Britney Spears’ singing skills have been a controversial topic for nearly 16 years, but a leaked version of Britney’s song “Alien” from her 2013 album, Britney Jean , have naysayers believing that they have finally proved their point.
Last week, an unedited version of Spears’ song was originally leaked by the Tumblr blog “Trollney,” according to Gigwise . The unedited version can be heard below.
Since then, the almost two decades long argument over whether Britney Spears is a talented singer or whether she depends on Auto-Tune enhancements to get by in her career found new fuel to continue the debate.
Britney Spears’ supporters defend her with the claim that the song “Alien” was meant to have Auto-Tune enhancements, so the unedited song cannot be used to accurately judge Spears’ singing abilities. The edited and final album version of the song can be heard below.
“Alien” was written by producer William Orbit, and he was also responsible for cleaning up Spears’ vocals before laying them down on the final album.
According to Digital Spy , Orbit took to Facebook to defend Britney Spears , and began his post with, “Dearest Music Lovers, I have heard that Britney vocal link that everybody’s been discussing. It has been impossible not to as there have been many comments directing my attention to it.”
He explained the wobbly and sometimes flat vocals as Britney’s attempt to warm up, just as any singer does when getting ready for a long session.
Orbit went on to say, “Warming up is essential if you’re a pro, as it is with a runner doing stretches, and it takes a while to do properly. I’ve heard all manner of sounds emitted during warm-ups. The point is that it is not supposed to be shared with millions of listeners.”
He further described Britney Spears as a “generous singer” who decided to sing into the mic in order to help the engineer set everything at the right levels before a serious recording session started.
Britney Spears’ producer described the person who leaked the unedited track in less than flattering terms, but had much to say about Spears’ singing abilities.
“Whomever put this on the internet must have done so in a spirit of unkindness, but it can in no way detract from the fact that Britney is and always will be beyond stellar! She is magnificent! And that’s that.”
Britney Spears has yet to release a comment on the leaked recording.
