There aren't a lot of British or Australian natives in country music, except for Keith Urban (and maybe Sherrie Austin, if you remember her), but have you ever wondered why it is that Keith's strong Australian accent when he's talking (like when he's on American Idol) virtually disappears when he's singing, I have the answer!

FilmMagic/Getty Images
FilmMagic/Getty Images
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According to THIS article on Buzzfeed, it may have something to do with one of these two reasons, or maybe both: First, the article suggests Keith is purposely 'Americanizing' his accent when he sings, so that he'll fit in with the rest of his fellow country music artists and fans here in the US - and sell more songs that way.  I guess that makes sense - he probably wouldn't sell as many albums if we couldn't understand what he was actually singing about, but it doesn't explain why the albums he released in his native Australia still don't feature an accent when he's singing.

A second explanation, according to the article, is that when artists sing, their vocal ability to form the natural parts of an accent, whether it's British, Australian or whatever, are, in a sense, smoothed out or rounded off, as they fit the vocal phrases to the music.  This seems to make more sense.

I'm not sure either of these two explanations completely explain the phenomenon - I find it hard to believe that just about EVERY British artist is TRYING to lose their accent when they sing, or that it just magically went away as they tried to fit the lyrics of a song into the music, but it IS an interesting look at a question about which I'd always wondered. What do you think?

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