For a month or so, my feed has been full of tour videos with “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” starting back up, the height of Troye Sivan and Charli XCX’s “Sweat Tour” and the success of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet Tour.”
However, shortly after Carpenter’s tour started on Sept. 23 in Ohio, fans took to social media to upload videos of the performance and many had something to say. One user, @riiano7 on TikTok accused Carpenter of lip syncing during her shows in a video uploaded on Sept. 30.
“Hate to say it but 30% lip singing 30% backing track 40% singing,” wrote @riiano7 on a video of Carpenter performing her hit “Please, Please, Please” live.
Carpenter responded to this remark in a comment that has since been taken down, “I sing live every show 100% would you like to speak to my audio engineers.”
Since the interaction, Carpenter has lowered her backing track and re-sparked the conversation about live lip-syncing and auto tune. This is a topic of much debate that caused many scandals in the ‘90s and early 2000s.
One celebrity weighing in is Sivan straight from the “Sweat Tour” — however, Sivan remarked that he would never give up his backing track.
“So I know Sabrina removed her backing track and… I won’t be doing that,” said Sivan in a TikTok. “I love my backing track and I love my autotune on my microphone. It’s really fun and it makes me sound awesome.”
As an avid concert goer and someone who saw Sivan’s performance on the “Sweat Tour” and Carpenter on her “Short n’ Sweet Tour” before she lowered her backing track, I feel like I can confidently say that the use of autotune and a backing track does not take away from the show.
If the artist is a true performer, they will still be able to put on a brilliant concert even if they have a backing track. Both Carpenter and Sivan know how to put on a show, their energy on stage is palpable and you can feel it throughout the entire stadium, even from the nose-bleeds.
Obviously if I went to a show that was 100% lip syncing I might be disappointed. However, if performing with a backing track helps the artist give the best performance they can without burning themselves out and keeps the show consistent throughout the tour, then I’m all for it.
jhammer@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @troyesivan, Instagram
