I was a fan of his back during *FutureSex/LoveSounds* and *The 20/20 Experience*, but when I listen to his new music now I'm struck by how different his voice sounds. I'm not sure if it's studio effects, age, or if he did something with his vocal technique. Does anyone know what happened?
The change you're hearing is probably a combination of natural voice aging (he's over 40 now) with different production choices on recent albums - vocal quality gets deeper and raspier over time, and producers also use different effects and studio techniques depending on the vibe they're going for. He's never been known for doing vocal surgery or drastic changes to his technique, so it's more a case of his voice maturing and each era's sound reflecting the musical style that was in vogue at the time.
What you're picking up on also has a do with the type of production he went for in his recent work - less of that clean, polished sound from the 2000s, more indie and alternative. His voice naturally gets a bit heavier over time, but we also hear it differently when the studio adds more distortion, reverb, or even a lower vocal tone in the mix. It's like when you listen to a recording of your own voice from years ago and think it was "thinner" - sometimes it actually was, but a lot of it is just the recording quality and how it got reprocessed.
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