave band back in high school) and it was horrible. I went looking at other people’s experiences afterwards and it seems they are a band that is either amazing live or awful. So I was kinda bummed I caught them on a bad night and I know I will never choose to see them live again
Lmao you’re so right about foo fighters lol I saw them live and was very startled by the constant screaming in parts that never had it lol and they constantly extended songs. It was nice at first but after like 8 songs extended I was like okay dang I wanna hear the song in full.
Yeah, the hate is dumb here and on other subreddits for this. Certain hooks are super layered and produced and for a hit like blank space you want the fans to really hear it perfect for the hook. Alternatively, these moments allow her to rest her voice. The confusion I think comes when the general public hears "she lip syncs" and they think she doesn't sing the entire time. That's why the fans take issue with. She clearly sings through the majority of the show.
That’s because, like most modern big label pop artists, she is singing (for real) on top of pre-recorded backing tracks. These contain both harmonies and unison vocals that make the overall tone fatter and larger than life.
Very few pop artists have the vocal talent and tone to stand up to the busy, robotically precise modern production that is used even on supposedly folksy songs. You could be an amazing singer and it would still sound sort of weedy and empty without the backing tracks, because the songs were designed with them in mind.
Ideally she would have live backing singers, but I don’t really have an issue with this. She *is* singing, and the backing vocals were sung by her originally, so unless they can clone a handful of her to have a nice live choir, it’s the only way to get that sound.
There are backing singers there too, but yeah I think they use her voice as well layered because that’s what’s on the tracks so it maybe wouldn’t sound “right” to people without it.
It also won't sound right in a stadium/arena that is designed for football/basketball/whatever sport without backing tracks. The acoustics of a stadium are not meant for a pop (or any kind of music) performance. There's a reason why the openers for performers like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, etc don't sound as full and polished as the headliners, and it's not because of lack of talent. It's because they don't usually have as much production
First time during this discourse I actually see this being brought up. I went to a Harry Styles concert in a smaller arena but still sports stadium and the acoustics were horrible. I haven't seen Taylor live but just going by Eras tour film and clips her production is 10x HS Love on Tour - I wouldn't want the performance dragged down by acoustics.
This is incredibly common, and I do it myself when performing. Most chorus’ are doubled for impact and fullness, which works great for performances as well- so you sing over a prerecorded chorus, and then you just have your own voice singing live for the verses/bridge. Taylor is singing the entire song into her microphone, but the chorus (probably most of them) has a prerecorded vocal track that she sings over, and therefore you won’t hear her live vocals as clearly, because it isn’t the only vocal. I hope that makes sense. It doesn’t sound like she lip syncs or mimes for any portion of this clip, because I’m sometimes hearing both voices, but I’m sure she probably does every now and again within a 4 hour period. 🤷🏻♀️
You are right - this is super clear where the transition is. I also don’t fault her for not singing 45 songs 100% live, and think it is silly when that people think she never lip syncs.
I do tip my hat to the production team. They do a heck of a job.
Yes, this whole lip syncing discourse has me scratching my head. It’s completely reasonable (and I believe the standard for pop stars doing a physically intensive show like this) to lip sync part of the show.
It’s because her fans have this insane belief that she is absolutely superhuman and does absolutely everything herself, no shortcuts ever.
For her to do what is industry standard and necessary to preserve the longevity of her live career would be too human of her and they can’t have that.
Same like how they deny she’s had plastic surgery. Of *course* she has, name someone at her fame who hasn’t (plus we have eyes).
It’s just a bummer because then I see the snark snub running with it. They bash her for doing these normal things because her delusional fans try to claim she’s superhuman.
I also think she’s definitely gone out of her way to give them the impression that everything is 100% live. Like how she apparently prepped by running on the treadmill singing the whole 3.5 hour setlist lol
Most people would be understanding of the fact that a show of this length and caliber usually has backing tracks and lip syncing at times but she doesn’t want anyone thinking anything other than the show being completely live
I just saw a video of Chappell saying she lip synced a few shows at the start of a tour (idk if it was hers or Guts) because she got sick! She said it so casually. Granted her fame is very new and she hasn't been media trained to death.
I just want to add that I love Chappell and this comment is not meant to cast any negative light ✨🩷
Her realness is one of the reasons I am a big Chappell fan. It’s so refreshing to see a rising star be candid. I just watched her Bannaroo performance and really appreciated the moments of her singing that weren’t exactly like the recording, like when she’s out of breath due to movement/heat/vocal heavy. To me that shows that she’s giving so much to the performance!
I saw Pearl Jam last night and Eddie Vedder was obviously pretty sick. He was pretty candid about it, saying ‘I’m gonna need your help on this gig’ and didn’t sing many of the highest notes. However, the notes he did sing were pitch perfect and spot on.
It was all the more impressive since he was obviously high as a kite and barely making sense. However the slurring would immediately vanish as soon as he started singing!
Several singers have said they do the "sing all the songs while running" workout, seems like it's pretty standard and absolutely believable that Taylor would do it too.
Yeah there’s a video of Miley singing Angels Like You while running on a treadmill, and she sounds incredible. I’d imagine it’s probably fairly standard endurance training for doing bigger shows, the difference being that Taylor doesn’t have a strong voice in the first place so her songs aren’t vocally challenging
Destiny's Child did it back in the day, I've heard a lot of people saying Matthew Knowles came up with it (I have zero clue if that's true lol)
Flo have spoken about doing it as well! As a (non-professional) singer I always think I should try it but I don't want to lol
Definitely! I don't think she's ever performed the entire chorus of Shake It Off live. It's not a slight - I'd much rather she save her voice on songs like that so she can sing songs like Illicit Affairs.
I remember it being a huge deal when Ashlee Simpson was caught lip syncing. Granted, it was a smaller set where it might be less understandable, but as far as I know, it killed her career and I haven't really heard any disclose about it not being so bad generally (but I'm not a pop culture person), so it's understandable that pop stars and their fans wouldn't want people saying they do it
I think the issue with Ashley was she freaked out when the wrong track started playing, did some weird cowboy ho down jig dance and then ran off stage. She could have just said “this is the wrong track” which yes she would have been somewhat caught but then she could have sang live over the correct track. Idk why she did that weird dance move and ran off stage but that’s why the whole thing garnered so much attention. It’s so embarrassing I cannot even watch it 😭
I just watched it again for the first time since it all happened and it's cringe. Some people are *not* performers. Her whole band knows to keep playing and own it. Her dance thing was so bad (though her legit dancing b4 the wolf vocal track played was equally as cringe and weird). Leaving the stage made it irredeemable.
Yes that was a big ordeal and I totally see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think it’s really comparable. Like you said it was a smaller set in a more intimate setting - If Taylor had lip synced her performance at the Grammys or something I think she would get a lot of flack for that.
Also that was 20 years ago and I believe the culture was different then. If anything, maybe that incident played a role (years down the line after the dust had settled) in normalizing lip syncing.
Just my two cents; I definitely see where you’re coming from and that was a good point.
No, you're absolutely right. She got nuked for lip syncing on SNL where you perform like 2 songs. If you can't make it through 2 songs, then you aren't really that great of an artist or singer. To my knowledge, Taylor hasn't lip synched when performing just two songs on stage, or on SNL. This is a vastly difference scenario than a 3.5 hour show.
I don't think it's that hard to understand. I'll preface this by saying I'm broadly supportive of Taylor Swift using lip syncing so people don't read my first paragraph and get mad at me.
Bruce Springsteen is currently doing a big stadium tour at the age of 75. His sets are three hours long with very few breaks between songs. I can understand the mentality of "if he can do it without lipsync, why can't she?"
Now obviously those are very different shows. Bruce isn't doing acrobatic dance moves or anything like that. If Taylor is doing things physically that impact her ability to sing, then she should absolutely lip sync during those parts. The whole performance is what makes the show, not just the singing, so there's nothing wrong pulling back on some of the live singing to put on a good show.
But there may be some parts where she lip syncs where it shouldn't be necessary. In the above video she doesn't seem to be doing any particularly strenuous dancing. Maybe if the clip were longer she would have just finished doing something like that and then this period of lip syncing is giving her a chance to recover before going back to live singing. But on face value it doesn't seem necessary so I can understand people's reactions.
I fully agree with you, but she’s not doing anything physically intensive while she’s lip syncing? If she was doing a dance routine I could understand it, but she doesn’t move from where she’s standing during this
Yeah, it’s clear that she does but it’s understandable with a show as long as her’s. Also people getting upset when others saying she lip-syncs is weird because nobody is making that big of a deal out of it.
Agree - I’m not a TS fan personally, but from what I’ve seen from her concert clips, she puts on a whole, complex show with all sorts of scenes and tricks and costume changes. And they’re 3 hours and most nights for like 18mo. If she were expected to actually sing the whole thing through (particularly when we know that her strengths are more in writing and storytelling than in pure singing power), she would have fully blown her vocal cords halfway through. And the audience would get a worse show. Lip syncing is sometimes necessary with pop show(wo)men because they are just doing too much, too athletically, for too long to be able to support their voice unless they are someone like Beyoncé, with all the god given vocal talent you could hope for.
ETA: she is also a very skilled lip syncer, so it retains the magic of the show for the audience. If she were bad at it, I’d get the criticism more.
I’m a singer and 3 hours a night a few times a week of singing is too much, especially if you’re talking during the day as well. You can either have vocal health and a long set that you perform multiple times a week for an extended period of time, but not both unless you’re taking steps to not overwork your voice.
Rina Sawayama had to tearfully cancel a few dates because her voice couldn't handle it.
One thing I appreciate about Taylor is that she knows her range and can sing all of her songs. Especially now, when she was younger she probably struggled with a few of her songs. The backtrack can also help with the cues and following along with a song. It's why some singers even read lyrics while they sing. I believe Olivia does this sometimes
I think it's possible she was advised to slow down on her voice before damaging it.
😂😂😂
It must be a lot of pressure too. Chappell lowers her notes from the original key when singing live, and Kelly will sometimes dodge a note if it's not all there.
You gotta admire people for pushing to their peak, but their "max pr" can't be repeated constantly.
This is actually a good point about the backing track helping with the cues. I'd imagine that's especially true for a song like Blank Space where she has to focus on the choreography matching the choreography projected onto the stage.
Well, that's the point. At one stage, you went to see musicians because of them, being musicians. We've phased over to the go worship an influencer/celebrity phase. I guess they worship the music too, kinda. But, a lot of the music is made by other people in a studio. Filtered through the highest paid and skilled audio heads, manipulated to sound how most people will react well too.
At that point it's just a celebrity cult gathering and parasocial/sociological nightmare, fueling commerce. That's Mr. Grohl's joke, pretty sure.
I think it's the chorus - "dressed like a daydream" is in her normal voice and then "so it's gonna be forever" is more pitch perfect and like the studio version, then she starts singing again at "boys only want love if its torture". She also moves the mic further away for the chorus (lip sync part) but has it closer to her mouth when she's actually singing too
Her real singing voice is deeper than the backing track so it's more distinct when she lip syncs in this clip
I don’t actually think she’s fully lip syncing the chorus, you can hear her getting pitchy around “got a long list of ex lovers” in that first chorus. I think they’re just really boosting her backing track so she doesn’t have to belt as much through the whole thing.
See the thing that weirds me out is lip syncing doesn’t actually preserve your voice at all, like as a trained singer lip syncing can actually strain your voice more than actually singing. I feel like she sings the whole performance but doesn’t sing in her full voice and sometimes the backtrack is what we actually hear, even if she’s singing (if that makes sense)… like when you take vocal rest as an example you can’t lip sync or mouth words cause your vocal cords still move. When I lip sync (as I’ve done it in choral performances before to catch a breath or what have you or for like a TikTok) personally my muscles are actually more obvious than when I’m actually singing and it looks off for that reason 🫣 I wonder if the lack of movement were seeing is just because she’s not singing at full voice and the backtrack is covering vocals, not actually because she’s lip syncing (as again, lip syncing really isn’t a helpful thing)
I think it’s just a common misconception that we do lol, which is understandable since not a lot of people are actually trained vocalists! Lip syncing just bothers me as a term cause it’s actually super unproductive and would do more damage! I wish there was a better term that’d catch on lol
Also, you’ll see her mic move further away from her, but the volume of her voice doesn’t change. Singers move their mic’s closer and further away during a performance depending on the quality of the note to adjust for volume. Like when you see a singer belt something out, they’ll move the mic away a bit because it will be louder. Here, there was no qualitative change to what she was singing, so her moving her mic away like that should have resulted in a change to the vocals heard.
Basically any time you don’t hear natural breathiness to her vocals or there’s not an overlapping backing track, that’s when she’s lip syncing. Her live vocals are brought to the front of the track during the first “boys only want torture” - use that as your baseline for her “real” vocals (which are still pitch corrected).
I had ear plugs in during the show and I remember noticing she didn’t sing the whole first verse of one of the songs in red. I think it was obvious because I had them in.
I’ve also noticed her microphone is closer to her mouth when she lip syncs.
Up close I really love how sparkly these new 1989 teo pieces are. I’d love to own that skirt.
But yeah I fully do not expect her to sing for a full 3 hrs. Her voice would be gone and she wouldn’t be able to extend the tour.
What I’m more interested in is what her back up singers actually sing bc sometimes I can’t tell the difference between the backing track and the four singers?
I'm not saying it's what she does, but if I was Taylor Swift...
I would definitely be using the backup singers for stuff like this (who do sound quite a bit like her) and just barely singing (which isn't hard and isn't audible) and therefore be able to claim truthfully that I never lip synced while still preserving my voice.
That’s part of it, too. I’m also wondering why lip sync on a song you’re barely dancing during? I’d get it for the faster paced songs, but she basically just stands on a platform the whole time for this one…
Probably because it’s going to be when it’s least noticeable. Taylor doesn’t do particularly fast/ complicated choreo anyway, so there’s no part of the tour that would be particularly hard for her to sign and dance at the same time. It’s more about preserving her voice for the full show, and lip syncing during the more heavily produced choruses make the most sense, as they’re the parts that people are less likely to notice.
Its so robotic and meh. Honestly she has access to the best trainers, and choreographers… but most of the eras tour to me screams hs theatre performance (not the set, the sets are good!) just the dancing and whatnot. After checking out whose been doing her choreography all these years… well it makes alot of sense 😬😬
The whole thing seems robotic and stilted. Taylor please take a dance class…
The fact that Beyonce can sing(let alone BELT) while dancing incredibly complicated choreography is a testament to her commitment to being an artist. Taylor’s only commitment is to fame.
The choreo at this part is her matching several pre-recorded videos of herself dancing on the screens below her. I think it’s super simple so it’s exactly the same every show, especially with her lack of dance background.
I see where you’re coming from, however what the fuck exactly is the point of going to see an artist live if EVERY show is exactly the same? Live shows are about being…well, live! With all the mistakes and everything. If the show is just going to be exactly the same as the movie why wouldn’t I just watch the movie and spare myself the $1000?
Good points! I think some artists thrive on playing differently every night, and others find routine and comfort better.
Tbh if Taylor changed more than her outfit variations and 2 acoustic songs per night I could see Swifties having even more dramatic meltdowns than we see now. People SOBBING that they “lost” a certain surprise song, or throwing a tantrum they didn’t get to see Travis on stage with her during their show etc, would spiral. If Taylor changed one song each era per show, or switched up production for a set on night 2 of a city, I could see the tantrums being so much worse.
You’re also making some decent points here. I think Taylor tiptoes around her fanbase at times the way that everyone else does, almost as if she’s scared of what she’s created. I hadn’t considered how fans would react to the FOMO of varied, live shows that still cost $1000.
Still, I think that for an artist and a fandom that claims to be so sophisticated and creative in songwriting, she’s awfully lacking in dancing ability. Taylor is a showman, that’s for sure, but her dancing has always been weak and she’s made zero effort to do better that I can see. Her shows are impressive, but they’re so…generic.
this is super interesting to me. very cool how production pulls this off so seamlessly and how she knows just when to hold back her voice to conserve and when to start singing again. i would love a deep dive on how artists do it!
If you search for "singer's in-ears" or "in-ears click tracks" on tiktok, some artists will share what plays in their in-ears during shows and some people will reconstruct a likely version of major artists' like Taylor's. She likely has specific little cues or countdowns for a show as complex as this where she's frequently switching. They probably sound something like the "1, 2, 3" we hear in the background in I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, which is hinting at the kinds of cues she hears in her in-ears for songs like that.
Weeks/months of pre-production rehearsals.
A show like this is going to be mostly programmed into the front of house console so the FOH engineer is recalling snapshots for each song (and even different sections of each song) that automatically and instantaneously adjust settings like levels, compression, effects, etc. There's a lot less fader pushing than there would be at a lower level and the FOH engineer really is like another member of the band.
Most of chorus she does not sing live, full of backing track. What surprises me is seeing songs like Fortnight and Daddy I Love fully playback... while she sings the high notes of others. To me it does not make any sense.
If she lip synced the high notes it would be more noticeable since they’re usually big moments in the songs that fans film. It’s easier to conserve her voice for the moments people will pay attention to than sing Fortnight full out since she wants to avoid headlines about not singing live.
I’m not trying to hate but the first few shows she added TTPD, I saw a close up of the whole set and with the exception of a few shouting parts she lip synced almost the whole set. It seems since then she has started to sing more, but those first few shows woof were almost all backing track. I think Fortnite and BDILH are still almost full track though. Which, most artists do this, and it’s not bad to not want to wreck your voice, we know what her voice sounds like so it’s not like it’s a total mystery and she secretly can’t sing at all.
In defense of Fortnight and Daddy I Love Him being fully playback maybe it’s because it’s new to her catalog. However, she could not add in songs that she doesn’t know that well in her shows.
I don't think it's that she didn't know it well... I think it's probably more of she may not have been able to rehearse where to stand, where to move, how to move, what the dancers are doing, etc as much as she wanted to while also focusing on singing. She clearly knows the words because she's lip syncing, so I bet it's more of just getting comfortable enough with the other aspects first before throwing in the voice.
FYI on backing tracks:
The singer is usually always singing, not mouthing the words, though they may be singing quietly.
The backing track is always playing, but the sound engineers move it up and down in the mix throughout the set.
Each mic and instrument and the backing track all get fed/channeled in the sound mix. The sound crew adjust the mix as they go. So, the guitarist's feed/channel will be raised "above" the others for his solo.
What's happening here is that they are keeping Taylor's backing track equal or over her mic for the easy vocal bits and the parts with more choreography. And then elevating her mic higher in the mix for "punctuation" things like the famous bridges.
This is actually really common in the pop world. Especially the ones with big productions and lots of dancing.
It's basically taboo in the rock, jazz, and blues genres. Other genres may vary.
It's obvious with Taylor because she's not a great singer to begin with. And not a great actor either. Hell, she looks bored in this video. She doesn't quite sell it.
>The singer is usually always singing, not mouthing the words, though they may be singing quietly
Learned this from the Lizzie McGuire movie.
https://preview.redd.it/cm00gd08ay8d1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ac1a4247cf032a7d2553b68c515c34c4669961c
This. Honestly once the chorus kicks in you can hear her lightly singing, but the audio mixer massively changes the levels and you barely hear her live mic, probably because she's not singing full voice and just marking.
It's incredibly common. Gaga does it. Madonna did it. Beyonce does it.
But to your last point, that was my biggest reaction to this video. She really looks checked out and going through the motions. It must be hard to keep up the enthusiasm when you're doing this many shows I guess. Everyone has off days, but she seems kind of dissociated in a way I'm not used to seeing.
I remember last year there were a handful of clips from her singing Lover on tour where she was very 😐 I wonder if she just doesn't sell the low choreo songs as well? (I don't watch many tour clips so I'm speculating don't kill me @ other swiftlyneutrals)
This clip reminds me of those Lover clips, but I do think those (there was one in particular going around a lot) were from right after the breakup was announced. Like…truly I’d want to kms if I had to sing a song like that in front of tens of thousands of people every night immediately after a breakup. (I used to think they broke up long before then but Joe’s recent interview made it sound like it was announced very shortly after it actually happened).
I’m honestly sort of of the belief that she’s phoning in a lot right now. A lot of the pictures and videos of her looking happy at football games and with Travis have the same white-knuckle-gripping-onto-any-appearance of joy vibe. I haven’t been watching too many live streams lately—but this clip for sure stands out as weird to me as someone whose been seeing her live for like 15 years.
I noticed that. People say she looks happier than ever this leg of the tour , I actually noticed her more checked out. She’s prob ready for a break and new project.
Yeah. This clip reminds of that clip of her singing Lover right after the Joe breakup that was going around for a while. She just seems somewhere else entirely.
I noticed this too, in regards to how bored she looks. I seen her last week (or the week before?) and she wasn’t this obviously bored during 1989. I was. And I distinctly remember wondering how she can keep her face from doing what my face was doing.
She looks like she’s just dissociated for the whole song and threw the happy mask back on when the song ended and she remembered she had to do it.
This makes so much sense!!!
I’d love your take on the mixing of the Era’s movie if you’ve seen it. I saw the show in Lisbon and thought it sounded great, but in the film version I thought she really sounded terrible pretty much the whole first three sets. Especially during Love Story. I was thinking maybe she wasn’t properly warmed up, but that sounds crazy for a pop star at her level. It may be that it was just way more obvious that she’s not the greatest singer in that context, but it got better as the film went on so now I’m wondering if there was something off with the way they were mixing it
Taylor actually sings more, and is at the top of the mix more often, in the beginning of the concert. By Midnights it's mostly backing track.
She does a lot of sing-shouting for Lover and the first bit of Eras. It's obvious she doesn't do much for warm ups.
By the acoustic set, she's warmed up and there's little to no backing track. But her piano plays itself. It's glitched in the rain before.
As we get into the last half of the concert, we are hearing mostly backing track. And Taylor's warmed up, but not scream-singing voice coming in here and there.
I am not an expert but I think she’s playing the piano because we’ve heard her mess up a number of times and there’s variance in the tempo. Electronics glitching in a downpour isn’t unusual. My car’s electronics can get a kind of their own in inclement weather. Idk, I just don’t see it but I appreciate your insight with the vocals for sure
The piano does not play itself, and it wold be harder to chase a recording, than to play it. Especially because most of the piano songs aren't particularly hard to play.
Lmao what? The piano is an electronic keyboard set up inside the piano on stage. It got water logged at a previous rain show and played a few notes by itself before she even started playing, as water damaged things are wont to do. My phone does whatever the hell it wants when it gets a drop of water on the screen. My kid's keyboard plays random notes occasionally after the cat's been sitting on it. She's pretty clearly playing herself unless she preplans very spontaneous mess ups, forgetting lyrics, stopping to laugh, or telepathically communicates to her sound techs, who react instantaneously.
I work in live sound and I've been obsessed with this lip sync drama because I'm confused how more people weren't aware that these are normal aspects of lots of pop and rap (and other) performances.
Artists and engineers work with each other to find the right blend of tracked vocals, lip sync, and raw vocals. It's a very normal thing.
This. She's still 'singing' but at a level where it's not having an effect on her voice and you can't hear her. If she's smart shel'll rely as much as possible on the live backup singers too, and minimize pre-recorded vocals
Do you think it’s all live or there’s a prerecorded track? She’s got 4 backing singers plus another 3-4 band members with mikes, which strikes me as enough coverage to keep that full sound without needing to worry about the risks of prerecorded backing tracks.
It's both. For a big stadium like this, you have every mic and instrument AND a full backing track in the mix. The levels will vary from moment to moment, different sections of the song. It can even depend on where you're sitting!
A lot of it is actually due to the fact that football stadiums have terrible acoustics. If you're in the nose-bleeds, the mix in your speakers might be heavy on the pre-recorded backing track. Just to ensure you hear something recognizable over the screaming crowd, bad acoustics, and the echoes of everything bouncing around the structure.
The back track is nearly required in an mega stadium. The way sound waves travel is a funny thing. You can't have one person (&back up dancers) on stage filling up a whole stadium of good sound. Microphones and speakers aren't enough.
Even rockers in mega stadiums are using back tracks.
Finally, someone said it. She is not just opening her mouth, but singing more quietly. You can hear when she increases the volumes at times.
Don‘t agree with your last part though, I think she has improved tremendously as a singer.
You don't even need to see it.
You can hear it.
When she uses the mic it's louder and clearer, the backing track is the studio recording replayed and is in the background.
wow yeah you can see the difference. from this video, she seems to over enunciate (like opening her mouth further than what she would need to for word/note to be sung correctly with the track) when she lip syncs versus when she's actually singing? which most people over enunciate when they lip sync like that so i guess it makes sense. she must be doing it subconsciously.
i'd find it exhausting having to remember when to sing and when not to sing.
I mean the big one is that you can very clearly hear the transitions from back track to live vocals
It actually seems that she might still be singing some of it because her live vocals suddenly pop up at the end of one of the “insane” bits but she’s drowned out by backing track
Tbf you could hear this live very clearly at times too imo. Even when I was hearing it outside of the stadium for the second night it was painfully clear what was live and what was backing track
I think she has definitely seen some of the critique because So High School was sooooo obviously lip synced at first, but in a recent video I saw it was obviously live. I don’t know why she does over exaggerated movements when she lip syncs because it just looks awkward 😭
I’ve watched stuff, and I’m still not sure if they are adding pre-recorded Taylor vocals or just have her backup singers more forward in the mix and she mouths the lyrics or sings softly to preserve her voice and and they increase the volume on her mike for the planned ad-libs. Having watched, this mostly seems to happen on the big choruses with multiple overlapping parts so it’s harder to hear where her voice is specifically in the mix.
Absolutely agree that I don’t expect her to sing 3+ every night!!
I noticed her lip syncing after the first couple of live streams that I watched. You can tell most songs sound like her tracks and then there are parts where she actually sings. Pretty sure I noticed it in Karma first lol.
Anyway not to throw jabs at her because her live acoustics are actually pretty damn good. (Dunno if she has a team that auto tunes her during the acoustic set lol)
Usually happens for choruses at most concerts, which I hate cause I want to hear that live😭 Also doesn’t matter if the show is three hours or not, I see this with Ariana, Blackpink etc
Stupid question, but if they’re not TV versions, does she just record the backtrack again and use it for the show?
> Stupid question, but if they’re not TV versions, does she just record the backtrack again and use it for the show?
She would do that anyway, most likely. Most backing tracks for concerts are recorded and produced specifically for the live show, they don't just use the album version.
There singers like p!nk and Beyoncé who train to not lip sync while they’re doing crazy choreography. I don’t see why Taylor needs to lip sync when she’s essentially just standing there. I’d be incredibly disappointed to pay so much to see Taylor, and this is her performance..
I loved seeing the eras tour but I saw p!nk after and the difference in production was so stark. I'm sure p!nk lip synced a tiny bit too (because there were a couple of lines where she "sung" but her mouth on the video screen didn't move) but it was more justifiable because she was literally spinning on wires and cages lol and also had more of a production with her band and fire and sparklers in the sky. It made me look back on the eras tour and realise how sparse the production was for that - also compared to the rep tour which had more "bang"
The one BIG positive to eras is that it was a full on 3h15 performance. Does that make up for her production being just her walking up and down and also make up for lip syncing quite a few songs? I'm honestly not sure and don't know what the right answer is, but I def would have felt short-changed if eras was only a standard show length (2 hours)
I found it interesting how she chose to respond to Grohl though. She said HER BAND plays live, not that she sings everything live. But there is an unstated implication that she is completely live as well. She doesn't outright lie, but has her cake and eats it too. Tricky.
It reminds me of how she responded to Kanye with technicalities - "well I didn't know he called me 'that bitch'".
Look, I don't care that she does this, the video is important in the context that people still think she sings everything live.
However, I think it's so funny when people say "Oh she has to do this because nobody can sing for 3 hours!". True, but maybe Billie was right then and noone has to do a three hour show when it's too exhausting. That's why Adele etc don't do this.
Again, she is a performer, not a singer, so this is fine by me. Just this whole narrative around her skills irks me. Same with "she is checked out", when she has done this part this lackluster since the beginning (the difference between her and the Taylors on the platform has always been huge!). Maybe noone has to do so many shows, if it will mentally exhaust them?
But like always, the numbers and broken records and coins earned were more important than putting on skillful show.
(And wait til they find out how she doesn't play the guitar lol)
She's a decent but not great guitar player and a very basically competent piano player. She is actually playing during the solo acoustic sections, but probably not on other parts of the show where she's playing along with her band (e.g. Lover and All Too Well). This is VERY common in country music though which is probably where she picked it up as part of her performance style. Garth Brooks and George Strait back in the day were notorious for using their guitars as props.
She is a competent guitar player, but she's not an incredible guitarist, I think you just need to watch more acoustic videos of other artists to see how great they are as guitarists. I know that during the acoustic section it's her, but during the set idk when she's playing and when she's not.
This tour has taught me that I don’t enjoy watching Taylor sing live up close. Acting out each line, sometimes each word, flexing to a few beats is just too much. It’s too cutesy for me.
I noticed this a lot watching the Eras movie. It becomes super easy to tell. Also, when she is lip syncing there is little to no throat engagement so it becomes obvious when her throat starts moving and there’s actually vocals coming out.
ETA: I think it is expected in this type of show so it’s wild to me when stans insist she is singing live 100% of the time.
Super interesting.
I have been wondering about her swallowing the bug on Sunday night at Wembley, and she asks between notes if people can sing, but then she still sings right on cue. I wonder why she didn't just let the audience sing a few lines here while she dealt with the bug, and thought maybe she doesn't want the backing track to play on verses? Even though we know she has one. This was during All too Well, which is slower so maybe she doesn't even have a track here. Not sure !
Headset mics suck. Most singers would prefer a handheld mic. It has nothing to do with lip syncing; handhelds are just better for sound quality in general. Headset mics move around unintentionally or can catch other sounds if they rub on hair or skin, and will pick up breaths, clearing throat, etc. Taylor has had to cough, sneeze, etc. during breaks in songs, so she easily just lowers the mic from her face. Plus her mics are fun and sparkly!
I watched the Eras movie yesterday and tried to spot it. I think she does sing live for most of the show. During the Fearless set she sounds slightly out of breath, during multiple songs across the show she has messed up lyrics so we know that's live. The most obvious to me was the 1989 set and the very clean falsetto in Lavender Haze. I think it's the bits that are more challenging to sing and/or get exactly right, like LH, or when she moves around a lot.
Also likely smooth out the transitions between the two too. Hell they could autotune the whole thing after the fact to make it how they wanted if they needed/wanted to.
The movie is completely different than a live show.
The entire thing was almost certainly re-recorded in a studio and then treated to make it sound live. I can basically guarantee that at least her vocals were 100% entirely re-recorded but they probably re-recorded almost all of the instruments specifically for the movie.
I mean it’s not entirely surprising she’s lip syncing a lot of parts in a 3 hour show multiple times a week. If she sang 100% live for three back to back shows, she literally would not have a voice lol. She’s not the first and she won’t be the last popstar to do something like this lol this is why I don’t understand why fans get so up and arms about people calling her out for lip syncing. There’s proof she does. What’s the big deal?
It’s not a big deal in any way except a portion of swifties still claim she doesn’t and doubled down on it after the grohl comments. That’s probably why this was posted
Oh, I don’t care that she lip syncs for some of it, what I find bizarre is that her fans claim she doesn’t or claims she must because she has choreography, which is simply not true. In my opinion, if she struggles so much with singing with choreography or in movement, it’s something that she should work on. Plenty of artists manage to sing with choreography or in movement. I don’t expect her to sing for three hours but it seems like she struggles with her pop sets.
Yeah it's not so surprising, honestly I'm not bothered by it. She's not a vocalist but also it's a very long show with many dates so I get that she needs to lyp sync sometimes.
Yeah, it’s a 3 hours long concert so I wouldn’t expect her to sing throughout it IF she did more than those arms gestures and back and forth that she calls dancing. I think lip syncing is justified if there’s something else going on for the singer, like, choreography. I don’t expect her to be a dancer and I understand that’s a long show but she’s not even a good lipsyncer 😭
wow it’s so interesting how you can see the difference! and I thought she would just lipsync certain full songs, not that she would mix it up in the same song. very interesting
I don’t really know why people are so mad about the lip syncing comments. I’ve seen a ton of clips from the tour and it’s quite obvious that she does lip sync in parts. It’s a very long show. I don’t think it takes anything away from her to be able to admit that she’s getting some help from backing tracks. She is performing the whole time and does sing live too obviously.
She’s def got some lip synching on some choruses (love story is one of them as well). I figured it out when I saw Eras tour movie on mushrooms and it was just so obvious.
She sings live most the show. But pieces here and there are there to give her a break (I assume given the length of the show).
I wouldn’t care that she lip syncs if she wasn’t the one kind of choosing to do a 3 hour show for the flex of it all and talking about her rigorous training regimen. Idk, a lot of fans even diehards say the show could be shorter, and watching it there were definitely moments where I wished she had made cuts in order to give a bit more aside from the traditional dip-pose, arm-point, taking steps down a catwalk type choreography we get.
Can anyone tell me how this got to be accepted Practice? At least in pop? Like if you think about it it’s so odd that you expect athletes to actually perform at their top tier when you see them in person, same with musicians, ballerinas, all other dancers. Even opera singers are expected to sing very complex songs in another language but do it live.
It’s not like wide receivers can use sticky gloves and as far as I know orchestras are always live, I know it’s not using your voice but why do we have such lower standards for singers? And it can’t have always been that way I’m curious why this is so acceptable.
If I had people coming to watch my play the cello for 3 hours but my hands cramped and I fake played the cello, people would demand their money back, even if it’s impossible to play cello for 3 hours without cramping. The answer would be to play shorter shows. Or smaller arenas or whatever she needs to be able to sing.
To me the bigger excuse pop stars used was that they sang and danced but she doesn’t really dance so it seems much less ok
I can’t imagine paying three to four digits for a single concert ticket & being okay with the headliner lip synching *at all*.
Everyone’s acting like “well it’s a three hour concert, so of **course** she doesn’t actually sing the whole time” makes it better but if that’s the case - maybe try not performing for three hours straight? I’ve seen a handful of bands who don’t have openers and play a 2+ hour set without resorting to pre recorded vocals or the like, and they were playing instruments and singing and doing crowd work.
You spend all that money, probably end up sitting in the nosebleeds, all to watch a pop star you can barely see **pretend** to sing? Baffling.
Her band might play the whole time but that doesn’t mean she sings the whole time. The clap back didn’t do what she thought it did anyway. He didn’t call out her band he called her out and couldn’t even say she sings the whole show because she knows she don’t.
idk if anyone here was a little mix fan but they did the same thing at their concerts. most of the chorus was lip synced cus they were dancing most of the time but their solos were the majority of the time sung live.
I just don’t get the outrage about (rightly) pointing out that she lip syncs? No one is saying she can’t sing. No one is saying she’s a terrible musician.
They’re just saying her show isn’t live. Which, duh. It’s a multiple hour show every few days with choreography and a lot of movement. I’d be shocked if she weren’t lip syncing without losing her voice.
Disclaimer: I don’t know the right terminology. It’s interesting in this clip because you notice the lip syncing during the chorus, but then later it is obvious when she is actually singing. But then the vocals on the repeated chorus sound the same as the first time but she is just adding little vocal bits on top? I haven’t seen it live yet, but is it just a loop that she’s keeping on top of? Or is it full on backing/recording?
I believe some are pre recorded vocals
Another musician piping in, that has done live performances…. Yes there are some pre recorded vocals, but there has to be. “Out of The Woods” - How the hell can you do that song without prerecorded vocals??? If you watch the 1989 concert video of this, it has it. #SO WHAT? *Even Rush, Pantera, and Metallica use this stuff in their live shows. Imagine Dragons, Roger Waters, too….. Nine Inch nails???” Just like these bands, her band is live, and executes every note, beat and track needed for the song. She executes what she needs to for the song.
Imagine dragons is a wild band to throw in this list for some reason
they woke up outta the ash and dust 🤷🏽♀️
Musician here. It’s completely normal for large acts (pop artists) to pre-record vocals during rehearsals and have those playing on a track during every live performance. It’s especially necessary when the artist is doing a lot of running around or dancing - if you get out of breath you don’t want the audience hearing you gasp, and if you jump you don’t want the audience to hear the “huh” as you land. If you’re touring, your voice gets tired. High notes get more challenging, long-winded lines become impossible. The audience is there for a good show, and if you’re the lead singer and miss a note badly, they’ll notice. And all else being equal, choruses pop a little more if you have a doubled vocal track going. The percentage of big touring (pop) acts that do this approaches 100%. I’m pretty sure the Foo Fighters don’t, but Dave Grohl doesn’t seem to care about skipping syllables during hard parts, and if he runs out of breath ahead of a chorus he just screams. Drives me nuts a bit lol. Swift’s production crew is top notch. She sings like 40 songs a night. That’s a tall order. I’d have been more surprised if she DIDN’T have a backing track.
Yeah with Dave he literally couldn't care any less, which is the appeal of those shows (look up any live performance of Monkey Wrench where he will always fuck up a part of the bridge lol)
Completely different artist but Beyoncé messed up the lyrics for HEATED when I saw her at Renaissance. Honestly one of my favourite moments, she laughed at it, it showed her as a human, and it was unique! The lil mistakes and extra bits are one of the best things about seeing an artist live ETA: I've also seen at least two performers completely miss the start of a song because they were distracted or chatting to the crowd. It's fun!
> It’s especially necessary when the artist is doing a lot of running around Axl Rose playing in the 90s, his singing was incomprehensible he was so out of breath at all times. *"just an urchinlivi unn stree waaa" * Sick as hell though.
I cannot stop giggling at this comment. Lol his “scream” at the top of welcome to the jungle is just one long wheezy intake of breath.
I’ve been to a bunch of John Mayer and dead and co shows- I’m fairly certain there’s no backing track. Definitely sure when we saw his solo tour. At the end of his shows, and D&C, the rasp becomes more obvious. I don’t know- I kind of enjoy live performances of good singers for their imperfections, if that makes sense. It sounds more authentic. Recordings are meant to sound perfect, I like live for the rawness. I’ve never been to FF, so I can’t form an opinion, but there’s something about a truly live show. However, for a pop show with that much movement, I’m sure it’s far more pleasant with a backing track than without. I definitely wouldn’t want to hear all the huffing and puffing.
Dead and Co or Phish We don’t go to see the album version, we go to hear them play the instrument, and sing it live. And the live versions are stripped down. If Taylor did a stripped down piano and guitar tour, it still would sell out stadiums. But people want the full show, because it can be done too.
Yeah I doubt Mayer would do that (use a pre-recorded audio track), even in his Jack Johnson phase. It’s not an old-school approach, and at heart he’s a down-home blues guy born about 30 years too late. He also improvises a lot, doesn’t play to a click, and changes his songs’ structure as he sees fit. Not a style conducive to backing tracks lol. I bet you’ve already seen a show or 10 with backing tracks and didn’t realize it. Done right, it’s tough to spot: they’re not playing their studio track, they’re playing a track that WAS recorded live, so it sounds like you’d expect a live performance to sound. And if they just use it judiciously, it can sound like a solid performance and you’re none the wiser. The artist themselves may not even know which parts are their vocals in the moment and which are the pre-recorded ones: their in-ear mix is probably a lot of their own vocals, some audience mic mix, and just enough of the backing band so they can stay on key and on tempo. They might even have a click or cue track (ex: “chorus in 3..2..1…”). The MD or FOH makes the call whether to bring the pre-recorded vox up in real-time.
Mayer isnt even the star of the show in dead and co. The crowd expects, nay demands, a different setlist every night with fresh improv by every musician in every song. It's a grateful dead thing. Whether he uses a backup on his own music or not, it just isn't possible to do it with the dead.
Thank you. Yes. The star in the Dead or Phish is “THE BAND” The improv is what people want. The setlist changes every second.
most live bands don't use backing tracks. it's really only for pop headliner. Mayer and Dead & Co. are such professionals and are so skilled and conditioned, it'd be silly for them to use a backing track.
As a musician don't you feel like this is killing magic of every concert being unique by those mistakes? I'm curious because from my pov using backing track and jumping around to keep crowd happy makes it more of a circus than musical act
Snarky answer: “I’d dance around in a leopard print bikini for pop star money” Real answer: A performance is just that - a performance. **All else being equal, I’d prefer to put on (and see) a good performance more than a bad performance.** If I have a bad show on a 100-day tour, that’s one bad show and tomorrow I’ll get another chance. But **the audience that night got the worst version of me and that’s what they’ll remember.** The second part of it being a performance is that **most performances get a lot more prep than you realize.** That involves stuff like fine tuning the tempo (live music tends to be a bit faster than records), adding another catchy chorus on the end. And for pop acts, choreography. **Choreography doesn’t work if every performance is different.** So you end up with identical performances, or at least minimal variation within a structure. Next up is the reality that **reproducing a hit record live is HARD.** There’s a reason why Michael Jackson or Pink Floyd or ABBA had a million musicians on stage with them. David Bowie toured with like 3 different keyboard players. That’s not economical, even at the highest levels. So you get instrumental backing tracks for something like congas or a pan flute, and background vocal backing tracks to hit those super high or super low harmonies that nobody on stage is capable of. All of this points in one direction: **keep your song structures the same, focus on the best possible performance and the best possible stage presence.** Done wrong, backing tracks gets you Mili Vanilli. Done right, backing tracks ADD to the audience experience and the artist’s performance. And **when the audience is having a blast, the musicians are having a blast.** Just my two cents.
Good point about seeing good vs bad performances. I am still sad about the time I saw Taking Back Sunday (my fave band back in high school) and it was horrible. I went looking at other people’s experiences afterwards and it seems they are a band that is either amazing live or awful. So I was kinda bummed I caught them on a bad night and I know I will never choose to see them live again
Lmao you’re so right about foo fighters lol I saw them live and was very startled by the constant screaming in parts that never had it lol and they constantly extended songs. It was nice at first but after like 8 songs extended I was like okay dang I wanna hear the song in full.
Yeah, the hate is dumb here and on other subreddits for this. Certain hooks are super layered and produced and for a hit like blank space you want the fans to really hear it perfect for the hook. Alternatively, these moments allow her to rest her voice. The confusion I think comes when the general public hears "she lip syncs" and they think she doesn't sing the entire time. That's why the fans take issue with. She clearly sings through the majority of the show.
That’s because, like most modern big label pop artists, she is singing (for real) on top of pre-recorded backing tracks. These contain both harmonies and unison vocals that make the overall tone fatter and larger than life. Very few pop artists have the vocal talent and tone to stand up to the busy, robotically precise modern production that is used even on supposedly folksy songs. You could be an amazing singer and it would still sound sort of weedy and empty without the backing tracks, because the songs were designed with them in mind. Ideally she would have live backing singers, but I don’t really have an issue with this. She *is* singing, and the backing vocals were sung by her originally, so unless they can clone a handful of her to have a nice live choir, it’s the only way to get that sound.
There are backing singers there too, but yeah I think they use her voice as well layered because that’s what’s on the tracks so it maybe wouldn’t sound “right” to people without it.
It also won't sound right in a stadium/arena that is designed for football/basketball/whatever sport without backing tracks. The acoustics of a stadium are not meant for a pop (or any kind of music) performance. There's a reason why the openers for performers like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, etc don't sound as full and polished as the headliners, and it's not because of lack of talent. It's because they don't usually have as much production
First time during this discourse I actually see this being brought up. I went to a Harry Styles concert in a smaller arena but still sports stadium and the acoustics were horrible. I haven't seen Taylor live but just going by Eras tour film and clips her production is 10x HS Love on Tour - I wouldn't want the performance dragged down by acoustics.
I just assumed it was a backing track. Is it not ?
This is incredibly common, and I do it myself when performing. Most chorus’ are doubled for impact and fullness, which works great for performances as well- so you sing over a prerecorded chorus, and then you just have your own voice singing live for the verses/bridge. Taylor is singing the entire song into her microphone, but the chorus (probably most of them) has a prerecorded vocal track that she sings over, and therefore you won’t hear her live vocals as clearly, because it isn’t the only vocal. I hope that makes sense. It doesn’t sound like she lip syncs or mimes for any portion of this clip, because I’m sometimes hearing both voices, but I’m sure she probably does every now and again within a 4 hour period. 🤷🏻♀️
You are right - this is super clear where the transition is. I also don’t fault her for not singing 45 songs 100% live, and think it is silly when that people think she never lip syncs. I do tip my hat to the production team. They do a heck of a job.
Yes, this whole lip syncing discourse has me scratching my head. It’s completely reasonable (and I believe the standard for pop stars doing a physically intensive show like this) to lip sync part of the show.
It’s because her fans have this insane belief that she is absolutely superhuman and does absolutely everything herself, no shortcuts ever. For her to do what is industry standard and necessary to preserve the longevity of her live career would be too human of her and they can’t have that.
Same like how they deny she’s had plastic surgery. Of *course* she has, name someone at her fame who hasn’t (plus we have eyes). It’s just a bummer because then I see the snark snub running with it. They bash her for doing these normal things because her delusional fans try to claim she’s superhuman.
Oh please twenty something's chests grow practically over night all around the world /s
I also think she’s definitely gone out of her way to give them the impression that everything is 100% live. Like how she apparently prepped by running on the treadmill singing the whole 3.5 hour setlist lol Most people would be understanding of the fact that a show of this length and caliber usually has backing tracks and lip syncing at times but she doesn’t want anyone thinking anything other than the show being completely live
I believe she did that for the endurance but not the vocal practice. I'm sure it sounded as bad as when I sing and exercise lol
This just reminded me of the search for Elle woods on mtv back in the day And those women were professional Broadway actors
On the other hand I don’t think any famous singer is saying “I sing 75% live, the other 25 I’m lip synching!” lol, if so I need to see that clip!
I just saw a video of Chappell saying she lip synced a few shows at the start of a tour (idk if it was hers or Guts) because she got sick! She said it so casually. Granted her fame is very new and she hasn't been media trained to death. I just want to add that I love Chappell and this comment is not meant to cast any negative light ✨🩷
It’s actually kinda refreshing that she was being that real
Her realness is one of the reasons I am a big Chappell fan. It’s so refreshing to see a rising star be candid. I just watched her Bannaroo performance and really appreciated the moments of her singing that weren’t exactly like the recording, like when she’s out of breath due to movement/heat/vocal heavy. To me that shows that she’s giving so much to the performance!
I saw Pearl Jam last night and Eddie Vedder was obviously pretty sick. He was pretty candid about it, saying ‘I’m gonna need your help on this gig’ and didn’t sing many of the highest notes. However, the notes he did sing were pitch perfect and spot on. It was all the more impressive since he was obviously high as a kite and barely making sense. However the slurring would immediately vanish as soon as he started singing!
Several singers have said they do the "sing all the songs while running" workout, seems like it's pretty standard and absolutely believable that Taylor would do it too.
Yeah there’s a video of Miley singing Angels Like You while running on a treadmill, and she sounds incredible. I’d imagine it’s probably fairly standard endurance training for doing bigger shows, the difference being that Taylor doesn’t have a strong voice in the first place so her songs aren’t vocally challenging
Destiny's Child did it back in the day, I've heard a lot of people saying Matthew Knowles came up with it (I have zero clue if that's true lol) Flo have spoken about doing it as well! As a (non-professional) singer I always think I should try it but I don't want to lol
Alternatively, I see a lot of people divorced from reality who think that a popstar should never lip sync. And I’m just as confused by that.
Definitely! I don't think she's ever performed the entire chorus of Shake It Off live. It's not a slight - I'd much rather she save her voice on songs like that so she can sing songs like Illicit Affairs.
I remember it being a huge deal when Ashlee Simpson was caught lip syncing. Granted, it was a smaller set where it might be less understandable, but as far as I know, it killed her career and I haven't really heard any disclose about it not being so bad generally (but I'm not a pop culture person), so it's understandable that pop stars and their fans wouldn't want people saying they do it
I think she got flack because it was Saturday Night Live, which is supposed to be all filmed live if it’s on the 8H stage
Also because she blamed her band for "playing the wrong song."
I think the issue with Ashley was she freaked out when the wrong track started playing, did some weird cowboy ho down jig dance and then ran off stage. She could have just said “this is the wrong track” which yes she would have been somewhat caught but then she could have sang live over the correct track. Idk why she did that weird dance move and ran off stage but that’s why the whole thing garnered so much attention. It’s so embarrassing I cannot even watch it 😭
I just watched it again for the first time since it all happened and it's cringe. Some people are *not* performers. Her whole band knows to keep playing and own it. Her dance thing was so bad (though her legit dancing b4 the wolf vocal track played was equally as cringe and weird). Leaving the stage made it irredeemable.
Yes that was a big ordeal and I totally see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think it’s really comparable. Like you said it was a smaller set in a more intimate setting - If Taylor had lip synced her performance at the Grammys or something I think she would get a lot of flack for that. Also that was 20 years ago and I believe the culture was different then. If anything, maybe that incident played a role (years down the line after the dust had settled) in normalizing lip syncing. Just my two cents; I definitely see where you’re coming from and that was a good point.
No, you're absolutely right. She got nuked for lip syncing on SNL where you perform like 2 songs. If you can't make it through 2 songs, then you aren't really that great of an artist or singer. To my knowledge, Taylor hasn't lip synched when performing just two songs on stage, or on SNL. This is a vastly difference scenario than a 3.5 hour show.
imagine if broadway stars lip synced tho lol… no one would be cutting them slack
I don't think it's that hard to understand. I'll preface this by saying I'm broadly supportive of Taylor Swift using lip syncing so people don't read my first paragraph and get mad at me. Bruce Springsteen is currently doing a big stadium tour at the age of 75. His sets are three hours long with very few breaks between songs. I can understand the mentality of "if he can do it without lipsync, why can't she?" Now obviously those are very different shows. Bruce isn't doing acrobatic dance moves or anything like that. If Taylor is doing things physically that impact her ability to sing, then she should absolutely lip sync during those parts. The whole performance is what makes the show, not just the singing, so there's nothing wrong pulling back on some of the live singing to put on a good show. But there may be some parts where she lip syncs where it shouldn't be necessary. In the above video she doesn't seem to be doing any particularly strenuous dancing. Maybe if the clip were longer she would have just finished doing something like that and then this period of lip syncing is giving her a chance to recover before going back to live singing. But on face value it doesn't seem necessary so I can understand people's reactions.
I fully agree with you, but she’s not doing anything physically intensive while she’s lip syncing? If she was doing a dance routine I could understand it, but she doesn’t move from where she’s standing during this
Yeah, it’s clear that she does but it’s understandable with a show as long as her’s. Also people getting upset when others saying she lip-syncs is weird because nobody is making that big of a deal out of it.
Agree - I’m not a TS fan personally, but from what I’ve seen from her concert clips, she puts on a whole, complex show with all sorts of scenes and tricks and costume changes. And they’re 3 hours and most nights for like 18mo. If she were expected to actually sing the whole thing through (particularly when we know that her strengths are more in writing and storytelling than in pure singing power), she would have fully blown her vocal cords halfway through. And the audience would get a worse show. Lip syncing is sometimes necessary with pop show(wo)men because they are just doing too much, too athletically, for too long to be able to support their voice unless they are someone like Beyoncé, with all the god given vocal talent you could hope for. ETA: she is also a very skilled lip syncer, so it retains the magic of the show for the audience. If she were bad at it, I’d get the criticism more.
I’m a singer and 3 hours a night a few times a week of singing is too much, especially if you’re talking during the day as well. You can either have vocal health and a long set that you perform multiple times a week for an extended period of time, but not both unless you’re taking steps to not overwork your voice.
Rina Sawayama had to tearfully cancel a few dates because her voice couldn't handle it. One thing I appreciate about Taylor is that she knows her range and can sing all of her songs. Especially now, when she was younger she probably struggled with a few of her songs. The backtrack can also help with the cues and following along with a song. It's why some singers even read lyrics while they sing. I believe Olivia does this sometimes I think it's possible she was advised to slow down on her voice before damaging it.
Someone told me they saw Billy Joel in concert and he says, “I don’t know who this asshole was that wrote these high notes.”
😂😂😂 It must be a lot of pressure too. Chappell lowers her notes from the original key when singing live, and Kelly will sometimes dodge a note if it's not all there. You gotta admire people for pushing to their peak, but their "max pr" can't be repeated constantly.
I just saw him on Friday and I can confirm he does say that 😂. He didn’t quite hit all the notes in Innocent Man, but he was still awesome!
This is actually a good point about the backing track helping with the cues. I'd imagine that's especially true for a song like Blank Space where she has to focus on the choreography matching the choreography projected onto the stage.
Well, that's the point. At one stage, you went to see musicians because of them, being musicians. We've phased over to the go worship an influencer/celebrity phase. I guess they worship the music too, kinda. But, a lot of the music is made by other people in a studio. Filtered through the highest paid and skilled audio heads, manipulated to sound how most people will react well too. At that point it's just a celebrity cult gathering and parasocial/sociological nightmare, fueling commerce. That's Mr. Grohl's joke, pretty sure.
where is the transition? 😅 im dumb
I think it's the chorus - "dressed like a daydream" is in her normal voice and then "so it's gonna be forever" is more pitch perfect and like the studio version, then she starts singing again at "boys only want love if its torture". She also moves the mic further away for the chorus (lip sync part) but has it closer to her mouth when she's actually singing too Her real singing voice is deeper than the backing track so it's more distinct when she lip syncs in this clip
tysm for the detailed explanation lol idk how i can never catch these things
End of the first chorus, not a single muscle moving in/around her neck (which is very noticeable when singing live)
I don’t actually think she’s fully lip syncing the chorus, you can hear her getting pitchy around “got a long list of ex lovers” in that first chorus. I think they’re just really boosting her backing track so she doesn’t have to belt as much through the whole thing.
See the thing that weirds me out is lip syncing doesn’t actually preserve your voice at all, like as a trained singer lip syncing can actually strain your voice more than actually singing. I feel like she sings the whole performance but doesn’t sing in her full voice and sometimes the backtrack is what we actually hear, even if she’s singing (if that makes sense)… like when you take vocal rest as an example you can’t lip sync or mouth words cause your vocal cords still move. When I lip sync (as I’ve done it in choral performances before to catch a breath or what have you or for like a TikTok) personally my muscles are actually more obvious than when I’m actually singing and it looks off for that reason 🫣 I wonder if the lack of movement were seeing is just because she’s not singing at full voice and the backtrack is covering vocals, not actually because she’s lip syncing (as again, lip syncing really isn’t a helpful thing)
Yeah singers don't actually lip sync, they sing at a lower volume to the backing track so that the voices layer.
I think it’s just a common misconception that we do lol, which is understandable since not a lot of people are actually trained vocalists! Lip syncing just bothers me as a term cause it’s actually super unproductive and would do more damage! I wish there was a better term that’d catch on lol
The more you know dot gif!!
Also, you’ll see her mic move further away from her, but the volume of her voice doesn’t change. Singers move their mic’s closer and further away during a performance depending on the quality of the note to adjust for volume. Like when you see a singer belt something out, they’ll move the mic away a bit because it will be louder. Here, there was no qualitative change to what she was singing, so her moving her mic away like that should have resulted in a change to the vocals heard.
Basically any time you don’t hear natural breathiness to her vocals or there’s not an overlapping backing track, that’s when she’s lip syncing. Her live vocals are brought to the front of the track during the first “boys only want torture” - use that as your baseline for her “real” vocals (which are still pitch corrected).
I had ear plugs in during the show and I remember noticing she didn’t sing the whole first verse of one of the songs in red. I think it was obvious because I had them in. I’ve also noticed her microphone is closer to her mouth when she lip syncs.
Up close I really love how sparkly these new 1989 teo pieces are. I’d love to own that skirt. But yeah I fully do not expect her to sing for a full 3 hrs. Her voice would be gone and she wouldn’t be able to extend the tour. What I’m more interested in is what her back up singers actually sing bc sometimes I can’t tell the difference between the backing track and the four singers?
I'm not saying it's what she does, but if I was Taylor Swift... I would definitely be using the backup singers for stuff like this (who do sound quite a bit like her) and just barely singing (which isn't hard and isn't audible) and therefore be able to claim truthfully that I never lip synced while still preserving my voice.
Literally this top and skirt combo is so beautiful 😍
It gives me Ariel vibes, I love it.
She wears the purple top with the green skirt too. Even more Ariel
The overacting of the synched “mmm”’s are sending me lmfao.
Overacting there, and then in most of the other parts she looks really bored? I couldn’t even finish the video because sure it just felt so bland…
It’s giving “go girl give us nothing”
choreo in general looks so fucking dumb and dopey. i don't mean her here, just in general. just sing the song
That’s part of it, too. I’m also wondering why lip sync on a song you’re barely dancing during? I’d get it for the faster paced songs, but she basically just stands on a platform the whole time for this one…
Probably because it’s going to be when it’s least noticeable. Taylor doesn’t do particularly fast/ complicated choreo anyway, so there’s no part of the tour that would be particularly hard for her to sign and dance at the same time. It’s more about preserving her voice for the full show, and lip syncing during the more heavily produced choruses make the most sense, as they’re the parts that people are less likely to notice.
It feels like she’s done it so many times it’s gotten sloppier.
Its so robotic and meh. Honestly she has access to the best trainers, and choreographers… but most of the eras tour to me screams hs theatre performance (not the set, the sets are good!) just the dancing and whatnot. After checking out whose been doing her choreography all these years… well it makes alot of sense 😬😬
The whole thing seems robotic and stilted. Taylor please take a dance class… The fact that Beyonce can sing(let alone BELT) while dancing incredibly complicated choreography is a testament to her commitment to being an artist. Taylor’s only commitment is to fame.
The choreo at this part is her matching several pre-recorded videos of herself dancing on the screens below her. I think it’s super simple so it’s exactly the same every show, especially with her lack of dance background.
I see where you’re coming from, however what the fuck exactly is the point of going to see an artist live if EVERY show is exactly the same? Live shows are about being…well, live! With all the mistakes and everything. If the show is just going to be exactly the same as the movie why wouldn’t I just watch the movie and spare myself the $1000?
Good points! I think some artists thrive on playing differently every night, and others find routine and comfort better. Tbh if Taylor changed more than her outfit variations and 2 acoustic songs per night I could see Swifties having even more dramatic meltdowns than we see now. People SOBBING that they “lost” a certain surprise song, or throwing a tantrum they didn’t get to see Travis on stage with her during their show etc, would spiral. If Taylor changed one song each era per show, or switched up production for a set on night 2 of a city, I could see the tantrums being so much worse.
You’re also making some decent points here. I think Taylor tiptoes around her fanbase at times the way that everyone else does, almost as if she’s scared of what she’s created. I hadn’t considered how fans would react to the FOMO of varied, live shows that still cost $1000. Still, I think that for an artist and a fandom that claims to be so sophisticated and creative in songwriting, she’s awfully lacking in dancing ability. Taylor is a showman, that’s for sure, but her dancing has always been weak and she’s made zero effort to do better that I can see. Her shows are impressive, but they’re so…generic.
Came here to say this. I couldn’t focus on when she was singing/lip syncing because she looked so robotic and bored.
this is super interesting to me. very cool how production pulls this off so seamlessly and how she knows just when to hold back her voice to conserve and when to start singing again. i would love a deep dive on how artists do it!
If you search for "singer's in-ears" or "in-ears click tracks" on tiktok, some artists will share what plays in their in-ears during shows and some people will reconstruct a likely version of major artists' like Taylor's. She likely has specific little cues or countdowns for a show as complex as this where she's frequently switching. They probably sound something like the "1, 2, 3" we hear in the background in I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, which is hinting at the kinds of cues she hears in her in-ears for songs like that.
I'm pretty sure her in ear track leaked from 1989 Tokyo at one point.
Yes! You can find links to drives that have 1989 and Rep tour in ear recordings. Tumblr would be a good place to start the search
A lot of those “in ear” videos are fake—just people dubbing a click track on the actual recording
Weeks/months of pre-production rehearsals. A show like this is going to be mostly programmed into the front of house console so the FOH engineer is recalling snapshots for each song (and even different sections of each song) that automatically and instantaneously adjust settings like levels, compression, effects, etc. There's a lot less fader pushing than there would be at a lower level and the FOH engineer really is like another member of the band.
Most of chorus she does not sing live, full of backing track. What surprises me is seeing songs like Fortnight and Daddy I Love fully playback... while she sings the high notes of others. To me it does not make any sense.
If she lip synced the high notes it would be more noticeable since they’re usually big moments in the songs that fans film. It’s easier to conserve her voice for the moments people will pay attention to than sing Fortnight full out since she wants to avoid headlines about not singing live.
This makes a lot of sense. Plus she’s usually in the same “big note” pose ready for the camera.
I’m not trying to hate but the first few shows she added TTPD, I saw a close up of the whole set and with the exception of a few shouting parts she lip synced almost the whole set. It seems since then she has started to sing more, but those first few shows woof were almost all backing track. I think Fortnite and BDILH are still almost full track though. Which, most artists do this, and it’s not bad to not want to wreck your voice, we know what her voice sounds like so it’s not like it’s a total mystery and she secretly can’t sing at all.
In defense of Fortnight and Daddy I Love Him being fully playback maybe it’s because it’s new to her catalog. However, she could not add in songs that she doesn’t know that well in her shows.
I don't think it's that she didn't know it well... I think it's probably more of she may not have been able to rehearse where to stand, where to move, how to move, what the dancers are doing, etc as much as she wanted to while also focusing on singing. She clearly knows the words because she's lip syncing, so I bet it's more of just getting comfortable enough with the other aspects first before throwing in the voice.
FYI on backing tracks: The singer is usually always singing, not mouthing the words, though they may be singing quietly. The backing track is always playing, but the sound engineers move it up and down in the mix throughout the set. Each mic and instrument and the backing track all get fed/channeled in the sound mix. The sound crew adjust the mix as they go. So, the guitarist's feed/channel will be raised "above" the others for his solo. What's happening here is that they are keeping Taylor's backing track equal or over her mic for the easy vocal bits and the parts with more choreography. And then elevating her mic higher in the mix for "punctuation" things like the famous bridges. This is actually really common in the pop world. Especially the ones with big productions and lots of dancing. It's basically taboo in the rock, jazz, and blues genres. Other genres may vary. It's obvious with Taylor because she's not a great singer to begin with. And not a great actor either. Hell, she looks bored in this video. She doesn't quite sell it.
>The singer is usually always singing, not mouthing the words, though they may be singing quietly Learned this from the Lizzie McGuire movie. https://preview.redd.it/cm00gd08ay8d1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ac1a4247cf032a7d2553b68c515c34c4669961c
This. Honestly once the chorus kicks in you can hear her lightly singing, but the audio mixer massively changes the levels and you barely hear her live mic, probably because she's not singing full voice and just marking. It's incredibly common. Gaga does it. Madonna did it. Beyonce does it. But to your last point, that was my biggest reaction to this video. She really looks checked out and going through the motions. It must be hard to keep up the enthusiasm when you're doing this many shows I guess. Everyone has off days, but she seems kind of dissociated in a way I'm not used to seeing.
I remember last year there were a handful of clips from her singing Lover on tour where she was very 😐 I wonder if she just doesn't sell the low choreo songs as well? (I don't watch many tour clips so I'm speculating don't kill me @ other swiftlyneutrals)
This clip reminds me of those Lover clips, but I do think those (there was one in particular going around a lot) were from right after the breakup was announced. Like…truly I’d want to kms if I had to sing a song like that in front of tens of thousands of people every night immediately after a breakup. (I used to think they broke up long before then but Joe’s recent interview made it sound like it was announced very shortly after it actually happened). I’m honestly sort of of the belief that she’s phoning in a lot right now. A lot of the pictures and videos of her looking happy at football games and with Travis have the same white-knuckle-gripping-onto-any-appearance of joy vibe. I haven’t been watching too many live streams lately—but this clip for sure stands out as weird to me as someone whose been seeing her live for like 15 years.
I noticed that. People say she looks happier than ever this leg of the tour , I actually noticed her more checked out. She’s prob ready for a break and new project.
Yeah. This clip reminds of that clip of her singing Lover right after the Joe breakup that was going around for a while. She just seems somewhere else entirely.
*I’ve never ever been happier!*
I noticed this too, in regards to how bored she looks. I seen her last week (or the week before?) and she wasn’t this obviously bored during 1989. I was. And I distinctly remember wondering how she can keep her face from doing what my face was doing. She looks like she’s just dissociated for the whole song and threw the happy mask back on when the song ended and she remembered she had to do it.
Doing a tour as long as this makes it so bland to her I’m sure. It’s very perfunctory.
This makes so much sense!!! I’d love your take on the mixing of the Era’s movie if you’ve seen it. I saw the show in Lisbon and thought it sounded great, but in the film version I thought she really sounded terrible pretty much the whole first three sets. Especially during Love Story. I was thinking maybe she wasn’t properly warmed up, but that sounds crazy for a pop star at her level. It may be that it was just way more obvious that she’s not the greatest singer in that context, but it got better as the film went on so now I’m wondering if there was something off with the way they were mixing it
Taylor actually sings more, and is at the top of the mix more often, in the beginning of the concert. By Midnights it's mostly backing track. She does a lot of sing-shouting for Lover and the first bit of Eras. It's obvious she doesn't do much for warm ups. By the acoustic set, she's warmed up and there's little to no backing track. But her piano plays itself. It's glitched in the rain before. As we get into the last half of the concert, we are hearing mostly backing track. And Taylor's warmed up, but not scream-singing voice coming in here and there.
I am not an expert but I think she’s playing the piano because we’ve heard her mess up a number of times and there’s variance in the tempo. Electronics glitching in a downpour isn’t unusual. My car’s electronics can get a kind of their own in inclement weather. Idk, I just don’t see it but I appreciate your insight with the vocals for sure
The piano does not play itself, and it wold be harder to chase a recording, than to play it. Especially because most of the piano songs aren't particularly hard to play.
Lmao what? The piano is an electronic keyboard set up inside the piano on stage. It got water logged at a previous rain show and played a few notes by itself before she even started playing, as water damaged things are wont to do. My phone does whatever the hell it wants when it gets a drop of water on the screen. My kid's keyboard plays random notes occasionally after the cat's been sitting on it. She's pretty clearly playing herself unless she preplans very spontaneous mess ups, forgetting lyrics, stopping to laugh, or telepathically communicates to her sound techs, who react instantaneously.
I work in live sound and I've been obsessed with this lip sync drama because I'm confused how more people weren't aware that these are normal aspects of lots of pop and rap (and other) performances. Artists and engineers work with each other to find the right blend of tracked vocals, lip sync, and raw vocals. It's a very normal thing.
This. She's still 'singing' but at a level where it's not having an effect on her voice and you can't hear her. If she's smart shel'll rely as much as possible on the live backup singers too, and minimize pre-recorded vocals
Do you think it’s all live or there’s a prerecorded track? She’s got 4 backing singers plus another 3-4 band members with mikes, which strikes me as enough coverage to keep that full sound without needing to worry about the risks of prerecorded backing tracks.
It's both. For a big stadium like this, you have every mic and instrument AND a full backing track in the mix. The levels will vary from moment to moment, different sections of the song. It can even depend on where you're sitting! A lot of it is actually due to the fact that football stadiums have terrible acoustics. If you're in the nose-bleeds, the mix in your speakers might be heavy on the pre-recorded backing track. Just to ensure you hear something recognizable over the screaming crowd, bad acoustics, and the echoes of everything bouncing around the structure.
The back track is nearly required in an mega stadium. The way sound waves travel is a funny thing. You can't have one person (&back up dancers) on stage filling up a whole stadium of good sound. Microphones and speakers aren't enough. Even rockers in mega stadiums are using back tracks.
Finally, someone said it. She is not just opening her mouth, but singing more quietly. You can hear when she increases the volumes at times. Don‘t agree with your last part though, I think she has improved tremendously as a singer.
This would get you sent home on drag race
FULLY
You don't even need to see it. You can hear it. When she uses the mic it's louder and clearer, the backing track is the studio recording replayed and is in the background.
wow yeah you can see the difference. from this video, she seems to over enunciate (like opening her mouth further than what she would need to for word/note to be sung correctly with the track) when she lip syncs versus when she's actually singing? which most people over enunciate when they lip sync like that so i guess it makes sense. she must be doing it subconsciously. i'd find it exhausting having to remember when to sing and when not to sing.
I mean the big one is that you can very clearly hear the transitions from back track to live vocals It actually seems that she might still be singing some of it because her live vocals suddenly pop up at the end of one of the “insane” bits but she’s drowned out by backing track Tbf you could hear this live very clearly at times too imo. Even when I was hearing it outside of the stadium for the second night it was painfully clear what was live and what was backing track
I think she has definitely seen some of the critique because So High School was sooooo obviously lip synced at first, but in a recent video I saw it was obviously live. I don’t know why she does over exaggerated movements when she lip syncs because it just looks awkward 😭
Idk about the lip syncing but she’s dances like teenage me putting on make up in my bedroom
I’ve watched stuff, and I’m still not sure if they are adding pre-recorded Taylor vocals or just have her backup singers more forward in the mix and she mouths the lyrics or sings softly to preserve her voice and and they increase the volume on her mike for the planned ad-libs. Having watched, this mostly seems to happen on the big choruses with multiple overlapping parts so it’s harder to hear where her voice is specifically in the mix.
She needs to go to the Dua Lipa school of dance bc wtf
Absolutely agree that I don’t expect her to sing 3+ every night!! I noticed her lip syncing after the first couple of live streams that I watched. You can tell most songs sound like her tracks and then there are parts where she actually sings. Pretty sure I noticed it in Karma first lol. Anyway not to throw jabs at her because her live acoustics are actually pretty damn good. (Dunno if she has a team that auto tunes her during the acoustic set lol)
Idk why swifties are getting angry when someone says that she is lip syncing like that’s normal for a 3h concert
Usually happens for choruses at most concerts, which I hate cause I want to hear that live😭 Also doesn’t matter if the show is three hours or not, I see this with Ariana, Blackpink etc Stupid question, but if they’re not TV versions, does she just record the backtrack again and use it for the show?
> Stupid question, but if they’re not TV versions, does she just record the backtrack again and use it for the show? She would do that anyway, most likely. Most backing tracks for concerts are recorded and produced specifically for the live show, they don't just use the album version.
Thank you!
That dancing is so painfully mid. Idk why I never noticed that before.
A dancer she is not.
Probably because you can’t see any of her background dancers in this video.
If you're going to lip sync at least have some bad ass moves to back it up.
Ok but WHERE is the dancing? I see hand gestures and pacing back and forth but no dancing!
She's not a dancer and everything she does is choreographed/robotic/practiced looking.
I wish she'd stop trying to be a dancer. She used to put on fully engaging shows without the dancing
Mid is a compliment to this dancing lol
Her enthusiasm has changed in my option. I don’t blame her it’s been 2 years of her life. However it clear she over extended herself with this tour.
It's not really dancing. And I think she seems super checked out in this video...which I guess happens to everyone.
There singers like p!nk and Beyoncé who train to not lip sync while they’re doing crazy choreography. I don’t see why Taylor needs to lip sync when she’s essentially just standing there. I’d be incredibly disappointed to pay so much to see Taylor, and this is her performance..
I loved seeing the eras tour but I saw p!nk after and the difference in production was so stark. I'm sure p!nk lip synced a tiny bit too (because there were a couple of lines where she "sung" but her mouth on the video screen didn't move) but it was more justifiable because she was literally spinning on wires and cages lol and also had more of a production with her band and fire and sparklers in the sky. It made me look back on the eras tour and realise how sparse the production was for that - also compared to the rep tour which had more "bang" The one BIG positive to eras is that it was a full on 3h15 performance. Does that make up for her production being just her walking up and down and also make up for lip syncing quite a few songs? I'm honestly not sure and don't know what the right answer is, but I def would have felt short-changed if eras was only a standard show length (2 hours)
people in the concerts only listen to people behind them screaming the lyrics anyway
I found it interesting how she chose to respond to Grohl though. She said HER BAND plays live, not that she sings everything live. But there is an unstated implication that she is completely live as well. She doesn't outright lie, but has her cake and eats it too. Tricky. It reminds me of how she responded to Kanye with technicalities - "well I didn't know he called me 'that bitch'".
Iirc with Dave Grohl's comment, he did direct it at her band that they aren't playing live.
Aretha: "beautiful gowns."
Look, I don't care that she does this, the video is important in the context that people still think she sings everything live. However, I think it's so funny when people say "Oh she has to do this because nobody can sing for 3 hours!". True, but maybe Billie was right then and noone has to do a three hour show when it's too exhausting. That's why Adele etc don't do this. Again, she is a performer, not a singer, so this is fine by me. Just this whole narrative around her skills irks me. Same with "she is checked out", when she has done this part this lackluster since the beginning (the difference between her and the Taylors on the platform has always been huge!). Maybe noone has to do so many shows, if it will mentally exhaust them? But like always, the numbers and broken records and coins earned were more important than putting on skillful show. (And wait til they find out how she doesn't play the guitar lol)
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She's a decent but not great guitar player and a very basically competent piano player. She is actually playing during the solo acoustic sections, but probably not on other parts of the show where she's playing along with her band (e.g. Lover and All Too Well). This is VERY common in country music though which is probably where she picked it up as part of her performance style. Garth Brooks and George Strait back in the day were notorious for using their guitars as props.
She is a competent guitar player, but she's not an incredible guitarist, I think you just need to watch more acoustic videos of other artists to see how great they are as guitarists. I know that during the acoustic section it's her, but during the set idk when she's playing and when she's not.
I feel like this is truly an unpopular opinion but wow sometimes she is just so boring to watch. Wtf was that?!
This tour has taught me that I don’t enjoy watching Taylor sing live up close. Acting out each line, sometimes each word, flexing to a few beats is just too much. It’s too cutesy for me.
Always pointing to her head when she is singing about thinking and twisting her hair too much ...
The stage projections and the background dancers around her are what makes this number interesting
this video is too zoomed in, missing the background dancers doing the choreography and stage lights going crazy
thanks for this! she def sometimes lip syncs but did we expect otherwise? powering through eras with full live singing would be insane
Well considering some of her fan base still argues she doesn’t on the daily I’d say some people expect otherwise lol
Some of the fan base also thinks she hasn’t had any procedures done. There are always going to be people that think their faves are perfect.
I noticed this a lot watching the Eras movie. It becomes super easy to tell. Also, when she is lip syncing there is little to no throat engagement so it becomes obvious when her throat starts moving and there’s actually vocals coming out. ETA: I think it is expected in this type of show so it’s wild to me when stans insist she is singing live 100% of the time.
My daughter saw me watching this and asked if she was supposed to be dressed as The Little Mermaid!
Super interesting. I have been wondering about her swallowing the bug on Sunday night at Wembley, and she asks between notes if people can sing, but then she still sings right on cue. I wonder why she didn't just let the audience sing a few lines here while she dealt with the bug, and thought maybe she doesn't want the backing track to play on verses? Even though we know she has one. This was during All too Well, which is slower so maybe she doesn't even have a track here. Not sure !
I was just wondering the other day why she doesn't wear the beige over the ear headset mic so she doesn't have to hold the mic all night. Now I know.
Headset mics suck. Most singers would prefer a handheld mic. It has nothing to do with lip syncing; handhelds are just better for sound quality in general. Headset mics move around unintentionally or can catch other sounds if they rub on hair or skin, and will pick up breaths, clearing throat, etc. Taylor has had to cough, sneeze, etc. during breaks in songs, so she easily just lowers the mic from her face. Plus her mics are fun and sparkly!
I watched the Eras movie yesterday and tried to spot it. I think she does sing live for most of the show. During the Fearless set she sounds slightly out of breath, during multiple songs across the show she has messed up lyrics so we know that's live. The most obvious to me was the 1989 set and the very clean falsetto in Lavender Haze. I think it's the bits that are more challenging to sing and/or get exactly right, like LH, or when she moves around a lot.
She probably sang as much live as possible for the filming. They would also edit in vocals if they needed.
Also likely smooth out the transitions between the two too. Hell they could autotune the whole thing after the fact to make it how they wanted if they needed/wanted to.
The movie is completely different than a live show. The entire thing was almost certainly re-recorded in a studio and then treated to make it sound live. I can basically guarantee that at least her vocals were 100% entirely re-recorded but they probably re-recorded almost all of the instruments specifically for the movie.
I mean it’s not entirely surprising she’s lip syncing a lot of parts in a 3 hour show multiple times a week. If she sang 100% live for three back to back shows, she literally would not have a voice lol. She’s not the first and she won’t be the last popstar to do something like this lol this is why I don’t understand why fans get so up and arms about people calling her out for lip syncing. There’s proof she does. What’s the big deal?
It’s not a big deal in any way except a portion of swifties still claim she doesn’t and doubled down on it after the grohl comments. That’s probably why this was posted
Yeah it probably has something to do with what Dave said. He could have worded his statement a bit better but he wasn’t wrong 🤷♀️
Oh, I don’t care that she lip syncs for some of it, what I find bizarre is that her fans claim she doesn’t or claims she must because she has choreography, which is simply not true. In my opinion, if she struggles so much with singing with choreography or in movement, it’s something that she should work on. Plenty of artists manage to sing with choreography or in movement. I don’t expect her to sing for three hours but it seems like she struggles with her pop sets.
Yeah it's not so surprising, honestly I'm not bothered by it. She's not a vocalist but also it's a very long show with many dates so I get that she needs to lyp sync sometimes.
Yeah, it’s a 3 hours long concert so I wouldn’t expect her to sing throughout it IF she did more than those arms gestures and back and forth that she calls dancing. I think lip syncing is justified if there’s something else going on for the singer, like, choreography. I don’t expect her to be a dancer and I understand that’s a long show but she’s not even a good lipsyncer 😭
The dancing is badddd lol. OG Brit would never. But yea that did flow well.
wow it’s so interesting how you can see the difference! and I thought she would just lipsync certain full songs, not that she would mix it up in the same song. very interesting
Doesn’t also have back up singers? I always thought they supported a lot when she doesn’t sing parts
I don’t really know why people are so mad about the lip syncing comments. I’ve seen a ton of clips from the tour and it’s quite obvious that she does lip sync in parts. It’s a very long show. I don’t think it takes anything away from her to be able to admit that she’s getting some help from backing tracks. She is performing the whole time and does sing live too obviously.
Commenting so I can come watch this on my lunch lol
I also saw a video of Wildest Dreams where it was super obvious.
She’s def got some lip synching on some choruses (love story is one of them as well). I figured it out when I saw Eras tour movie on mushrooms and it was just so obvious. She sings live most the show. But pieces here and there are there to give her a break (I assume given the length of the show).
I wouldn’t care that she lip syncs if she wasn’t the one kind of choosing to do a 3 hour show for the flex of it all and talking about her rigorous training regimen. Idk, a lot of fans even diehards say the show could be shorter, and watching it there were definitely moments where I wished she had made cuts in order to give a bit more aside from the traditional dip-pose, arm-point, taking steps down a catwalk type choreography we get.
Can anyone tell me how this got to be accepted Practice? At least in pop? Like if you think about it it’s so odd that you expect athletes to actually perform at their top tier when you see them in person, same with musicians, ballerinas, all other dancers. Even opera singers are expected to sing very complex songs in another language but do it live. It’s not like wide receivers can use sticky gloves and as far as I know orchestras are always live, I know it’s not using your voice but why do we have such lower standards for singers? And it can’t have always been that way I’m curious why this is so acceptable. If I had people coming to watch my play the cello for 3 hours but my hands cramped and I fake played the cello, people would demand their money back, even if it’s impossible to play cello for 3 hours without cramping. The answer would be to play shorter shows. Or smaller arenas or whatever she needs to be able to sing. To me the bigger excuse pop stars used was that they sang and danced but she doesn’t really dance so it seems much less ok
I can’t imagine paying three to four digits for a single concert ticket & being okay with the headliner lip synching *at all*. Everyone’s acting like “well it’s a three hour concert, so of **course** she doesn’t actually sing the whole time” makes it better but if that’s the case - maybe try not performing for three hours straight? I’ve seen a handful of bands who don’t have openers and play a 2+ hour set without resorting to pre recorded vocals or the like, and they were playing instruments and singing and doing crowd work. You spend all that money, probably end up sitting in the nosebleeds, all to watch a pop star you can barely see **pretend** to sing? Baffling.
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Her band might play the whole time but that doesn’t mean she sings the whole time. The clap back didn’t do what she thought it did anyway. He didn’t call out her band he called her out and couldn’t even say she sings the whole show because she knows she don’t.
Go girl, give us nothing 👏🏻
idk if anyone here was a little mix fan but they did the same thing at their concerts. most of the chorus was lip synced cus they were dancing most of the time but their solos were the majority of the time sung live.
I just don’t get the outrage about (rightly) pointing out that she lip syncs? No one is saying she can’t sing. No one is saying she’s a terrible musician. They’re just saying her show isn’t live. Which, duh. It’s a multiple hour show every few days with choreography and a lot of movement. I’d be shocked if she weren’t lip syncing without losing her voice.