I recently became very aware of a curious singing style that I had never really given much thought to before, namely grown women who for some reason choose to sing with extremely childlike voices.
Upon looking into this style of singing in some depth, I discovered that it even has an official name, which is, wait for it…. Faux Naif (false childlike) and is both a carefully nurtured way of singing for some singers, and for others, simply because they have never had their voices trained in any fashion. A good example of this last sort of childish voiced singer is the girl who sang in the French ’60s band, Il Etait Une Fois. This young woman, Joëlle Mogensen, had a truly childlike voice as you will hear in the following video.
She only joins in in the second chorus, so be patient, it is worth it!
I first heard this song on the car radio as I drove around in France, and for a long time had assumed that it was a kid singing, so I was really surprised many years later when i discovered that it was actually a grown woman. Shut your eyes, and listen to it again and you will see what I mean.
Anyhow, that is a very good example of the untrained voice type of Faux Naif singing, and whilst it is actually rather forced and ugly I have become very fond of this track over the years – no idea why though.
Blossom Dearie (what a name!) is, or was, a very different type of Faux Naif singer. This good soul was a piano playing jazz singer. She also sang in a curiously childlike voice, but in her case it seems to have been as a result of a considered choice, as she sings very well, and obviously has trained her voice and knew how to use it properly, as this video will demonstrate I hope.
OZTHOUGHTS 