From Cher to Travis Scott: Musicians who embrace auto-tune with pride

Many musicians are suspected to use auto-tune, usually to hide their musical flaws. 

However, there are some who are very transparent about using it.

Check out who they are below:

Cher

The American songstress is the trailblazer of incorporating auto-tune into her music.

Surprisingly, Cher’s 1998 comeback song Believe was one of the earliest commercial uses of auto-tune.

“My record ‘Believe’ was the first time auto-tune was ever used. It was called a pitch machine, and it happened because of an argument that I had with my producer,” she recalled on The Jennifer Hudson Show.

Cher revealed that after multiple takes, her producer kept saying "Sing it better,” which infuriated the singer, and she left.

After a few days, her producer introduced her to the idea of a “pitch machine,” and that’s where they agreed.

Bon Iver

Bon Iver singer-songwriter Justin Vernon also admitted to using auto-tune.

He is known for using vocal synthesisers to convey deep emotions.

Moreover, the band uses it to create innovative vocal sounds and production in tracks like Woods.

Justin experiments with it to add emotions and depth to his vocals, inspiring artists like James Blake and Kanye West.

Travis Scott

The rapper heavily uses auto-tune, making it a key component of his music’s aesthetic, which is widely appreciated by his fans.

Travis uses it to create a smooth, melodic feel that matches his signature sound.

His most famous song to feature the heavily synthesised sound was Antidote, released in 2015.

Kanye West

Kanye West uses auto-tune extensively in his songs, famously on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak.

He was going through a tough time in his life, where he felt that in order to hit higher notes, it was possible with an audio processor, leading to smash hits like Love Lockdown and Heartless.

Kesha

Lastly, Kesha heavily uses auto-tune as an intentional artistic effect to create her signature music, especially in her electro-pop music.

Although many critics initially claimed that her voice was weak because of the prominent use of auto-tune in her early songs like TiK ToK, it’s now pretty evident that Kesha uses it to enhance her music rather than to conceal her flaws.